Tag: character

SMART SETTINGS

Jun 17, 2023

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by

Ace Baker

in Uncategorized

Jennifer Moffat’s “Love Comes into our Sight” in The Things We Leave Behind Jennifer Moffat is a talented romance writer whose character descriptions will lodge those people in your mind for quite some time. But she makes some smart choices with setting, too. Let me show you a few smart choices she makes in her…
Indirect conflict: foils in “A Day at the Races”

Feb 19, 2015

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, knockout idea, nonfiction, short stories

Often, when you hear the word “CONFLICT” you might picture two people fighting–battling each other, duking it out, or fighting against a snowstorm or hurricane. What you might not think about is conflict that is created the way Jason M. Jones does it in “A Day at the Races.” Take a look at this excerpt: Your mother…
STELLA NOVELLA? Mel Anastasiou can certainly TELLA tale!

Aug 28, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, writing technique

Memorable characters–they’re the lifeblood of strong storytelling. Artist, writer, and editor Mel Anastasiou understands that all too well… Anastasiou is the author of several Stella Novellas, mysteries featuring an unlikely heroine: Stella, the octogenarian star of her Fairmount Manor Mysteries. Yes, I said octogenarian. Imagine if Janet Evanovich’s Grandma Mazur got smarter and actually did…
An important character to add for your protagonist

Sep 5, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

Ok, in my last post, I promised the next one would deal with a character you want to add in for your protagonist. There are actually TWO that I’ll talk about. Think positives and negatives. For a muscle to get stronger, it has to push against something, a heavy weight. This weight is…
Katabasis and your narrative fiction

Sep 1, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, knockout idea, novels, short stories, writing technique

In Linda Lappin’s article, “Your Journey to Hell and Back,” in the September 2013 edition of The Writer, she returns to Joseph Campbell’s classic text, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, to discuss KATABASIS: According to Campbell, in myths fairy tales and fictional narratives of mythic resonance, the hero’s or heroine’s descent to the…
Starter for you and your writing: Take it from here!

Aug 18, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, short stories, starters

Ok, I’ve had a marvelous time in Phuket, Thailand, and soon I’ll be off to Malacca, Malaysia. In the meantime, it’s time to get back to the writing. Here’s a starter to get us going this week… First, read this beginning from “River of Toys,” by Edward Allen: I love to walk with my…
Nonfiction beginnings #004: When reality hits hard!

Aug 9, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, nonfiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

First, read… THE BITCH IS BACK, by Sandra Tsing Loh, from The Atlantic During menopause, a woman can feel like the only way she can continue to exist for ten more seconds inside her crawling, burning skin is to walk screaming into the sea—grandly, epically, and terrifyingly, like a fifteen-foot-tall Greek tragic figure wearing a…
Cody Klippenstein #005: A gentle touch with personification…

Jul 23, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

Is it day five already? Our final day of looking at some of the writing technique Cody Klippenstein uses in “Case Studies in Ascension”? It’s gone by quickly. For today, I decided to end with a tool familiar to most every writer: personification. Let’s read the passage first: Neither Obaa-san nor I have been…
Cody Klippenstein #001 VOICE through pathos!

Jul 19, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, knockout idea, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

If you want to add VOICE to your writing, Cody Klippenstein is the one to turn to. She has won many major writing awards for her short fiction, including “Case Studies for Ascension,” which won the Zoetrope All-Story Short Fiction Contest. It’ll be our study text for this week and it’s up on…
Gaiman #005: Explore a difference

Jul 13, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

As I’ve said before, contrast makes writing interesting. But in a longer work of fiction, it’s possible to REVISIT the same contrast in different ways. Here’s how Neil Gaiman does that in The Ocean at the End of the Lane: “Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds…