Tag Archives: realism

Superscience, the Uncanny, and the Miraculous

Posted on April 4, 2019 by

This post has grown out of a discussion regarding my earlier post on the subject of magic in fiction and a comment that was made regarding Clarke’s Law. Clarke’s Law states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  … Continue reading →

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Leaving the town in the keeping of the man who is sweeping up the ghosts of Saturday night

Posted on March 24, 2019 by

This is in reply, more or less, to posts made by some writers I know. First Alexander Hellene talks about the Mythic in fiction,  then Xavier Lastra discusses magic use as a plot element in genre fiction, and then Rawle … Continue reading →

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Joe’s Sandwich II: When Mayo Holds

Posted on February 23, 2019 by

A while back I wrote a post in which I first introduced the concept of Joe’s Sandwich. I’ve been working a lot in the short story format and I find myself returning to the idea, and also to some ideas … Continue reading →

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Imperative Conflict In Fiction

Posted on December 8, 2018 by

Internal conflict arises when a character is subject to two or more imperatives that are incompatible. While this is a simple enough concept in theory, in the practical business of constructing a work of fiction care must be taken to … Continue reading →

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Slice Of Life Fantastic

Posted on November 13, 2018 by

This month I have been trying something new, a kind of a hybrid of NaNoWriMo and Inktober. Every day I open a new document and just write whatever comes out. The idea is to create something–a scene, a character, a … Continue reading →

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The Invisible Character

Posted on November 11, 2018 by

Recently two posts over on The Emporer’s Notepad, one on Deep POV and one on 1st Person Narrators, helped clarify some thoughts of my own. Fiction is a conversation between people who don’t exist. I’m not talking about quoted dialogue between … Continue reading →

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On The Uses Of The Fantastic

Posted on September 15, 2018 by

For purposes of this discussion I am defining “the Fantastic” as that which is understood by both artist and audience as being a purposefully introduced counterfactual element.  I am going to take a moment to unpack that before I proceed. … Continue reading →

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