To start my off the series on clichés, I’m going to expose one of my favorite hackneyed characters: the mentor. Mentors serve important roles in fiction. They play to part of an example, somebody who’s been there. The main character needs guidance. They want things explained to them. They want to ask questions of… Continue reading Don’t Do The Mentor
Month: March 2015
Series Starting Soon
Hey. So, I’ve done a lot of general “fiction writers’ advice” so far. I thought I’d start a series soon on clichés. It’s always fun for me to find ways around typical fiction clichés, and I’ll try to make it fun for you too. I also am going to start occasionally including feature posts on… Continue reading Series Starting Soon
What Are Readers Looking For?
Something occurred to me recently. I was thinking about novels—successful novels, unsuccessful novels, classic novels nobody reads, cheap paperbacks everybody reads—and I was wondering…why do people like certain novels more than others? When a reader picks up a book with the intention of reading it, what are their expectations? What do they want? Well, I’m… Continue reading What Are Readers Looking For?