It's 2014 now, and to go along with the change in calendar, I've updated the covers for the Twinborn Trilogy. With the success of the series, I...
New Year, New Look
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J.S. Morin
Writers are Readers Too
It's the retrospective time of year, when we engage in rampant ruing and reminiscing, considering the sum total of the year about to drift away...
Review of The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug
I'd heard the rumors, knew the casting of Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly. I had watched the trailer and seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey....
What is a Reader?
A reader is a solitary creature by nature. When engaged in their eponymous activity, readers travel via unknown means to another place, time, or...
Fantasy Tropes: Love Them and Hate Them
Fantasy is a genre notorious for its tropes. For better or worse, they are what people who read/watch a lot of fantasy have seen a million times....
Amazon Power Tip: How to Give an eBook as a Gift
Have an avid reader of ebooks on your gift list this year? Despair not! Just because you know a voracious reader who has switched over to a Kindle...
How to Write Genius Characters
Who is the brains behind the mastermind? Me? (Uh oh!) It can be intimidating trying to write a character who is smarter than you are. After all,...
20 Signs You’re a Fantasy Reader
Books can leave a mark on you, etched in your mind. They can affect the way you think, and leave you different from those around you. Those who read...
Sneak Preview: The Mad Tinker’s Daughter
Chapter 1 "Have a care who you choose as friends, Madlin. They are the ones who will come for you in times of need." -Cadmus Errol, the Mad Tinker...
The Scale of Success (As Measured by Food)
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...
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...