Ten Fantasy Mentor-Apprentice Tropes
The mentor-apprentice relationship fills the pages of fantasy more than any other genre, so here are ten fantasy mentor-apprentice tropes. […]
Writing
Outline or Discovery?
What makes for a better story, an outline or discovery? Plotting or ‘pantsing?’ Writers fall into two types: the plotter
Thirty-eight Elements of Story
The writer’s software ‘Fictionary’ works on thirty-eight elements of story. It’s a long and thorough list of goals, objectives and
The Flat-pack Hero’s Journey
The Flat-pack Hero’s Journey is nowhere more prevalent than in the fantasy genre. It’s the not-so-secret formula to story telling.
Fantasy Genre Tropes We Love and Hate
Reading more widely, I shouldn’t be surprised at the number of fantasy genre tropes we love and hate. A trope
Historical Fiction or Fantasy?
Historical fiction or fantasy? Which should I write? Months and years of painstaking research, or build my own worlds where
The Wrong Point of View
You draft the first book in a series, then realize you’re telling the story from the wrong point of view.
Story in Seventeen Beats
Another classic story-telling framework is the story in seventeen beats. It makes for fast-paced stories and works well across genres. Seventeen
Watching the Word Budget
Long-form or short-form, a writer’s always watching the word budget. At a writer’s seminar, master of short stories Mary Robinette
Readers want the Emotional Layer
At this year’s Worldshift writers’ event, author and coach Trisha Jen Loehr described how readers want the emotional layer in