It's been a while since I did a writing essay. In the meantime, I've spent a lot of time reading newer fantasy and science fiction best sellers award winners as well as listening to podcasts about writing and the publishing industry (like the Publishing Rodeo Podcast). This post is the results of all that writing, … Continue reading The Anatomy Of A Modern Science Fiction & Fantasy Best Seller
Category: Writing advice
The Martian: Embracing Your Story’s “Flaws”
I've been dabbling at a The Martian book review for while now only to realize halfway through that it shouldn't have been a review to begin with. It should be an essay about how the author, Andy Weir, made me love a book that, based on the premise, really shouldn't have been my thing. I … Continue reading The Martian: Embracing Your Story’s “Flaws”
Love and Monsters – Story Structure
Why story structure matters but isn't everything. In this essay, I’ll be looking at story structure and how it can work for or against a given story depending on how the author uses this tool. I’ll be using the Netflix movie Love and Monster as an example. I found it a fairly entertaining movie, but … Continue reading Love and Monsters – Story Structure
Backman’s Second Law of Writing Success
It's not that long ago I wrote my first law of writing sucess. Now, I'm happy to announce that I have another "law" to follow up with. As with the first law, a billion people have probably had the same idea before me, and it really isn't all that profound. It's just my way of … Continue reading Backman’s Second Law of Writing Success
My Sister, The Serial Killer – How to End Your Story
I was reading My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite a little while back, and it was in many ways an excellent book with great writing, a highly original premise, and if not loveable then at least very insteresting characters. However, there was something about the ending that felt deeply unsatisfactory to me whereas … Continue reading My Sister, The Serial Killer – How to End Your Story
Backman’s First Law of Writing Success
Okay, so I only have one made-up law so far, but I'm not going to be a pessimist just yet and call it Backman's Only Law of Writing Success. I just need to come up with one more idea before I die, dammit. And if that's not happening, I'll just fling out some weak rephrasing … Continue reading Backman’s First Law of Writing Success
Review: Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass
As soon as I saw Neil Gaiman was offering lectures at Masterclass.com, I jumped at the opportunity. Gaiman is one of my absolute favorite writers, so even though I doubted the lectures would contain some mind-blowing new information, I figured it would be nice to get an insight into his writing process at least. I'm … Continue reading Review: Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared – Breaking the Rules with Comedy
First thing first, I absolutly loved The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (despite it's ridiculosely long title; let's just call it The Book from now on). And before the comments section turns into a fist fight, no, I don't really think there are any rules to creative writing, but … Continue reading The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared – Breaking the Rules with Comedy
Confirmation Bias and Self-delussion
Stepping out of your comfort zone, focusing on improving instead of getting praise. That's what drives us to become better artists. I highly recommend this brief article by Jason S. Riddler on confirmation bias, self-delussion, and how those leads to stagnation. It's worth a read to all us would-be writers (and other striving artists as … Continue reading Confirmation Bias and Self-delussion
A Year of Critical Reading – What I’ve Learned so Far
Psychologist and expert in experts Dr. Anders Eriksson explains in his book, Peak (one of the few self-help books actually worth reading, if you ask me), that the single best indicator of how good a chess player is going to be isn't how many hours of chess they've played but how many hours they've spent … Continue reading A Year of Critical Reading – What I’ve Learned so Far
Toby Backman 