Book Release Day: Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After

Happy Halloween and Happy Book Release Day for Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After! Blurb: When it comes to fairy tales, there are plenty of things that go bump in the night. Things so morbid and grotesque, so sinister and diabolical, they haunt your imagination; warnings from generations past that still manage to …

Thoughts on Mythic Structure: Crossing the First Threshold

This is Part 4 of my series on monomyth, or the hero's journey. 1. Crossing the first threshold is the transition from Act 1 to Act 2 of your story. Up to this point, your hero is still connected to her ordinary world. In many models of mythic structure, the first part of the story …

Cover Reveal: Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After

Last year I took part in Project REUTSway, a writing competition that had writers twist classic fairy tales with horror elements. Two of my stories--"Earlobe" and "Deadman's Ball"--were chosen for an anthology entitled Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After. Today is the cover reveal! Blurb: When it comes to fairy tales, there are …

The Illogical Protagonist and Why Your Story Needs One

In the movie The Godfather, two characters in the opening scenes are presented as possible protagonists: Vito Corleone, the presumptive title character, who from the first scene is shown as the powerful head of a Mafia family. Sonny Corleone, his hot-headed son, has been groomed as his father's successor and loves the Mafia life. On …

Thoughts on Mythic Structure: The Meeting with the Mentor

This is Part 3 in my series on mythic structure, or the hero’s journey. 1. Even though this stage of the journey is positioned after The Call to Adventure and The Refusal of the Call, the Meeting with the Mentor can happen at any point in the story. It is common for the hero to …

The Strong Female Character: I Do Not Think That Means What Some People Think It Means

I recently started watching the new TV series Outlander, based on the popular books by Diana Gabaldon. I have never read the books. The series sounded like something I might enjoy, about a woman who time-travels to 18th Century Scotland.After watching two episodes, I'm already done with it.I see people raving about the show on …

Thoughts on Mythic Structure: The Call to Adventure & Refusal of the Call

This is Part 2 in my series on mythic structure, or the hero's journey. I am combining the next two stages of the hero's adventure, The Call to Adventure and Refusal of the Call, because they are so closely connected. 1. The call to adventure is issued by the herald archetype. This may be personified …

7 Tips For Creating Memorable Characters

Had a mishap in the kitchen this weekend and am nursing a mild burn, so I didn’t get around to writing a blog post. I’m reblogging this oldie. Hope you enjoy!

MOON IN GEMINI

1. Don’t become over-dependent on character charts. I’ll be honest. I’m not a fan of character charts. I don’t think a lot of the information on them is necessary for creating (or for a writer “getting a grip” on) characters. No one cares how many freckles or moles your character has, or what the character’s favorite flavor of ice cream is, or that the dog they had when they were growing up was a poodle named Muffy, or what job they had when they were 17, unless a detail like that is critical to the story.

The worst thing about character charts is some people fill them out and think they’re done creating their characters.

If you feel that character charts are helpful, by all means, use them. Just realize when you finish one that you’re not done, you’ve only just begun.

2. That said, details are important.  Without…

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My Project REUTSway Runner-up Story is Now Live on Their Blog!

Last November I participated in REUTS Publications' contest Project REUTSway. Each week, writers were given a prompt to use to retell a fairy tale. Each prompt was a supernatural creature (vampires, zombies, demons and werewolves). Two out of the three stories I submitted were chosen for an anthology, which will be published at a later …

#10Queries Hashtag on Twitter Reveals 10 Common Reasons for Rejection

As writers, we sometimes (maybe most of the time) feel as though agents and editors are our natural enemies, rejecting work unfairly. They live to keep the truly talented from succeeding, the thinking goes. That's because most of us have never had to deal with the slush piles at publishing houses and literary agencies. On …

Thoughts on Mythic Structure: The Ordinary World

Now that I've finished my series about archetypes, I am beginning a new one about mythic structure. Mythic structure is also known as "monomyth" and even more commonly as the hero's journey. Mythologist Joseph Campbell described monomyth in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Film development executive Chris Vogler adapted and simplified many …

7 Reasons Twitter Pitches Don’t Work

One of the great social media tools for writers is the ability to pitch our work directly to editors and agents via Twitter. It's rude and unprofessional to pitch to them directly via Twitter or any other social media (this is considered spam, people). However, there are Twitter pitch events every now and then where …

My Writing Process Blog Tour

I have been nominated by author Sandra Danby to participate in the Writing Process Blog Tour. Sandra's first novel Ignoring Gravity is about two pairs of sisters linked by a generation of secrets. It is currently available for pre-order. Sandra also has a lovely blog about living in rural Andalusia, Spain called Notes on a …

Tips For Creating A Great Beginning To Your Story

It’s been another busy weekend, so I’ve pulled this up from the archives! Will have a fresh post next week for sure!

MOON IN GEMINI

1. Start just before something is going to happen, in the middle of something happening, or right after something has happened.  There’s a term in screenwriting called “landing in the scene on roller skates.” This is a great way to start a story. Basically, create a situation for your characters and throw them right into it.

You can even create a beginning where all three things are going on. When Stephen King’s The Stand starts something has already happened (an accident at a government facility has released a deadly flu virus) something is in the middle of happening (a guard at the facility manages to get to his house and grab his family so they can escape before the place is shut down completely) and something is about to happen (after they escape, the guard and his family will spread the deadly virus across half the country before they die…

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Dumbledore Was A Manipulative Bastard (And You Should Be One, Too)

Hi, not feeling so great this weekend, so I dug up this from the archives. Hope you enjoy!

MOON IN GEMINI

SPOILERS FOR THE HARRY POTTER SERIES AND PSYCHO FOLLOW (in case you’re the one person on earth who is unfamiliar with them):

HBO has been running the movie Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 a lot lately.  Since it’s my favorite of the Harry Potter movies, I’ve watched it several times.

Love it.  A perfect ending to a great series.

One thing struck me on multiple viewings that hadn’t during all the years of reading the books and watching the movies:

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was a manipulative bastard.

I cried like everyone else when he was killed by Snape in Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.  You better believe I did.  For the longest time I didn’t want to believe he was dead.

But watching the last movie–wow.  It struck me that Dumbledore was a puppet-master like few others.  As Snape put it, he raised Harry “up for…

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