Category: Technicalities

  • From Telling to Showing

    Writers of fiction are consistently told, and rightfully so, to “show, don’t tell.” In other words, a reader wants to see the story unspool, not…

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  • Somewhere Below the Top

    Several weeks ago I was speaking with a friend who is in the throes of completing a debut novel. A beta reader, who is an…

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  • World-building vs. Setting

    A recent writers workshop conversation surfaced the difference between world-building and setting. To be honest, I’d not thought much about it, but the distinction is…

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  • You Erase More Than You Draw

    My friend Frank told me he heard some excellent advise on writing from an art instructor. Advising students on drawing, the instructor said, “you erase…

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  • Getting Into Character

    Getting into character is a theater term. It’s the effort an actor makes to embody the part they are playing—well beyond the script and the…

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