Tag: writing technique

POWER POSITIONS IN PROSE: Niloufar-Lily Soltani’s ZULAIKHA

Nov 20, 2023

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by

Ace Baker

in champion, choose your weapon, fancy footwork, golden gloves, novels, power punch, starters, writing technique

I met Lily Soltani at the Robson Indigo bookstore this past weekend, where she was doing a book signing. In fact, I was the first to get a signed copy… I cracked open the cover, began to read, and quickly discovered what the publisher, Inanna, must have noticed when they selected this book for publication;…
“FLY FISHING” writing technique with Susan Pieters!

Jul 14, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

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

I’m no angler… and I’m not sure whether Susan Pieters knows how to fly fish or not—but she’s a gifted writer who uses fly fishing technique in at least one of the tales she tells. Let me show you how… In fly fishing, the lure itself is light, made to appear to be a…
Zoom in for a great opening…like Jennifer Landels’ “Allaigna’s Song” !

Jul 1, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

in starters

If you’re looking for a great way to start your next piece of writing, think Hollywood and ZOOM IN, like Jennifer Landels does in her serialized novel, Allaigna’s Song. Take a look at the opening from the first excerpt published in Pulp Literature: If you walk down the grand staircase of Castle Osthegn, you will…
Make your opening paragraph Google-worthy!

May 28, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, starters, writing technique

Strange title for today’s post, I know. I’ll let you know in a minute or two what I mean by it, but in the meantime, read this short passage from “Man Changing into Thunderbird,” by Armand Garnet Ruffo(published in the summer 2013 edition of The Malahat Review): The room is cramped with people. an…
Sara Dailey #004: Hard and soft similes

Jun 27, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

I was always taught that similes are gentler than metaphors. You know–use simile in a Valentine’s Day card to your girlfriend; use metaphor for your angstiest emo poetry. Clearly, Sara Dailey didn’t get that lesson. First, look at the hard-hitting simile she works into her story, “The Memory Train”: Like the soul, a migraine…
Sara Dailey week #003: Knockout idea–Use a theme!

Jun 26, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 Now you know that if this idea is stated in the Bible, a book that’s a few thousand years old, then it’s not exactly a new idea that writers struggle…
TC Boyle Week #7–Sanders and Boyle BEND the Rule of 3!

Jun 15, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, touch gloves, writing technique

Touch gloves–Sanders meets Boyle today. Yesterday, we saw Rule of 3, a common technique employed by MANY writers, especially those who write in English. There’s something about the rhythms it creates that are pleasing to the ear. Today, we’re going to see how both Sanders and Boyle BEND that rule. First, I’ll show…
TC Boyle Week # 6–Scott Russell Sanders stops by to teach RULE OF 3

Jun 15, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

In North America, in English, people love the sound of items in groups of three: Goldilocks and the 3 bears, 3 Little Pigs, 3 Billy Goats Gruff…but we even like the sound of simples lists of three. Many writers know this, and Scott Russell Sanders is one of them. Here are a few examples of…
TC Boyle Week #5–Dealing with dialogue and tags

Jun 13, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

A common problem with dialogue? Too many tags, or tags that are just a bit hokey. Here’s an example of the problem: “Yes,” she said. “No!” he exclaimed. “Why?” she inquired. “Because we have to get out of the rain and under cover,” he said, inTENTly. And so on, and so on, and….…
TC Boyle Week #4–Boyle, meet Picoult, the Simile Queen!

Jun 12, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, short stories, writing technique

Yesterday’s simile work with T. C. Boyle reminded me of someone he should meet (if he hasn’t already): Jodi Picoult, the Simile Queen! What I mean by that is in My Sister’s Keeper, a 411-page novel, she uses at least 41 similes! That means, by my account, that about 10% of her pages in that…