Tagged with protagonist …

How to Embed a Theme Into Text


There are so many great texts out there, but as I always argue with my students, there are definite differences between entertainment writing and literary writing.  One thing that is most lacking in popular fiction today is some type of overarching theme that speaks to the human condition.  Has this indeed been lost on this … Continue reading »

Why Do I Write?


I’ve had a pretty rough week as a writer.  I have quibbled over two projects I currently have in the works, and realized that I haven’t really done enough in the planning stage to continue.  I have spent the past two days without a single word written and it’s killing me. My problems are thus: … Continue reading »

Direct Characterization


There are many ways to create a character for a reader.  Many writers stumble in and out of indirect characterization, which is where the writer takes on the omniscient narrator voice and “tells” us everything about the character that we should know.  In many respects, “telling” a reader what a character is all about is … Continue reading »

Protagonists, Antagonists and Depth


My children watch mindless episodes of things like The Wizards of Waverly Place (a clone mashup of Harry Potter and Twilight) and other Disney/Nickelodeon offerings.  Of course, I turn them on to some great stuff like those classic ’80′s movies I love like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, E.T. the Extraterrestrial and The Goonies.   I swear if I hear that Waverly Place theme song … Continue reading »

3 Tips for Writing a Good Action Scene


As the first book of This Broken Earth, The U.S. of After draws to a close, my heroes find themselves in the middle of a struggle to survive as a militia warlord bears down on them for one last attempt to wipe them off the face of the broken earth.  There are many factors at play in … Continue reading »