http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com en-us ℗ & © 2009 K.M> Weiland Helping writers become authors. K.M. Weiland Historical and speculative novelist K.M. Weiland offers tips and essays about the writing life, in hopes of helping other writers understand the ins and outs of the craft and the psychology behind the inspiration. K.M. Weiland km.weiland@ymail.com K.M. Weiland The simple fact is that fiction requires both plot and character to achieve its full potential. Good writing should not be about pitting plot against character, but rather about finding the harmony between them. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/plot.mp3 Sun, 7 Feb 2010 5:00:00 GMT 5:34 author, fiction, novels, writing, writer, story, Characters, characters and viewpoint, commericialism, genres, literary, Orson Scott Card, Plot K.M. Weiland In the best of stories, setting is an inherent key in bringing to life not just the scenery but the characters themselves. In the best of stories, setting is an inherent key in bringing to life not just the scenery but the characters themselves. As such, it isn't something we can afford to overlook. Your answers to the following questions may show you the weak points in your setting construction and help you use it to its full potential. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/setting.mp3 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 5:00:00 GMT 5:22 author, fiction, novels, writing, writer, story, details, Elizabeth George, empire of the sun, j.g. ballard, michael connelly, pacing, pov, Setting, settings, write away K.M. Weiland We've transformed the internal editor into a monster of epic proportions, but only because we haven't learned to utilize him. We've transformed the internal editor into a monster of epic proportions, but only because we haven't learned to utilize him. Our editor's not a fiend; he's a friend. The best friend - and the best tool - a writer can have. But only if we embrace him. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/embrace.mp3 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 5:00:00 GMT 4:51 author, fiction, novels, writing, writer, story, criticism, Editing K.M. Weiland Is our writing just a fun pastime - or is it a calling? Is our talent and desire for writing a gift we're meant to use? Or is it just a harmless hobby, something to pass the time that others might pass by remodeling classic cars or playing soccer? Is our writing just a fun pastime - or is it a calling? http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/calling.mp3 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 5:00:00 GMT 4:11 author, fiction, novels, writing, Art, calling, careers, Inspiration K.M. Weiland For some writers, word counts can prove more problematic than they're worth. If you find you're focusing more on your word count than your words themselves, you might want to consider releasing yourself from what could end up being a habit destructive to your productivity. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/count.mp3 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 5:00:00 GMT 4:30 author, fiction, novels, writing, Creativity, word count, writer's block, behold the dawn, Time, K.M. Weiland If, by the end of the year, you can cross the following habits of successful authors off your checklist, you'll be a force to reckon with in the literary world! Haven't made your New Year's resolutions yet? The following list is an excellent place to start, whether you’re jumpstarting your writing career, or whether you've been writing for years and need to scrape off some rust. If, by the end of the year, you can cross the following habits of successful authors off your checklist, you'll be a force to reckon with in the literary world! http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/habits.mp3 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 5:00:00 GMT 5:17 author, fiction, novels, writing, Rules, Inspiration, Creativity, research, outlining, Editing, critiquing K.M. Weiland Chapter breaks are do-or-die territory for novelists. Not every chapter needs to end with a cliffhanger, but they do need to encompass a question powerful enough to make the reader crazy to know the answer. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/breaks.mp3 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:19 author, fiction, novels, writing, chapters, chapter breaks, conflict, emotion, dialogue, metaphors K.M. Weiland When planning your scenes, even scenes where what's said is what's important, give your characters something to do. By allowing your characters to communicate with their bodies as well as their mouths, you can open up a whole new layer of nuance in your dialogue. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/talking.mp3 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:14 author, fiction, novels, writing, Characters, dialogue, talking head avoidance devices, Elizabeth George, write away K.M. Weiland Why not tap into the power of music when you need the inspiration most: while you're writing. If you haven't already done so, make music a part of your writing routine - and reap the benefits of immersion in the magical realm of stories without words. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/music.mp3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:35 author, fiction, novels, writing, A man called outlaw, behold the dawn, Creativity, Inspiration, muse, music, the deepest breath K.M. Weiland The better the artist, the more varied his work. Every once in a while, dare to step outside the bounds of normalcy and see what unexpected adventures you can find off the beaten path. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/genre2.mp3 Sun, 6 Dec 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:35 author, fiction, novels, writing, genres, Stephen King, janet evanovich, john grisham, nora roberts, writer's digest, jessica strawser, historical, fantasy, literary, suspense, steam punk K.M. Weiland I argue that keeping a writing-exercise journal is an ineffective, inefficient, and occasionally even detrimental habit. Maybe journaling is a mine of creative gems for some people. Maybe it is conducive to that sometimes elusive dance with the muse. But maybe it's also a waste of time. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/journal.mp3 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:29 author, fiction, novels, writing, Journaling, writing prompt, writing exercise, Creativity, procrastination K.M. Weiland When your story demands you kill a prominent character, how do you tap into the power and pathos without infuriating your readers? Some of the most powerful stories in literature and cinema have a surprising common element: The death of a main character. At first glance, this would seem to be an instant turnoff. Why hang with a character for 300+ pages only to watch him get knocked off in the end? But the truth is, when handled properly, the death of a character can add untold power and pathos to a tale. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/kill.mp3 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:38 author, fiction, novels, writing, characters, emotion, foreshadowing, endings, happy ending, gladiator, a prayer for owen meany, john irving, Audrey Niffenegger, the time traveler's wife K.M. Weiland This week, I decided to take a highly unscientific poll in an effort to discover the most common reasons a reader stops reading. When a reader pokes his bookmark in between the pages, stretches, yawns, and drops a novel back on his nightstand, it's a terrifying moment for both novels and novelists alike. This is the moment we've worked and sweated and prayed to avoid. And yet it's a problem that few of us will entirely escape in our careers. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/stop.mp3 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:21 author, fiction, novels, writing, Characters, Description, dialogue, emotion, Gratuitous, language, Plot, sex, violence K.M. Weiland How do you know when to heed criticism? How do you know what's worth listening to? You can start by asking yourself the following six questions. How do you know when to heed criticism? How do you know what's worth listening to? You can start by asking yourself the following six questions. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/critique.mp3 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:10 author, fiction, novels, writing, crit partners, criticism, Critiquing K.M. Weiland Take a look at the following list of classic characters and the dichotomies that made them so memorable. Fiction writing doesn't offer many shortcuts or magic formulas. But today I am going to give you give you a secret ingredient in that coveted recipe for memorable and realistic characters. What is this ingredient? Dichotomy. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/dichotomous.mp3 Sun, 01 Nov 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:50 author, fiction, novels, writing, arsenic and old lace, aubrey/maturin series, Characters, dichotomies, frank capra, it's a wonderful life, jane austen, kidnapped, Pride and Prejudice, robert louis stevenson, treasure island K.M. Weiland So how do you go about creating emotionally resonant stories? It's simple: You create stories with which you resonate. As much as we want readers to intellectually appreciate the intelligence of our writing, we need them, even more, to react to the underlying pull of the story and its characters with utter, unthinking emotion. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/emotional.mp3 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:05 author, fiction, novels, writing, emotion, Elizabeth George, write away, Right Brain, Left Brain, Conscious, Unconscious K.M. Weiland Often, it's easier and more productive to start with the last scene in a series and work your way backwards. Facing the wide, blank unknown of a story can be scary. Putting one foot in front of the other, when you're unsure of the terrain, can be overwhelming. But when you can work your way backwards from a known plot point, finding your way becomes as simple as filling in the blanks. And the result is a story that falls into order like a row of expertly placed dominoes. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/backwards.mp3 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:31 author, fiction, novels, writing, dominos, Outline, outlining, Plot, plot points, the deepest breath K.M. Weiland A little dryness of mouth, a little dampness of face, a little quiver in the abdominal region - these are the symptoms of sheer, unadulterated panic. These are the symptoms of a good writer. Whenever your comfort zone starts getting too comfortable, it's a sure bet you're no longer challenging yourself. Writing scared means pushing yourself to the limit, tackling projects that look unconquerable, and always forcing yourself to go just a little bit farther than you think you're capable of going. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/scared.mp3 Sun, 11 Oct 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:09 author, fiction, novels, writing, Inspiration, motivation, fear, overcoming fear, living on the edge K.M. Weiland By letting the reader imagine all the filler details, the stuff that's not actually important to the plot, readers create for themselves a scene that is both vivid and completely believable. Experienced writers have learned that less really is more. Readers have great imaginations, and experienced writers have learned how to tap into them to make their own work come across more vividly and more believably. Experienced writers have learned how to give only the essential details of a scene in such a way that readers imagine everything else. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/lazy.mp3 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:41 author, fiction, novels, writing, Description, details, guest post, jason black, telling detail K.M. Weiland For better or worse, art (like life) is subjective. Not one of us looks at a story, a painting, a movie, or a concert in the same way. Experiencing art is like watching clouds. Two people can lie on the same grassy hill, watching the same cloud formations. But how they interpret the shapes of the clouds is an entirely individual experience. You may see a poodle on a leash, while in the same cloud, I see a drag race. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/subjectivity.mp3 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:35 author, fiction, novels, writing, subjectivity, criticism, Critiquing, Art, artistic vision, stephen r. lawhead, hood K.M. Weiland Writing for an audience, instead of merely to an audience means you're molding your artistic vision to please the whims of the public. Know your audience is a common tenet of all media. After all, if you don't know your audience, you can't give them what they want, right? Yes and no. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/audience.mp3 Sun, 20 Sep 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:16 author, fiction, novels, writing, audience, artistic vision, sophomore novel, crit partners, criticism, writing life stories, bill roorbach, kristen keckler K.M. Weiland Nine traits of a good beginning. Unfortunately for us harried writers no surefire pattern exists for the perfect opening. However, most good beginnings do share a couple traits. Following are nine. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/9beginnings.mp3 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:23 author, fiction, novels, beginnings, backstory, characters, conflict, intrigue, writing K.M. Weiland Is angst a necessary ingredient for creativity? Guest post by psychologist/writer Carolyn Kaufman. Everyone talks about angst-ridden creative people, and I've had several readers ask me if angst is in fact a necessary ingredient for creativity. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/angst.mp3 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 5:00:00 GMT 8:49 author, fiction, novels, creativity, angst, mental illness, bipolar disorder, manic depression, carolyn kaufman, Michelangelo, Jackson Pollock, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, soul K.M. Weiland Characters need to do something to prove themselves worth defining. As writers, it's often very easy for us to talk on and on about our characters' intentions. If we're not careful, we often let our characters' mouths run away with them, as they spend chapter upon chapter sitting around discussing and planning their next move. But guess what? Most readers don't care about what your characters are planning to do. They only care when they actually do it. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/defines.mp3 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:35 author, fiction, novels, Characters, Showing, Telling, Batman Begins, Christian Bale, Katie Holmes K.M. Weiland Genres too often lead to cliched storylines, sub-par writing, and, in the long run, a less discerning and demanding reading public. Art isn't something that thrives within set parameters. By its very nature, creativity must be free to grow beyond even its creator's initial concepts. When we sign up as genre writers - led on perhaps by our own love of certain types of literature, perhaps by the lure of the money and fame that attaches itself to successful genre writers - we may be making the best possible commercial decision a writer can make in his career. But, as artists, do we honestly want to put the money before the art? Is a career as a best-selling author worth surrendering the opportunity for deeper and broader artistic license? http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/genres.mp3 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:01 author, fiction, novels, genres, Creativity, careers, Marketing, artistic vision, commericialism K.M. Weiland Particularly during this modern trend of beginning stories in medias res (in the middle of things), a deep and full-bodied backstory is every whit as important as the story itself. When Ernest Hemingway spoke about the dignity of an iceberg being " due to only one-eighth of it being above water," he was speaking about the importance of the part of the story that isn't told. Those nine-eighths underwater are the ballast for the tiny bit that juts up to glisten in the sun. And, more often than not, those nine-eighths are almost entirely composed of one of the most important - and yet sometimes overlooked - facets of any tale. Backstory. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/backstory.mp3 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:31 author, fiction, novels, backstory, outlining, characters, Ernest Hemingway, Audrey Niffenegger, Milena McGraw, Daphne DuMaurier, Orson Scott Card, subtext K.M. Weiland What your character does for a living, even if it doesn't feature prominently in your story, will profoundly affect who he is and how he responds to the world around him. We're defined by what we do, by our jobs and our career choices. Mention a profession (mechanic, stock broker, bull rider) and definite images and presuppositions pop to mind. As writers, we can hardly afford not to take advantage of those presuppositions when crafting our characters. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/careers.mp3 Sun, 9 Aug 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:28 author, fiction, novels, perseverance, writer, writing, Characters, write away, Elizabeth George, andre dubus iii, A man called outlaw, behold the dawn K.M. Weiland If you are willing to stick with a story and resist the urge to let go when the going gets tough, you are likely to discover one of the most important traits of any artist: perseverance. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of sticking with a story, even when it seems beyond hope. It is true that not every story will be worth continuing, but every story is worth a second chance. Sometimes the most difficult and seemingly worthless stories are the ones that will explode into brilliance if only you grit it out and keep hacking away at them. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/stickwith.mp3 Sun, 2 Aug 2009 5:00:00 GMT 5:48 author, fiction, free, novels, perseverance, failure, inspiration, writer block, behold the dawn, writer, writing K.M. Weiland Tutorial for yWriter, the quintessential organizer for writers. yWriter was designed by author and programmer Simon Haynes, who apparently saw the same needs I saw in my own writing life and was able to use his programming expertise to put together one humdinger of a program. yWriter in the quintessential organizer for writers. It allows you to see your scenes, chapters, characters, settings - and just about anything else you can think of - all at a glance. As an extensive outliner, I've found it particularly helpful in organizing my mountains of eventually undecipherable scrawl into neat, easily accessible notes. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/ywriter.mp3 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:45 author, Characters, fiction, free, novels, open source, organizing, Outline, settings, simon haynes, Software, spacejock, tutorial, writer, writing, yWriter K.M. Weiland Cliches need not be dreaded bogeymen who haunt our work, but rather exciting and multi-faceted challenges that we can make work for us in many ways. The sad fact is that, with thousands of cliches roaming about the vast landscape of the English language, it's pretty darn near impossible to write a story without cliches. This is a fact. It's also a fact that cliches are pretty much the kiss of death (pardon the, well... you know) in fiction. So how can authors go about reconciling this dichotomy? http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/cliches.mp3 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:49 cliches, a man called outlaw, self-editing for fiction writers, rennie browne, dave king, K.M. Weiland Pacing is like a dam. It allows the writer to control just how fast or how slow his plot flows through the riverbed of his story. Understanding how to operate that dam is one of the most important tasks an author has to learn. Pacing is like a dam. It allows the writer to control just how fast or how slow his plot flows through the riverbed of his story. Understanding how to operate that dam is one of the most important tasks an author has to learn. Without this skill, we end up writing stories that variously lack momentum, feel uneven, become anticlimactic, and seem melodramatic. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/pacing.mp3 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:33 pacing, jessica page morrell, Showing, Telling, details, pov, sentence structure, fiction, writing, novel, story K.M. Weiland Learn why the details of an author's prose decide whether a story will be the entertainment of an hour or a lasting piece of literature. We can write the most enthralling story ever told, but if we don't artfully wield the details of that story, it will never live up to its full potential. As artists, we can't avoid looking at the big picture at the expense of even the tiniest detail. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/details.mp3 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 5:00:00 GMT 6:34 Kristin Heitzman, details, telling detail, verb, noun, Gary Provost, description K.M. Weiland Learn why readers connection with imperfection in characters, more than perfection. At first glance, it makes sense that the likability factor would be the single most important consideration a reader has in, well, liking a character. But I'm going to posit that likability is overrated. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/likability.mp3 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 5:00:00 GMT 4:53 Characters, Charles Dickens, jane austen, Dashiell Hammett, Margaret Mitchell, dreamers come, heros, anti-heros, dichotomies, conflict, cliches K.M. Weiland How authors can encourage the growth of vocabulary and use it to enhance their writing. It's a sad fact that modern society is no longer as literate as it once was—and most authors don't seem to be doing a lot to raise the bar. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/big-words-die.mp3 Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT 5:48 vocabulary, language, noah lukeman, george orwell, michael perry, fiction, novels, writing K.M. Weiland Discovering what drives emotion in fiction and how to elicit it in readers. Emotional responses, like all of fiction, are subjective. Due to our distinctive psychological makeups and the varied influencing factors of our individual lives, we each react differently to emotional stimuli. We can never expect to tap into the tears of every single person who reads our fiction. But if you can figure out what it is that makes one person—yourself—emotionally responsive, you can likely tap into a universal reaction. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/eliciting-emotion.mp3 Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT 6:41 emotion, grief, joy, characters, writing, sorrow, fiction, novel, fantasy K.M. Weiland Two reasons to avoid specifying common and popular consumer names in your fiction. If generality is the death of the novel, then specificity, including the specificity of brand names, must bring it life. But that doesn't negate the pitfalls of branding in fiction. Discover the two of the biggest reasons I decided it was often better to avoid specifying common and popular consumer names. http://www.kmweiland.com/podcast/branded.mp3 Sun, 7 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT 5:39 consumerism, generality, specificity, telling details, fiction, novel, fantasy