H. G. Wells and 'The Red Room'
H. G. Wells. the scientific rationalist and author, famous for the novels The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine and...
Great Expectations
In Charles Dickens' Ironic masterpiece Great Expectations, it's not difficult to spot our protagonist. The opening of the novel labours...
The Doctor as Warrior
We have been tracing the development of the character of the Doctor as part of charting the three successful pillars upon which the...
Austen's Use of Character
One of the defining figures of early 19th century literature, Jane Austen wrote six novels, most of them set in the Hampshire countryside...
A Simple Poetry Checklist
Here’s a simple checklist for studying a single poem that tries to cover the different aspects that one ‘should’ know about any piece of...
The 'Turn' in the Character
If we can grasp the rather strange idea that characters in fiction are not ‘people’ at all, but constructs, almost mechanical in nature,...
'Eucatastrophe' in Stories
Consider the most powerful, memorable moments in your own reading. Think for a moment about the scenes in your favourite books or films...
Writing Stories Forwards, Backwards, Outwards and Inwards.
Even the most primitive of stories use the question ‘What will happen next?’ to lead readers on and on through whatever adventure the...
Lee, Kirby and the Cosmic Imagination
Between the end of the 1950s and 1970, a creative explosion took place in comics. As has been previously discussed, Stan Lee, becoming...
Week Two: The Invisible Force
In our journey towards success as part of the How to Write Stories - and Get Them Published! e-course, welcome to Week Two! Now we get to...