One of the things I’ve come to notice about my favorite stories is their ability to take contrasting subjects and make them mingle and harmonize. This can be found in characters we’ve seen for decades: the good girl with the bad boy; Beauty and her Beast; the average IQ tagging along with the renowned genius.…
I recently had this question posed to me by a friend regarding a short story I have been writing: “What’s easier: the first draft, or the second draft?” And in pure C.M. fashion, my response was: “It depends on the day.” The first draft, I explained, is “you telling yourself the story”—a quote that is…
This is one of those literary devices that can really ruin the element of surprise once you get used to spotting it. Based on a writing philosophy observed and often practiced by Russian author Anton Chekhov, the law of “Chekhov’s Gun” states that a storyteller should never introduce a gun in Act One of the…
I was once part of a group of readers who would critique play submissions with the goal of narrowing them down to five pieces that would eventually be performed. During one of our sessions, a fellow reader scoffed at the “predictability” of one particular play. Now, I was there to judge the plays, not the…
I have been thinking more about AI art recently. And, no, my stance hasn’t really changed on it. I still think artificial intelligence takes too much away from both the creator and the audience; I still think art is only art when and if it focuses on the human condition, communication, and connection (and obviously…