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     | [Note: Since I don’t think this was formally announced, I should say that as part of the recent personnel shuffle here at Magical Words, Stuart and I will be doubling our offerings, each of us posting on alternate Fridays.] In keeping with our recent series of posts on writing mechanics I thought I’d offer a few [...] So I was fortunate enough to get a round of notes on my new YA adult novel from no less an author than R.L. Stine (of Goosebumps among many other things) and he pointed out that I had to rename one of my major characters. Her names was Isabella, often simply ‘Bella,’ which, he pointed [...] One of the best known and genuinely useful mantras for authors is “write what you know.” If your story takes place in the mythical realm of Havnn’rth, however, and follows a blood-drinking warrior queen who is part wombat, this can prove tricky. But all is not lost. We can simply turn the mantra around and [...] There are, I’m sure, people reading this today because starting—or finishing—a novel showed up somewhere on their new year’s resolutions list. If so, welcome and happy new year to all. Over the last few weeks I’ve drafted several different posts for today but none caught that fresh and forward-looking mood which seemed right for the [...] In my last post I used the phrase “high concept” and David floated a similar idea in a recent comment too, so I thought it might be worth unpacking that term, because while it’s mainly used for movies, it can be useful in conceptualizing novels. Simply put, “high concept” story is one in which the [...] Let me begin by thanking the Magical Words core—Faith, Misty, David and Catie—for inviting me to be a regular contributor to this excellent site. I’m honored. In that spirit, I thought it appropriate to lay my cards on the table by way of introduction, so here goes: I’m a word guy. I love them. All of them. [...] | This is a 2D-barcode containing the address of our Many companies provide barcode readers that you can install on your mobile, and all of the following are compatible with this format: | ||
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A J Hartley
