Writing

  1. Musings on Fritz Leiber

    Here's a rather massive paragraph from the beginning of the book Witches of the Mind by Bruce Byfield, a critical assessment of the overall literary achievements of Fritz Leiber: "In Fritz Leiber and Eyes, the best effort to define an approach so far, Justin Leiber (Fritz's son) takes this diversity (of his influences) for granted. "Fritz simply likes to write a lot of different kinds of things," he explains. "And if half of them are ahead of their time or behind their time or so far out in...
  2. Time, time, time

    On our neighborhood walks my wife and I used to walk past a big old deciduous tree (as I recall, though it may have been a pine). A couple years back, though, it dropped its biggest branch and some others in a storm, and the property owners had it removed. All of it, stump and all. This year when we walked past that spot, there is absolutely no indication that the tree was ever there. Once the next generation of property owners move in, no one will recall that tree. It existed, but now...
  3. A Phantom for My Opera?

    Some days when I doubt myself and my abilities to write I think of employing a ghost writer. But in a bit of a different setup. I will write the first draft and then the potential ghost writer can refine it to a readable/enjoyable state. I love storytelling, and I love the creative process. But my produce just isn't up to par most of the time. Training is like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. I read, I watch, I practice... I learn? Yeah, sometimes I do learn. But I will continue to...
  4. Clarity, Power, and Discovery in Writing

    This is actually stuff I've known and been doing (and promoting in here) for a long time. I usually talk about it in relation to journaling and what I call 'writing about a story before you write the story.' In each case they're ways of exploring, structuring, and developing your thoughts about a subject. You can also do that in freewriting if you keep it to a subject and don't just slap down pure gibberish (which is an extreme form of freewriting). I often start a writing session with some...
  5. A way to explain the Dunning Kruger effect

    Put simply, the Dunning Kruger effect says: Beginners are unable to see that their work isn't as good as the work of more skilled artists. First to dispell a very common misunderstanding—it doesn't mean they're stupid. It just means they haven't learned certain things yet. I first ran up against this in drawing, and I think using some visual aids can help get the principle across clearly. One of the ways I've heard it put best is by drawing instructor Robert Beverly Hale in one of his...
  6. The Wagon

    When I was around 12 years old we lived at the far edge of a large city, where the houses on land lately-wrested from farms being pushed aside by housing developments. Across the street from our house was a cornfield still being farmed, and beyond those some rolling hills used for grazing cattle. Those cattle were owned by a nearby convent, where the nuns had made a living by leasing the land out. I'm not Catholic and never knew much about the place, but it had been there for years and...
  7. Beginnings...

    I've begun to write again... Let's see what happens.
  8. Military Youth Camp Days

    When I was a teenager I attended a week long military youth camp. There I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I sucked at guiding an airplane bomb run. (I bombed the wrong city. In theory, not practice.) I got to shoot a .22 long. A cartridge got stuck in the loading mechanism, I thought something was wrong so I raised my hand and the instructor came. He just used force to guide the cartridge into where it was supposed to be. I thought the damn thing would explode in my face if I used...
  9. If a flamingo gets in your yard

    If a flamingo gets in your yard If a flamingo gets in your yard, don’t shoo it away. There’s no need to fear. Cautiously approach, and take some time to really notice it. Pink is a comforting colour, after all. There’s an elegance in their long necks and long legs. Appreciate how it is formed. If there are two flamingos, even better. When the two of them get together, beak to beak, and breast and breast, they make a heart, and we all know what that means. If a flamingo gets in your yard,...
  10. Something to say?

    Must a writer always have some underlying message in their fictional works? Or can they exist as mere entertainment and information? I don't know. Personally, I write to entertain and bring people to another reality, another universe. But even if I don't consciously implement messages, they are still there. In the shadows of my words. There is a suicide in one of my works and it seems portrayed like a pointless death. So, is that my eternal message about suicides? Not at all. I hold no...
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