The Quest world is the externalisation of the character’s desires. In terms of the One Page Novel, it’s the WANT/GOAL/NEED become visible, and may have no direct relation to the Resolution state. You’re probably familiar with Kurt Vonnegut’s third rule of writing, which is that, “every character should want something, even if it is only… Read More
“Consistency is key” gets touted a lot — but what about allowing yourself to be drawn aside from futile action? what about listening to your intuition and finding the quickest path? what about not always exchanging actions for results? what about remembering actions that have their own rewards? what about the leverage that doesn’t require… Read More
Rejecting the paths of others is all very well, but there’s still an art to feeling out your own path. It’s a very simple process, and the most successful heroines use it instinctively, all the time. Take, for example, Jane Eyre: And now I felt that it was not enough; I tired of the routine… Read More
Myriorama cards are slices of landscape paintings that can be arranged in any order to form continuous scenes. They were invented in the early 19th century by the French artist, Jean-Pierre Brès, as a genteel amusement and an aid to practice drawing composition. I first heard Sir Philip Pullman recommend them for writing inspiration in his BBC… Read More
The new His Dark Materials TV series started today! But that’s no excuse to shirk our writing duties… especially if, like me, you’re currently engaged in writing 50,000 words a month for NaNoWriMo. Complete this word crawl to enjoy Northern Lights (and your own story) in a new light… What is a word crawl? A… Read More