Lessons Down the Rabbit Hole 24 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 Wandering Thoughts) The story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland opens with a girl who is bored. Thus it is an easy thing for her fancy to be captured when a white…
Short Stories The Soldier’s Last Sleep: Part Five 20 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 Private Bradley passed the last hour in a dazed stupor. Though his veins still bulged with adrenaline, he could feel the exhaustion lurking beneath it. Though his eyes were open…
Lessons The Quiet After the Storm 17 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 Releasing Tension) Last Thursday we saw the apex of action in The Soldier's Last Sleep. Since the very beginning of the story I have been teasing a close-quarters battle between…
Short Stories The Soldier’s Last Sleep: Part Four 13 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 The first three shots resounded in empty air. Private Bradley grit his teeth, cleared his mind, and went back to his basic training. "Hold the gun firmly, but don't clench…
Lessons Putting a Story Through Its Paces 10 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 For nearly a year I've been working in earnest on my own novel, and much of that time has been spent in just getting the outline to the point that…
Short Stories The Soldier’s Last Sleep: Part Three 6 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 Some of the mortars fell directly on the trench, and some of them landed a bit before it, right in the midst of the enemy forces. All was chaotic disarray!…
Lessons Making a List, Checking it Numerous Times 3 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 Some Theoretical Lists) Last week I mentioned that a story can often be broken into a series of lists. The most obvious of these is a list of sequential events,…
Improving Technique Update on My Novel: Month 9 1 Feb 202027 Nov 2021 JANUARY STATS Days Writing: 18 New Words: 6,360 New Chapters: 1.5 Total Word-count: 33,297 Total Chapters: 9 January had me writing quite a bit more than in December, so that…
Short Stories The Soldier’s Last Sleep: Part Two 30 Jan 202027 Nov 2021 It was a dense and gray thing, utterly impenetrable twenty yards in. The morning light was a cool gray, diffused through the fog until it became ambient volume. The illumination…
Give Me Pen and Paper 