The Secrets Index

Books for Writers

I’m not sure… (0/3)
The Secrets Five-foot Shelf of Books (17/5)

Career Advice

A Quick Note (31/5)
Another Podcast Update (32/6)
Bringing It to Market (15/3)
Don’t You Wish Your Genre Was Hot…(56/1)
Enough Hats for a Hydra (7/7)
Impress for Success (22/6)
Is it Commercial? (55/1)
Judging Work (19/6)
My Genre, Myself (3/2)
Name Game (by Emily Devenport) (33/6)
Outstandingly Mediocre (26/4)
Rock Solid Careers (18/5)
Ruthless Editing (by Michelle M. Welch) (27/6)
Seven Aspects of Successful Writers (10/3)
Technology and Opportunity (29/1)
The Scifi Podcast Network (30/5)
The Writer’s Life (0/4)
The Critical Sting (5/6)
Trust Yourself (27/7)
What’s In a Name (by Simon Hawke) (7/4)
Writing on Demand (14/3)

Character Names

Sources of (0/3)

Characterization

Blitzkrieg Characterization (12/3)
Character Creation: an example (24/1)
Characterization Techniques, Part One (21/3)
Characterization Techniques, Part Two (22/3)
Characterization Techniques, Part Three (23/3)
Characterization: The Soul of the Art (1/2)
Killing Characters (16/2)
Love, Romance, Sensuality, Sex and all that stuff… (Part One) (1/40)
Love, Romance, Sensuality, Sex and all that stuff… (Part Two) (1/41)
Making Monsters, Part One (57/1)
On Heroes (11/3)
Why won’t those pesky characters do what I want? (2/3)

Editorial material

A Few Quick Notes (7/16)
A Word of Thanks (43/7)
In My Humble Opinion (3/6) (8/6) (9/6) (11/6) (20/16)
It’s Been A Year! (25/7)
Living and learning (2/5)
Postscript to Issue Zero (0/5)
Random Thoughts (24/5)
World Fantasy Convention (15/6)

Getting Started

Is There A Story There? (48/1)
Regaining Focus (23/1)
The Art of Observation (49/1)
When Will I Be Ready To Write? (22/1)

Learning from a Master

Edgar Rice Burroughs (6/4)
Arthur Train (20/14)

Plotting

The Art of Plotting Part One (51/1)
The Art of Plotting Part Two (52/1)
The Art of Plotting Part Three (53/1)
The Art of Plotting Part Four (54/1)
To Plot or Not? (1/1)
Do I really have to outline? (4/2)

Publishing Industry

One Eye Shut: Why publishing as we know it is doomed (7/9)

Rejection

Dealing with Rejection (4/5)

Rules of Writing

#1: Show Don’t Tell (2/1)
#2: Double Duty (3/1)
#3: Continuity Bolts (4/1)
#4: He said, she said. (5/1)
#5: Research (6/1)
#6: Point of View (7/1)
#7: Write before rewriting (8/1)
#8: Use All the Senses (9/1)
#10: Define the Conflict (10/1)
#9: Sympathetic angles (11/1)
#11: No Easy Effects (12/1)
#12: No Coincidences (13/1)
#13: Choreograph it (14/1)
#14: Full Effort (15/1)
#15: Learn to Love Something (16/1)
#16: Description (17/1)
#17: Present Tense (18/1)
#18: Names and Initials (19/1)
#19: Sentences (20/1)
#20: Never Quit (21/1)

Storybuilding

The Content Vector Theory of Fiction (20/4)
Numbers, characters and plot (47/1)
Pacing (45/1)

Technique Tips (see also Rules of Writing)

A Writer’s Style (25/5)
Building Dynamic Tension (3/5)
Buttons (2/2)
Closer to Literature (10/6)
Developing a Voice (14/6)
Drifting From The Outline (18/2)
Engagement (42/1)
Expectations of Series (46/1)
First Novel Problems (8/3)
Full Service Stories (12/5)
I’ve got it here somewhere (organizing information) (5/5)
Mapping Reader Expectations (25/1)
More Engagement (43/1)
More First Novel Problems (13/6)
Name Recognition (13/3)
Numbers, characters and plot (47/1)
Pacing (45/1)
The Perfect First Chapter (17/3)
Portals of Imagination (50/1)
Quick Tip (Making a book a page-turner) (1/4)
Reader Resistance (9/3)
Reading Critically (4/4)
Red Flag Words (2/5)
The Sacred and Profane (44/5)
The Society for the Elimination of Was (11/2)
Thinking Ahead: On the Fly Foreshadowing (26/1)
Working Fast (44/1)
Writing Action, Part One (19/3)
Writing Action, Part Two (20/11)

Where to write

The Write Place (3/4)

World Development

The Devil’s In The Details (Part One) (5/3)
The Devil’s In The Details (Part Two) (6/3)
World Building Part One: A Sense of Place (27/1)
World Building Part Two: Magic and High Tech (28/1)
World Building Part Three: Power Dynamics (29/3)
World Building Part Four: How Old This World? (30/1)
World Building Part Five: Religion (31/1)
World Building Part Six: Of Elves and Aliens (32/1)
World Building Part Seven: Language, Society and Culture (33/1)
World Building Part Eight: More Language, Society and Culture (34/1)
World Building Part Nine: World Tone (35/1)
World Building Part Ten: World History (36/1)
World Building Part Eleven: Yet More World History (37/1)
World Building Part Twelve: The Fine Print (38/1)
World Building Part Thirteen: An Example of a World (39/1)

Writer’s Block

The Perennial Problem (by Michelle M. Welch) (20/3)
Writer’s Block (0/2)

Writing Speed

Speed Kills (1/3)