You should be able to do this with any story. For example, “Escape.” In the movie “The Terminator,” we have a monster from the future appear drop naked to the street. He goes into a biker bar and chooses a biker to steal some clothes from. He then begins to hunt for some woman named Sarah Conner. He starts going through the phone book, and killing anyone by that name.
Part of what makes an epic an epic is that the reader tries to get a panoramic view of life, to experience a wide range of human emotions. I think that Tolkien handled this well in LOTR. He has a lot of warmth and humor and nostalgia in early parts of the story, but then he builds up to terror, despair, and horror. There is some triumph and tragedy and a lingering sense of isolation and remorse for our hero, too.
As a storyteller, I make my living as a tour guide of sorts, escorting my audience through vivid dreams. As a guide, I create the
Many new writers figure out how to write great descriptive scenes, but they don’t know very well how to link them together. Let me give
One of the most common problems I see with new writers is a “mistake in tone.” You know what I mean if you’ve ever played
Unfortunately, there is so much covered under the umbrella of style and tone that it would take a good long book to deal with it.
Every story needs three basic elements: a character, in a setting, with a conflict. Most instructors will talk about a number of possibilities when choosing
Your story begins when you have a character (likeable or not), in a setting (interesting or not), with a problem (and it darned well ought to be a doozy). My mentor Algis Budrys said that as a rule of thumb, if a writer doesn’t have that by page two, then the story most likely isn’t sellable. He’s right. The stories that do well in my competition are the ones that grip me from the first page to the last.
Author Mike Resnick won more Hugo Awards for short stories than any other author. So a couple of years ago, I asked him, “How
Have you ever wished that you could have a “Do Over” in life? Maybe you missed out on a nice business opportunity, or you really
Over 20 years ago, I was writing some little Star Wars adventures for Scholastic Books, and the president of the company became a fan of
Sometimes you’re not in the mood to write, but you know that you should. Maybe you’ve set a goal and hope to reach it,
The other day, I was talking to some students about defining yourself as a writer, making those inside changes that allow you to move forward
Hollywood loves a “reveal.” That’s a moment where a bit of information that has been withheld from the audience is suddenly revealed onscreen. You’ve seen
Anciently, monks tried to evaluate sins to determine which were the most deadly. Is it worse to compose rude Facebook posts or to funnel money
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