Posts Tagged ‘values’

  • Conflicted

    October 22nd, 2012 | Conflict | journalpulp | No Comments

    The situation is the nucleus of your story: it contains the kernel of your conflict from which the rest of your storyline will grow — and a real storyline cannot exist without some sort of conflict. But what exactly is conflict? In writing circles, you hear the word incessantly, and yet you almost never hear […]

    Read More

  • A Novel Shouldn’t Make You Think, It Should Make You Shiver

    A Novel Shouldn’t Make You Think, It Should Make You Shiver

    February 27th, 2012 | philosophy of art | journalpulp | 2 Comments

    In a lecture he delivered at Cornell University, Vladimir Nabokov said this: “A work of art shouldn’t make you think, it should make you shiver.” And yet in reply to that one must ask: what about those of us who actually like for a book to make us think? What about those of us who […]

    Read More

  • Five Ways To Generate Suspense

    Five Ways To Generate Suspense

    February 22nd, 2012 | Plot, Suspense | journalpulp | 2 Comments

    Suspense, which isn’t a genre but a specific manifestation of plot, is when you can’t put the book down because you must learn what happens next. Suspense is when you’re champing at the bit. It’s when you’re berserk to know more. It’s when, beside yourself with anticipation, you feel as though you’ll come undone if […]

    Read More