By now, we know roughly who and what the story is going to be about, and where it’s going to take place. Now we need to work out who is going to do what, and in what order. It’s important…
Monthly Archives: August 2014
Building a Chronology
Tagged with: Chronology, John Cleese, Outline, Planning, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
The Cliché Detector
Now we have a basic framework for the story, standing on the three legs of the story tripod. Before going any further, we need to engage the cliché detector. This is a piece of mental equipment that’s extremely valuable to…
Tagged with: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cliché detector, Planning, Story development, tropes
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
The Story Tripod: Ideas to Framework
The first step is the hardest. Every writer I know is buzzing with ideas. Even the ones that haven’t written anything yet. Of all the writing difficulties I’ve ever heard aired, I don’t think ‘I haven’t got any ideas’ once.…
Tagged with: Characters, Ideas, Planning, Plot, Setting, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Writing
Posted in Story development, Writing
On Short Story Development
People keep asking me how I develop a story. Recently, I’ve listened to myself droning on the subject often enough that I feel the need to post a few things here. That’s what writers do with their thoughts, after all. If…
Spookmoth
The news is slightly belated, but Spookmoth was published in the inaugural issue of Wicked Words Quarterly back in June. Many thanks to the editor, Stephen Baird, and here’s hoping that issue marks the birth of a venerable publication. There’s a…
Tagged with: magazine, science fiction, short story, Spookmoth, Wicked Words Quarterly
Posted in Publishing news
Posted in Publishing news
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