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Books by D.J. Butler
Category Archives: How to Write
Sympathy
It’s important in writing almost any story that readers care about the protagonist. You want readers to root for the protagonist as he sets about trying to achieve his objective, which they will only do if they care. This is … Continue reading
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Tagged Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Middle Reader Fiction, Percy Jackson, Rule of Three, Sympathy, Wimpy Kid
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What Is Plot?
Plot is not the same thing as stuff happening. Stuff happening is life, and it’s history (at least, history prior to interpretation). It may or may not have shape and pattern. It’s one damn thing after another (quotes variously attributed … Continue reading
Pacing
Pacing is the alternation of action/tension bits (scenes) and non-action/tension bits (sequels). Different stories and different audiences may require different kinds of pacing. Some rules of thumb: 1. Alternate scene and sequel. 2. Successive scenes should have bigger action or … Continue reading
The Lure of the Secret World
I think one of the things I find most attractive in any novel is the feeling that it is telling me secrets about the world I live in. You see this simply and pretty clearly in a lot of middle … Continue reading
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Tagged Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Chabon, Rick Riordan, Thomas Pynchon, Umberto Eco
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Jots and Tittles: A Funny Little Example
You have to be aware of the market you’re writing for, and think about it objectively. Here’s a funny little example, from last week, in my own writing. I am working on a middle reader novel and the Story Monkeys … Continue reading
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Tagged Commas, Harry Potter, Market, Percy Jackson, Science of Writing, Story Monkeys, Voice
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One Hundred Thirty-Three Characters
Twitter is great because it forces you to write efficiently. Epigrams and haikus only. Twitter stinks because it is full of spammers.
The Essential Thing
The essential thing is conflict. Any story is at its heart the recounting of some struggle. Someone struggles against someone or something else in order to achieve some objective. A story without conflict is not worth reading. A scene without … Continue reading
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Ten Famous Writers
…and the weird stuff they did while writing. I’ve done all of this. Okay, not all of it.
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Writing to the Punchline (Bonuses: Horror and Dialect!)
The thing had eyes now, one in its forehead and one in its cheek, each formed by a dull silver Pennsylvania shilling and each spluttering and emitting a foul yellow smoke as the silver burned its way into the clay … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write, Writing Sample
Tagged Clay Monsters, Dialect, Horror, Witchy Eye, Writing Visually
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Dialect and Accent
This is simple. You don’t exactly reproduce on paper what any of your characters sounds like, because you would write incomprehensible gibberish all the time. So when you go to represent the speech of a character with a regionally or … Continue reading
