Books can leave a mark on you, etched in your mind. They can affect the way you think, and leave you different from those around you. Those who read...
20 Signs You’re a Fantasy Reader
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Prose and Cons
The Scale of Success (As Measured by Food)
How do you measure success? Is it my salary, fame, education? How can you judge the success of others? By the car they drive, the school they went...
4 Ways to Measure in Fantasy
How much? How far? How Heavy? How long? You've taken your readers into a brand new world, painted landscapes and cities with your prose, and devised...
NaNoWriMo 2013 Kickoff
Well, it's that time of year again: National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known at NaNoWriMo. It's a time for writers and would-be writers to...
7 Deadly Sins of Fantasy Writing
Writers make mistakes. They're human after all, and that's why there are editors. Some transgressions go beyond mere mistake, however, and reach the...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 5, 10-1)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
5 Stages of Self-Publication
Doubt, Excitement, Confusion, Frustration, Success, these are the stages you'll go through if you stick with the path of self-publication. You may...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 4, 20-11)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 3, 30-21)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 2, 40-31)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 1, 50-41)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
Read ‘Em All, You Might Learn Something
"It's good but depressing" is the headline of the first 3-star review I received for Firehurler, just the other day. I've got as thin a skin as the...
6 Things to Do After Writing a Book: A Thumb-Twiddling Primer
Hooray! Your book is finished. The hours/weeks/months/years of work have resulted in a manuscript that was sent off to your editor just moments ago....
Cats and Internet Marketing
Host: We have with us today one of the great minds of our generation, Dr. David Steinbaur, Head of Complicated Research at the National Smartness...
Sidekicks: Who’s got your back?
The sidekick is a time-honored tradition in storytelling. They are often found as the lone companion to otherwise solitary heroes, or as tag-alongs...
Completing a Trilogy
Over the weekend, I finished the manuscript for Sourcethief, the final book of the Twinborn Trilogy. It finished at a svelte 188k words (only by...
Off-Camera Antics
Books and movies share a common element in storytelling: Point of View. The camera or the narrator of a scene (whether it be a character or a third...
Using Multiple Points of View (POV)
"many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view" - Obi-Wan Kenobi The story you tell will take on the flavor of whoever is...
A Second Book, A Second Look At Publishing One
For those who may not already have been aware, Aethersmith came out on "June 1". I put that in quotes, because, as an independent author, that whole...
One-Word Metaphors: Stretching Words to Their Limits
"The waves lapped the sandy shore. Overhead, the stars twinkled cheerily. A bank of clouds rolled in and a driving rain chased us from the beach. We...
Goodreads: Where Authors and Readers Connect
Goodreads, in case you've never heard of it, it a site where people can do to find book recommendations. They have millions of members and even more...
Writing Unforgettable Scenes
Forgettable (adj.): Easily forgotten, esp. through being uninteresting or mediocre. Ick. No one wants that for their writing. One of the best ways...
Showing: How Not To Tell
Everything you ever read about writing advises you: "show, don't tell". It's great advice as far as it goes. You don't want to lecture to your...
Spoilers: Your Own Worst Enemy
There are few people in this world that like spoilers. When we see a movie or a TV show, or we read a book, we want to experience all the twists and...