Steven R. Southard's Blog, page 10

Shouldn’t Fiction Writers Get Paid More?

As the old saying goes, if you want to make a small fortune by writing fiction, start with a large fortune. Spoiler alert—the answer to this post’s title question is ‘yes.’

The Problem

Fiction writers should get paid more than most of them do. Consider the loneliness of writing, the struggle to gather the right words—out of many thousands—and to arrange them in just the right order, the trepidation of submitting a manuscript, the anxious anticipation of awaiting a response, the crushing...

Good, Evil, and Beyond in Fiction

When contrary facts collide with opinions, opinions should change, but often resist. I experienced that while reading this post by author Catherine Nichols about the good guy/bad guy myth.

My Former View

Prior to reading that post, I’d thought of ancient stories and folk tales as excessively moral. Peopled with characters wholly good or bad, the old yarns instructed readers in proper moral behavior. (And the moral of the story is…) Good guy wins because he’s good—bad guy loses because h...

Oops! You Confused Your Readers

With your written words alone, you can evoke many emotions in your readers. You can mystify, fascinate, dazzle, awe, uplift, sadden, and many more. But strive not to confuse.

Consequences

Confused readers might, for a short time, give you the benefit of the doubt. Your readers might slog on a bit longer, trusting you to straighten things out, enlighten, explain.

If the confusion doesn’t get resolved soon, your trusting readers will lose trust and blame you, not themselves, for the co...

An Outline Every Writer Can Love

Ah, outlines. Some writers love ’em. Others despise ’em. In which camp do you pitch your tent?

Dilemma

In general, plotters love outlines. Plotters plan before writing, and that requires an outline, as detailed as possible. It comforts them to know where they’re going, what to write next.

In contrast, pantsers (as in writing by the seat of) abhor outlines. Too restrictive, too inhibiting. They want to write free of constraints, letting the story take them where it will. They figure ...

Warehouse of Unwritten Stories

Today we visit a warehouse, a dark and dusty place of vast dimensions. Innumerable cobwebs stretch between wall and ceiling. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of crates stand stacked in utter disorder. We’ve entered the warehouse of your unwritten stories.

Most writers don’t suffer from a lack of ideas. Story ideas spring up all the time, born from new experiences, fresh acquaintances, travels, chance meetings, TV shows, daily life, other writers’ books—from everywhere. Many authors scribble thes...

Mickey Mouse, LOTR, and Copyright

Two separate legal battles, over two different creative works, may prove instructive to the writers among you.

Recently, I blogged about the Julie and Julia Formula, where you transform a passion of yours into literary success. A workable formula, true, but you must take care to avoid the legal peril of copyright violation.

Copyright

In concept, copyright strikes a duration-specified balance between respecting the right of a creator to profit from creative work without competition, ...

Author Interview–Nancy Craig

For the first author interview of this year, I invited Nancy Craig, a writer from one of the critique groups I’m in, and she accepted. Here’s her bio:

I was born in Kansas, the first of two daughters of an Army family. Children of military families are collectively known as ‘brats’. I have lived all my adult life in Texas with the exception of eight months in Stirling, Scotland. I am a graduate of Texas Western College, now known as UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso). I am a retired sch...

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Building Memorable Characters from Details

If you, Hopeful Writer, wish to astonish the world with a fictional character whom readers can’t forget, read this post by author Anne R. Allen.

I’ll repeat some of her major points here and add a few of my own. But my post serves only as a supplement to hers, not a substitute.

She advocates creating your character through the judicious use of details—the right details. Choose details both telling and distinctive. As when describing any object or place in words, make as much use of the...

10 SciFi Predictions for 2024

Yes, my predictions prove false more often than they prove true. But as the adage goes, a scientist is blamed for one falsehood in a hundred truths, while a seer is praised for one truth in a hundred falsehoods. So give this seer a break, will ya?

It’s all a matter of hitting on the right method. I’ve tried crystal balls, tea leaves, tarot cards, astrology, and palmistry, but none of those worked. This year, I realized I should turn to our modern-day version of the Oracle of Delphi—ChatGPT...