Movies and Television
We've all seen movies based on books: The Harry Potter series is a spectacularly successful example, as is the film series from the Tolkien novels. Thinking about it recently, I…
Diana Gabaldon
Given the popularity of the television series, the fanatical followers in groups like "Outlanders in Ontario," "Outmander," and many more, one would think that everyone on the planet is familiar…
Flash Fiction
Life has become frantic for many of us, and while publishers may demand books with a page count that approaches a thousand, readers may balk at starting such a tome. …
Nigel Tranter
Nigel Tranter makes Scottish history so interesting you wish his books had been part of the school curriculum. In The Clansman, he explores the persona of Roy Roy and the…
Novel ideas
Having trouble coming up with a story idea? Non-fiction writers have an advantage: They write what they know, whether it be how to sew a quilt or how to survive…
Tales Dark and Light
Terms like "Chick Lit" and "Romance" suggest light reading, though these genres include serious stories as well. Other book categories automatically call up visions of brooding characters, bleak settings, and…
Jack Whyte
From Scotland and now living in Canada, Jack Whyte writes fictionalized accounts of historical events and thereby brings long-dead figures to life. In Uther, he describes a realistic Camulod (Camelot)…
Dialogue
One online guru I know has advised writers to avoid using a lot of dialogue in a book. But being a person reliant on auditory as well as visual input,…
Thoughtful Characters
Stories have an advantage over real life in one respect: Writers can express what the characters are thinking―at least the primary characters if not all of them. Sometimes this is…
Tom Clancy
My personal favourite Clancy books are the Jack Ryan tales, though I have sampled his other series as well. While I have not read The Hunt for Red October, I…