How do you measure success? Is it my salary, fame, education? How can you judge the success of others? By the car they drive, the school they went...
The Scale of Success (As Measured by Food)
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J.S. Morin
4 Ways to Measure in Fantasy
How much? How far? How Heavy? How long? You've taken your readers into a brand new world, painted landscapes and cities with your prose, and devised...
NaNoWriMo 2013 Kickoff
Well, it's that time of year again: National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known at NaNoWriMo. It's a time for writers and would-be writers to...
7 Deadly Sins of Fantasy Writing
Writers make mistakes. They're human after all, and that's why there are editors. Some transgressions go beyond mere mistake, however, and reach the...
20 World Building Questions for Authors to Ask Themselves
World building is the art of convincing a reader that a fictitious place exists. What do you do if you don't know where to start creating that...
Sourcethief Map Reveal
As the November release of Sourcethief approaches, I've been finishing up the bonus materials. All through the Twinborn Trilogy, there have been...
Rules of the Twinborn
The twinborn are those who see another world instead of dreaming. Their lives are fraught with peril, but with that peril comes advantages as well....
GraniteCon 2013 Roundup
I spent the weekend signing books at table 823 at Granite Con. My table was over by the Delorian from Back to the Future III, which was a huge draw...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 5, 10-1)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
5 Stages of Self-Publication
Doubt, Excitement, Confusion, Frustration, Success, these are the stages you'll go through if you stick with the path of self-publication. You may...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 4, 20-11)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 3, 30-21)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
Firehurler Word Cloud
Word (Clouds) of Wisdom A word cloud can't tell you a lot about the plot of a story, but it seems to be a good judge of who is in it. Firehurler, it...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 2, 40-31)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
50 Types of Minor Characters (Part 1, 50-41)
You've got your heroes and your villains. You've even got a sidekick. But who inhabits the rest of the world? World-building is as much about people...
Read ‘Em All, You Might Learn Something
"It's good but depressing" is the headline of the first 3-star review I received for Firehurler, just the other day. I've got as thin a skin as the...
Worldbuilding: Science in Fantasy
So you're going with fantasy as your genre of choice? I guess that means you don't need to worry about science. WRONG! Just because you presuppose...
The Secret to Stretching Your Entertainment Dollar
The entertainment world is full of options. With enough money, you can indulge in just about any form of leisure imaginable. But what if you don't...
6 Things to Do After Writing a Book: A Thumb-Twiddling Primer
Hooray! Your book is finished. The hours/weeks/months/years of work have resulted in a manuscript that was sent off to your editor just moments ago....
Sourcethief Cover Reveal
This is it! The cover for Sourcethief, the third and final book in the Twinborn Trilogy. Duncan Long has done another excellent job in illustrating...
Cats and Internet Marketing
Host: We have with us today one of the great minds of our generation, Dr. David Steinbaur, Head of Complicated Research at the National Smartness...
Sidekicks: Who’s got your back?
The sidekick is a time-honored tradition in storytelling. They are often found as the lone companion to otherwise solitary heroes, or as tag-alongs...
Completing a Trilogy
Over the weekend, I finished the manuscript for Sourcethief, the final book of the Twinborn Trilogy. It finished at a svelte 188k words (only by...
Off-Camera Antics
Books and movies share a common element in storytelling: Point of View. The camera or the narrator of a scene (whether it be a character or a third...