by Pat Marcello | Dec 28, 2010 | Writing
So, we already know that conflict is trouble and that if you don’t have that element early in your story, your readers won’t be engaged. But how do you create trouble, and what comes first? Characters or creating the problem? Image via Wikipedia What I do...
by Pat Marcello | Dec 27, 2010 | Writing
Yep, it’s true. If you don’t have a conflict, you don’t have a story. You need a problem for your character(s) to solve, and if it doesn’t exist, what you have is a long narrative that nobody wants to read. Image via Wikipedia Think about every...
by Pat Marcello | Dec 26, 2010 | Writing
OMG… The toaster just caught on fire! What’s worse is that Jack is working on his computer in his bedroom. He let the toaster do its work while he did something else, and so, he doesn’t even know there’s a fire. The dog starts barking, but by...
by Pat Marcello | Dec 25, 2010 | Writing
Image via Wikipedia We’ve been talking about research, why you need to do it and where some good places are for doing it. But have we talked about real, live research? This comes in the form of interviewing experts and just plain good old observation. I’ve...
by Pat Marcello | Dec 24, 2010 | Writing
Image via Wikipedia If I had a job doing nothing but research, I’d be happy. Seriously, I love it that much. And so, over the years, I’ve found some really cool stuff, and a lot of it is primary source documentation. That means diaries, legal papers,...
