Category: Articles and Essays
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Of Sword Fights, The Himalayas, And so on… And so on…
Have you ever watched a scene from a movie where two sword fighters are going at it? And then they begin to move up the stairs, one sword fighter, moving in reverse up the incline of the steps, danger closing in, his back against the wall of conflict? Remember how you felt? Your chest growing…
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Protected: Of Pacing, Tension and the All-Important Artistry of Holding the Reader’s Attention…a
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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Of “Android Karenina,” Content, and the Ability to Imagine…
“Imitate form, not content. The tendency to imitate form and not content seems to relate directly to talent.” –Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers The present world of fiction sees many young writers interweaving the works of previous writers into the young author’s new creation. I…
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Of Writing, Cinema, and What Only Books Can Provide…
Hay-on-Wye Cinema Bookshop “If books merely convey plots and characters why in the age of cinema read a book? What can books give us that movies can’t? In two words: beautiful writing?“ —Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers I diligently pondered this question while working my…
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Of Reversals, Plausible Endings and the Artistry of Thwarting Expectations…
“A successful resolution thwart the our expectation; it doesn’t (fully) satisfy them.”—-Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers Reversals sit at the heart of a successful resolution. And since novels consist of a continual list of crises fostered by a string of obstacles, both physical and human…
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Of Writing, Integrity and The Company We Keep…
“When we set out to judge—ridicule pillory, condemn, sneer at or…impugn our characters–we fail at our objective. Instead of making our characters look bad we make ourselves suspect.” —-Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers We are known by the company we keep. In the case of…
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Of Plot, Authenticity, and Knowing Who We Are…
“A story should generate it’s own actions and emotions organically…A story should be authentic…made of stuff that has never been appropriated from other forms of narrative art…other stories…movies or television. Or it has it should be sufficiently re-processed through the author’s unique sensibilities so the resulting work has its own authenticity.” –Peter Selgin, 179 Ways…