Be your own critic without being critical


Here’s how:  Write something. Do it now. Now look at it not as an author, but as a reader or audience and ask questions about it. For example, I write, "It was dawn in the small western town." Now I ask:


1. What time of year was it?

2. What state?

3. Is it a ghost town?

4. How many people live there?

5. Is everything all right in the town?

6. What year is it?


Then let your Muse come up with as many answers for each question as possible.

 

Example 6 from above: What year is it?


A. 1885

B. Present Day

C. 2050

D. After the apocalypse.


Then repeat:


Example D from above: After the Apocalypse.


1. What kind of apocalypse?

2. How many people died?

3. How long ago was the disaster, and so on.


By alternating between critical analysis and creative Musings, you will quickly work out details about your story's world, who's in it, what happens to them and what it all means.


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Writing Tip of the Day…

from Melanie Anne Phillips
Creator StoryWeaver, Co-creator Dramatica

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Read the Science Fiction Thriller

From the founder of Storymind

Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.

Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.

The Event is coming.

Are you prepared?

Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips


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