Follow
Books by D.J. Butler
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Your First Book Almost Certainly Stinks
Mine did. I banged out the first draft in thirty days (350 pages, more or less) and shot it out to a couple of readers, including Eric Patten and my wife Emily (this was before the Story Monkeys formally existed, … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
4 Comments
Structure: Hollywood Movies
There’s actually a lot to say about the structure of Hollywood films, but the basic building blocks they overwhelmingly share are three acts. Here’s how it looks: Act One (30 minutes): we meet the hero, and are made to feel … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
Leave a comment
End on a Hook
The night was warm, there was no fog in the garden, and I felt happy. After cheese, I watched the Trifles and the Pennystocks say their good-byes and leave, and my parents send Miss Truehart away in a hansom. Lady … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
My Sister
Here’s another pop song by me. Review its structure; note the verses (the journey), the choruses (the theme) and the bridge (the moment of confrontation and realization). The crickets are quiet, the ground is hard when I get upA lot … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write, Song
Leave a comment
Start on a Hook
On the evening of the day that my father and I both died, he swept into the house jubilant and loud. Horrocks met him at the door, mumbling his usual polite welcomes and queries about his master’s day while he … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
The Serpent Mound
Here’s a nineteenth century sketch of the Serpent Mound. The real one is outside Peebles, Ohio. This is an important piece of archaeological Americana that figures into Witchy Eye, and it’s my only geographical cheat in the novel; I moved … Continue reading
Posted in Art
Leave a comment
Last Man Standing (Hereward’s Song)
Here’s another ballad of mine. It’s about Hereward the Saxon (misnamed “the Wake”, thanks to later fraudulent genealogists trying to claim him as an ancestor), one of my heroes. It’s been a long, hard journey, since Peterborough burnedMany a good man … Continue reading
Posted in Song, Writing Sample
Leave a comment
Structure: Chiasmus
I have been avoiding poetry in these notes on structure, principally because I am not qualified and secondarily because surely you already know that poetry is structured writing. I will, though, write briefly about one kind of “poetic” structure, because … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
Leave a comment
Structure: The Gospel of Matthew
I want to persuade you that writing is structured. Here’s another example. The Gospel of Matthew has a beginning consisting of a two-part prologue, the first part narrating the birth and infancy of Jesus (Matthew 1-2) and the second part … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
Leave a comment
