Linda Acaster's Blog, page 22
March 11, 2015
How much is too much detail? It all depends on what you a...
How much is too much detail? It all depends on what you are writing and its genre.
Here’s
a handy rule of thumb...
Short
fiction is a single snapshot of life set in words. Leave the promo video in
words for a novella; the two-hour blockbuster movie, complete with sound and
atmospheric lighting, for the novel.
However,
this doesn’t take into account the genre. A pithy, kick-ass
Here’s
a handy rule of thumb...
Short
fiction is a single snapshot of life set in words. Leave the promo video in
words for a novella; the two-hour blockbuster movie, complete with sound and
atmospheric lighting, for the novel.
However,
this doesn’t take into account the genre. A pithy, kick-ass
March 7, 2015
The Curse of Living in Interesting Times
So when is the best time to have a website makeover?
Not when you're behind with writing a novel.
Not when you're launching a novella.
Not when appointments are queuing as if to a 1930s soup kitchen.
In truth, when I started on a test site none of this was in the offing, but then life intervenes and schedules go out of the window.
So for those prompting me on the new incarnation, you'll just
Not when you're behind with writing a novel.
Not when you're launching a novella.
Not when appointments are queuing as if to a 1930s soup kitchen.
In truth, when I started on a test site none of this was in the offing, but then life intervenes and schedules go out of the window.
So for those prompting me on the new incarnation, you'll just
March 4, 2015
Wednesday Writing Prompt #12 - Theme
You may be writing about a set of characters, or a premise, but are you also writing on a theme?
For a short story the theme may take on the mantle of a moral or proverb: All that glitters is not gold. You may believe you are, say, writing about an obsessive journalist who puts his/her friends through hell to gain a coveted interview, but comes away with such dross that even the best
For a short story the theme may take on the mantle of a moral or proverb: All that glitters is not gold. You may believe you are, say, writing about an obsessive journalist who puts his/her friends through hell to gain a coveted interview, but comes away with such dross that even the best
February 28, 2015
'The Paintings' - new title on Pre-Order!
Where do you get your ideas from?
In the case of The Paintings it came from a line in a hastily written response to an email. Halfway through the sentence the ubiquitous light bulb lit above my head and my fingers stilled. I'd just written an idea for what I thought at the time would be a 4,000 word short story.
It turned out to be a 17,500 word short novella in the supernatural mystery
In the case of The Paintings it came from a line in a hastily written response to an email. Halfway through the sentence the ubiquitous light bulb lit above my head and my fingers stilled. I'd just written an idea for what I thought at the time would be a 4,000 word short story.
It turned out to be a 17,500 word short novella in the supernatural mystery
February 25, 2015
Wednesday Writing Prompt #11
Part of the Showing technique, part of making a reality of flat words on a page, is to imbue those words by using the senses – sight, sound,
touch, taste and smell.
In this excerpt from The Paintings I use ‘smell’ to break a run of terse dialogue via a mobile phone:
‘How’s it going? Done yet?’
I braced my shoulders in annoyance. ‘Done yet? We’re not liable to be done this week never
touch, taste and smell.
In this excerpt from The Paintings I use ‘smell’ to break a run of terse dialogue via a mobile phone:
‘How’s it going? Done yet?’
I braced my shoulders in annoyance. ‘Done yet? We’re not liable to be done this week never
February 21, 2015
A Fillip While You're Ill
image by David Castillo Dominici
There's nothing like being laid up with a head full of throbbing coals and watching your writing schedule seep away between the cracks taking your deadline with it.
I don't do "ill", so it's probably PayBack this virus hitting so hard. Desperate for silver linings, even at the worst I was laid up on the sofa with my trusty Kindle determined to make an
There's nothing like being laid up with a head full of throbbing coals and watching your writing schedule seep away between the cracks taking your deadline with it.
I don't do "ill", so it's probably PayBack this virus hitting so hard. Desperate for silver linings, even at the worst I was laid up on the sofa with my trusty Kindle determined to make an
February 11, 2015
Wednesday Writing Prompt #10
This week it's the Show & Tell Technique - and there's no gold stars for guessing which is which.
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February 4, 2015
Wednesday Writing Prompt #9
Are you reading this on your tablet or your iPad? Is
your wristwatch a Wal-Mart special or a Rolex? Are you about to pick up a Biro,
a biro, or a Mont
Blanc?
Naming
imbues with life. For the reader it drags in its wake mental images, not just
of what the item looks like, but lifestyle pointers to the person using the
item – just as the advertising industry maintains.
Characters’
names do
your wristwatch a Wal-Mart special or a Rolex? Are you about to pick up a Biro,
a biro, or a Mont
Blanc?
Naming
imbues with life. For the reader it drags in its wake mental images, not just
of what the item looks like, but lifestyle pointers to the person using the
item – just as the advertising industry maintains.
Characters’
names do
January 31, 2015
Research 3: The Novel's Bible - Characters
In my post Research 2 about creating a hyperlinked Research bible, I mentioned in passing Character Sheets. This post goes into more detail.
When I first started writing (in days of yore) I followed the given wisdom to complete a sheet for each main character in the style of what I can only describe as a Police 'missing person' form: age, height, weight, colour of hair and eyes, any
When I first started writing (in days of yore) I followed the given wisdom to complete a sheet for each main character in the style of what I can only describe as a Police 'missing person' form: age, height, weight, colour of hair and eyes, any
January 28, 2015
Wednesday Writing Prompt #8
It's one thing to spring a story from a single given line, but a single given line does not a story make. It
is the characters who inhabit that line, who build it as they breathe, that brings
that line, that story, to life for the reader.
So
how do you build a character? Give him a limp? Give her a giggle? A blue hat? A
Bentley motor car?
Are
pictures being created in your mind from the
is the characters who inhabit that line, who build it as they breathe, that brings
that line, that story, to life for the reader.
So
how do you build a character? Give him a limp? Give her a giggle? A blue hat? A
Bentley motor car?
Are
pictures being created in your mind from the
