Author Archives: Gary Guinn

The book Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters, by Michael Tierno, was featured recently on Delanceyplace.com , an excellent site for the curious among us. And the excerpt ,which gives Aristotle’s thoughts on creating good characters in fiction, is a perfect follow-up to the series of posts I’ve been doing on characterization in fiction. From Aristotle’s PoeticsContinue reading “Characters as Aristotle Saw Them, from Michael Tierno’s Book Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters”

Dan Chaon‘s book Ill Will is a beautifully written, dark, at times almost lyric portrayal of a man’s struggle to discern what is real and to confront his past. He is a therapist who grew up with a disturbed, abusive older adoptive brother, and whose parents were brutally murdered when he was a teenager. Chaon’sContinue reading “Dan Chaon’s novel Ill Will Is Not for the Faint of Heart”

This is a guest blog post, purely tongue-in-cheek, I did Monday for Darlene Fredette’s blog Finding the Write Words. It considers the ways people respond to being made characters in fiction. It was written for other writers, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Am I In Your Book? When was the last time someone askedContinue reading “Am I in Your Book? Writing Characters from Real Places into Fiction”

Because human beings are inherently complex, characterization in fiction is itself a complex process. Appearance and action, the two methods of characterization we looked at in my last From the Forge post, obviously reveal character, but they may also be used to hide or disguise some elements of character. A character’s actions may even beContinue reading “From the Forge: Characterization, Creating Complex Characters, Part III”

Caye Caulker to Belize City to Houston to Northwest Arkansas. The things I’m going to miss: The quiet, sea-smelling dock first thing in the morning, doing a little yoga. The pelicans. Sitting under the palm trees reading, the ocean breeze brisk,  wind surfers, paddle boarders. The sun bright off the ocean. The palm fronds shiftingContinue reading “Caye Caulker Last Day”

Muddling along on Caye Caulker, I woke up this morning and lay face to face with my sixty-ninth birthday.  I don’t do much about birthdays. I have never been bothered by the decade years–you know what I mean, the “Oh my God, I’m forty” or “Oh, my God, I’m sixty” thing. Today is a beautifulContinue reading “Caye Caulker Birthday”

Thursday we left Caye Caulker for a long weekend, a little change of pace. Took the water taxi to Belize City, then caught a bus to Flores, Guatemala, a small town that covers an island in Lake Peten. The five hour bus ride, including a lengthy border crossing between Belize and Guatemala, was taxing, butContinue reading “Flores, Guatemala”

Okay, remember those Frigate Birds I was so fascinated with? So I told my next door neighbor here in Caye Caulker how much I liked the frigate birds. He says, you want to feed them? And I say, what do you mean, feed them? And he says, just a minute. And he gets on hisContinue reading “Frigate Birds, Part II”

Okay, I don’t know what it is exactly about the frigate birds that fascinates me, but I am soooo fascinated I watch them all the time. They are a constant presence in the sky above Caye Caulker, their striking dark outline soaring in the wind currents coming off the ocean. With their long beak andContinue reading “Frigate Birds on Caye Caulker”

I got word this week that my new book, Sacrificial Lam, will be released March 3rd. It’s my first genre novel, a mystery/thriller set in academia. The protagonist, Lam Corso, is a liberal English professor teaching at a small, conservative religious college. To anyone who knows me, this may sound a little familiar. In fact,Continue reading “Sacrificial Lam to be Released”