Writing Advice: Certainty

There is no “seeming” or any synonym thereof in writing. There is no “he began to peddle” or “she started to yield.” Unless something has stopped your characters in the process of doing something, then you are direct. “He peddled” and “She yielded.” Anything less is robbing the readers of excitement.

Things do not “seem” in your story, and if they do, they must only do so if you want to create uncertainty. Yes, there is hesitation in real life, but your story should not be real life. If your story is to be as depressing as real life, it should because the character tried and failed, not that they never tried to begin with.

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Review: Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt – In which Economics prove to be cooler than Algebra

Novel: Nonfiction THE CHARACTERIZATION. WAS. INCREDIBLE. I jest of course, as this book contains no characters and really isn’t like any books I have previously reviewed. This will make it difficult to review it, as in the end, the purchase really just depends on whether you would buy and read a book SIMPLY to know some interesting facts and get a slightly skewed perspective. Levitt says at the end, that he knows the book won’t make a big difference. It might make you treat a few people in certain jobs differently, it might make you distrust common knowledge more often. But other than that, I can scarcely say that the book will leave an emotional impact on you. It’s not necessarily boring so much as…not engaging. Let me start from the beginning. The book was written by Steven Levitt, an economist, and Stephen Dubner, a writer. Levitt is apparently something of a wild card in the economist biz, as he comes to conclusions which disturb many, and enjoys looking in...

Review: Zen in the art of writing by Ray Bradbury – The literary equivalent of getting high

Ray Bradbury is my favorite writer. I love his short stories, his novels, his poems, and Fahrenheit 451 is my favorite book of all time. I wanted a book that would make me a better writer but would not be boring and tedious. So when I found out that there was a book by him, about writing, I decided that I had to have it. I had looked up some good books about writing and the moment I saw the name Bradbury I clicked on it. I scrolled through a list of quotes from the book and was fascinated, there are many great quotes from the book, and each one seemed to have life energy and being to them. So after reading only several quotes from the list I became very hyped for the book. And I was not disappointed because Bradbury writes with enthusiasm and honesty. While starting the first two chapters I became so enwrapped with the book that I went outside and began yelling the words out like a preacher quoting the bible (I was not drunk at the time, I was just very happy and really I’m j...

Short story: The Long Trail

When I was younger, I was walking on a trail. My family would often visit trails on vacation, we were not the hotel, lounge about kind of vacation family. My mother and father both loved the wilderness, as did I and the majority of my four siblings. But this particular trail was longer and more tedious than any other trail in memory. It seemed to stretch on forever, and the gravel it was made from certainly didn’t improve the condition of our feet. I can’t recall how many times I had to stop because my legs or the legs of one of my siblings hurt. But we trudged on nonetheless, our stomachs growling all the way. Our whole family wasn’t together, my father was up ahead of all of us, my mother was behind me, Jacob (my second younger brother) and Noah (my brother) with our little sister Lilly. My older brother, Gabriel, was bringing up the rear. I remember Lilly catching up, and us stopping to stare at some deathly white worms, which lay on the surface of a stream, spotted a...

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