When drawing maps of continents, being realistic is a good idea even when inventing for a fantasy or SF landscape. We’re not freed from plausibility unless we’re purposely throwing out the laws of physics and nature. Most of us are Read More …
4 Unconventional Tools to Fix Common Creative Writing Problems by Guest Blogger Ethan Miller Once upon a time, there lived a writer who churned bestsellers after bestsellers without breaking a sweat. Words flowed out of him with such ridiculous ease Read More …
Today, author John Robin was kind enough to publish a guest post of mine about species and races in world building. You can read it here. The article is drawn from Creating Life (The Art of World Building, #1), which Read More …
I watch a lot of SciFi (and when available, fantasy) on TV and in movies. All too often, death means nothing. A major character can be killed off and I just shrug, knowing they’ll be back, sometimes before the episode Read More …
There’s a lot of advice on how to write a professional author bio, and here’s mine: don’t try to be funny or clever. It seldom works. It can also make you look juvenile, narcissistic, and unprofessional. Here are some examples of bad Read More …
This is part two of the blog about evaluating feedback on your writing or other artistic pursuits. Read part 1 here. Biased Feedback A person giving negative feedback can be biased in some way. We can sometimes tell from their Read More …
Whether a musician, author, or other artist, we’ve all received feedback on our work. Obtaining meaningful feedback is an art all its own. Sometimes we have to work at it, deciphering comments to figure out what someone means, so I’ve Read More …
So I’m sitting here watching Conan The Destroyer, which includes the age-old premise that a virgin will be sacrificed. Personally, I think that’s a waste of a perfectly good virgin, but what struck me is the silliness of this. There’s no Read More …
Like most authors, I’ve submitted books to agents and either gotten no response or the form rejection letter. Well, let me be specific – I’ve sent a query letter, one page summary, and anywhere from 5 pages to 3 chapters Read More …
Most authors have “writer’s block” at some point, but I suspect we’re often suffering from something I call “idea block”. The definition of writer’s block is “the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to Read More …