At war with clankers. Essay. 1400 words, 7-minute read. Man v Machine By Ray Tabler Experts say that a story has to have conflict. Conflict, the clash of opposing forces is the engine which drives the narrative forward. Keeps the reader from nodding off mid-paragraph too, if done right. There…
Category: Uncategorized
The Pantser’s Prayer
100 words, 1-minute read. The Pantser’s Prayer By Ray Tabler I will trust in the muse; I shall not stress She maketh me sit down in front of the keyboard She poureth me strong coffee She restoreth my laptop battery She tidyeth tangled plot lines for sake of the story…
Curing Imposter Syndrome
Essay. 900 words, 5-minute read. Curing Imposter Syndrome By Ray Tabler. To quote that paragon of accuracy and objectivity, Wikipedia, “…Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience in which a person suffers from feelings of intellectual and/or professional fraudulence. One source defines it as…
Breeds and Reads
Audience participation post. Essay. 300 words, 2-minute read. My favorite part of the accompanying meme is the literary ladies throwing shade from the background. In my imagination, Daniel Radcliffe flicks his cig aside and herds his heckin’ puppers over to flirt with them. I’ll bet he gets at least one…
Stealing the Show
Grand theft drama. Essay. 900 words, 5-minute read. Stealing the Show By Ray Tabler. Making movies is a risky business. Or so I’m reliably informed. Beyond the well-known financial and critical perils involved lurks the danger that your audience will ignore what the director is attempting to communicate, and latch…
Authors Learning Something New Podcast
Someone else was foolish enough to let me on his podcast. Fellow author Rick Tabor interviewed me for his podcast, Authors Learning Something New! I like Rick. He has great initials, RT. You can see the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rr5g5iBvdQ&list=PLYTS-driGut0UGwVxbAf1IxBtlPc3eLyU Or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricktaborthea…/reel/DYDO-zovXqZ/ Hmm. That’s 3 podcasts I’ve been on…
Time and Childhood
The kids are alright. Essay. 800 words, 4-minute read. Time and Childhood By Ray Tabler. The other day a stray thought unlocked a torrent of childhood memories which waited patiently for decades to tumble out like opening the door of an over-stuffed cupboard. Simply put, my early years resembled the…
Novel Lengths Podcast
Fellow author Denver Wilson and I talk about novel lengths over the years. Thanks to the good people at Confusion for producing this series of podcasts. The last graph shown in the podcast: Here are the links discussed in the podcast: •https://capitalizemytitle.com/famous-book-series-and-novel-word-counts/ •http://www.kruegerbooks.com/books/best-sellers/index.html •https://discoverscifi.com/the-top-10-greatest-sci-fi-writers/ •https://www.isfdb.org/ •Ray’s Substack posts on the…
How Do You Read?
Two-timing, and more. Essay. 800 words, 4-minute read. How Do You Read? By Ray Tabler. How do you read books? That is, do you read one book at a time? Or do you have a number of books going all at once, skipping between as the mood takes you? Personally,…
Trigger Words
Bookends of storytelling. Essay. 600 words, 3-minute read. Trigger Words By Ray Tabler Once upon a time… Those are magical words. Words to conjure with, to conjure within a listener’s head. Throughout the history of storytelling there have always been specific phrases to signal leaving this world and entering another….