Reading and Writing FictionSo here’s a problem I’m sure other writers have run into. Which person, first or third, works best? I suppose it depends on the writer and what’s being written, but for mystery writers, person poses a problem since people have different perspectives. Here’s where I run into just that kind of situation. Let’s say I’m […]
We use the verb “to be” a lot mostly because it’s easier than looking around for a verb that’s more accurate. But “to be” is a passive verb; it doesn’t do anything but join parts of a sentence together. Take this sentence: “The road was wet and shiny.” It provides information, sure, but it’s a […]
I was listening to the radio a while ago and heard a writer talking about plotting a novel, a crime novel. He stressed the fact that he wrote out scene details on pieces of paper, different colours for different sub plots, and stuck them up all over the walls of the room he wrote in. […]
Narrative is simply the flow of time in a novel or short story. Sounds simple, but it’s not really. Writers can shrink time, stretch it out, make it bigger (more significant), make it smaller (less significant), fracture it, bend it, turn it upon itself, and so on. Writers can do whatever they want with time […]