Lots of writing tips, 3D solar photography, self-healing sea-squirts, bionic vision brain implants, Hubble’s 17th…

• 1 – Descriptive Techniques

  “If I am analogous to the director of the film my readers watch, then description controls many of the aspects of that story experienced by the reader. That camera is critical for conveying pacing, setting, character, and plot.”

  (tags: techniques descriptive narration creation character craft tools tips storytelling fiction writing)

• 2 – Multiple First Person Narrators

  “There is certainly nothing technically wrong with multiple first-person narrators. It is no more “incorrect” than using multiple third-person points of view or present tense or omniscient POVs or whatever else.”

  (tags: techniques narration person first POV character craft tools tips storytelling fiction writing)

• 3 – Every “Rule” has Exceptions

  “One of the many fascinating aspects of English and writing is that anything that sounds like a rule has exceptions. The only real rule in writing is this: IT HAS TO WORK. If it works, it’s good.”

  (tags: functionality techniques rules craft tools tips storytelling fiction writing)

• 4 – Creating Characters: Background Thoughts and an Exercise

  “When I’m teaching character to students, I tell them they have seven ways to let the reader know who they are dealing with.”

  (tags: techniques creation character craft tools tips storytelling fiction writing)

• 5 – STEREO: First 3-D Images of the Sun

  “NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) satellites have provided the first three-dimensional images of the sun.” Very cool; much more impressive than bits of dead shark.

  (tags: science astronomy sun probe solar stereo photos images 3D)

• 6 – Sea Squirt, Heal Thyself: Scientists Make Major Breakthrough In Regenerative Medicine

  “…researchers show that a human evolutionary ancestor, the sea squirt, can correct abnormalities over a series of generations, suggesting that a similar regenerative process might be possible in people.” OK …

  (tags: mechanism genetic slug sea research regeneration organ human medicine science)

• 7 – Deep brain implants show bionic vision promise

  “…phosphenes can be produced by stimulating the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) – an area deep in the centre of the brain that relays visual signals from the retina to the cortex.” Sounds complicated.

  (tags: futurism implants cortical technology research prosthetics eyes vision)

• 8 – Hubble’s 17th: Chaos, birth, and near-death

  To celebrate the occasion, Bad Astronomy takes us on a guided tour through the Carina Nebula. Awesome images.

  (tags: image Nebula Carina cosmology astronomy anniversary hubble telescope space)