Plotting and pantsing

I feel like this is the 'Chicken or the egg?' of writing. Everyone has their own approach, but the basis of this dichotomy is that you either plan out your stories (you plot them) or you go with the flow and write by the seat of your pants. Let me first say: your mileage may vary; there is no right or wrong approach. There is only the approach that works and I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. *Please note the below discusses various levels of plot outlining (or lack thereof). Whether a story is plot- or character-driven will be the topic of a different discussion. (more…)...
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Kindertransport – immigration, erasure of identity, and generational gaps

"My suffering is monumental; yours is personal." Warning: this is not exactly a review. It may contain swearing and material that may be triggering to some people. It may be more of a catharsis that had an affair with a review. Anyway. I went to see a play and at the time of writing this post I've just gotten back from it. In short, the play fucked me up in several monumental ways. The themes are rather relevant, I found, to the world's current state of affairs. Don't worry, I won't get political. For those unaware (as I was of the fact that it had a specific name), The Kindertransport was a British rescue mission that took place at the beginning of WWII. Over 10,000 Jewish children from various countries were placed in British foster homes. One synopsis reads: Helga and Werner Schlesinger are parents faced with the difficult choice of keeping their beloved daughter Eva in Germany with them, or letting her...
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Conflicts

A happy story isn't an interesting story. Feel free to prove me wrong, but in my opinion no one wants to read about a character's perfect life with their picket fence and 2.4 children. What people want to read about is drama, adventure, betrayal, exploration… all things that are definitely not part of a perfect life. So how can we create such plot points? One answer is conflicts! Join me for a discussion on the various kinds of conflicts and how I think they can be used in a plot and in characterisation. (more…)...
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How I got into writing

I think I've been mushing words together since I was 12. I'm now coming up to 25, so that's half my life I've spent making stuff up. So here I am, starting up a blog about my literary adventures in the hopes of being more serious about writing. Welcome! Come with me to a world of pure imagination… (more…)...
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