This is the star of a new feature, Sci-Fi Time Capsule, a look back at a classic sci-fi episode. There will be spoilers, to say the least, but I...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Star Trek TOS “Arena”
read more
J.S. Morin
Writing About Monsters: 3 Creatures for Your World
Speculative fiction is a stretching of the world into new shapes, an expansion of ideas to their logical (or illogical) conclusions. One of the many...
Coincidences in Storytelling
One of the complaints about fiction is that so many times a plot is predicated on a number of coincidences. If things X, Y, and Z don't all happen...
New Series, New Workflow: Scrivener Ahoy!
I've wanted to try Scrivener for ages, but I've been writing a long-running series. It felt like a bad idea to make a major change to my workflow...
Manuscript Complete! Next Project
Tinker's Justice Well, I've just wrapped up the manuscript for Tinker's Justice, the final book in the Mad Tinker Chronicles. It still needs all the...
Amazon Pre-Orders for Self-Published Authors
Late last week I got the following email from Amazon: Hello, We're excited to announce that you can now make your new books available for pre-order...
Book Readers’ Ponzi Scheme
There's always someone telling you about a book they read, how great it is, and how you should read it too. Have you ever stopped to consider how...
If Book Releases Were Like Software Releases
The software industry is a strange animal. Most software isn't considered done when it gets released; people expect there to be changes,...
Never Made it Out of the Shire (Pacing in Fantasy)
The Lord of the Rings is a seminal work of fantasy, but if it suffers from a fault, that fault would be pacing. For those who have read it, how long...
Ask an Author: I published my book on Amazon. Now what?
Well, for starters, the question you should have asked is "I'm going to be publishing my book in the next few months, what do I need to do to be...
What Being an Author Means to Me
Watching a show the other day, there was a character who had been told she had six months to live. Where was she? At work in a nice tidy office job....
Why Reviews Matter
Amazon is big. Really big. It's a Walmart the size of Rhode Island, with a flea market out back the size of Texas. You're welcome to set up a table...
Author Update: 7/2/14
Well, I missed my scheduled Tuesday blog post this week, but I'd like to think it was for a good cause. Last night I finished the manuscript for...
Ask an Author: Do I need a writing outline?
I've been self-publishing for close to a year and a half now, and while that might not make me an expert, it is an ever-evolving landscape, and...
Worldbuilding On the Go
Writing is a time-consuming endeavor. Especially when you have limited time available for your writing, the last thing you need is to spend that...
If You Could Have Magic
What kind of magic would you want to have, if you could have the magic from a famous novel or series? If you leave the choices too open ended,...
War in Fantasy
War is a common topic in fantasy. Not every story is about a war, or contains one, but at least in epic fantasy, they are more common than not....
Secret Project Revealed
Secret Project Command has given clearance to discuss the Secret Project. As it turns out, I'm a contributor to an upcoming short story anthology,...
Crazy Fandom
There is something admirable in taking something to its fullest extent, then saying to yourself, "no, that's still not quite far enough." I was...
How to Write a Book Review
Are you a shy reviewer? Not sure how to write a book review? When someone tells me they've enjoyed one of my books, my general response is to first...
2014 Reading Update (May)
Back at the end of 2013 I laid out a selection of books I intended to read in 2014. Having just finished the first books (I still have the sequels...
Worldbuilding Philosophy
I talk a lot about elements of worldbuilding, but rarely about what it is. To me, it all boils down to this: Worldbuilding is the art of creating a...
Worldbuilding: Money in Your World
"Excuse me sir, I'd like to buy that sword, a shield, and I'll be needing salted meats and bread for a five-day journey." "That will be $343.49."...
Get the Earth Out of Your Fictional World
When you write secondary world fiction (anything set on a world you made up), people expect to it to be separated from Earth. To do this, you need...