Copied blatantly from this Steven R. Boyett’s website, who is awesome. The following Words are hereby decreed Illegal in the Titles of Works of General Fiction and Literature: Bone / Bones Club Whisperer Dead Society Wife [when defining a Female according to the Occupation of her Husband, e.g. ,The Emperor’s Wife] A Novel [when preceded by a colon] [Any Deceased Author] Furthermore, it is henceforth Forbidden to have as a Protagonist any sort of Writer, or other Practitioner of the Arts plainly substituting therefor. The following Words are hereby decreed Illegal in the Titles of Works of Science Fiction: [blank]-World Effect Empire Zone Factor Chaos Hegemony Galactic The following Words…
-
-
Writers are a good position if you want to be in a story
Guess what the most popular profession in stories is? Give up? Suprise, surprise, it’s “Writer”. Seems like five out of eight stories (short and long) I read, the main character is a writer, but not just a writer. A writer who’s hasn’t managed to write anything for months or years. A writer who can’t make the payments. A writer who’s dream has dissipated because either his wife died, he’s not “edgy” enough, or the kids are watching Survivor and playing that thar PlayCube games (they’re the devil). I suprised, out of all the cliche lists I read, that this isn’t on there – the main character is a bohemian, studio…
-
Avatar – The Reckoning
All writers are insecure. And I was insecure to begin with, so that’s like a double stuff oreo of insecurity. It seems like my skill in writing is two steps forward, two steps back. Here’s the example, after I had my Stephen King dream on Sunday, I needed some comfort because I was feeling insecure that my story – Avatar – is now on Critters, but hasn’t gotten many reviews. That disappointed me because, unlike Blood 2, this represents my current writing talent. This one I really tried on, I made it a subject I know, I blended humor, drama. It’s not a whiny kid. There’s a plot. And so…
-
The Cliches of Africa
How to Write About Africa Here’s an excellent satire about writing about Africa. I think its point is more that Africa is always painted with the same brush, whether in fiction, non-fiction, movies, news, or other media, but it also has some good points about writing cliches. While reading this I thought a lot about Romancing the Stone, the Lion King, and even Shaka Zulu. I recently had a conversation with my father-in-law about why all these celebrities are suddenly involved in African charity – Bono, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Madonna, and the associated B- and C-listers like Randy Jackson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alicia Keys, and on and on. We…