Design Patterns In my IT degree course, we learned about Design Patterns. A design pattern for coding is like a template, evolved and shaped to solve a commonly recurring problem. Why reinvent the wheel? Clever software designers provide patterns for these, upon which to construct your specific solution. The same goes for plots and patterns, […]
Category: Articles
Articles by Fiona Faith Ross author
Point Of View
Weaving the Strands of Plot I shouldn’t have relaxed so soon, thinking strands of plot were coming together, like barely visible wisps of moisture gathering into a cloud. I’m having a rethink about the point of view. I had thought my MC (main character) was the elderly physicist. He was the first to appear and […]
Power Crazy
A Story Of Fairy Lights And Power Failures Once upon a time, there was a green and pleasant island, in which people knew the law, and by and large, they obeyed it. They took their children to school, went to work, and lived by the unspoken contract whereby, in exchange for a person’s contribution to the common […]
Need Space White Space
Tempus Fugit and All That Is it really seven months since I blogged? A lotta white space. Whoops. The Internet sucks time like a black hole sucks matter. Do I spend so much of my life elsewhere…online? So many interesting hang-outs these days. For movie people, there’s Stage32 and IMDB. Writers and artists have to […]
Fighting Yer Demons
On the nose? They’ll punch yer lights out If you are so unsubtle as to mention fighting yer demons, or his, or hers, or theirs. Screenwriters, don’t, please. Not unless you are strictly within a supernatural, vampire or fantasy genre, and safely enclosed in the charmed circle of salt. As a long form fiction writer […]
Ten Animation Movies With Heart
Genre-Rama Since I’m working on an adventure comedy animation story right now, I thought I’d collect ten animation movies with heart that inspire my writing. I love genre movies. They often take a bad rap. I don’t think the term ‘B Movie’ is officially used any more, but I’ve heard it bandied about in real […]
Screw Everything Just Write
Second Skin, With Warts Calloused old hack I may be (fingers not soul, we hope). I think I’ve grown the extra skin of resistance every writer needs to survive the slings and arrows of outrageous feedback, but even I find it hard these days not to be pulled every which way by the wealth of […]
2016 Take-Aways
Writers work most effectively to a plan. Set your goals for 2017 to achieve more.
How to start writing fiction
I’m pleased to publish this guest post by Shirley Williams, who previously contributed Thoughts From a Reader (link in text below). In this post, she discusses various approaches to writing fiction, as presented in the Future Learn course, Start Writing Fiction. Shirley is Professor Emerita and National Teaching Fellow at the University of Reading, in the UK. […]
Ogres onions and layers – Part 2
Let’s start with the unsubtle. I’m no expert on all this stuff. In Ogres onions and layers Part 2 I’m merely passing on to you what I’ve learnt to date. There’s so much I don’t know, but I hope I can save you time and tears with these few tips I’ve learnt, if nothing else. […]