Today is the last Saturday before heading out West, so my thought was to do something a little different with a reblog post. I recently discovered author Bryn Donovan, who has written several books for helping writers. I've been reading Bryn Donovan's website for some time now because of her awesome articles on writing well. … Continue reading Reblog: The Bryn Donovan Collection
Hello everyone! I have some awesome announcements for this August update. This will be a quick post, but for starters, there will be a couple of weeks where I'll be unable to post at all. I WILL, however, come back with tons of pictures from a trip I'm taking to Yellowstone and the surrounding parks … Continue reading August Update!
So you want to write fantasy? Good luck. In all seriousness, fantasy is notoriously difficult to write no matter which way you look at it. It's not uncommon for fantasy writers to take years to complete one single book (unless you're Brandon Sanderson, but we don't all have that luxury). Besides that, a major aspect … Continue reading Why Is Fantasy So Hard to Write?
Let's be honest, hating your work takes a toll. So you spent days, weeks, even months or years, on a piece of writing. You edited and rewrote. You spent hours trying to get everything just right, and finally, you feel comfortable with it, enough to send out to that literary journal or press for someone … Continue reading Hating Your Work after Publishing It
Stories have endless possibilities, but when it comes to plot, we rely on several basic formulas. That's definitely not a bad thing, but a big pitfall for any budding writer is relying too much on tropes, clichés, and what's already been done. When you sit down to write your story ask yourself: 1) Does my … Continue reading Reblog: Story plots: 7 Tips to be More Original – NowNovel
Everyone tells you to write every day. They praise the benefits of building a writing routine and disciplining yourself. And it's true! You should definitely at least try to write every day, even if it's only a few words. However, some days words refuse to show up, or what you put on paper feels like … Continue reading How to Write Every Day without Dying
You might think that there aren't a whole lot of speculative writing residencies and workshops for writers in a specific genre. It's true that many residencies focus on allowing all writers to focus on any project they're undertaking. However, several outlets exist for those who write speculative fiction. Speculative writers focus on sci-fi, fantasy, and … Continue reading Best Speculative Writing Residencies and Workshops
In some ways, there's a mathematical process to fiction. By that I mean, whether you realize it or not, certain parts of writing need to be calculated, working together in a certain way when you create. The technical building up of parts works to make what we all agree is a good story. Here I … Continue reading Calculating Fiction: The Three-Act Structure
Some stories bring out the magic in everyday life but not in the way you might think. Good stories undoubtedly craft their own magic, sucking you into the world created. However, all genres can do that. I'm talking about magical realism, a subgenre of fantasy that adds magical, or fantastical, elements to a typical literary … Continue reading What Is Magical Realism? A Definition
Worldbuilding isn't just about building a physical world that your characters live in. A fantasy world, for example, might have its own physics, so things like gravity or motion work differently from ours. But that's not the only reason a world exists when you create it. A working world also needs a working culture or … Continue reading Worldbuilding A Fictional Culture
