What sparks a story for you? A scene in a movie? The lyrics to a song? A person or event you saw on the street? A newspaper article? An old photograph? The inspiration for my novel began as a vivid dream that I had a whole lotta years ago. The idea sat dormant until recent … Continue reading Kickstarting Your Imagination
Story Creation
Learning from Those Who Came Before
So, I spent the morning researching a creature for my D&D campaign, and during that research, I found a reference to a Germanic “house pet” of myth (think Dobby). I so wanted to ask my mom about her experiences growing up with the Northern German legend, but I can’t. My mom passed four and a … Continue reading Learning from Those Who Came Before
Beating Writer’s Block
“Help! I have Writer’s Block! Woe is me! What do I do?” Staring at a blank page.(C) 2019, JJ Shaun I’ve seen this written out on the interwebs a lot in the past few weeks. So, what do you do when you have Writer’s Block? When I have a determined block—well, aside from procrastination, which … Continue reading Beating Writer’s Block
Tell A Riveting Story
One of the arguably grandest television events in history concludes tonight. A Song of Ice and Fire rates up there with The Lord of the Rings when it comes to enthralling story development, but what makes these stories the successes they have become? Well, in my opinion, they each bring something a little bit different, … Continue reading Tell A Riveting Story
The Tools We Use, Part I
As a professional Technical Writer, I know the importance of the tools we use. At the Visible Means of Support™, we use FrameMaker® as the main application to create documentation. I've been using FrameMaker for so long that I can use it in my sleep and some of my colleagues come to me with questions. … Continue reading The Tools We Use, Part I
Adding Experience to Writing
One way to add realism to your writing is to go out and experience things. Ride your bicycle, take a hike, go camping. In my case, I like to ride my motorcycle. Now, motorcycle riding requires a wholly different skill set than some other sports. For one, the rider is out in traffic with very … Continue reading Adding Experience to Writing
Plot Elements
I'll admit that I'm feeling my way through this whole "write your novel" thing. I've been reading a few of the writing magazines since university. I have a shelf full of books on the different aspects of writing the perfect novel. I have more different types of thesaurus references than you can shake a stick … Continue reading Plot Elements
Writing and Readers
The theme that popped up most on my social media this week was writers looking for family members to read their stories and be proud. The fact is, I'm not convinced that most of our family members "get" us and the fact that we writers have so much going on in our heads. When I … Continue reading Writing and Readers
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
Aye, and begorrah, here ‘tis, Saint Paddy's Day! As you can tell, I took last week off from posting for several reasons. The first of which being that last Sunday was The Morning After the Night Before(TM). And I will admit to bleeding from the eyes a little that morning. Mostly, though, I couldn't focus—my … Continue reading Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
J.J. Shaun 