What If More Video Games Were Text-Based
I am old enough to remember Zork—the original text-based versions before they came out with graphics-enabled editions. It was an entirely different gaming experience. You had a paragraph or two to describe your location, an inventory of disparate (often bizarre)...
Writing Prompts 1
Looking to write but can't think what to write about? Here are five writing prompts to give you an idea to build around. 1 - Someone has been killing magic users, but no one knows how they've been doing it. 2 - A ship appears on the horizon, but neither grows closer...
Level Up Your Writing: Words Are Experience Points
Are you a good writer? Want to get better? Well, you'd better get out there and earn more XP. Whatever innate talent and ability you think you have, those are just your raw stats. They indicate promise, not skill. To make the most of that writing ability, you need to...
4 Tips to Get Ready for NaNoWriMo
November 1 kicks off the annual writing extravaganza known as National Novel Writing Month (or more commonly, NaNoWriMo). With a goal of 50,000 words toward a new novel and 30 days to get it done, many writers are clearing their social calendars, stocking up on...
Amazon Lists Their 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime
Amazon just made a list of 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime. I went through the list and I had read 23 (I didn't count ones where I'd seen a film adaptation, which would have brought the number up considerably). Which ones have I read?...
Black Ocean Playlists – Salvage Trouble
Music is a major theme in Black Ocean. Carl Ramsey was raised in a family that made its living dredging up old acts from the past and passing them off as new again. Getting immersed in the culture of the mid 20th century was just part of the lifestyle, part of the...
Don’t Be Fooled By Space Opera
Maybe you know what space opera is, but in case you don't, I'm going to peel back the misconceptions. Space Opera is not what you think it is. First off, let's get this out of the way... There is very little singing OK, on occasion, there might be some incidental...
Worldbuilding in Harry Potter
I've already taken a look at the worldbuilding in Star Wars. Now it's time to take a look at a fantasy setting that most of us known quite well: Harry Potter One thing that the Harry Potter series does very well is get the reader into the world in a hurry. By the time...
5 Worldbuilding Questions About History
How far back does your history go? There's actual history (everything that happened in your world), recorded history (what's happened since people started writing things down), and history that matters (i.e. what will have bearing on your story). You may or may not...
The 3 Writing Rules I Break All the Time
You hear the advice everywhere. It gets pronounced from high upon soap boxes, repeated as gospel, and heeded often without thinking. It makes for a pithy reply to the question "how do I...?" and absolves the responder from delving into the heart of whatever question...