Disclaimer

      First of all, the writing tips expressed herein are completely my own opinions. I am not representing myself as an expert or an authority. I've never been published in any reputable publication, and I've only been writing and critiquing seriously for a little over two years.

      This page started out as a list to myself of all the things I ran across in critiquing other peoples' stories that I wanted to remind myself NEVER to do. It has grown to include all the snippets of wisdom I've gleaned from conversations with other writers, and from reading as many books on writing as I could get my hands on.

      Please consider each sentence to have an invisible, but very large IMHO tacked onto the end of it.

      A have a particular set of likes and dislikes as relates to what I read, and this most certainly colors my opinions on what's "good". I prefer character driven fiction; plot, setting and technology are secondary to me. If I like the characters and how things turn out for them I'll (probably) like the story. Martial fighting bores me. Technology bores me. Bad science usually goes right over my head. It is inconsistant, unbelievable or unlikeable characters that kill a story for me.

      That goes for the villain (if there is one) as well as for the hero. Even if I don't like the villain, I must at least respect him. He must be a worthy opponent for the hero. Two dimensional villains drive me crazy. You know, the kind with "I'm A Bad Guy" crayoned in in huge letters across the back of his black robes. They do bad things cause that's what they do. Heaven forbid that they should have redeeming qualities. Then, how could we Poor Stupid Readers figure out that they were supposed to lose at the end? Lazy writing is what I call it, but that's just IMHO, mind.

      Anyway, enough ranting. One last disclaimer; I hate having to de-genderize my pronouns, so I just use one gender or another indiscriminately, depending on the sex of the POV in the story which generated the comment. Gender choices are pretty much random. No offense is intended.

       

       

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