Playing with Writing A writer who wants to write good stuff needs to read great stuff. Ursula LeGuin says in her book Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story. The book is a guide for writers. Each exercise is prefaced by examples from writers followed by a writing exercise following…
Five Rules Make it Easy for Readers to Post Reviews
The Five Rules for a Book Review For authors getting book reviews is a big hurdle. Often even your loyalist fans who love your book are intimidated to actually post a review. Make it simple for them. Whenever you can, assure your readers that they don’t need to be brilliant, or write a long…
Mystery Outline Template
Master Mystery Outline Template I am using Story Shop to create a master outline template for mysteries. The software is still in development stage with a generic outline. The developers have plans for outline templates in the future, but in the interim while the software is in beta testing, I decided to create my own…
The Author Behind The Story: Interview
First Author Interview My first author interview. I am excited. Thanks so much to fellow author Katherine Hayton for inviting me to interview for her website. Enjoy the interview. If you have any questions, get in touch zara@zaraaltair.com. I love talking with readers and other authors. Zara Altair – The Used VirginPlease tell us a bit about…
Ancient Hooligans Fought Over Religion
Factions for a Time Today football (soccer) fans go wild in the street causing disruption, injury, and even death. Every era has its fanatics. In the time of Theoderic religious interpretations of the nature of Christ caused the same kind of eruptions. My favorite fictional description is from Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague deCamp, a…
StoryShop: Better Stories Faster, Beta Test
StoryShop for Planning a Novel The beta version of StoryShop, an online application for building a story, is out. The aim of the application? Here’s what the creators have to say. The better you know your characters, your plot’s key points, and your world before you start writing, the better and faster the story will pour…
80% of Story Research Doesn’t Show
Research is Background, Not the Story Historical research, especially for a time when not much original material from the period survives, can be daunting. At any given time my desktop may be covered with notebooks, maps, and reference books. Or I may be looking at a collection of photos I took at the Domus dei…
New Beginning: Writing after a long hiatus
Jumping Back into Writing Over a year ago I thought I was moving and packed up most of my books. Now I’m finally in my new home and slowly unpacking as I manage various contractors to bring the house up to safety and comfortable living standards. Although I kept my notes and some research papers,…