Below are easy access links to my posts on craftsmanship and other relevant areas of interest for both novel and short story writing.
If you are interested in both areas, fiction writing and playwriting, you will find that some of the posts from either side are similar, but have been tweaked better to suit the individual discipline. For instance, the 3-act plot arc structure can be used for plays, novels and short stories, so a bespoke post on this is necessary for both playwriting and fiction writing.
Developing good craftsmanship:
The short story’s storytelling elements
The story’s 3-act plot arc structure
Emotion and the story’s plot arc
Inspiration from inside an empty matchbox
Sparking up character in the short story
Exercises for sparking up character in the short story
Improving the character interview technique used by fiction writers
From stereotype to complex character with speed and ease
The plan: a bird’s eye view (for fiction)
Well-structured dialogue for the story
The trickiness of writing the children’s short story (for the middle reader) (Useful for all short story writing)
The storytelling elements of the short story and the shorter play have much in common. So how might this be an advantage for the writer?
Let’s take a look at a story beginning!
Developing a storyteller’s imagination:
How to develop an original fantasy idea
How to develop original short story ideas from a saying
How to write a modern fable for the adult reader
How to develop credible and insightful short story ideas from a fable
A few thoughts on the inspiration behind character development
Intellectual versus emotional inspiration in the creative writing process
Part 1: Why the study of history is relevant for the fantasy writer
Other posts:
Tolkien’s the Hobbit shows what is meant by original fiction
Proof-reading your own fiction
The emotional investment behind writing fiction
Research and the fiction writer
Types of research material for the fiction writer
A philosophical approach to the slog of draft writing those early novels
The creative writer in a state of idleness
The struggle to finish that first novel
Why write psychological crime?
Women protagonists/antagonists in the psychological crime story
What makes J K Rowling’s Harry Potter so successful?
What makes Roald Dahl such a successful children’s writer?
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