For those who do not know, the word “trope” has come to refer to a commonly recurring device used in storytelling. This could be a theme, a type of character, a situation, etc. that has been overdone to the extent that we’ve come to recognize them almost as soon as we see them—and we very…
A while ago I posted a book review for Vampires, Hearts, and Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston. And while my thoughts on the story overall were not exactly positive, there were a couple things about it that I really liked. One of them was the way the main character, Victoria—who also happens to be…
I once heard the difference between these three facets of the horror genre described thusly: “Fear is knowing that a werewolf is hunting you. Terror is when you see it and it charges at you. Horror is realizing that your feet are stuck to the floor.” Obviously, good horror manages to spread a mixture of…
In some ways, writing fiction is like acting. It requires a lot of getting into the head of a character and seeing the world through their eyes. Sometimes your characters are similar enough to you that their voice is easy to capture. However, stories tend to take their characters to the extreme, meaning they may,…
A few years ago, Disney released a wonderful movie titled Saving Mr. Banks, which detailed the exhaustive process the creators went through in order to obtain movie rights for the beloved classic, Mary Poppins. The storyline paralleled children’s author P.L. Travers’ experiences working with Disney and his writers with events from her childhood—events that ultimately…