All Blog Posts Tagged 'plots' (25)

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Evil Guy Speaks

I'm a really, really evil guy who opposes everything your good guy stands for. I want (the Holy Grail/ world domination/ hidden treasure/ other) so badly that I will do anything, absolutely anything, to get it.



Mr. Good Guy stands in my way, so I have decided to kill him. I've thought about this a lot, and I have a plan to (blow him up, run him off the road/slice off body parts until he's history/other) because I am really, really evil. Once I rid myself of him, I can (live like a… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on March 30, 2009 at 10:21pm — 7 Comments

When Do You Give Up on an Idea?

I've got a million of 'em. News stories, friends' anecdotes, observed oddities, all form possible stories in my head. The next step is to try to write them down, and here I'm successful about a third of the time. It's heartening to know that big authors struggle with the same problem: Michener did all the notes for IBERIA decades before he actually wrote the book, and authors like Martha Grimes express frustration that they have other ideas they'd like to work on while their agent/editor/public… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 26, 2008 at 9:28pm — No Comments

Sequels from Shakespeare

I really don't know where the idea of MACBETH'S NIECE came from. Of course I taught the play for years, and that may have been the beginning, but who knows what makes a particular plot evolve in a writer's head? First came the idea that the man may have had family in the castle who were concerned for him but unable to change the course of events. Then came the notion that it would be a young woman who has her own problems to deal with, related to her status as the king's niece but not directly… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 17, 2008 at 10:39pm — No Comments

The Short Story vs Those Long Ones

People who don't write assume that short stories are easier than novels, and I suppose in a way they are. They're short, so there isn't the investment of time that a novel requires. Writing a short story takes days rather than months, and editing takes minutes rather than hours.



Still, a short story isn't easy, and it has its own rules. First is a single plotline; the writer hasn't got time to dally with secondary characters or subplots. Focus has to be on a single story, and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 8, 2008 at 10:56pm — No Comments

Recycling

If only I'd kept my clothes from the seventies, my kids' toys from their early days, the furniture from my first apartment. Everything seems to come back into vogue, and I can't help but think I could have made a fortune on Ebay. I saw a skirt in a store last week that is almost identical to one I used to own. Star Wars, He-Man and Barbie stuff goes for pretty pennies, and all those goofy things I threw in the trash call to me now, "We're collectors' items, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!



Plots… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 22, 2008 at 9:16pm — No Comments

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