Monthly Archives: November 2024

Research and the fiction writer

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne This post looks at why the fiction writer benefits from research, the best way of handling research, and ends on a warning of how researched material may easily drown rather than enhance the story. Why … Continue reading

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A few thoughts on the inspiration behind character development

Copyright © 2015 Jerry Dunne Character does not arise in some pure form out of the writer’s imagination. The creative mind is influenced by a myriad of sources that gather in quantity and quality over a whole lifetime and arrives … Continue reading

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Improving the character interview technique used by fiction writers

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne In this post, we look at how the character interview technique is used as a means to help stimulate the fiction writer’s imagination in developing character. We see that the usual approach with this technique … Continue reading

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Women protagonists/antagonists in the psychological crime story

Copyright © 2016 Jerry Dunne Why write psychological crime? explains the category of psychological crime referred to in this post. For female characters to engage in leading roles in our subgenre of psychological crime, it will undoubtedly mean that they … Continue reading

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Why write psychological crime?

Copyright © 2015 Jerry Dunne I have just finished writing my second psychological crime novel, and here I’m happy to explain what I mean by this category of crime writing and why I choose to write in it as opposed … Continue reading

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Tolkien’s the Hobbit shows what is meant by original fiction

Copyright © 2015 Jerry Dunne Derivative fiction is fiction that in content and style reads very similar to other such types of stories. Nothing about it really sticks out. An original story will have something that makes it different, even … Continue reading

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Proofreading your own fiction

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne This post explains what proofreading entails for the fiction writer, shows some advantages of proofreading your own work and offers some ideas on developing proofreading skills. What is Proofreading for the writer of fiction? Proofreading … Continue reading

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Who best to critique your work?

A post for the not very experienced writer. Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne This post may be of interest to those looking for someone to critique their first or second unpublished novel. At some point, a writer will look for … Continue reading

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The struggle to finish that first novel

Copyright © 2015 Jerry Dunne I get a fair few e-mails from people telling me they’re about to give up on trying to finish their first novel (or have already given up) and can I offer them any advice on … Continue reading

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Those forgotten great ideas

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne This post is about two great ideas I had then lost, why I lost them, whether I even had them, but what I gained from it all, anyway. One night, having twisted and turned for … Continue reading

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