The ‘fourth wall’ is a term from the acting world. It comes from the fourth ‘wall’ that actors pretends separates them from the audience. When they talk directly to the audience, they are ‘breaking the fourth wall’.
Category: Writing
I don’t think this category needs a lot of explanation.
I am a writer, and I like to write about writing. Posts can be about something I noticed, or learned.
If you don’t write yourself, this category might not be for you, but who doesn’t write at least ocassionally in their work? Not all of my blog posts apply to e-mails or reports, but some definitely do.
Also, knowing more about writing can help you better appreciate novels, or — be warned — ruin them for you.
Whenever you write a story, you have to choose who you’re writing as, how the story will be narrated, and in what tense. I’d like to focus on narrative voice in this one: first, second, and third person. Of course, narrative tense is also important, as is which character you choose as a viewpoint, but in this post I’m focusing on the voice.
I wrote a post about writing smells before, and mentioned there were many more. Having foreshadowed that, I have to deliver, of course. So, below are two more writing smells: the Said Bookism and the Passive.
I am of the opinion that skills from one discipline can be very valuable for other disciplines. For instance, knowing the basics of psychology helps with software development. I also believe there are valuable insights from software development that apply to writing. One such insight is writing smells.