(Picture from here.) Television was different when I was a kid growing up in California. It was early days. There wasn’t the vast backlog of material available that there is now. But there was the same need to fill dead … Continue reading
(Picture from here.) The 1978 Clarion Workshop Rules for Writing: Use other words In a different order, too Oh, yeah. Characters. A while back I talked a bit about my writing process. I left out how I create characters. Sure … Continue reading
(Picture from here.) Let’s wander back into the SF stories of the 50s and 60s. This was the age of the competent protagonist. Engineers were good at what they did. The world was pristine and pure—surely nothing as lovely as … Continue reading
[Vaccine update: Fully vaccinated!] Rather than speculate on upcoming travel plans, like wondering what it will be like to eat at a Palm Springs restaurant—outdoor dining? What steps are involved for eating while masked? How to assess for ventilation?—I am … Continue reading
There are many, many things for the prudent author to consider when naming a character. I’ve blogged about some of them before. I’m writing a long series of novels (the first one will be out this month!!) and have been … Continue reading
Looking back on all the blather I’ve produced in this blog space over the past year, I realize I am compiling a “CliffNotes” version of novel research. It occurs to me that I should cite my sources—most of which originate … Continue reading
I love houses. I love to write about them. Houses heavily influence my fiction because they so easily become characters. Sometimes the house in my book insists on upon development, an emotional arc. It wants me to tell my readers … Continue reading
While discussing writing with a good—and excellent—writing friend, I felt inspired to write shorts again. The thing is, I had no ideas. That said, I remembered something a writer wrote about writing some years ago, paraphrased as “writing is like … Continue reading
(Picture from here.) By now it cannot be a secret that I like small stories. These are stories where there might be a major cataclysm, catastrophe, war or other great event but that is backdrop. It might impact the story and … Continue reading
I love historical fiction, reading it and writing it. (See my bookstore page for two novels set in the 20th century.) Historicals can safely be fat books; I mean the grounding necessary in any novel where the world needs to … Continue reading
