Writing Archives - Martin Stellinga

Some thoughts on pacing

I’ve been revisiting my last novel recently, after receiving feedback from a beta reader about pacing. Pacing is one of those things that are hard to get right, and harder to give tips on. But here’s my two cents worth.

Five years of me

On December 12, 2014, a momentous thing happened. It was the date my first post went live! That’s five years ago, yesterday. Time for a looking back.

The process

When I write a story, I have a way of working, a process if you will. I’ve heard and seen others work in a completely different way. Which begs the question: are all ways of doing things right?

Fake plot

I was watching a TV show on Netflix with my daughter last week. Children’s shows vary a lot in quality, and the plotting in this one was particularly egregious. The show was stuffed with fake plot. Let’s look at what that is.

Tangled yarn

Often, stories lack a proper plot, but sometimes it’s the opposite: a story can drown in too much plot. And that can be a big problem.