author
Ideas come in many shapes and sizes. Some need the room afforded by a full novel to be explored. Others work better in shorter forms. It's common enough wisdom that short stories can be harder to write than novels, but it's worth exploring why. A novel is a world that your readers will live in …
Continue reading "Short Story or Novel? The First Tricky Decision"
When was the last time you had to make a big decision in your life? Was it easy? Was there one specific reason why you made the decision you did, or were you conflicted, with several factors pulling you in different directions? Typically real human beings are under the constant sway of multiple urges, desires, …
The premise of your story is fantastic, and the characters are well-defined. Yet something seems missing. Your plot is just going through the motions, or maybe the central challenge of the story just seems too easy for the characters to overcome. It's not... bad, it's just not exciting. Or funny. Or stirring. It's too straightforward …
Continue reading "Trouble Your Darlings: Bringing Life to Pallid Plots"
I want to talk about the way time functions inside a story--specifically within prose fiction. It's all about subjectivity. This may be the crucial difference between books and movies, actually. Time is a director's medium--in a movie time can be measured in footage, in actual minutes of runtime. You know how long it will take …
For Valentine's day, I thought I'd write down a few thoughts on one of the hardest things in fiction--writing effective love stories. This is one of those things that's so much easier to do in a screenplay. Of course Trinity falls in love with Neo--have you seen him? He looks just like Keanu Reeves! In …
There are days when you just can't write. You can have the world's best idea, be sitting in the world's best writing chair... and nothing comes. When it feels like every sentence you put down just takes you farther from what you wanted to say. And you know what? Sometimes there is no solution, except …
Everyone knows that your characters need to go through arcs. They need to change, or grow, or learn a lesson, or discover something about themselves before the story's over. Don't believe it. Plenty of great stories are led by static characters. Most writing guides will insist that every character you create needs to be dynamic …
There are, of course, an infinite number of ways to write a book. In these articles I've been outlining how I do it, because that's what I know to write about, but there are no binding rules, no arbitrary guidelines. That said, there are some structural... suggestions that can benefit almost any writer. Stories can …
What's the difference between a soap opera and a Greek tragedy? Both are fictional stories about the suffering of likeable, or at least attractive, heroes. There is an inevitability to their plots--they're not necessarily formulaic, but everyone can pretty much see where things are headed. Neither of them promises nor delivers a happy ending. Yet …
DAVID WELLINGTON 
You must be logged in to post a comment.