What is the interior life of the character, and what sort of interior life should we be showing in our work? This episode looks at the thoughts and feelings of our characters, and gives practical advice on what sorts of interior life should be shown in a story, and how it should be done. Cut the banal day dreams and focus on the blade in the mind, the thoughts that have a sharp edge to them. Dark or angry, comedic or sexual, there's a truthful and cutting thought lurking in every character that will help to set a scene, drive a plot and develop a character. Don't be afraid to reveal the interior life of your character, just make sure it's grabbing the reader and driving the story when you do it. ...
Getting Point of View (PoV) right is one of the fundamental challenges for any writer. In the first of a two-part series on the subject, we look at what point of view is, and how to make a success of third person limited point of view in your work. ...
This episode is a conversation with Ottawa based speculative writers Marie Bilodeau and Derek Künsken. In the conversation we explore how to live the writer's life well, and what it means to follow the navy maxim that we need to be able to float, sail and shoot. We explore Marie's experiences with retreats, and Derek's experiences with sabbaticals, and we reflect on Derek's best advice for writers: Don't be a jerk. ...
