Avoiding the Trope-osphere
When I was working on “Etched in Fire” and workshopping my chapters, everyone in my workshop seized on a particular scene. Without too...
Making Magic Real Part II: What Is It Like?
Once you’ve hammered out your consistent rules for magic, you need to write it so the reader believes in it. And that means...
Making Magic Real, Part I: Consistency
So you’re writing a fantasy novel. That means anything goes, doesn’t it? Your wizards can teleport, zap the evil guys with lightning,...
Writing Combat if You're Not a Fighter
Aside from gym courses in archery and fencing when I was in college, I have never studied any form of fighting. The fencing class gave...
Themes: What Are They, Really?
Whenever someone writes a story, it’s about something. That may seem self-evident; obviously a story has a plot and characters whose...
I Wrote It, But I Hate It
Hating the writing I produce: this is one of my biggest stumbling blocks. I’ve only now come to understand that this is a common...
Character Vs. Narrator Epic Smackdown
I am the Narrator. It’s my job to create the story and to decide what the characters do and don’t see. I have to decide whose eyes the...
Workshopping: The Sound and the Fury
I’m a big fan of workshopping, even though my experiences doing so have been decidedly mixed. Starting at age fourteen, and for close to...
The Closet of Lurking Ideas
Many years ago, at a science fiction convention, I opened my mouth to ask Poul Anderson an insightful question about his use of mythic...
Doing My Homework: How to Write What I Don't Know
Back when I was in high school, I wrote a short story based on the Arthurian legend. It still one of my areas of fascination, but at the...
