Writing a Novel – Horror

In the past, I’ve explained my/the Novel Writing process, and have gone in depth with a genre and a type of scene. But as I look at the possible subjects to talk about in this next article, I realised something: written Horror doesn’t work on me. I’ve never been scared by a Stephen King novel. H.P. Lovecraft didn’t unnerve me and Edgar Allan Poe doesn’t spook me. For me, Horror is audiovisual, and while my imagination is quite vivid, because it is MY head, I know I’m safe and there’s nothing to fear.

Having said so, there are other ways to influence your reader with a Horror story, and I’m more experienced with these, both as a reader and a writer. Continue reading Writing a Novel – Horror

Writing a Novel – Action Scene Samples

A few weeks ago I wrote you about how to handle action scenes in novels, in terms of length, details and overall pace and flow. At the end of the article, and as always, I mentioned I’d be providing samples for it, an example of a short scene and a long one, to show the points I made and concepts I introduced.

The following are those scenes. The first one is a short duel between two swordsmen, set in the fantasy universe I developed during the first issues of the guide. The second is a longer scene, a shootout between a private detective and criminals.

Note: I am writing these scenes only to describe the action. As such, there are no monologues, insights or conversations. Less talking more action! Continue reading Writing a Novel – Action Scene Samples

Writing a Novel – Action Scenes

Last week we had the last of the Editing Samples, and so I’ve gone over the First Draft, Second and Streamlining. As mentioned in those articles, I skipped ahead a bit. Those scenes could’ve done with considerably more effort, but it was enough to demonstrate how a prose might evolve through several editing passes.

As I promised, after finishing up with the different stages of the novel writing process, I would turn to guiding your through specific genres and scenes. The first I’ll be exploring are Action (and/or Combat) Scenes.
Continue reading Writing a Novel – Action Scenes