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Scenario: A detective is in a car crash and passes out twice in the flaming wreck, which he escapes at great peril. Five minutes later he just gets up and flags down a passing cop. “Hey,” the detective says as … Continue reading
Tag Archives: amateurism
Sample paragraph: I saw Hal coming toward me across the office commons, waving. “What did the boss say?” he screeched. I shook my head and waved him away. “I don’t want to talk about it, Hal.” “Oh, Ron,” he squealed. … Continue reading
I recently read a manuscript in which two characters were described as being in a theater. A dialogue ensued and I visualized the duo sitting in the empty hall chatting. I was surprised when the writer mentioned someone nearby coughing. … Continue reading
I recently came across a version of the Eye of Argon online and realized it made a great inside Science Fiction joke for a scene I was writing in a rom-com. I also realized that it related to the subject of … Continue reading
This is the second article in my series on Becoming a Professional Amateur — by which I mean simply that if you’re going to write and you’re a lover of writing (literally an amateur), you might as well be professional about … Continue reading
Sample scenario: Toyoshi’s voice came raggedly over the phone. “Riyoko is in trouble. She’s been casting spells at midnight to call forth a Wretched Demon and I’m pretty sure it’s working. One more spell and her soul will be completely … Continue reading
“Pleased to meet you,” the bartender said, shaking Jon’s hand. “You must be Jon Chandler. I think you ought to know that Colonel Mustard hired a man to sabotage your friend’s brakes. He’s a bad one, that Colonel.” The writer of … Continue reading
Baldric concocted a cunning plan to scare the killer lawn gnome into staying away from the cave entrance so he could sneak in. He then grabbed the magical hedge trimmers and scarpered off into the forest. Writers sometimes use expositional sentences like … Continue reading
For the aspiring writers among us, I offer this third blog in a workshop series on the craft of writing. Obviously you don’t have to do the exercises, ’cause nobody’s watching, but you might have fun with them. Sample sentence: … Continue reading
My annual stint in an online writers’ conference (the Catholic Writer’s Conference, of which I’ve been a non-Catholoic guest for the past several years) has me doing a chat workshop on writing dialogue and action. And, as often happens, this … Continue reading