Tag Archives: On Writing

Infodump and Identification: Thinking about Fantastic First Pages with Anne McCaffrey

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

I’m having trouble getting into the (sort of) second Dragonriders of Pern book, Dragonquest. I loved Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong, caught up by the protagonist’s heartsore struggle to express her creativity in a world of martial law. In dire threat of the biological terror of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, On Writing, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged Anne McCaffrey, Dragon Riders of Pern, Dragonflight, Dragonquest, Dragonsong, fantasy, feminism, Harry Potter, Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Atwood, Middle Earth, Narnia, On Writing, Science Fiction, Suzy McKee Charnas, The Divine Comedy, Ursula K. Le Guin, writing | 4 Comments

Sad Peninsula by Mark Sampson

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

My mother was a voracious reader. I remember watching her as she read on the couch or a deck chair, slowly turning the leaves as if she was counting the pages rather than gobbling up hundreds of words at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Canadian literature, Japan, Korea, Mark Sampson, On Writing, Sad Peninsula, Stephen King, writing, WWII | 14 Comments

Stephen King and the Genre of Genius

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

This year for my Stickin’ Huge Awesome Novel Winter Awesome Read (SHANWAR), I chose Stephen King’s The Stand (1978) I have never read it before and I don’t think I have ever had a conversation with someone about it. Still, … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing, Reflections, Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged 'Salem's Lot, Carrie, fantasy, genre, Harold Bloom, IT, literature, Margaret Atwood, On Writing, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Stephen King, The Green Mile, The Shining, The Stand | 13 Comments

Fun With Stats 1: Lessons on Growth from 5 Years of Blogging

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the critical advantages of WordPress is that it offers the blogger tools for calculating their impact. It is also one of its critical weaknesses as the analytics are limited to daily visitor and hit counts, as well as … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged A Bridge to Terabithia, apologetics, Blogging, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, On Writing, social media, The Clash, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, The Screwtape Letters, Wordpress Stats, writing | 13 Comments

Murder in the Morning

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

Crows mock the coming of the day heckling every suggestion of light filling every inch of naked twig on bare poplar flung dangerously to the sky and on leafless maples which in summer or fall are watercolour forms of things children … Continue reading →

Posted in On Writing, Reflections | Tagged Charlottetown, crows, On Writing, Poetry, Prince Edward Island, research, writing | 6 Comments

Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions, with the Right Question Institute

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

After a teaching foundations course (theory), my first college course in teacher prep was “Teaching Methods.” Ever since, I have loved the diversity of ways that we can draw a group of people to a moment of discovery. I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged academic, critical thinking, curiosity, On Writing, Question Formulation Technique, Right Question Institute, Teaching | 3 Comments

Treading Upon the Sacred: A Guest Post on Writing by Judy Carlson

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

Readers of A Pilgrim in Narnia know that I like to feature indie and small-press authors from time to time. Judy Carlson’s The White Knight, the Lost Kingdom, and the Sea Princess was published by Nordskog in 2015. Here she reflects upon … Continue reading →