If you’re a writer, nobody cares about how many stories you’ve written. Only about the stories you’ve published. Ideas and stories are meaningless if they are locked away in a hard drive or scrapbook. They only hold value when they are shared with the world. You’re not an author if you don’t publish your works. […]
5 Writing Lessons from Manga
As a child, I couldn’t understand the appeal of manga. To me, they were simply a different kind of comic book, and comics held little appeal to me. Then, in my teens, English-translated anime took off in Singapore. Almost all of them were adaptations of Japanese manga. I pursued the source material, and found Ghost […]
The Two Kinds of Story Conflict
Conflicts drive drama, and drama drives stories. The heart of every story worth reading is a clash between the protagonist and the antagonist, each seeking opposed goals. Protagonist-antagonist conflicts can be described in two ways: symmetrical and asymmetrical. The type of conflict defines each party’s strategies and the overall direction of the plot. A symmetrical […]
Plan Your Antagonist First
People read fiction to escape reality in pseudo-reality. They want to immerse themselves in the protagonist’s adventures, marvel at his derring-do, and cheer as he overcomes the obstacles in his way and attains his goal. But where would the protagonist be without the antagonist? The antagonist is the yin to the protagonist’s yang. Without the […]
Lyonesse: Make Short Fiction Great Again!
Lyonesse, a short story subscription service, promises to revolutionise the industry. Its Kickstarter is now online, within a single day, the campaign has already reached almost half of its funding goal. Silver Empire has put in a great deal of effort making Lyonesse possible, and as I have described in a prior post, I believe […]
Drop the ‘Strong and Independent Female’ Label
‘Strong, independent female’ is a meaningless label. Use more powerful descriptors to create a memorable identity.
Inducing Flow Through Mindful Writing
You have finite time and energy. The world has infinite distractions. How, then, can a writer stay true to his calling? I began writing my first novel when I was 13. Every day, I sat at my beat-up second-hand laptop and wrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I was done. Then I went […]
The Truth of Your Vision, The Truth of the World
Fiction writing is about truth. The truth of your vision and the truth of the world. The best stories marry these truths into a seamless, dazzling, inspiring whole. The truth of your vision is at once simple and complicated. It is the story you want to tell. It is the aesthetics of the story world, […]
Still Skeptical about Ghost in the Shell
The first official trailer for Ghost in the Shell is out…and, if anything, I’m even more skeptical about the movie. In an earlier post, I made it clear that I’m not enthusiastic about the movie. After watching the trailer, I’m almost certain my fears will be realised. To be fair, this movie is visually stunning. […]
Guest Post: 4 Tips to Win NaNoWriMo
Guest post on how to win NaNoWriMo. In brief: Just write already.