If you want to take your story from good to great, you need to get serious about creating memorable characters. No matter what genre of fiction you write, good characters are key to your story's success. It can be the one thing that elevates your book, movie, or game from "pretty good" to cult classic. … Continue reading The Key to Creating Memorable Characters: Lessons from a Fan Favourite
fiction
Why You Should Be Writing Short Stories (And How to Do It Right!)
You want to write better. You want to publish a book. You want to make money with your writing. It all starts with short stories. Many of the self-published authors I’ve worked with had a book idea, wrote it, and wanted to publish it. This is great—except that most of these people had never written … Continue reading Why You Should Be Writing Short Stories (And How to Do It Right!)
The One-Stop Shop for All Your Writing Needs
It's Thursday, and usually that means I bring you a great post from another blog or website. Don't worry—reblogs aren't going away, but today, I want to introduce you to something special. My reblog posts are a great way for both me and you to discover new writing blogs. But there are some resources that … Continue reading The One-Stop Shop for All Your Writing Needs
Reblog: Research for Fiction Writers from A Writer’s Path
http://ryanlanz.com/2022/06/18/research-for-fiction-writers/ We don't often talk about research as fiction writers, do we? Just because you're writing fiction doesn't mean you can make everything up. As ARHuelsenbeck points out in this article, readers don't appreciate inaccurate information, even in a genre like sci-fi! Even fantasy calls for research sometimes—I've done plenty! But research can also be … Continue reading Reblog: Research for Fiction Writers from A Writer’s Path
To Own the Rain: A sci-fi flash fiction story
No. 49/100 flash fiction stories It's raining on Praxilius IV. You’ll probably find this a pretty uninteresting statement, but you've never been to Solana—we’re called the System of Six Suns for a reason. From space, every planet looks orange. Everywhere. No blue. No green. Just orange—and maybe a bit of brown to complement. To you, a … Continue reading To Own the Rain: A sci-fi flash fiction story
Reblog: How to Use Character Actions to Develop Better Characters from Myers Fiction
http://myersfiction.com/2023/07/25/how-to-use-character-actions-to-develop-better-characters/ Y'all know how I am about characters in a story—they're one of the most integral parts of any narrative, which is why you have to spend time on your characters for your story to be successful. This post from the blog Myers Fiction is wonderfully thorough while still being easy to read, understand, and … Continue reading Reblog: How to Use Character Actions to Develop Better Characters from Myers Fiction
Beneath the Mask: A sci-fi short story
Breathe in. Breathe out. Erix tried his best to breathe steadily through his mask while a million other thoughts flashed through his mind. Am I walking too much like myself? Is the mask enough to hide my face? What if Ov’oks suddenly developed X-ray vision? Could someone have an X-ray scanner?! His heart beat so … Continue reading Beneath the Mask: A sci-fi short story
Can We Please Have More Soft Sci-fi and Plain Ol’ Fantasy?
I watched Dune for the first time last week (remember how I said I'm late to the party on everything?). Rather than getting me excited for Part 2, it made me think about how hard sci-fi and high fantasy are overrated. Don't get me wrong; I love Lord of the Rings and Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. … Continue reading Can We Please Have More Soft Sci-fi and Plain Ol’ Fantasy?
Night Drafts: A flash-fiction story
No. 48/100 flash fiction stories; based on the prompt "what your desk thinks about at night" It's cold in here. And too crowded. And too noisy. How do humans make such loud, obnoxious noises while they're asleep? How can anyone down this whole block get any rest with that cacophony going on? Oh well, it’s not … Continue reading Night Drafts: A flash-fiction story
Treasure Planet: The Storytelling Masterpiece We’ve All Been Ignoring for Two Decades
Space pirates. Incredibly designed aliens. Spaceships with sails. Cyborgs. A cute alien blob creature. What isn’t there to love about Treasure Planet? And I didn’t even mention the characters or plot yet! This post was extremely difficult for me to write because I love (read: LOVE!!!) this movie—so it’s hard to not just gush and … Continue reading Treasure Planet: The Storytelling Masterpiece We’ve All Been Ignoring for Two Decades
The Story Canvas 