Andrew Ferguson
Children's/YA Author
Archives
5 Ways to Write a Terrible Novel
Posted on February 13, 2021 1 Comment
If you are a writer, you’ll know how insistent that little Inner-Writer’s voice can be, constantly banging on about the different ideas he’s come up with that you absolutely have to write. You might find it simply impossible not to write.
But fear not, ye who are enslaved by the urge to write. Your salvation is at hand. If you dread becoming a full time author, but cannot resist the urge to write, there is another solution: write badly.
It’s easy to do. Just follow these simple steps.
Preventing Nowhere Nowhen Syndrome
Posted on February 3, 2021 Leave a Comment
Nowhere Nowhen Syndrome (NNS) is when your setting is too vague. In the same way that Phantom Protagonists are characters who lack the substance to create convincing people, a setting with NNS lacks the substance to create a convincing time and place. You may know that your story is set in post-apocalyptic London, circa AD 2084, but that is not the same as creating a setting. That’s just telling us the name of the place.
Creating a setting involves stimulating the imaginary senses of your reader so that they know what it’s like to really be there…
‘Hills Like White Elephants’ – A Masterclass in Dialogue
Posted on December 18, 2020 Leave a Comment
There is an old and for the most part true adage among writers that a good writer will ‘show and not tell’. In other words, a good story ought not to be a technical report of events; rather, the reader should be made to mentally witness the events and understand for themselves what meaning there might be hidden behind them. In my opinion, there are very few authors who do this quite as well as Ernest Hemingway, and for the sake of this post I want to take a look at the way he accomplishes this using character dialogue in the short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’.
Throwback Thursday: 5 Ways to Write a Terrible Novel
Posted on August 13, 2020 1 Comment
If you are a writer, you’ll know how insistent that little Inner-Writer’s voice can be, constantly banging on about the different ideas he’s come up with that you absolutely have to write. You might find it simply impossible not to write.
But fear not, ye who are enslaved by the urge to write. Your salvation is at hand. If you dread becoming a full time author, but cannot resist the urge to write, there is another solution: write badly.
It’s easy to do. Just follow these simple steps.
Throwback Thursday: ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ – A Masterclass in Dialogue
Posted on March 19, 2020 Leave a Comment
There is an old and for the most part true adage among writers that a good writer will ‘show and not tell’. In other words, a good story ought not to be a technical report of events; rather, the reader should be made to mentally witness the events and understand for themselves what meaning there might be hidden behind them. In my opinion, there are very few authors who do this quite as well as Ernest Hemingway, and for the sake of this post I want to take a look at the way he accomplishes this using character dialogue in the short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’.
5 Ways to Write a Terrible Novel
Posted on June 18, 2017 Leave a Comment
If you are a writer, you’ll know how insistent that little Inner-Writer’s voice can be, constantly banging on about the different ideas he’s come up with that you absolutely have to write. You might find it simply impossible not to write.
But fear not, ye who are enslaved by the urge to write. Your salvation is at hand. If you dread becoming a full time author, but cannot resist the urge to write, there is another solution: write badly.
It’s easy to do. Just follow these simple steps.
Preventing Nowhere Nowhen Syndrome
Posted on April 9, 2017 2 Comments
Nowhere Nowhen Syndrome (NNS) is when your setting is too vague. In the same way that Phantom Protagonists are characters who lack the substance to create convincing people, a setting with NNS lacks the substance to create a convincing time and place. You may know that your story is set in post-apocalyptic London, circa AD 2084, but that is not the same as creating a setting. That’s just telling us the name of the place.
Creating a setting involves stimulating the imaginary senses of your reader so that they know what it’s like to really be there…
‘Hills Like White Elephants’ – A Masterclass in Dialogue
Posted on March 20, 2016 Leave a Comment
There is an old and for the most part true adage among writers that a good writer will ‘show and not tell’. In other words, a good story ought not to be a technical report of events; rather, the reader should be made to mentally witness the events and understand for themselves what meaning there might be hidden behind them. In my opinion, there are very few authors who do this quite as well as Ernest Hemingway, and for the sake of this post I want to take a look at the way he accomplishes this using character dialogue in the short story, ‘Hills Like White Elephants’.
Andrew Ferguson 