Guest Blog: Empathizing with Characters

Adira Rotstein has been guest blogging for Defining Canada over the last several weeks. In this, her last post with us (for the time being!), Adira explores how empathizing with fictional characters is perceived at different stages in life, and why it is important to an author.
EMPATHIZING WITH CHARACTERS
Often, I love the beginning of a [...]

Guest Blog: Creating Suspense

Author Adira Rotstein has explored many subjects related to the craft of writing, and has offered her insights gathered from both the writing and performance worlds on how to build your literary voice. In this guest blog, she explores a well known narrative trick for creating suspense.
CREATING SUSPENSE

Another ending trick (not invented by the movie [...]

Guest Blog: Seeding a Scene

Adira Rotstein has worked extensively on creating scenes through both writing and performing. In this guest blog, Adira explores the importance of “seeding a scene” to keep action flowing and engage the reader.
SEEDING A SCENE

Start with what appears superficially to be a regular status quo scene, but “seed” that entire first scene with elements that [...]

Guest Blog: Improv and Writing

Adira Rotstein guest blogs for Defining Canada once again, this time to give her take on how certain improv tactics can help create well-rounded, flushed out fiction.
IMPROV AND WRITING
In improvisational comedy, because scenes are so brief and it’s all created live and on the spot, the more obvious the plant of an object (meaning, an [...]

Guest Blog: “The Circle Is Now Complete”

YA author Adira Rotstein is back with another guest post, this one delving into a common narrative feature: the circular story line. Is it a good device? Overused? Still capable of surprising the reader? Continue below to learn Adira’s take on this well recognized tactic.
“THE CIRCLE IS NOW COMPLETE”
One of the major differences between stories [...]

Guest Blog: The Lie That Tells the Truth

In this guest blog, YA author Adira Rotstein ruminates on the craft of writing fiction and what purpose the genre serves for readers.
THE LIE THAT TELLS THE TRUTH

It is said that “fiction is the lie that tells the truth.”  It’s one of my favourite quotes, although I believe it was originally applied to visual art, [...]

Q&A with Adira Rotstein, author of Little Jane Silver

What genre is your book?
In terms of genre I would classify this story as an Adventure on the High Seas. There are elements of speculative fiction in the story, especially with regards to the green lichen and the peculiar orange birds.
There are so many classic stories that have become ingrained in the marrow of [...]