craft

Anyone up for a craft challenge from @Pamela Jo? "How can we introduce new characters without interrupting the narrative flow?" Indeed a tough task. So, what strategies does everyone use? Do you think it’s easier in first person or third person? Do you focus on appearance or behaviour? And...

The Craft Challenge last weekend produced some brilliant and evocative settings. Anyone fancy another go? How about an opening that follows a particular structure? Okay, bear with me a moment.. This week, some of my students (an adorable pair of twins and a girl who creates her own worlds)...

Okay, so I have a problem with describing places when writing fiction. My settings are sometimes so vague that readers have no sense of where the characters are. Yesterday I noticed an interesting exercise in the workbook of my more advanced ESL teens, and I thought I’d give it a try. Choose a...

The last clementine of xmas. A little gift to start the year right. https://archive.org/details/steering-the-craft-a-twenty-first-century-guide-to-sailing-the-sea-of-story-repr/page/n4/mode/1up

Provocative title, eh? But before I attempt to explain it, I'd like to mention a few things. First, a big Thank-you! to @Carol Rose for giving me the opportunity to guest here in the Craft Chat forum. Second, please do familiarize yourselves with Carol's guidelines for engaging with Craft Chat...

I've been thinking about backstory and how best to handle it, and I find my self wondering what you think. I've also been thinking about the received wisdom of craft in general – learn the "rules" before you break them, show-don't-tell-or-go-to-hell, don't write on a Tuesday when the wind is in...