Monthly Archives: April 2005

lists Thirty-Two Statements About Writing, which are thought-provoking. (via ) This one: 14. Language is more important than you think. It is not a tool, it is, in the end, the sum of literature. Language has a taste, a texture, … Continue reading →

Limyaael’s rant on distinctive minor characters: http://www.livejournal.com/users/limyaael/383016.html One of the things I am doing in this revision is getting rid of or reducing the roles of many of the minor characters.

The snowflake method for novel writing has generated some discussion on rec.arts.sf.composition. It definitely does’t work for me (I can’t plan much at all), but parts of it work nicely for organizing revisions between drafts. Basically, the idea is to … Continue reading →

If anyone has not read ‘s post on sentence-level crafting, do so. That’s one of the big things I’m working on now, getting rid of the scaffolding and weasel words and using non-literal techniques.

Karen Traviss on the tough life of a full-time writer: I’m sitting here with a pot of tea reading Dark Horse comics for homework. Honestly, isn’t there a trade union I can join to stop this kind of brutal exploitation?

Limyaael has an excellent post on the “designated love interest”. I think I have sucessfully avoided these problems, perhaps.

What’s in a Name? reconfirms for me that my plan to have other people examine my characters’ names is a good one, because I don’t have the linguistic and historical knowledge necessary. I can make pronouncable names, spellable names, but … Continue reading →

Holly Black on things authors worry about: http://www.livejournal.com/users/blackholly/50626.html