There’s been many attempts to put down the “rules of magic” as they manifest in various fantasy novels. My favorite went around Twitter a while back and summarized how magic works in fifty different fantasy series. But those are the rules … Continue reading
Writing prompts with an ancient twist: recently I stopped by the excellent Minneapolis Institute of Art, one of those old-school museums full of art from every corner of the world. An Indiana Jones-style museum. I found quite a number of … Continue reading
As an MFA student who also works in the tech industry, it seemed natural for me to incorporate various technologies into my writing process. And as the ebook revolution is finally upon us, a greater emphasis on technology for the … Continue reading
Image via Wikipedia Ran into a couple of competing articles on National Novel Writing Month (awkwardly reduced to NaNoWriMo by afficianodos – say that ten times fast) and as I’ve long neglected the “Word” part of Northern Word, here you … Continue reading
Ran into the site “TV Tropes” via a Wired article about how to procrastinate on the internet. Both are relevant for writers, but the Tropes site is interesting for its huge catalog of tropes – devices or turns of plot which … Continue reading
Image via Wikipedia Every year or so it seems I read an article about how cheating in college courses is on the increase, but this week’s New York Times piece on the subject seems both definitive and a bit shocking. … Continue reading
As the owner of an Amazon Kindle I’m quite interested in the evolution of electronic distribution of literature, and how it may be changing the literary scene. This week one of literary fiction’s biggest agents, Andrew Wylie, a fellow known … Continue reading
As I near the last stretch of my MFA (Master of Fine Arts, or perhaps Asses, depending on the program), now seems the time to ask those probing questions I probably should have asked before I signed up – and … Continue reading
Ran into an excellent time waster today. You plug in a bit of your writing – should be real creative writing, preferably fiction, not some email or other casual thing – and it tells you who you “write like”. Apparently … Continue reading
I really didn’t think I’d ever find it. An entire film without a central conflict. Films are all about conflict – even the toy store-on-screen Transformers II had a central conflict (save the world from the aliens). But The Time … Continue reading
Last year I signed up for Red Room, an online community for writers launched in January of 2008 from the San Francisco Bay Area. That’s about the time I signed up, hoping for a fun, writerly community online to augment … Continue reading
This short short is inspired by one of the originating myths of Northern Irish culture, the boat race and the red hand. My grandmother came from Belfast, as did most of the rest of my family at some point in … Continue reading
Went to see Julia/Julie, the film about Julia Child and former Salon blogger Julie Powell. I take the time to point out she was a Salon Blogger (a blogger using the small community created by Salon.com in the early 2000′s) … Continue reading
I think I’ve seen this before, but this time I got a picture, and I am still not really sure that such a thing can exist. But there it is, at a local carnival (the Taste of Minnesota fair in … Continue reading
I’m finding that hotel reviews can be a good source of writing ideas. That’s right, online hotel reviews. Ever have trouble coming up with original detail in your work? Need a jump start on ideas for setting? Hit Tripadvisor, Expedia, … Continue reading