Today in the Dojo: How do you establish a story’s time and place? Among the many pitfalls just waiting to impale the unwary writer is time and place. You’d think it would be so easy, right? How hard could it be to let people know the when and where of things? That’s nothing compared to …
Tag Archive: writing
Oct 11 2011
Dana’s Dojo: Characters So Deep You Can Swim In Them
There is this word, “deep.” People want deep characters. No one likes shallow, except folks who aren’t so great at swimming. Think back on the story people who’ve stayed with you for years and years after you first read about them, and you’re probably going to notice they’re deep. But what is this “deep”? How …
Oct 04 2011
Dana’s Dojo: Get Your Black Belt Right Here
It’s the beginning of the winter writing season, and Sensei Dana is en la casa. Specifically, her arse is planted in the big chair, and her legs will soon have semi-permanent laptop-shaped impressions upon them. We do not know food. We do not know sleep. We do not know social events. We are writing. Summer …
Sep 27 2011
Dojo Summer Sessions: Steven Pinker Makes Me Feel Better
He shall probably do the same for you. I fell in love with Steven quite by accident. I was at Bookmans, the most delicious used bookstore I’ve ever been in this side of Powell’s, and I was combing the Buddhism section for some Zen goodness. Behind me stood books on writing, so I turned round …
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