Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
I’ve spent most of my career writing cartoons and teen sitcoms where getting laughs from the audience is paramount! Not surprisingly, many screenwriters are comedians. I, alas, am not. Luckily, we all have the ability to be funny if we keep in mind the following three tips… 3 Tips for Making People Laugh Subvert the …
Continue reading “L is for Laughs”
A few weeks ago I posted on how to use juxtaposition in a setting, as character development and in prose to enhance a scene. Juxtaposition is: [important]The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or …
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A couple letters ago, I talked about External Conflict – all those forces in the universe that are bumping up against the protagonist. Now we’ll discuss Internal Conflict – the sometimes black hole of doubt within the hero. Like External Conflict, Internal Conflict must get in the way of the hero achieving his goal. Most …
Continue reading “I is for Internal Conflict”
Although every protagonist is the hero of their own story, the hero is a step above the typical character. The hero is the fearless leader of the space mission. Creating a hero every reader will bond with and root for can make for some memorable fiction, the kind of story where the hero walks off …
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Many writers are so overwhelmed by the number of fiction genres and subgenres they can’t decide where their story fits. If you want to land an agent or self publish, picking the right genre is crucial because it helps your book connect with buyers. Being between genres might sound exciting, like you’re breaking new literary ground. However, …
Continue reading “G is for Genre”
Let’s face it, space is a risky business. I always considered every launch a barely controlled explosion. — Aaron Cohen, NASA Administrator Before writing this post, I Googled “false stakes” to see what other people had written on the subject and found… nothing! Not a single article or blog post on false stakes of the non-vampire …
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Our two greatest problems are gravity and paperwork. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. — Wernher von Braun, Rocket Engineer Conflict is the engine of every story, and there are two kinds: internal and external. Because we’re on the letter E, let’s examine the external type of conflict… 3 Tips for …
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Welcome to day four of the Write On Sisters Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Today we BLASTOFF with D is for Dialogue. This is ground control, come in Space Station! Repeat! Come in Space Station! … Communication link disabled … We don’t think much about how we talk to others until it’s gone. If you’ve …
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It’s appropriate that I got letter “C” since Character Change is something I frequently write about on this blog. That’s because it is so crucial! I think it might even be the most important part of a good story. So, with that in mind, let’s launch this baby! 3 Tips for Writing Character Change Don’t …
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Welcome to day two of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Yesterday we started the Write On Sisters 3, 2, 1 … BLASTOFF to Stellar Writing series with A for Antagonists. Today we reverse course and take hold of that sometimes wildly out of control comet, backstory. Consider backstory the preparation time before the launch. Countless …
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