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Robert McKee Thriller Day – part 2
So, in the previous post I only got as far as the introduction in my summary of the McKee Thriller day. Here is part 2, in which the crime is committed and the protagonist victimised . . . Antagonist...
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Robert McKee Thriller Day – part 3
And now for part 3 of my Thriller Day summary, in which the craft and conventions of writing thrillers are contemplated. Story design I mentioned in an earlier post that McKee is famous for his...
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Endless editing conundrum
I’ve thought of another argument against showing your WIP to your writing group: it instills a desire to spend time fine-tuning chapters that shouldn’t really be fine-tuned until the entire draft is...
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The 10 commandments according to McKee
This just arrived with me on email and I feel compelled to share: Robert McKee’s 10 Commandments of STORY I. Thou shalt respect thine audience. II. Thou shalt research. III. Thou shalt dramatize thine...
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World Fantasy highlights: Connie Willis (with Neil Gaiman)
I’m still in World Fantasy wind-down mode, and today bring you the highlights provided by Toastmaster, Connie Willis. If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I was recently blown away by her...
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Character and conflict in The Liveship Traders
I’m currently reliving Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy during my commute to and from work in the car. (Have I mentioned how much I love audiobooks?) I first read this amazing fantasy trilogy back...
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Two touchstones for worldbuilding
Another WIP Wednesday, and today I’m going to talk about one aspect of the fantasy genre you just can’t escape from: Worldbuilding. This is perhaps one of the most attractive aspects of writing and...
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More on building fantastical worlds
I recently attended the Australian National Science Fiction Convention – Conflux 9 — a fabulous four days of hanging out with other writers, industry professionals and speculative fiction fans. The...
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On novel pitching: an insight and an epiphany
The recent Conflux Science Fiction convention in Canberra was the first conference I’ve attended where formal pitching sessions were available to authors. It’s probably not surprising therefore that...
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How Time Team can help with fantasy worldbuilding
I’ve recently been watching a lot of old Time Team episodes (a British TV show hosted by Tony Robinson in which a bunch of archaeologists excavate exciting things over three days). I think they have...
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