Monthly Archives: May 2023

The Trap

Posted on May 30, 2023 by midiguru

Plotted genre fiction follows certain conventions. If you don’t understand the conventions, you’ll flounder around and get nowhere, or at best produce novels that nobody but your friends will want to read. While working on my first novel, an aphorism … Continue reading →

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Game Changes

Posted on May 20, 2023 by midiguru

Last year I participated in the Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp). There are prizes for the top entries, and people are asked to donate to the prize pool. I knew I would likely win some prize money (and I did), so … Continue reading →

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Put Me In, Coach

Posted on May 17, 2023 by midiguru

Apparently book coaching is now a big thing. Dozens or hundreds of coaches have hung out their shingles on the Web. The deal is, if you’re writing a novel, or would like to, you can hire a book coach, who … Continue reading →

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Running on Empty

Posted on May 14, 2023 by midiguru

This is why we can’t have nice things: This ad has been running in my Facebook feed since I joined a couple of writers’ groups. Fifteen minutes a day — think of that! And you can write your best-seller on … Continue reading →

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Notes from the Underwear

Posted on May 14, 2023 by midiguru

How do you feel about info-dumps? The term itself is clearly pejorative. How can a dump ever be good? But how do you help the reader understand what’s going on if you’re not allowed to pause the action while you … Continue reading →

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Staying the Course

Posted on May 10, 2023 by midiguru

This is going to be a personal journal entry, along with anything else. It’s about writing — specifically, about writing novels — but it’s about a difficulty that maybe doesn’t get talked about enough. Having noticed that I’m not dead … Continue reading →

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Rabbits in the Wallpaper

Posted on May 6, 2023 by midiguru

I have a weird double attitude toward the tenuous tenets of mysticism. On the one hand, I’m a hard-headed atheist. Scientists have investigated paranormal phenomena at great length, and there’s just nothing there. But on the other hand, weird things … Continue reading →

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