This is the blog I would write if I could write about writing.

Nick Tramdack is a graduate of Clarion 2011 and the author of several published short stories. He shares my love of speculative fiction and writes about writing it at his blog SpecTechnique.

The blog itself is new, with only two entries so far, but already a must read. Nick (can I call you Nick?) isn’t rehashing the same advice and tips we’ve all heard a hundred times already. In his latest post, Totalizing Claims, he discusses how to show the not-so-modern world views and attitudes of your characters. In his words:

What I’m talking about is a way for progressive writers to prevent their historically grounded work from feeling too contemporary.

One of the fastest and most elegant techniques is to throw a few totalizing claims into your tale. This is a way of achieving a premodern feel economically. This way you convey an effect of a socially repressive & reactionary setting simply by suggesting a totalizing way of thinking about things.

This is a variable I have never even considered. Nick explains the concept clearly and with useful examples from Balzac, and Poe, and Wolfe. The posts have meat to them and are long enough to get deep into the topic without beating the shit out of it.  It’s definitely a blog to watch.