I tend to treat classic literary writers like gods. That’s not hard to do. How else would you feel when you’re reading a book that’s so full of wisdom and knowledge? However, I think sometimes it’s important to ground our literary heroes. We need to see them as the complex and flawed human beings …
In Trent Dalton’s gritty coming-of-age debut, Boy Swallows Universe, we enter the mind of Eli Bell, an eagle-eyed 12-year-old who gets thrust into a whirlwind of drugs, addiction, violence, racism, and classism. Eli’s brother, August, speaks only when absolutely necessary. For the most part, he writes cryptically in the air. Eli’s spiritual mentor is …
When I first started watching Game of Thrones (and then read it too), I was fascinated at the balance of reality and fiction. In this story, princes aren’t always kind and gallant. Princesses get rescued by monsters. Good men die, and the villains prosper. We root for protagonists who turn into a villain. We …
If you’re a writer or you’ve studied creative writing, chances are you’ve come across the expression ‘Show, Don’t Tell.’ In literature and poetry, this is called ‘Sensory Imagery’ — the use of different expressions and figurative language to evoke a sensory experience in the reader. When authors use the imagery in their writings, they provide …
A few years ago, when my creative writing teacher was explaining the use of literary devices in novels or poems, she showed us the above picture. Yes, that’s a before-and-after shot of a movie scene — a fantastic example of special effects (SFX) and visual effects (VFX) in cinematography. So, the tutor asked us to …
Established authors have said it before and we’ll say it again: Novel writing methods or structures aren’t an exact science. So, you’re not bound to the rules. You’re welcome to stray from the path they present. They are simply there to help you discover your narrative’s footing or provide you with a basic blueprint. …
We all have our favourite short stories — that’s why any discussion over what makes the greatest short stories of all the time can take hours (or, in some cases, a lifetime). Can there ever be one list we all can agree upon? Something that would glance upon all tastes, all eras, all countries, …
During Monsoon, the temperatures drop, the days get shorter, and the pace of life goes down a little. And to a bookworm, all of this makes the right atmosphere to crawl up in our beds, take a soft blanket and cuddle with our favourite companion — a book. For us book nerds, Monsoons are …
Some authors have such a way with words that they not only create meaningful stories but also memorable characters. These characters stay with us long after we’ve turned the final page. We find them sitting in the back of our minds and waving a hello every so often. They leave such an impression that …
So you think you’ve heard and read the scariest of the stories? You’ve read about the Vampires, Ghosts, Zombies, and all things sinister. And at this point, you think nothing can scare you. Nothing can send shivers down your spine. Well, I beg to differ. To prove there’s still a wealth of spine-chilling reads, …
