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 4, 20-11)
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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...
Worldbuilding: Science in Fantasy
So you're going with fantasy as your genre of choice? I guess that means you don't need to worry about science. WRONG! Just because you presuppose...
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...
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...
Agendas and Motivations
What is the difference between a character who is little more than window dressing for a story and one who is vibrant and realistic? The idea that...
Write Like a Bulldozer
There is a direction that bulldozers go. That direction is called "forward". When you consider vehicles that can look to a point some ways off and...
Villains
In response to my "7 Types of Heroes" blog, someone suggested that I take a look at villains as well. That got me thinking about just what it takes...
How to Kill (Your Characters)
The worlds we write can be dark and dangerous places. In many cases, these dangers are a key element of the plot. Sword fights, monster attacks,...
7 Types of Heroes
You don't need a hero to have a story, but if you want to write about heroic deeds you're going to end up with one somewhere along the lines....
Earth: A Failure of World-Building
There are many elements that go into making a world fit for fantasy storytelling. World-building is a skill any good fantasy writer needs to...
Amateur Cartography: the Duty of the Fantasy Author
View a larger version of the map From the Shire to Mordor, the Wall to King's Landing and every journey in between, readers have been dragged hither...
A Storm is Coming: Weather in Fiction
I sit here at the time I write this, being buried beneath the snows of winter storm Nemo. This No-Name storm got me thinking about weather in a more...
The Power of Fantasy: The World is Yours (even if it’s still sort of England)
I recently heard someone complaining that all fantasy seemed to be set in medieval England. While obviously there are plenty of fantasy stories that...
Idioms: Friend or Foe?
A large element of fantasy is world-building. You are creating a place, in whole or in part, from your imagination, and describing it to your...