Tag: chaos
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Manuscripts, Editing, and the Chaos of Writing…
Last week was an absolute blur. It was crazy. My middle child, a junior in high school, was approaching taking her SAT for the first time. Two semester term papers, each between 12 and 15 pages lay in wait to be edited. As a writer I had to assist in my child in this process.…
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Of Dilemmas, Alice in Wonderland, and Shifts in Consciousness…
There comes a time in every story or novel when the main character stands in the midst of her or his dilemma like Alice does in Wonderland. The protagonist ponders, How do present circumstances differ from my immediate past? This place, like that of Alice in her wondrous, and yet frightening Wonderland sits between the…
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The Journey and Its Calling…
Each story or novel presents the main character with not only an upset in daily activities, but also a quest. That quest presents itself not unlike a summons to court. The protagonist, in arriving at court, must plead her or his case. And yet the judge, the bailiff, the jurors, even the attorneys for both…
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Setting the Stage
What is your protagonist doing, and or saying when the curtain lifts on the set of that first page of your story, or novel? Their actions and dialogue relay not only much about who they are while interacting in the world with others, but also their identity within the universe of their own personalities. They…
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Plot: Stages of Evolution and Revelation
“A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder.” –Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” Every story is about the extraordinary, the uncommon experience or event that occurs in the constancy of ordinary time. Nearly, if not always, this occurrence upsets the routine of the…


