Tag: writers

An overdose of criticality – by Mark Cantrell

Author Mark Cantrell

ONE of these days I’ll figure out how to switch off.

No, I’m not talking about relaxing, well not exactly, but stepping out of this world and into the ‘zone’. That’s the place where the state of consciousness alters when the muse is in full flow – at least until the inability to power down the critical faculties crashes me back down to Earth.

When the words flood the screen there’s a kind of freedom, but all too often the internal critic comes smashing through the door to stick his damn finger in the dyke. The other finger he tends to wag my way; admonishing me for the terrible state of my composition. If I’m not quick enough, he takes a dive for the delete key, too, the swine. Continue reading “An overdose of criticality – by Mark Cantrell”

Pitfalls for New Writers

There are many potential pitfalls for new authors. Not for me. Not that I ever was a new author. I was born an old author. Like an older, wiser Hemingway with more of a drinking problem, but without the suicide problem. Still, it is hard for me to watch others make mistakes that I have seen people of lesser worth than myself make.

One thing new authors do is think they are hot shit. This happens a lot. It happened to a friend of mine. He got paid to write at a very young age. He was the hotshot writer in all his classes. Then he moved to San Francisco and got his ass handed to him. Actually, he was still fairly good, but he definitely wasn’t the best, and he definitely didn’t get better until he ate some humble ramen. Continue reading “Pitfalls for New Writers”

Getting it Right

Did you ever see a beautiful painting of a ship with white sails billowing, the prow slicing through the waves, colorful banners fluttering behind? I’ve seen some beautiful paintings like that. Of course, those paintings are absurdly wrong, and that irritates me. A sailing ship is wind-driven. That means the banners and flags are blown in the same general direction the ship is moving and the sails are billowing—not streaming along behind the ship. A wind-driven vessel can not move faster than the wind. A painting like this, however well otherwise done, shows the painter does not know his subject. Continue reading “Getting it Right”

The Influence of Personality on Authorial Style

Part of the allure of being a writer is the ability to create another whole (albeit fictional) world. We might have very little control over events in the real world, but we can play God in the ones we invent. We choose what happens to whom, who lives and dies, every twist and turn, and we alone decide how it all shall end.

I wondered to what extent those decisions we make as the supreme beings of our story-worlds are influenced by our own personality type.  There are many formal ways to categorize personality types but, as with most things, I have my own way. I classify personalities as: Optimist, Pessimist, Skeptic, and Cynic. Continue reading “The Influence of Personality on Authorial Style”