by Aaron Gansky @adgansky You hear writers often mention the “fictive dream.” John Gardner called it a “vivid and continuous dream.” It’s a term used to describe a simple principle: no one wants to read a book. There, I said it. Man, it feels good to get that off my…

by Aaron Gansky @adgansky As writers, we’re often admonished to establish mystery. The great unknown will keep our readers turning pages, so they say. But this inadvertently leads several beginning writers into a trap—the lack of detail trap. Do not confuse murky for mystery. [tweet_box design="default" float="none" inject="via @adgansky @BRMCWC…

by Aaron Gansky @adgansky You're using language when you write. Can’t do it without. But language is more a term encompassing vocabulary, imagery, and figurative language. Though it’s of vital importance, it seems to be the thing that is most often overlooked. As writers, we put notoriously little thought into…

by Aaron Gansky @adgansky Here’s a question more people should ask me about my writing, but don’t: Why do you write speculative fiction? What’s the point? What possible good can it do, especially for a Christian audience? The likely reason people don’t ask me this is because I tend to surround…

By Aaron Gansky, @adgansky   "Awful Dialogue Tags!" He Gushed Madly No reason to be ashamed here. We’ve all written them. While some of us are greater offenders than others, at some point, we’ve all over-written dialog tags. “Good morning!” he exclaimed wildly. “Good to see you,” he shouted excitedly.…

By Aaron Gansky, @adgansky Sometime after Flannery O’Connor’s death, her friends, Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, compiled several of her essays and speeches on writing in a book called Mystery and Manners. If you’re serious about the art of fiction, this is a book you’ll want to read and keep handy…