Russell F. Hirsch
Imagine that! Opening and Closing Images
Great books begin with great openings. It’s our first taste of a story that will excite, move, and enthrall us. And endings are just as...
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Russell F. Hirsch
- Aug 16
- 2 min
Making Music With Words
Great writing has two main components: The “storytelling” component — big, structural things, like an exciting plot, good pacing, and...
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Russell F. Hirsch
- Aug 16
Making Music With Words
Great writing has two main components: The “storytelling” component — big, structural things, like an exciting plot, good pacing, and...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 18
Exposition 101 – SPELL SWEEPER
Today, we continue to unravel that most dreaded of all fantasy writing phenomena… EXPOSITION! Oh, so messy… Writers know that getting...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 5
EXPOSITION 101 – Fablehaven
Exposition. Few words strike more fear into writers. Not exposition! Noooooo! Exposition is the explanatory stuff within a story. The...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jun 7
The Best Action Writer in All of Kid-Lit…
Ten years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing a great Canadian children’s author who described his books as full of “running and...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 9, 2019
REVIEW: The Oddmire by William Ritter
Come with me and delve into the deep, dark woods of William Ritter‘s magical middle grade fantasy, The Oddmire, Book I: Changeling....
Russell F. Hirsch
- Oct 28, 2018
Horror for Kids – with booktuber Emily of Page Turns
Happy Hallow-week! With leaves falling, fireworks flaring, and pumpkins grinning, I’m very excited to welcome booktuber Emily of Page...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Oct 15, 2018
BLOG TOUR: The Flight of Swans by Sarah McGuire
Six years of silence. Magic as dark as black swan feathers. Sacrifice, struggle, and the interweaving of worlds. Today Storythreads hosts...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Sep 21, 2018
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older (Guest Review for The Book Wars)
The Civil War meets dinosaurs in Daniel José Older’s new Middle Grade novel, Dactyl Hill Squad. You heard that right. Civil War +...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Aug 23, 2018
REVIEW: Sword of Power by Oliver Potzsch
Today, we’re diving back in time to 17th-century Prague! Getting historical? We’re getting there through the historical fantasy novel...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 10, 2018
Canadian Corner: J. Fitzgerald McCurdy
As a kid growing up in the Harry Potter generation, I devoured fantasy novels—and since a new HP book only landed on the shelf every two...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 1, 2018
Canadian Corner: William Pasnak
Happy Canada Day! This July, I highlight underrated Canadian fantasy novels for kids, especially those from decades past that still stand...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jun 11, 2018
Graces and Ghosts: Kristin Cashore’s Elegiac Fantasy
***Onward, there be spoilers!*** Although the series is beloved first and foremost for its powerful and deep-feeling heroines, a central...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Nov 10, 2017
Pullman vs. Lewis: the Fantastical Frenemies
Last month, master storyteller Philip Pullman, published The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, marking a return to the world of His Dark...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jan 2, 2017
The Hero’s Journey – Resolution
Happy New Year to all! We have reached the 10th and final stage of a hero’s journey plot line and a fitting stage it is for January 1st...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Dec 20, 2016
The Hero’s Journey – Climax!
Huzzah! We have reached the Climax, the grand hurrah, the big shebang, a moment so exciting that only funny-sounding words can express...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Dec 11, 2016
The Hero’s Journey – Propelling Event
The beginning of THE END! We enter the third and final phase of a hero’s journey plot line. Act 3 Propelling Event Climax (aka Death &...
Russell F. Hirsch
- Jul 27, 2015
The Quantum Questions are Rising
As I see it, there is no conflict between science and religion, or at least, between science and spirituality. And stories—especially the...
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