The Lost Map of Ideas A writer’s stash of new ideas for stories is like a spy’s cache of secrets. Exciting, filled with unknown potential and importance, often dead ends. You won’t usually overhear writers talking about ideas any more than you’d hear our imagined spies doing it. This isn’t necessarily because we think they’ll […]
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A Writer’s Inspiration: How to come up with new ideas…
A Writer’s Inspiration: How to come up with new ideas… I’m often asked whether my writing is inspired by real life. And by real life, people usually mean my life. Occasionally, I do lift small details from my own life and use them directly in my writing—the way my sister’s hair falls, the taste of […]
Character Motivation and Beyond
Character Motivation and Beyond Motivation drives the decisions both of the characters and the writer throughout a plot. Books on literary analysis, such as the Norton Anthologies, often lump motivation with character and identity, whereas mystery readers have long regarded motive as a full and separate category in its own right. Carolyn Wells devoted a […]