THE DIOSCURI DIAGRAM Considering the Storyline Diagram, Part the Second by James Lincoln Warren Last week, I offered my version of the venerable storyline diagram, seen above, as a cure for three-act-itis. One of its advantages, I claimed, was that it was more flexible than the vaunted three act structure. This week I aims to […]

READERS OF THE LAST ARC1 Considering the Storyline Diagram, Part the First by James Lincoln Warren One of the wonderful things about running a rotating blog is the gift of inspiration from distinguished colleagues. John wrote about story arcs a couple days ago, and that simple act has stimulated me to write this column, the […]

THE MAGNUS EFFECT1 by James Lincoln Warren And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too! —Dr. Seuss, If I Ran the Zoo Why did you suffer Iachimo, slight thing of Italy, To taint his Nobler […]

IT’S A GAS1 by James Lincoln Warren I first met the inexhaustible co-Chair of Bouchercon 2008, super-fan Judy Bobalik, immediately following the 2007 Edgar Banquet, i.e., a year ago last April. I was hanging out with the gifted novelist John Billheimer, whom I’ve known and respected for several years, and Judy, among others, was hanging […]

WHYS OF THE PRIZE by James Lincoln Warren I love the Olympics. As a scion of an American family dating back to the 17th century, I confess to be pleased when Americans win—not that my heritage makes me any more American than, say, the sublimely gorgeous Nastia Liukin or my beautiful and brilliant wife Margaret, […]

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS by James Lincoln Warren Here are how many people I’ve killed so far1, listed by causa mortis : Explosion (302: two hundred ninety-nine killed in the detonation of a frigate’s powder magazine consequent to the ship being run aground in a war action; three in a Mercedes-Benz by remotely controlled bomb) […]

BALANCING ACT by James Lincoln Warren “Medio tutissimus ibis,” the Roman comic poet Terence advises: “You will go safest in the middle.” This, of course, is a paraphrase of the Golden Mean, the concept that the best path in life is somewhere between austerity and excess, “Moderation in all things.” The idea itself extends beyond […]