You’ve Chosen Your Setting – Now What? Who cares where your story takes place? Just about everybody. A well-chosen setting grounds your story in the reality of a particular place and time. It’s more than a flat backdrop against which themes and metaphors unfold. The setting is a character in its own right, and as such helps to propel the story forward, to reveal character, to heighten tension, and ultimately, to provide resolution. CREATING THE […]
Archive | August, 2015
Index Card of Power
Inspiration
Hi, everyone! It’s Stacey here, with fellow pub-crawler, Stephanie Garber to talk about surviving the grueling journey that is known as publishing. Getting published is an exercise in patience and perseverance. It is a punishing, bone-wearying journey comparable to climbing up a fog-covered mountain. Each step is an effort and though you know you will eventually reach the top, you don’t know when, or whether you will run out of juice before you get there. […]
Cheap Villain Killin’
Writers Toolbox
The death of a villain can inspire a wide range of emotions, from happiness and gratitude, to sorrow and remorse. I love me a good villain, and some of my favourite story moments are the amazing death scenes some villains are granted. That is, of course, assuming the death is indeed amazing and not an affront to their character arc. I am so in love with the closure of a good villain death that a […]
Moral Ambiguity in YA Fiction
Brewing Topics, Industry Life
The development of our moral compasses begin when we are children. We are taught to understand the difference between right and wrong, and to make choices that are deemed to be morally acceptable. Tell the truth and do the right thing. But- as much as we know that this is what we “should do”, sometimes the “right” thing isn’t clear, and even when it is, sometimes, for a whole host of reasons, we don’t step […]
QOTM: All about Villains!
Happy Hour, Question of the Month, Reader Questions
Hey guys, it’s Kat! I hope you all had a great week 🙂 For those of you who have been reading Pub Crawl/Let the Words Flow (as we used to be known way back when), you might remember we used to do Questions of the Week, where a number of us here at the blog would all answer one reader-submitted question, offering a variety of insight. Well, it’s been a while since we did a […]