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I've been helped along my journey as a writer by a host of other people, whether they realize it or not. Family, friends, advanced readers, even well-established writers who's work I've studied in an effort to improve my own.
One of the ways that I hope to be able to give back is by passing on various bits of miscellanea that I've picked up over the last few years. Still, I'm a little hesitant in doing so because I'm afraid it might ruin the magic for some.
Nearly my entire life I've enjoyed immensely the ability to sit down with a book and be swept up in a story that bore only passing, if any, resemblance to my life. Since I've begun writing I've seen several places where agents or editors indicated they can't just read a book for fun anymore. These particular individuals had spent so much time analyzing a book that they were no longer able to read without critiquing.
Whether I've been lucky, or those individuals were more the exception than the rule, I've so far managed to avoid losing my enjoyment of a good story. In fact, in some ways my enjoyment is even greater now as I pick out how this or that author solved a potentially tricky plot device in a particularly clever manner.
If after that rather long-winded preface hasn't scared you off, I hope you'll enjoy the various facets of writing I've included here. They're rather wide-ranging, and some of them are even a bit tangential, but they are all things that I feel have value to the developing writer.
Cheers,
Dean