Tag Archives: Writing

The Problem of the Charge

Writing, , ,

“See the enemy? It’s that group over there. They are armed with high-powered, long-range weapons, and they are trained to use them. But we know a great secret! The secret of The Charge. Yes, we shall assemble our forces in a large concentrated mass, and charge them head-on! And win!” 

charge_blogpost_darkknightrisesSaid no military commander after World War I (unless in a very specific situation where the enemy is completely unequipped to handle it), however every Hollywood director with a boner for the classic cavalry charge did. And sure, as a shock tactic utilized by a well-trained military force this can still work in real life. But in movies (and some books), it’s still viewed as the great equalizer. The opposition might be stronger, but our hearts and minds will prevail over their physical strength. Sorry… Skill beats will every time. Continue reading The Problem of the Charge →

Three Things a Novel Should Never Do

Writing,

Nothing throws me off reading a work of fiction than poor writing. Of all the crap you throw at a reader, the following three are probably among the worst literary sins I can imagine.

Facepalm
Even statues facepalm at bad writing. From Tuileries Gardens, picture from Wikipedia.

Point Number 1: Be Totally Predictable

A novel should never be predictable. Of course, there are genre conventions to be taken into consideration, expectations to certain themes or types of narratives, series of actions and developments that are inevitable or cannot reasonably be changed without serious changes to established reality or continuity. Continue reading Three Things a Novel Should Never Do →

The Deification of Books

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20130622_132048Books influence my reality. Or at least my perception of reality. It becomes more intensely packed with potential excitement, packed with elements of joy and hope, and sorrow and shock, and promises to fill me with truth. The content of any given book might not be the truth in a philosophical sense, but the book itself and the printed letters inside promise something that is true. Whether it’s true, as in aligned with reality, is a different question. It’s the inherent a promise that resonates with my inner self. Continue reading The Deification of Books →

Enter the Sucker Punch!

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I wrote a fight (no relation to this cinematic travesty). It was a good fight; a highly stylised action sequence, gorgeously executed in prose, our protagonist cutting through swathes of cookie cutter henchmen with the grace of Summer Glau and the efficiency of Germans.

It was masterful. It was epic.It was fraking boring. Continue reading Enter the Sucker Punch! →

Writing Challenges

Writing, , , , ,

keep-calm-and-continue-writing-39I recently incorporated a Daily Writing Challenge to boost my creativity and daily output. And yes, I apologize for the lack of posts since Christmas, but personal issues, travel and reevaluating the direction of my life kinda took up a lot of time and energy, so the blog went on the back burner for a while. That while ended today.The concept of a Daily Writing challenge is to try and work with as many aspects of the written word as possible, to gain insight into different perspectives,prose, genre and sub genres, types of narratives, with the purpose of building skill, understanding and enhancing the creative juices. Continue reading Writing Challenges →

The Muse Myth

Writing, , , , ,
20131130_145519_Richtone(HDR)
Click me for inspiration!

I recently met someone who considered the idea of being able to write creatively on demand, i.e. without being inspired, at set times or in any (reasonable) location, was somehow wrong. Not only that it is impossible to attain the correct “attitude” or “mindset” to writing, but that creativity is something more esoteric that flows into you when you least expect it. And by now I know, that is simply not the case. There is no real secret to writing. Sure, there is research to be done, structure to be built and writing blocks to be destroyed with giant metal hammers infused with the souls of old typewriters; but the act of creating a work of fiction, an article or a proper blog post comes out of the writer’s knowledge, experience and skill. And you can build those. Continue reading The Muse Myth →

Book Project Announcement: “Dave’s Hammer”

Book Project, News, , , ,

Yes, I realized today that I haven’t posted to this blog for a full six months and, to be fair, I have not been too busy. I could have posted maybe once a month and maybe those post would have contained some smidgen of genius (or rot considering the source), but no. Work, freelancing, running (a lot of running) and desperately pursuing other fascinating projects, left me with little energy to keep my creative writing up. Time, yes. Energy, no.

So what to do about it now?

daves_hammerLet’s use the blog for something else. Maybe I should blog about the world or post more shorts, but for now it will serve as my “I Am Writing” outlet. So here is the announcement, official and everything, of my new writing project. I call it “Dave’s Hammer”.

“Dave’s Hammer” is my first real attempt (because I made it official here) at writing a full length novel with the first draft finish some time before Christmas Eve. Its an ambitious deadline, but since its a first draft and I will be using the Nanowrimo month as motivation to work on it, I feel it an appropriate time frame.

A here comes the promise: 

To keep myself accountable and motivated, I will post here every Monday about my progress (or lack of it), what obstacles I’m facing, what challenges I feel overwhelmed by and maybe post a snippet or two of actual finished text here. I solemnly swear to work hard and kick ass, not loose my place too often and to not give up until the thing is done. Even it takes me well into next year.

Lets us begin then:

Working Title: Dave’s Hammer.

Current Word Count: 4013 (hopefully more by bedtime).

Goal for next Monday: 5000 new words.

Wish me luck, an infusion of pure creative genius, lots of coffee and an attitude of sheer bloody mindedness. Couldn’t hurt!