Category: Articles and Essays
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Mythic Structure and Story
All stories consist of a few common elements. These elements constitute all stories, fairy tales, dreams, movies, and myths. These elements also form what Christopher Vogler describes in The Writer’s Journey–Mythic Structure for Writers, as The Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey becomes not only a universal myth for human kind, but also offers a blueprint…
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The Writer and The Temple
—Green my life and remove my sorrows. The picture is stunning. But it was the words underneath that caught my attention.The relationship between global warming and fiction writing may not present as clear.
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Conflict and Desire
Conflict arises from a character seeking to achieve a goal and encountering an obstacle along the way. Another way of looking at this is CHARACTER + GOAL = CONFLICT. It is most helpful, when writing a story, if you can define the character’s goal in physical terms. But what if your protagonist desires love?
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Character, Goals and Obstacles
A writer has three questions she or he must answer before or when beginning a story. Who is my protagonist? What does she or he want? And what is getting in her or his way? Each of these aspects delivers an important component of story. Together they create a force that propels plot. A story…
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Change for the Sake of Change
I recently attended a book clubs summit where, for a weekend, participants gathered to meet and greet writers from around the country. Authors signed books and thanked readers for support of our work and artistry between giving individual talks, and participating in panel discussions with other writers.
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Shadow, Self, and The Other
“A vast majority of our [violent] crimes [that take place within the United States] occur within the home. Chances are the greatest threat to [your] life comes from family. My novels explore what it means to be family, how each [family] member defines family, and what happens when someone decides to re-write the script.” —Lisa…
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Picture and Story
The face is an organic mask. It can’t hold falsehood forever. Eventually there is an unguarded moment when the muscles relax. And you see the true face of the person.” –Lisa Book, sister of Isabel Raine in Die for Me, by Lisa Unger Isabel Raine, the protagonist in Unger’s latest suspense thriller, Die for You,…