Melisa asks: Does social media encourage self-censorship?
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Category Archives: Writing
Questions 732: I Hate My Characters
Dawn asks: What do I do if I don’t like my characters?
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Questions 725: Nanowrimo Fade Out
JB asks: Every time I try NaNoWriMo, I fade out because I can’t focus on *just one story* at a time. What can I do?
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Question 716: Write it Again, Sam?
Roland asks: Can a writer revisit an idea in multiple stories, and keep the stories fresh and interesting?
Resources Mentioned:
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Road to Gandalfo by Robert Ludlum
Road to Omaha
The Holocroft Covenant by Robert Ludlum
The Scarlitti Inheritance by Robert Ludlum
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
The Man in the Rain by J. Daniel Sawyer
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller
Prophet of Bones by Ted Kosmatka
Hitler’s Angel by Kris Rusch
Millenium Jon Varley
The Philip K. Dick Collection
Tolkien’s Middle-Earth
Titan AE
Firefly
By His Bootstraps by Robert A. Heinlein
The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein
Predestination
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Question 715: Growing Into A Series
Roland asks: I’m intimidated writing the first book in a series when I don’t know where it could go later, or if I’m ready for it. What can I do?
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Questions 714: Lester Dent and Other Formulas
JB asks: Can the Lester Dent formulas go longer than 6000 words or be used for mysteries like Sherlock Holmes? What formulas do work for that type of story?
Resources Mentioned:
Questions 599: On The Heroine’s Journey
Questions 283: All About Pulp
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Thousand-Headed Man by Kenneth Robeson (a.k.a. Lester Dent)
War Without End, pt 1 – episode of Babylon 5
The Usual Suspects
Sixth Sense
Pulp Fiction
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Questions 213: Redrafting Woes
Ed asks: How do you know when you need to redraft a work?
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Questions 712: Sociological Storytelling
Ed asks: What are your thoughts on sociological storytelling?
Resources Mentioned
Game of Thrones S8
Lost
Babylon 5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
The Real Reason Fans Hate The Last Season of Game of Thrones – article from Scientific America , May 2019
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Questions 711: Ensemble Structure
Allie asks: Any advice for ensuring good structure for ensemble casts? How does structure differ between ensemble stories and single protagonist stories?
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Questions 710: Mood Cues in Writing
Terry asks: “In film and television, soundtracks give viewers cues for how to feel in a scene. Is there a way to set the mood in writing?”
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