Poetics first appeared in India:

Although poetry appeared in many countries of the world from times immemorial, it was only in India that an enquiry started on the questions as to what is poetry, how it could be reated, and why it should be written. In the wake of this enquiry, a large body of scientific knowledge regarding the mechanics of poetry and its purpose developed and began expanding through the centuries. ...

Parallel Earths are a classic element of writing, almost as commonly accepted as aliens, faster-than-light-travel, magic, and cyberspace. Indeed, my entire Xai project is based on the idea of parallel worlds - so it's a subject close to my heart and a few other vital internal organs

Writing parallel Earths however is more difficult than it seems. It's easy to slap a few changes on our world or on a particular time period - but this doesn't mean it produces a consistent, coherent, or believable ...

First of all, I'd like to announce that "Way With Worlds" just picked up another distributor! It's available at the re-launched lit.org! Lit.org was a cool site for RPG, writing, comic, and sci-fi enthusiasts, and was just relaunched by its creator. Check it out - and they need contributions, so see if you can pitch in!

And now, on with the show . . .



A few columns ago, I wrote about "Timeline Based Writing, which works in the following way:

Keep a timeline of all major and relevant events, transitions, etc. in your ...

Back to Mars—again. This season's two Mars missions have already seen the embarrassing smashup of an orbiter, sent off course by an error mistaking yards for meters. That blunder will ring in our memories, cited endlessly as classic hubris from all-powerful NASA. ...

The five things that creates a good scene

Narrative
Making sure it’s necessary
Description of events and surroundings
Believable dialogue
An outcome that empowers and moves the story
The scene is the most vital part of a story. It is the vein in which the life of the story flows. If one scene is cut, or disrupted in a way that dulls the reader, then all life is drained away. There is no imagination. This article of Lucid Writing Advice should at least give you a hint to creating a good scene.

NARRATIVE

If the scene is the vein, then the narrative is the blood of the manuscript. The creation of good narrative will make any story a good read. Fantasy writers fall into a common trap by given pages upon pages of inactive narrative as the opener of their manuscript, ...