Reading, they say, broadens your horizons. So does writing. In fact, it can be even more broadening. Research can take you where your curiosity never would. Historical fiction demands the most research. The genres that demand less – that can appear to demand very little – are modern fiction and science fiction/fantasy. Modern fiction is…
Category: Writing
Writing Tip of the Week
In poetry, rhythm may be complicated, but it is regular and stylized enough to enable almost anyone to learn to recognize it and classify it. Rhythm in prose is very nearly as important, but because it cannot be too regular without being distracting, prose rhythm is so extremely complex that no one has ever yet…
Tidbits
Once I wrote a story about a painter. During my research I found some interesting stuff about the personality traits of painters. Now I’m writing a story about a scientist, and last night I tried to turn up some information about their personality traits. Instead, I kept running into articles with titles like, “Are Personality…
Tips for Being a Successful Villain
Keep It Simple: If you get your hands on a hero, don’t go for some elaborate form of execution. If you maroon them on a cannibal-infested island, they will get off (and possibly make friends with the natives). If you lock them up with a vicious animal, they will kill it. If you leave them…
And the Moral of the Story …
Christian fiction is often designed to teach some sort of moral. There is some debate among Christian readers and writers as to which is better – writing a story to teach a lesson or writing a story with no particular point to make. I have done both. My Christian Holmes series – all short stories…
Story Length
Whenever I complete another ten pages of my novel (as the pages are in my computer file), I run a word count to see how much I have written. I began the counts because I read that the average length of a novel was 70K-90K words, and I was eager to meet that benchmark. I…
Naming Characters
Over the course of writing The Last Heir, I acquired several methods of naming characters. One was to establish naming patterns – Greek and biblical were my origins of choice, and Gaelic was a resort after that. Lists of Greek names could be found on baby-name sites that sorted by origin. Biblical (or “Hebrew”) names…
Sci-fi/Fantasy, Sci-fi vs. Fantasy
Science fiction and fantasy tend to be grouped together. Whether listed as “sci-fi/fantasy” by sellers or called “speculative fiction” by enthusiasts, the assumption is that they are the same kind of story. And, in a significant way, they are. Both bring us to worlds other than our own, filled with strange creatures and things that…
Update: The Other View
Entry 3 has been added to The Other View, starring Colten Shevyn. Enjoy!
Cast of Characters
(Scroll down to view the Pronunciation Guide.) A woman who has been reading The Last Heir sent in this comment: I’m really enjoying Shannon’s book! Great job, Shannon! I think it would be neat if you made a list of characters available, with just a short reminder of who’s who, and maybe also with pronunciations….