@karthmin
active 2 days, 7 hours ago
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Don't Make Your Short Story Too Complicated 3 days, 15 hours ago
So pleased to hear that, Nate! I’m excited for you as you pick up the pen and give those ideas shape! It’s always a tremendous adventure.
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Why You Need to Understand the Biblical Fall to Accurately Depict Broken Characters 3 days, 16 hours ago
Thanks for weighing in, K! Really appreciate it.
I see where you’re coming from, and I honestly like that perspective a lot. The true tragedies of the fallen human condition are reflected most clearly in our spirits: hopelessness, misery, and hatred – all the things you mentioned. Because these are more universal, we should focus on those…[Read more]
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, A Simple Strategy for Fixing Any Clichéd Trope 3 days, 16 hours ago
That’s awesome, Libby! So glad to hear that this helped.
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, A Simple Strategy for Fixing Any Clichéd Trope 3 days, 16 hours ago
Great! So glad I could get you thinking.
– Martin
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, A Simple Strategy for Fixing Any Clichéd Trope 1 week, 3 days ago
Despite a writer’s best efforts to be original, familiar plot and scene devices often sneak in. But you’re not a bad writer just because your manuscript contains clichés. Writers with less experience or narr […]
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, Why You Need to Understand the Biblical Fall to Accurately Depict Broken Characters 3 weeks, 3 days ago
When Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit to experience the taste of both good and evil, they consciously rebelled against God. Broken, they plunged into an existence fraught with sorrow. In the shadow of […]
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Thanks for weighing in, K! Really appreciate it.
I see where you’re coming from, and I honestly like that perspective a lot. The true tragedies of the fallen human condition are reflected most clearly in our spirits: hopelessness, misery, and hatred – all the things you mentioned. Because these are more universal, we should focus on those things anyway when portraying broken characters.
I intended the takeaway from that point to be simple: not that they’re a horribly sad thing (tho some are more poignant than others), but that they can be included as a clear reminder that the after-effects of the fall are still rippling down through history. I’m sorry if that wasn’t as clear as it could have been!
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Don't Make Your Short Story Too Complicated 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you!
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, Don't Make Your Short Story Too Complicated 3 months, 1 week ago
Short stories are a powerful medium. In just a few thousand words, they send us on meaningful emotional journeys that linger with us for the rest of our lives. “The Gift of the Magi” illuminates the tender bea […]
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Great article, bro! Now I want to write a short story!!
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Thank you!
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So pleased to hear that, Nate! I’m excited for you as you pick up the pen and give those ideas shape! It’s always a tremendous adventure.
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Tolstoy vs. Superheroes: Two Approaches to Character Development 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Tabitha,
I don’t know for sure.
Both pantsing and plotting cultivate artistry in the final product; they simply take two different routes along the way. Plotting is much more intentional on the front end before creating a manuscript, while pantsing ret-cons the intentionality into the story on the back end of the creative process.
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, What The Promise of Jesse Woods Teaches Writers about Balancing Multiple Plot Lines 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Editor’s Note: This is the third part of our series exploring the merits of The Promise of Jesse Woods by Chris Fabry. You can read the introductory post here and the second installment here. Beware that this a […]
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Create Stronger Themes through the Way Your Characters Access Magic 5 months ago
Cool! Do you know what kinds of themes you will try to explore with that?
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Create Stronger Themes through the Way Your Characters Access Magic 5 months ago
Thank you! So glad this was helpful for you, Ethan. 🙂
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, Create Stronger Themes through the Way Your Characters Access Magic 5 months, 1 week ago
When you write, you don’t aim to recreate reality. Instead, you excitedly create a secondary world. Although a few aspects resemble reality to make the story understandable, other aspects are intentionally u […]
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AMAZING article Martin! I was having a bit of a problem defining magic, but this really helped.
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Thank you! So glad this was helpful for you, Ethan. 🙂
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Cool! Do you know what kinds of themes you will try to explore with that?
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Tolstoy vs. Superheroes: Two Approaches to Character Development 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you, Rolena!
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, Tolstoy vs. Superheroes: Two Approaches to Character Development 6 months ago
A plot may stimulate readers’ minds, but even the most unforeseen twists won’t linger in their memory unless the events are deeply rooted in the characters’ lives. Strong character development engages reade […]
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Yay superheroes! 😀 Great article, Martin. I especially appreciated this closing thought. “The better you know yourself as a writer, the more intentional you can be in crafting your stories. Lean heavily into the strengths of the method you gravitate toward, and strive to avoid the weaknesses you’re prone to.” 🙂 Great advice right there.
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Thank you, Rolena!
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Tabitha,
I don’t know for sure.
Both pantsing and plotting cultivate artistry in the final product; they simply take two different routes along the way. Plotting is much more intentional on the front end before creating a manuscript, while pantsing ret-cons the intentionality into the story on the back end of the creative process.
I think it would be shortsighted to say that these methods have absolutely no effect on the emphases of the final product. But I’m not willing to say that there is a direct correlation from pantsing to character-driven stories, or from plotting to plot-driven stories. I’m of the opinion that those methods (pantsing and plotting) reflect the personality style of the author far more reliably than the focus of the story.
With that said, it’s quite easy for me to imagine a pantser simply following their characters around and ending up with a character-driven story. And vice versa, it’s very easy for me to imagine a plotter coming up with a complicated and engaging series of twists and turns that leads them to write a more plot-driven story. So it may reflect a tendency, but at the same time this is based on our stereotypes of plotters and pantsers.
There is nothing that prevents a plotter from becoming enamored with a character and building a story around them. And pantsers have a way of happenstancing upon the most brilliant and sucessful of plot twists almost by accident – leading to a stories that could be very, very plot-oriented.
At the end of the day, I think there’s something of a connection, but I wouldn’t rock my baby in that bassinet. I definitely wouldn’t want to box up my creative output in only one direction or the other.
Lots of words, no conclusion. Sorry! I really enjoyed the question, though.
I’m so glad I was able to make this topic feel important to you! Thank you for your kind words. 🙂
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, 3 Practical Tips to Tighten Long-Winded Prose 6 months, 1 week ago
So happy you’ve found this helpful, Kristianne! Best of luck as you continue writing and editing!
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Martin Detwiler wrote a new post, 3 Practical Tips to Tighten Long-Winded Prose 6 months, 1 week ago
One of the biggest challenges we face as writers is the process of translating our ideas into chunks of text that seem much more bland than the characters, settings, and themes did in our imaginations. Once […]
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This is so helpful! I will definitely be coming back to this as I go through serious editing on my WIP in a few months. I especially like the first point about using details as more than details. A very interesting concept and one I will try to be using in my writing. 🙂
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So happy you’ve found this helpful, Kristianne! Best of luck as you continue writing and editing!
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Are Your Stories Subtly Undermining God’s Truth? 6 months, 2 weeks ago
No problem, Lilly!
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Are Your Stories Subtly Undermining God’s Truth? 6 months, 2 weeks ago
What a goal! I love that you’re not afraid to tackle Biblical fiction, Bella! It’s a tricky genre, but there’s so much potential for powerful payoff, especially for a Christian audience. I’m so glad this article was helpful to you! God bless your efforts!
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Martin Detwiler commented on the post, Are Your Stories Subtly Undermining God’s Truth? 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Wow! So glad you found it to be worthwhile, Naiya! Really love hearing this from you.
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Nice article! It had me thinking.
Great! So glad I could get you thinking.
– Martin
Martin, I found this really helpful and engaging. I appreciate that you shared this piece – it got me my wheels turning : )
That’s awesome, Libby! So glad to hear that this helped.
Wow, I really appreciate this article. Dead parents is one cliché I subconsciously knew was overused, but I never consciously identified it before. I’m so glad you included it here!