Ripping Out the Pattern

Ever try to write yourself out of trouble?

Susan (Wife/Partner/Princess) is an avid and talented knitter. She’s well beyond socks and scarves. She’s knit sweaters that would keep naked Eskimos warm. She’s knit shruggs (a kind of half-shawl that’s heavy like a rug and ever so warm and toasty!) that people line up for. Some of her projects are blow offs, easy-peasy and she does them to relax. Some are challenges. She does difficult patterns to teach herself so it’ll be easier the next time.

 
Sometimes – and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a new, difficult pattern or one she’s knitting from memory – she’ll stop, pull her needles from the yarn and “rip out the pattern.” She holds whatever she’s knitting in one hand, grabs the hanging yarn in the other and pulls.

All the stitches come out. All that knit-one-pearl-two gone. History. Obliterated. Forever. No CTL-Z, no undo, only a…


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Bev Scott – From Montana to California Pursuing Family Secrets

The Pursuit of Family Knowledge Led to a Novel

Bev Scott reveals family secretsHello all and welcome to our continuing series of author interviews. Today’s guest, Bev Scott, spent her professional life as an organizational consultant (and published more than one book on the topic!) before exploring her love, family history.

Life took her from Montana to California. Exploring her family history took her through much of the rest of the American West.

I’d like everyone to stand up and give Bev Scott a big round of applause for taking part in our exciting adventure.
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Macauley and Lanning’s “Technique in Fiction”

A worthwhile read to get you to the next level regardless of what level you’re on

Nuance. Technique in Fiction is a must read because it teaches nuance.

It teaches much more. Just when I thought my brain had filled with as much technique and suggestion as possible, there’d be another bit that I had to write down and practice so I could remember it.

The basic takeaway is that authors should read this book after they’ve finished something big (novella, novel, novelette, noveletta, novina…okay, maybe not a novina) so they can figure out how to improve their writing during the rewrite/editing process. Story writers will also benefit provided they give themselves some down time between writing and editing so their minds can absorb what’s in these pages.

Great stuff!


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Members and Subscribers can LogIn. Non members can join. Non-protected posts (there are several) are available to everyone.
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Analyzing Loren Eiseley’s “The Dance of the Frogs” as Horror

Real horror is subtle. It seduces.

One of the finest pieces of horror I’ve encountered is Loren Eiseley’s “The Dance of the Frogs“. I doubt Eiseley wrote this intending it to be horror. If he did, I have to find more horror writing by him (consider “The Fifth Planet“. Not quite horror but damn close). It is brilliant.

Horror done well is subtle. Horror can’t wack you over the head. It has to seduce you. It has to sneak up on you, entrap you. Horror, done well, must take you from comfort and peace to helplessness and inevitability.

Horror done well allows you no sure escape. Questions regarding safety, yes, freedom from worry, no. The original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie (with the original ending and based on the Jack Finney novel, The Body Snatchers) is an excellent example of horror. Horrific things do not make good horror, horrifying situations make good horror.
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Greg Hickey – Rolling Your Own Forensic International Endurance Dystopia

Can you endure a philosophic discussion about forensics?

Forensic Dystopian Author Greg HickeyHello all and welcome to our continuing series of author interviews. Today’s guest knows about guns from a scientific point-of-view, about sports from an international point-of-view, about endurance from a training point-of-view and some how manages to merge all these into “roll you own” dystopian novels.

I’m afraid of needles, so it’s a good thing I’m not a diabetic or a heroin addict.

 
I’d like everyone to stand up and give Greg Hickey a big round of applause for taking part in our exciting adventure.

It’s always humbling to look at that first draft again.

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