Category Archives: Writer’s Notebook

One of the major struggles with serial narrative is the battle between endings and scene changes, and the need for unity. With every scene change and every end of an episode there is a risk of losing your audience. I … Continue reading →

In Orson Scott Card’s book Character & Viewpoint, he points out that while we like characters who are similar to us, “we also tend to be a little bored with them. It’s strangeness, not familiarity, that excites our curiosity” (79). … Continue reading →

Whenever I find a book that I can’t put down, it often has to do with the fact that I’ve fallen in love with the world. In creating such a seductive world, True Blood has used several elements of the … Continue reading →

Before I go farther, I’d like to discuss a couple of points: My first point is that since True Blood is a TV show, and thus a visual and auditory medium, a whole bunch of the show is going to … Continue reading →

The memory goes something like this: I’m fourteen years old, sitting in my high school freshman English class. My teacher, Miss Persson, strolls over and sees me reading a fantasy novel. I don’t exactly remember what the novel was although … Continue reading →

I had a humbling experience in one of my classes today. I feel like a total idiot, a failure, but I don’t feel totally hopeless because at least I learned something. Here’s what happened: I’m taking a Serial Narrative class … Continue reading →