I love studying the way different authors, filmmakers, and artists represent various kinds of characters, so why not share my conclusions with you? Sharing makes these things much more fun. Let’s start with psychopaths. There are so many to choose from, but I have two particular ones in mind, and they’re not from books. My […]
From the title, All That Heaven Allows (1955) sounds a bit soppy, but there’s much more to this than the title suggests. In fact, this movie is loaded with symbolism and social critique from quite a lot of varied angles. On the surface, here’s what we see: widow Cary has two children getting ready to graduate […]
I am a HUGE fan of symbolism in every artistic medium. I always look for it in literature and movies specifically, and I always include it in my writing, no matter how short the piece is. Symbolism is an essential part of my work, and the great thing about it is that a reader can […]
The other day I had a Twitter convo with a couple of lovely writer tweeps, @Darlow_Life and @GarethBoucher, and we ended up collaborating on a very silly mini story that was SO much fun to play around with. It all came from @Darlow_Life’s idea of mixing my upcoming Victorian-era novel, Anatomy of a Darkened Heart, with […]
I’ve really taken to having writing weekends, but especially weekends away, if possible, so that I can have different surroundings than I’m used to and get inspired. This month I’m going to be staying in a bed and breakfast room that has Victorian era-style wallpaper! Perfect inspiration – you’ll see why below. I’ll be seeing some friends […]
Exciting news: I’m starting a new series on my YouTube channel called Writer’s Takeaway, and the first video is already up! In each episode, I’ll talk about what writers can learn from reading any particular book, fiction or nonfiction, that I have recently finished. The takeaway can be anything from writing style tips to dialogue technique to plot tightening, […]
Have you heard of Write On by Amazon yet? Writer friend Brian Basham (@ninjadueces22) recently mentioned the soon-to-come service in his Goodreads group, Author Superfriends Teamup, and I’d never heard of it. Apparently it’s Amazon’s answer to Wattpad – in fact, it’s pretty much the same thing. Right now it’s in beta testing mode, and writers and readers […]
If you’re a writer and you have a blog or a YouTube channel, I tag you to do a post or a video and tell your fellow writers what you keep by you when you write. Share the link to your post in the comments here so we can connect and discover some new ideas. Then tag […]
As you may have seen in my Inspirational Objects video, I LOVE old keys. They are immensely inspirational to me. Not only does my NaNoWriMo novel take place in Victorian times, but keys are going to play a large part in the storyline. I promised to show my collection, so here is some of it: […]
There’s only one day to go until NaNoWriMo kicks off, and I’m finding myself torn. Half of me is really excited and can’t wait to get started. The creative juices are definitely flowing! The other half actually feels nervous, something I never expected. I keep thinking I should have done more research before this point, […]