Don’t mess up the ending
No matter how well you write your beginning and middle, don’t mess up the ending. The end of a story […]
Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
Campfire Character Building
There’s a well-established trope I call campfire character building. This is a scene where characters sit around a campfire and
Not the Chosen One?
What if the protagonist of your fantasy story is not the Chosen One? A well-worn trope of fantasy fiction is
Unreliable Magic
Too much of the magic in fantasy just instantly works, on demand; what I want is unreliable magic. The kind
No Ordinary World
None of my stories do what the craft books say; there’s no Ordinary World opening for my protagonists.
A Novel’s Nine Opening Promises
A recent writing craft video by the ‘Bookfox’ considered a novel’s nine opening promises. What promises should an author make?
Writing a YA Heroine
For books four and five, I’m writing a YA heroine. But do I know how? How do I write a
The First Draft
What makes a good first draft of a novel? The key essential: completion. Until you finish the first draft, you
Editing Tips for Creative Writing
Looking for editing tips for creative writing? Don’t know how to edit? Where to start? We’re all led to believe
The Seven-point Short Story
In need of a new reader magnet to draw readers to my mailing list, I’m turning to the seven-point short