Category: articles
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Dad is Good at Rearing Domestic Animals
One thing that seems so strange in retrospect is how many animals came through our home and therefore how good Dad was at rearing domestic animals. Now and again, I grew jealous of them, but I cannot deny that, generally speaking, my father was really good at rearing animals. I had, much like a halfling…
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Transitions Between Scenes in a Novel
One of the big things I’ve had to work hard at fixing, both in nonfiction and fiction, is transitions. Treehouses, you see— Wait. Let me explain. Transitions between scenes: the problem. Most transitions when I’m thinking or writing happen internally for me. They happen very quickly and I tend to get frustrated because they take…
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The Things We Carry
The Things We Carry is a novelette set in the Vale Megacosm. The full version is available here for subscribers or the ebook can be purchased here for folks that don’t want a subscription quite yet. A brief sample is available below for all. For mom. And Ashley “There are only two stories: a strange…
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Socratic Dialog Verses Narrative Dialog
There’s a distinction between Socratic dialog and narrative dialog in recorded debates and stories respectively. I hope to show that when both are perfected, the distinction is erased. Often, my narrative dialog will fall flat when it rises to a Socratic register. And often my Socratic dialogs will feel hollow when they simply serve a…
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Paul Pelkonen is Star Wars Canon
Remember Paul Pelkonen? The opera critic who was one of my best friends in the neighborhood? The one who had the massive heart attack at 43 and died while I was in Joplin at Creative Arts Academy? He had a huge funeral here in the community? Paul Pelkonen was well respected in the community for years,…
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Bell Hammers Audible written and Narrated by Lancelot Schaubert
Review from BookMeetsGirl: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bell Hammers is an eye-opening, fast-paced historical fiction Audible. It should be defined as Wilson Remus’s (Remmy) story as told by his… Bell Hammers Audible written and Narrated by Lancelot Schaubert
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Dad is Good at Welcoming Everyone
Dad had a lot of flaws when it came to making and keeping friends, but he always seemed to me to be great at welcoming everyone or at least early on he greeted everyone with a spirit of welcome that he shied away from in later years. My mother early on did the equivalent of…
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How to Write a Novel Title + How to Title a Story of Any Kind
Let me teach you how to write a novel title or how to title a story of any kind. If writing a novel is like having a baby, then titling it is like naming your kid. And parents fret over the names of their children. Big time. Have you seen the sheer number and size…
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Homeless Assistance — How to solve the housing crisis
I seldom write about our nonprofit work on here for various reasons, but I want to talk about homeless assistance and how to solve the homeless crisis with faithful love. For eight years or so, we’ve hosted monthly salons at our house as a maker’s day. We’ve done it every Third Saturday. If you’re in…
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Dad is Good at Truck Maintenance
In that house on Circle Drive, the garage pulled into the basement where dad did truck maintenance. It’s funny because I remember that. And I remember the upstairs, the porch, the attic, my room. My memory is almost entirely blank on my parents room unless it was the one that had the green textured paint.…
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Dad is Good at Demon Hunting
Some of my relatives have always taken an interest in demon hunting stories, but in practice it seems my dad had a… different approach to it. I won’t mention who. However, I will say that sometimes it seems an over interest in power and control comes hand in hand with an over interest in the…
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Tips for Writing Novels — Use RegEx
I don’t often offer tips for writing novels on here mainly because I’ve only written eight or so and only published a few, but I want to talk about RegEx. As you guys know, I use Scrivener. I use it predominately because I’m a disordered mess of a man who is kept on the rails…