Michael E. Henderson's Blog: Henderson's The Literary Man, page 2

"The Hunger Games": Review and Analysis

 

I know I’m late to the game on this one, but I decided to read it, and it warrants a review and analysis. This post is kind of long, but if you’re interested in learning something about writing from a famous book, hang in there. My main purpose is to critique the book from the standpoint of a writer.

As a reader, the book was moderately entertaining, fast-paced, and had everything a reader would want, particularly teenage girls, to whom the thing is geared. From that standpoint, it’s easy...

Kindle Paperwhite Browser Issue

Here's an update on my Kindle Paperwhite. I still love it, but I had a problem with the browser. The browser is almost useless, but it does have some functionality, and should work. I could not find a fix on the internet or on the Amazon site, and Amazon "customer service" is totally unresponsive. I thought maybe I had to reset it, but I dreaded that, so I fooled with it until I figured it out.

When I tried to load a website (this one, actually) the Web and Google portions of the browser lock...

Three Phrases to Avoid

Whether you are writing fiction, non-fiction, a business letter, a legal brief, or anything else, there are three phrases you should avoid. Two of them make you sound like an idiot, and one of them is unnecessary.

One: “Reached out.”

There are times when this childish phrase may have application, such as its variant, “outreach.” One can reach out to a troubled person and try to help them. Fine. But the phrase has somehow come into fashion, particularly with journalists, to replace the words...

Story Structure in a Movie: When Trumpets Fade

 

 

One great place to study story structure is by watching and analyzing movies. Although novels don’t need to follow the structure as closely as screenplays do, it’s still instructive, and the closer your novel does follow this structure, the better off you’ll be. It’s also a good idea to try to achieve the same structure in your novel as you see in movies.

For this analysis, I’m doing one you can presently see in its entirety on YouTube. I will provide an Amazon link to it in the even...

How to Punctuate Dialogue

The greatest technical issue I’ve come across recently on Critique Circle, is that many people do not know how to punctuate dialogue. It’s a new problem, and is widespread. If you want to be a writer, though, it’s basic to the craft, and there is no flexibility. And it’s quite simple.

A section of dialogue consists of up to three elements. A gesture and/or expression; the quote; and a dialogue tag. Some may have all three, some may have only one. Let’s consider them each.

Dialogue Tags in Gen...

On Writing Science Fiction: The Speed of Light

I like writing space opera. Space opera (for me) requires interstellar space travel. Any meaningful interstellar space travel requires that the characters be able to travel between points in the universe that are hundreds of millions or even billions of light years apart in the course of several hours. That means they must go faster than the speed of light. A lot faster. Hundreds of millions or even billions of times faster.

But I read an article recently on NPR where it discussed being...

Announcing Abstract Art Adult Coloring Book

I'm happy to announce publication of my Abstract Art Adult Coloring Book. It's based on my paintings and is unique as to the nature of the images. Get it now on CreateSpace, and soon to be available on Amazon.

Not a Book Review: "Closing Time," by Joseph Heller

This is not a book review because I could not get through the book. It’s more of an analysis of what I did read of the book from the point of view of a writer.

This book is the sequel to “Catch 22,” the iconic anti-war novel. “Closing Time” follows the same characters many years later. For example, Yossarian is 68 years old.

 

I like Heller’s writing in general, but I had a few issues with this book, and from these a few writing-related lessons can be learned.

Old Men and no meaningful Women...

Book Review and Analysis: "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins

I know I’m late to the game on this one, but I decided to read it, and it warrants a review and analysis. This post is kind of long, but if you’re interested in learning something about writing from a famous book, hang in there. My main purpose is to critique the book from the standpoint of a writer.

As a reader, the book was moderately entertaining, fast-paced, and had everything a reader would want, particularly teenage girls, to whom the thing is geared. From that standpoint, it’s easy t...

Three Phrases to Avoid

Whether you are writing fiction, non-fiction, a business letter, a legal brief, or anything else, there are three phrases you should avoid. Two of them make you sound like an idiot, and one of them is unnecessary.

One: “Reached out.” 

There are times when this childish phrase may have application, such as its variant, “outreach.” One can reach out to a troubled person and try to help them. Fine. But the phrase has somehow come into fashion, particularly with journalists, to replace the words “...