Lets start with a couple of definitions about the three principle types of writer that exist. If you engage in any of the forums you will come across these regularly. Pantser: The least restricted of the three writers. A pantser flies by the seat of their pants (hence the term) and writes where the story takes them, with no preparation or planning and just an idea and the wind (and sometimes...
Save The Cat Blake Snyder How To Michael Wiese Productions 25 May 2005 Kindle 215 pages Amazon He’s made millions of dollars selling screenplays to Hollywood and now screenwriter Blake Snyder tells all. “Save the Cat” is just one of Snyder’s many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying – and saleable, including: the four...
The Elements of Style William Strunk Jr & EB White Non-Fiction ESBooks 21 Mar 2020 Kindle 97 pages Amazon ‘The Elements of Style’ (1918), by William Strunk, Jr., is an American English writing style guide. It is the best-known, most influential prescriptive treatment of English grammar and usage, and often is required reading and usage in U.S. high school and university...
On Writing Stephen King Non-Fiction Hodder & Stoughton 19 July 2012 Audiobook 7h 59m Audible “This is the written equivalent of Delia Smith’s How To Cook. And, like British home cooking, the world of popular fiction will be better off for it.” (The Times) An excellent book that is both a memoir and an excellent outline of the main tools you need in your writer’s...
This post is made as an aid to research for the stories I write, and for anybody else seeking the information. I don't profess to write it first hand, but simply collate a summary for reference ...
A selection of dos and does nots.
Fear is one of the most primal instincts. It makes us tick. It even helps us stay alive. It cannot be avoided, but today's world tries to protect us from it, which leaves us in need of a fix once in a while.
About 40 years ago, I discovered role-playing and Dungeons and Dragons in one of the after school clubs. It revealed a universe that allowed me to flex my storytelling muscles and enjoy a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi and feed the escapist dreamer inside.
Over time, I played (and story-led - marked with *) many systems including Call of Cthulhu*, Shadowrun, Dungeons & Dragons*, Middle Earth, In Nomine*, Bushido, Chivalry & Sorcery, Chill, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Gammaworld, Hawkmoon, Stormbringer, Immortals*, Marvel Super Heroes, Paranoia, RuneQuest, Vampire: The Masquerade*, and a couple of systems my own devising (Medieval* and Parody*).
I explored live-action role-playing – eventually running my own club and creating my own LARP systems (Fools Gold and Dream Conquest) – and usually found myself in script-writing or game-master duty, writing over 500 individual live adventures over the period (usually weekly), many linked into the world events of the fantasy land we created. I also volunteered for Curious Pastimes and Lorien Trust at their main LARP events (special effects at the Ritual Circle), and did a little script work, cameos and improv for Curious Pastimes. I was also the South East's Editor (UK) for the LARP magazine The Adventurer. The biggest event I ran was a 10-month modern-day "murder mystery" LARP set around parts of Kent where characters were "always-on" and could get updates and interactions at any time outside of scheduled events. That was in the 1990s.
I was also the artistic director for English Heritage for their live Halloween Horrors events at Fort Amherst in Kent from 1998-1999.
Now, I write as the mood takes me with occasional competitions and challenges, and this year (2020) I will be taking on #NaNoWriMo.
Here's to the future!