by Gabrielle Pollack | Nov 26, 2018 | Articles |
Short stories remained cloaked in mystery for years. I hadn’t the slightest idea how to write one, let alone imbue theme into it. I stumbled in the dark, creating tales and hoping themes would magically appear. Shocker: that didn’t happen. But working on themes...
by Gabrielle Pollack | Nov 9, 2018 | Articles |
Characters with tragic backstories are as common as parentless Disney protagonists. Depressing pasts are widespread in the fantasy genre. Want to give a main character a rough edge and make readers feel sorry for her? Slap on some traumatic memories. Tragic...
by Gabrielle Pollack | Sep 17, 2018 | Articles |
“Be specific,” they say. “It will help your story,” they say. This is good advice, but it’s not always true. “Be specific” does not mean “be specific with every word you write.” The wrong kind of details won’t help, especially in action sequences....
by Gabrielle Pollack | Sep 3, 2018 | Articles |
It is a generally acknowledged fact that writing takes forever. We wish we could skip the blood, sweat, and ink part of the process to get to the shiny published product. Publication becomes a higher priority as we grow older and college, job, and life choices...
by Gabrielle Pollack | Aug 27, 2018 | Articles |
A unique setting isn’t about how you describe it, but about how a character perceives it. Everything in a story revolves around characters, including setting. Descriptions are not foreign elements that must be incorporated solely because characters need a place...
by Gabrielle Pollack | Aug 6, 2018 | Articles |
Worldbuilding and plotting are two separate processes, right? Wrong. Like every component of fiction, story world and plot are interlinked. Or rather, they can be. When you take the effort to use worldbuilding to deepen your plot, your book will feel...
by Gabrielle Pollack | Jun 21, 2018 | Stories |
“Your hands are shaking,” Yirah said. Fiddler curled his tremor-ridden hands around his mug of honey brew. Yirah would never describe her mischievous charge as serene, but shaking hands? They sat in the most relaxing tavern she’d seen this side of Chron....
by Gabrielle Pollack | May 7, 2018 | Articles |
Have you ever written a scene that doesn’t feel right, and you don’t know why? Perhaps your scene inches along at the speed of a crippled snail or feels as shallow as a puddle beside the ocean. Chances are, the issue isn’t choppy prose, bland dialogue, or bad...
