Tag Archives: Writing

Low-Resolution Fantasy, a Defense of “Bad” Art

Posted on November 7, 2014 by robertpkruger

I’ve always felt I missed something important about why my first encounters with Dungeons & Dragons were so powerful to me. When I wrote my essay for Baen early this year, I began to fit some pieces together, but as … Continue reading →

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Writing that Moves: Amontillado, Part 1

Posted on November 5, 2014 by robertpkruger

Poe’s classic short story “The Cask of Amontillado” has gripped my imagination since I first read it in junior high. How does it work? Here’s the first part, taken from the whole story at Project Gutenberg. It’s nice and short. … Continue reading →

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Writing that Moves: Learning by Reading Reference List

Posted on November 5, 2014 by robertpkruger

Crack open a few books on writing, and you’re liable to get the sound advice that the stories you admire are full of tricks you can learn from. A few of these writing books may even give examples. All the … Continue reading →

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Writing that Moves: Scare Me

Posted on November 3, 2014 by robertpkruger

How do you hold reader interest in a scary story? This is the first in a series where I’ll share a little writing and comment on it. I invite questions and criticism, because this is as much practice and learning … Continue reading →

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Keep Your Reader Reading, an Evolutionary View

Posted on November 3, 2014 by robertpkruger

I was going to title this post “A Hypothesis About Cognition that Roughly Explains Just About Everything,” but I’m most interested in this idea from the standpoint of narrative. Why do we do something rather than nothing, like, say, eat … Continue reading →

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Joe Midlist, the End of an Archetype

Posted on October 16, 2014 by robertpkruger

The following is from a post I made several months ago in a Facebook group I started. I founded the ebook company ElectricStory.com and have run it for fourteen years, publishing a few top authors in fantasy and science fiction, … Continue reading →

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The Half-Baked Guide to Better D&D, Part 1

Posted on October 5, 2014 by robertpkruger

The title of this series probably needs work, but I did give it more than two-seconds’ thought; I gave it ten-seconds’ thought. All guides to “better D&D” are going to be half-baked, because there are so many variables to consider: … Continue reading →

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Now You See It . . . Now You Still See It

Posted on September 2, 2014 by robertpkruger

I’ve been preoccupied the last couple of months with uprooting from the Seattle area and relocating in central Oregon, trying to build a new social network, and doing a bit of work retraining. I’ll pick up the account of my … Continue reading →

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A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 4

Posted on June 26, 2014 by robertpkruger

“You must not think of me as a reliable witness, as someone immune to bias and distortion.” Lucius read this to me a few months after our trip, while he was working on “Crocodile Rock.” “What makes this great,” he … Continue reading →

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A Long Trip with Lucius, Part 1

Posted on June 12, 2014 by robertpkruger

June 12, 2014 — My friend, mentor, and tormentor Lucius Shepard’s been gone three months now, gone and not coming back, unless he keeps his promise to make a supernatural visit, revealed in a lightning flash outside the bedroom window, … Continue reading →

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