Anyone who follows my blog knows that I have a keen interest in worldbuilding. So when I decided to dust off Skyrim and have another go at it, I...
Worldbuilding in Skyrim: Politics
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J.S. Morin
The A, B, Cs of Fantasy
A - Adventure Because a life of stability and hard work just isn't in the cards. B - Battle Something to break up all the walking, riding, and...
Writing Prompts 3
Looking to write but can't think what to write about? Here are five more writing prompts to give you an idea to build around. 1 - Aliens have made...
Miracle on 34th Street Fan Theory
'Tis the season and I've been popping in all the Christmas classics this season. But as I was watching Miracle on 34th Street (in the original 1947...
Writing Prompts 2
Looking to write but can't think what to write about? Here are five writing prompts to give you an idea to build around. 1 - Three strangers meet at...
What If More Video Games Were Text-Based
I am old enough to remember Zork—the original text-based versions before they came out with graphics-enabled editions. It was an entirely different...
Writing Prompts 1
Looking to write but can't think what to write about? Here are five writing prompts to give you an idea to build around. 1 - Someone has been...
Level Up Your Writing: Words Are Experience Points
Are you a good writer? Want to get better? Well, you'd better get out there and earn more XP. Whatever innate talent and ability you think you have,...
4 Tips to Get Ready for NaNoWriMo
November 1 kicks off the annual writing extravaganza known as National Novel Writing Month (or more commonly, NaNoWriMo). With a goal of 50,000...
Amazon Lists Their 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime
Amazon just made a list of 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime. I went through the list and I had read 23 (I didn't count...
Black Ocean Playlists – Salvage Trouble
Music is a major theme in Black Ocean. Carl Ramsey was raised in a family that made its living dredging up old acts from the past and passing them...
Don’t Be Fooled By Space Opera
Maybe you know what space opera is, but in case you don't, I'm going to peel back the misconceptions. Space Opera is not what you think it is. First...
Worldbuilding in Harry Potter
I've already taken a look at the worldbuilding in Star Wars. Now it's time to take a look at a fantasy setting that most of us known quite well:...
5 Worldbuilding Questions About History
How far back does your history go? There's actual history (everything that happened in your world), recorded history (what's happened since people...
The 3 Writing Rules I Break All the Time
You hear the advice everywhere. It gets pronounced from high upon soap boxes, repeated as gospel, and heeded often without thinking. It makes for a...
When to Stop Worldbuilding and Start Writing
There are two common problems I hear when people are having trouble with their worldbuilding. One camp is overwhelmed by the task, the other unable...
Why Fiction Writers Are Crazy
Fiction writers are crazy. The non-fiction sorts can get away with having a normal outlook, describing things that exist and events that happened....
Writing an Episodic Series
I've written a series of long books. I've written one of more "standard" length books. But my current series is comprised of long novellas. I did...
Worldbuilding in Star Wars
I talk a lot about worldbuilding, but this time I'm going to show how it is conveyed in an example that (nearly) everyone is familiar with: Star...
Pop Culture in a Futuristic Society
Unless your futuristic society is comprised entirely of robots (a valid choice, of course), then there is going to be some sort of popular culture....
Rebranding: Cover and Title Upgrades for Black Ocean
Sometimes you reach a point where writing another book isn't going to sell more of the earlier ones. One more promotion, one more guest blog,...
5 Worldbuilding Fouls (and How to Avoid Them)
If worldbuilding is the art of making someone believe in a world that doesn't exist (and it is), then anything that shakes that belief is a strike...
Self-Editing for Continuity
One of the biggest mistakes a writer can make is a break in continuity. Immersion grinds to a halt, the reader does a double-take, and if...
So You Want to Be a Writer
With the ever-increasing ease of self-publishing, more and more people are becoming writers. Most are doing it on the side of some other occupation,...