Words    Words    Words

I had a friend email me with a cool question: How do you let the reader in on something the first person protagonist doesn’t?
I know it’s tricky, and I know it can be done, and I know it’s a rush when you pull it off.  My answer involved set-up: You establish the character as someone [...]

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I”ve just written a scene for my current project in which my viewpoint character goes on a rant about being at peace with one’s self, expressing disdain for the concept.  I finished it, looked at it, and said, “Wait.  I’ve written this already.” Was that my imagination, or did I actually write that scene? [...]

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I’ve sold a short-short called “Mira” to Sword and Sorceress #25, scheduled to be out in November.  Sword and Sorceress was Emma Bull’s first sale, and, as Emma is one of my heroes (no, I’m not kidding), I’ve always wanted to have a story in that anthology.  I’m delighted.   The story came out of a [...]

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I’m on the last chapter of Tiassa, and I want to take a moment to thank Alexx Kay for his timeline, Mark Mandel for Cracks and Shards, and everyone who has been maintaining the Dragaera Wiki; these resources have been especially useful over the last couple of days.

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After several conversations with Reesa, what I think is the last chunk of Tiassa has fallen into place well enough that I can see where I’m going.  I think.  Maybe.  For the moment.  So I believe I’m on track to finish it.   I have noticed that, with each of the last several books, I have [...]

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Among the many and ongoing interesting discussions at our home, we’ve been talking about the concept we’re calling “internal logic” for a character. Internal logic here means that, among other things:  an action that to an outside observer appears irrational, wrong, or evil, from the internal viewpoint of the character will be a justified, logical, [...]

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To all writers, and especially TV writers, just thought you should know that the riff where someone says, “I have something important to tell you,” and then gets interrupted before being able to tell it, is now played out.  In fact, it was played out the first time it was used.  If your goal is [...]

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It’s been pointed out to me that I’ve been slacking off on giving progress reports.
Tiassa is being difficult.  Between conversations with Reesa and with Neil, I’ve been convinced to try something a bit challenging.  I think it’s going to be really cool if it works, but at the moment I’m beating my head against it [...]

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I just sent the following to JonathonFrid.com, and thought I may as well share it here as well:
Back in 1993, I published my 12th novel, AGYAR, my only vampire novel.  I was one of those kids who raced home from school to catch Dark Shadows at 3:30.  Until recently, when I’ve been watching DS again, [...]

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I think that I shall never love
A play as much as the all-in shove.
When I just smile and hitch my belt
And take myself down to the felt,
Then lean back, say something funny,
Like, “Call this if you don’t like money.”
My opponent weighs my expression bland:
How much does he like his hand?
The mound of chips that I [...]

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