Category Archives: Uncategorized

Originally posted on Dr. Doyle's Blog:
It’s that season again . . . time for one of my semi-regular posts where I clear my throat nervously, point at the “About” link in the header, and let people know that I offer editorial and critique services for a reasonable fee. (It’s been a long hard…

Originally posted on Dr. Doyle's Blog:
Because hoo, boy, am I feeling peevish at the moment. Peeve the first: taught versus taut. Taught is a verb; it’s the past tense of teach:  Jack taught Joe how to tie knots. Taut is an adjective, meaning stretched or pulled tight, the opposite of slack:  Joe pulled…

Originally posted on Dr. Doyle's Blog:
Franklin W. Dixon.  Carolyn Keene.  Victor Appleton.  Familiar names, all three, as are their literary creations:  The Hardy Boys.  Nancy Drew.  Tom Swift.  How do these authors manage to have their names on such long-running series?  (The first Hardy Boys adventure appeared in 1927; the most recent just…

Originally posted on Dr. Doyle's Blog:
She read a New York Times interview with Kazuo Ishiguro about his forthcoming novel, The Buried Giant, which takes place in a non-historic just-post-Arthurian England, in which the author frets that his audience will say that it is fantasy.  (To be fair, it contains. among other things, a…

Originally posted on Dr. Doyle's Blog:
Over at The Toast, “How to Tell if You Are in a Logic Puzzle.” Because heaven knows, Logic Puzzle Land has only a tangential relationship to Real Life Land. Obligatory writing reference:  When constructing plots and figuring out character motivations, remember that Fiction Land generally strives to reflect…