This Sunday, I offer a sample from a book I edited. Because Why Not: 25 Tales of Imagination By Trick Campbell On the eve of the office Christmas party, three days before December twenty-fifth, the halls of the Crescent Moon were alive with the sounds of laughter and merriment. Brightly coloured lights and tinsel were […]
Things writers do to drive me crazy, part 3 I’ve advised against using the passive voice before. Sure, there are places where it’s warranted. (See what I did, there?) But those are rare. To clarify what passive voice means, let’s contrast it against the active voice: Active: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy […]
Last week, I wrote about a common problem in many manuscripts: unnecessary details. This week, I move on to another common error: shifting point-of-view in fiction, also known as Head-hopping This term describes text that jumping between characters’ points of view (POV). Let’s take a look at this, adapted slightly from a recent project to […]
Palm Trees and Snowflakes is now available for pre-order on Amazon. This second Hawaiian Storm mystery hits Amazon’s shores officially on November 30, but you can order it now at a special price of 99 cents. This Christmas-themed tropical mystery brings back your favourite Hawaiian Storm characters, like FBI Special Agent Vanessa Storm, still in […]
I’m dreading the irrational news that I think will come out over the next few weeks. I live in Ontario, where we recently elected a new provincial government. From everything I can tell, the voting decision was made in the absence of facts. In other words, non-rationally. And if you make your decisions in the […]
Real evil reaches depths that most writers who want to appear credible would never dream of—not if they wanted to be taken seriously. Last weekend, families carried out two terrorist bombings in Indonesia. Parents and children. On Saturday, May 12, a family of six suicide-bombed three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city. Dad drove a […]
Why do I like writing? Some people I know say “I don’t like writing; I like having written.“ To an extent, I can understand that. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes when I complete a piece of writing, whether it’s an article for a magazine, a book, a story or even a […]