Category: Experiments in Writing

An Experiment in Writing – Part 20: Plotting, Pantzing, and Procrastinating – The 3Ps Every Author Should Know and Love

Plotting – I know where I’m going
Pantzing – I’m going to enjoy the ride
Procrastinating – I’m going to record a video about plotting and pantzing

 
What you’re seeing here is the first recorded version of this experiment. I wondered if I’d flubbed it and recorded another version this morning.

The second version lacked spontaneity, though. I’d already said what was on my mind, now I was rehashing, and a lot of the fun was gone.

Screw it. Use the original.

By the way, the author whose name I can’t remember whose books bore me to death is Dan Brown.

I remembered it halfway through recording Experiment 21 (which I’m also not going to redo). Shows you how much I don’t care about the man’s work, huh?

Enjoy!

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need to pay for all the coffee I drink when I stay up late recording these videos.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 19: Plotlines, Timeslines, Throughlines

I ran into a challenge with my work the past week or two. I had a long story (~9.5k words) originally penned (okay, typed) in 2013 (and I’ll bet I can find earlier copies in my notes somewhere) which I had revised once in 2016, three times in 2017, once in 2018, three times in 2019 (obviously odd years are my workier years), … and now have it at version 17 in 2025.

It got closer and closer. One big early challenge was getting the voice correct. Once I had that, the story flowed.

Kind of.

The story is told through multiple viewpoints with no single viewpoint lasting longer than two pages before another viewpoint takes over and again and again and again, with each viewpoint jumping back and forth through time (hence being non-linear).

The challenge was how to give the reader a linear sense of the story without sacrificing the non-linear requirement of the story.

This is a challenge I’ve encountered before, and the solution from before worked again.

Enjoy!

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 18: Author Voice, Character Voice (Part 4)

This is the last experiment in the Author Voice, Character Voice arc. I mentioned in Part 1. I wrote back then there might be three, maybe more, and I was correct, there’s four.

My goal has been to demonstrate the different voices at an author’s disposal. Part 1 focused on Character Voice. Part 2 focused on Author as Character, something often used when the character has no language and only experience, which causes the author write through the character’s POV but without internal or external dialogue, and when the character’s observations, awareness, and explanations are somehow limited (age, language, non-human, …). Part 3 considered how to craft the story when the Author is the character. The author writes directly through the character’s POV in 1stP, increasing intimacy and immediacy between character and reader.

This post deals with pure author voice. Build worlds, set scenes, tone, develop your style (which is your brand), …

And above all else, foreshadow!

Let me know how good a job I’m doing. Feel free to ask me to elaborate. Currently I recognize this is one of those things I know and never had to explain to myself.

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 17: Author Voice, Character Voice (Part 3)

This is the third experiment in the Author Voice, Character Voice arc. I mentioned in Part 1.

My goal in this arc is to demonstrate the different voices at an author’s disposal. Part 1 focused on Character Voice. Part 2 focused on Author as Character, something often used when the character has no language and only experience, which causes the author write through the character’s POV but without internal or external dialogue, and when the character’s observations, awareness, and explanations are somehow limited (age, language, non-human, …).

This time out we consider how to craft the story when the Author is the character. The author writes directly through the character’s POV in 1stP, increasing intimacy and immediacy between character and reader.

Let me know how good a job I’m doing. Feel free to ask me to elaborate. Currently I recognize this is one of those things I know and never had to explain to myself.

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 16: Author Voice, Character Voice (Part 2)

This experiment is the second in the Author Voice, Character Voice arc. I mentioned in Part 1 there would be three posts. Now it’s looking more like four.

My goal in this arc is to demonstrate that character voice – the way a character talks, the words they use, how they emphasize things, grammatical and linguistic quirks, … – reveal character, including any changes they’ve gone through as the story/novel progresses.

Author voice is similar to the above and covers the entire work, not individual characters. It is your brand, if you will, and how readers recognize your work as separate and distinct from others.

Part 1 focused on Character Voice. This post focuses on author as character, something often used when the character has no language and only experience. The author has to write through the character’s POV but can’t use the character’s own words as they (for some reason) can’t lingualize their experience.

Let me know how good a job I’m doing. Feel free to ask me to elaborate. Currently I recognize this is one of those things I know and never had to explain to myself.

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.