Saving character ideas: Villain
I have multiple documents to save interesting story, scene, and character ideas. To save a character, I write a character sketch and backstory. The character sketch describes the character's appearance, personality, and sometimes motivations and skills. The backstory explains how he or she became that way. Often, however, a character is born out of an...Continue reading
Writing When Sleepy
Some weeks, I get way too much REM sleep and way too little deep sleep. Dreams blend one into the next all night long, and I wake up tired in the morning. This is one of those weeks. Let’s talk about writing while sleepy. Stephen King said, “Writing is refined thinking.” When you’re not thinking...Continue reading
Magic Realism Short Story: Anomaly
Magic realism lends itself to short stories. The best short stories pinpoint one particular challenge or concept; writers of magical realism use the uncanny to put their topic under a microscope. They add something inexplicable to the real world and then try to understand how it would realistically affect people and society. What if the...Continue reading