The opening song for the movie The Court Jester includes the memorable line: “Plot we’ve got, quite a lot!” And it is all the more memorable for being so true. (The Court Jester, if you have not seen it, really does have a great deal of plot, most of it both convoluted and humorous.)…

Welcome, Everyone, glad to be back! Plot is the part of the story that compels the reader forward, the logical structure upon which the narrative hangs. So what makes a great plot? I was going to write a post on this topic but, when reviewing the Poetics, I realized that Aristotle said it better: As…

What Makes A Book Great?   Before we start, I want to take a moment to emphasize that this is exploration not instruction. In other words, this look at great books, big G and small, is not me, expert, holding forth on the subject of greatness, but me, novice, exploring what might be necessary for…

  (Famous books are not the same as great, but this is still a cool picture. ;-)   Before we discuss the quality that make a great books, we should probably discuss what makes a book great. First, we should distinguish between the two uses of the term “great books.” For clarities sake, I shall…

    Well, Folks, We have finished the Writing Tip series. Woohoo! There will probably be more with time. I add to my Writing Tips as I learn more things, but until I compile a longer list, I must face the question of: what next? In considering what to do now for this column, one…

    I glanced at my Writing Tips and discovered two things: 1) I was at the bottom. 2) The very last point was Character Dynamics—defined in such a way that my recent post on the Logic of Character fit that subject, even though I had not realize I was returning to my ongoing  project.…

Mephisto Prospero “Don’t you recognize me?”   I love this subject. So, I thought I would discuss it again. The logic of character is the thing that makes it so that characters come alive, the thing that makes it so that quality A and quality B overlap to make Character C who not only seems…

    Today’s essay is on how to write villains. Brief disclaimer: I do not believe I have any expertise in this, but I asked around and this is what I have been able to discover. The key to a good villain is that he presents a good challenge to the hero. That is it.…

Theophrastus Prospero firing his staff.   This week is a short one, and I do not have time to do justice to the next installment of Good vs. Evil, which is on writing about villains. So that will be next week. This week, I thought I would write a bit about being a writer. One…

    This week, I thought I would discuss the characters mentioned in last week’s post in more detail. Some readers did not recognize the characters. Others did not see some of the characters in the same light and left scratching their head and wondering who could admire such a monstrosity. So, here is a…