The best way to create an effective “big reveal” is to have characters search for information, an object, or a person, so that their search leads to the big reveal — even if the big reveal is NOT the thing they were actually looking for. Orson Scott Card Fiction writing is a process of imparting … Read more
Any fiction book relies on suspension of disbelief by the reader. They forgo belief in some aspect of the real world to believe in the story-world. Science fiction and fantasy stretch belief to the limits requiring genre authors to exert great care to avoid “breaking the spell”. At some point in a story this happens: … Read more
Trends In a list of the twenty most popular science fictions books of 2019, 60% were written in third-person point-of-view (POV), 40% in 1st person and none in second person. Although the story in each novel is very inventive, the authors adhere to the rules of point-of-view, much like punctuation and grammar. First-person POV is … Read more
What if you want to write a story with a personal, emotional and introspective point of view? You would have two basic choices: First person: The heat of the dragon’s breath warmed my face, increasing the pounding in my chest. Deep 3rd person: The heat of the dragon’s breath warmed his face, increasing the pounding … Read more
The best word processor is the one that connects your brain directly to the page. Alas, that’s not something speculative fiction writers can purchase, yet. If you are writing a novel, use a tool appropriate to the job. Any word processor works well for the first scene, but what about: backing up automatically editing, spell … Read more
Why plan a story before writing? Because planning tremendously decreases the time needed to edit the story later. The planning process and depth are different for every author. However, there are some good starting points: Don’t make the planning process painful Do give yourself down-time to let the subconscious mind generate ideas Start with the … Read more
Ever wonder how some authors create flowing prose? They do it with a variety of sentences having different beginnings, different constructions and different lengths. This does not come naturally to all authors, but the techniques can be learned. Begin by collecting data from your own writing — take a page and make a list of … Read more