Paranormal dreams. Backstory dreams. Dreams that stop the story dead or give it a frisson of the extraordinary. Here’s a discussion that touches on these subjects and more.
Perchance to Dream Sequence
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Perchance to Dream Sequence
Problem? Opportunity? You decide.
This writer turned a personal betrayal into an opportunity by fighting back–and then using the incident , with a bit of a twist, in a story. Very cool. Very Sideways.
What’s in a Name?
How to Think Sideways is Career Survival School for Writers, and one possible technique writers can use to expand or prolong their careers is the use of a pen name. Might there be a downside?
What? You’re not just crazy about typing?
Whether you have writer’s cramp or RSI, or you just would like a different way to pump out the daily word count, how about talking a good book? What are the technical and creative pros and cons?
What’s Past is Prologue? Not so fast.
What if the backstory is too cool and too important to leave out? How do you give the readers all the information they’ll need without bogging down the story? The pros and cons of prologues and a surprising happy ending.
How to attract the lightning of original ideas
Lee Trevino raises a One Iron over his head during a thunderstorm, but Sideways Writers prefer to get their tingles by engaging in conversations with their muses. Here’s a discussion of a pretty nifty process.
Discussing How to Finish What You Start
What’s the best way to finish what you start? When dancing dragons pop up in your detective novel, do you have a plot problem, or a new short story impatient to be born?
A spirited discussion of the application of Sideways Thinking to short stories as well as to novels
Discussing strategies for getting the most out of HtTS
How to Think Sideways Career Survival School for Writers is intense, not only in the amount of work but in the level of analysis and originality required. It’s a lot of hard work and also tremendous joy.
Graduates convene to offer survival advice to new students.
Discussing You vs. Your Muse–The TS Process
An involved discussion of the ways the Right and Left brains work together and against each other, and how to get both sides of your brain on board for writing.
Welcome, New Students!
The last How To Think Sideways class of 2009 is now in session.
New students—Log in to class. Then:
- Go through the course tutorial.
- Introduce yourself on the discussion board.
- And start in on your lessons. Moderators and grads are available at all times on the boards, and are great about helping new folks. It’s a good community.
- If you run into trouble you can’t fix through the boards, use my emergency e-mail on you classroom page to let me know. I’ll get back to you promptly.
Cheerfully,
Holly Lisle