Falkontheorie Gone?

German writer Paul Heyse (1830-1914) based his theory of Falkontheorie on the ninth tale of the fifth day of the Decamaron.  The tale is about a man who sacrificed everything for the love of a woman and when he still rejected her he then sacrificed his prize falcon as well, thereby winning her heart.  The idea or

Character and Background: Harmony and Conflict

Writers have strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes I feel like I have most of the latter.  Often I find myself in the trench of “showing” the story to a reader, describing expressions, hinting at the setting, and trying to characterize through dialogue so much that I forget that there is a virtually untouched area for

How to Find the Right Tone

Many writers can tell a good story, can create wonderful and interesting characters, can show and not tell, but only good writers can create the proper tone for each scene.  Tone is the attitude a writer has toward a subject but also the attitude the writer has toward the audience or supposed readers. When teaching