Reading as a Writer

Since my official topic here is learning about writing from what I reading, I found a lot to think about in the latest Writing Excuses about Reading Critically, not as a critic, though, but as a writer.

Beginnings are hard

I think I’m making a bit of headway with that beginning that’s giving me so much trouble, but I’ve had a couple of those days where you look at the screen in utter despair because it’s boring and no one will get past that first page and nothing you’ve done has fixed it and there’s […]

Flaws and Growth

I’ve been working my way through listening to the podcast, Writing Excuses, and an episode that got me thinking is their discussion of Flaws & Handicaps. After defining flaws as internal and handicaps as external, they talked about how flaws can drive comedy and how handicaps can create constraints that define the story. But the […]

Capturing ideas

Where do ideas come from? There’s all sorts of answers to that question, or refusals to answer, but it’s really pretty simple. For example, in the podcast Writing Excuses, the first episode makes some interesting observations about when ideas come to you and how to capture them.