photo by Mark W. Tiedemann
EXCERPT from "Don't Be a Bobble-Head and Other Bits of Guidance" by Timons Esaias in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction:
I am fighting a personal war against this word, and am the author of “Esaias’s First Oration against Grimace” and “Esaias’s Second Oration against Grimace". This is a really lazy word that has little precise meaning. X grimaced is the equivalent of writing The character had a facial expression, and not much more, though there is a suggestion that it expresses a negative emotion or experience. It also tends to come up in a POV violation. I generally find that it gets used because the writer couldn’t think of a way to be precise.
I strongly suggest that you just never, ever use this word, except when describing gargoyles.
("Don’t Be a Bobble-Head, and Other Bits of Guidance" by Timons Esaias. Revised version of an essay first appearing in Fantastical Visions Volume II (Fantasist Enterprises, 2003).)
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EXCERPT from "A Helpful Tactic: The Template Text" by Timons Esaias in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction:
When working on your first short stories or novels, I strongly suggest picking a Template Text to use as a reality check. It is best if the text chosen is a work of fiction that fits the following criteria:
1. A writer you wish to emulate
2. In the POV you intend to use
3. In the style you hope to acquire
4. With the same attitude toward the main character as you intend for your own piece.
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Timons Esaias is a satirist, poet and short fiction writer, living in Pittsburgh. His fiction has appeared in fourteen languages, and his poetry has been translated into Spanish, Swedish and Chinese. His poetry chapbook The Influence of Pigeons on Architecture is in its second edition. He has also been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, and won the Asimov's Readers Award. He is Adjunct Faculty at Seton Hill University. His website is www.timonsesaias.com.
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