Andrew Ferguson's Blog, page 20

Can’t Afford Scrivener? Try yWriter.

Many years ago, when I decided to make my first serious attempt at writing a novel, I did what a lot of enthusiastic beginners probably do: I searched high and low for the perfect novel writing app. I didn't know about Scrivener back then (in fact, I'm not even sure it was available for Windows at that time) but I did come across another app in a similar vein called yWriter by Spacejock Software.

Fiction: Reality Refined

There are two kinds of story in this world. Those that are not at all true to life and therefore are completely unsatisfactory, and those that create the illusion of being true to life but, in fact, are not. Very few stories (even those meticulously and faithfully based on true events) accurately reflect real life once they've been structured in a way which allows them to be communicated, because real life is far too much of a jumble for that to be possible.

5 Sci-Fi Tropes I Could Live Without

For some reason, sci-fi is just chock full of certain clichéd tropes, some of which are so very ridiculous that it frankly beggars belief that they ever became clichés. The others are just plain done to death. What follows are some of my (least) favourites.

100 Word Story: Little Thieves Are Hanged

What follows here is entirely my own work and has not been published anywhere else in the world, whether on print or online, nor do I expect it to be. And so, without further ado, I give you, LITTLE THIEVES ARE HANGED by. A Ferguson

How Many Drafts Should I Write?

Ernest Hemingway (one of the greatest writers of the modern age) pointed out, 'the first draft of anything is s***'. Now if Ernest Hemingway couldn't knock out a high quality novel on the first go, what chance have the rest of us got?

Ink and Pixel: Writers’ Edition

Last year, I wrote a post about the pros and cons of e-book readers compared to traditional paper books. Well that's all well and good for reading, but what about for writing fiction? How do you write? On paper or with a computer? These days, it's not really much of a choice. You'll have a hard time getting anything published if you don't at least type up your drafts before you send them to anyone who edits or publishes for a living and (as I recently discovered) manual typewriters are hard to come by these days.But what about in those glorious early stages, when you're still figuring out character profiles, chapter outlines and scribbling out rough zero drafts?

5 Useful Posts on Fiction Writing

Sometimes, I just can’t say it better than my fellow bloggers. I've decided, therefore, that it is time for another exciting instalment of 5 Useful Posts on Fiction Writing, where I share some of the most useful, enjoyable and insightful posts on fiction writing I've seen from other bloggers in recent weeks.As ever, there have been numerous posts I’ve read lately that I could include in this list. I read a wide variety of blogs on fiction and writing and could not even begin to list them all. This is just a selection of some that I have recently found particularly useful or enjoyable.

Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition

The day we've all been waiting for with a combination of both hope and dread is finally here. Star Trek: Discovery premieres in America today, and so, in honour of this momentous occasion (and since we Brits won't be getting it until tomorrow), I am pleased to present Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition!We’ve already had super snappy speed reviews for books (twice, in fact), TV shows and films but today it's going to be a bit different. Today I'll be reviewing all thirteen Star Trek films in order of release. As ever, these reviews only reflect my own personal opinions and impressions, phasered, disruptored and bat'lethed into just two or three sentences.

5 Types of Story Ending

Don't you just hate endings? For me, they're one of the hardest bits of the story to write, but they're also one of the most important. Your audience will (usually) put up with a fair amount of uncertainty in the middle of a story but by the time they reach the end, they want their 'i's dotted, their 't's crossed and all their questions answered. And who can blame them? They've devoted a considerable portion of their valuable time to reading/watching/listening to your story. The least we owe them is a good ending that doesn't leave them scratching their heads (or worse, venting their hatred for you on Twitter). And so, it is my pleasure to present you with a whistle stop tour of the pros and cons of five common ways to end a story. 

Writing Six Word Stories

If you've been following Penstricken for any length of time, you'll know that I appreciate the delicate art of the six word story (don't worry though, today's post isn't going to be another instalment of 6 Six Word Stories). When I first encountered this phenomenon several years ago, I wasn't sure it was possible to cram any meaningful kind of narrative into so restrictive a word limit. Even if it could be done, I wasn't convinced of its artistic or literary value.I was wrong. And really, I should've known better. Ernest Hemingway's(?) six word story about the death of a baby and the subsequent sale of his/her clothing proves that you can pack a mighty punch with very few words indeed. It's no small task, however. Some of the traditional rules of writing need to be bent or artfully re-imagined to make it work.