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 fictional world that a reader can accept as real. That's the core of what I look for in worldbuilding. Can I imagine...
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." Huh? Nothing jars a reader out of a scene like a bit of everyday life sneaking into the imagined world they are exploring....
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 to maintain a perspective on just what is specific to our world, and what are just things that any human culture might...
Writing Update 4/4/14
Just a quick update on what I've been up to lately. Rebel Skyforce is still with my editor. I don't expect to have it back for revisions until sometime later this month. Right now I'm working on the manuscript for World-Ripper War, the third book in the Mad Tinker...
Shut Up and Sell Me a Starship
Everyone has their hobbies, their vices, their ways to decompress. Mine is gaming. I don't devote anywhere near the time to it that I once did, but there are still times when I like to get away for a bit (without actually going anywhere). Normally I look for strategic...
Outlining for Writers Who Don’t Outline
You're a pantser, a gardener, whatever you want to call it. You don't want to spend days/weeks/months spinning your wheels planning out your novel in excruciating detail before you even write the first sentence. I get that. I'm like that. The problem is that without...
Writing Update, 3/21/14
Hi everyone! Just wanted to check in and let you all know what's been going on. I don't think I do that often enough. It's been a few weeks since Mad Tinker's Daughter came out, and I haven't been idle. Actually, even before it came out, I was already well under way...
The Author’s Self-Editing Checklist
Do you make stupid mistakes in your writing? I sure do! Like unfinished lumber, your manuscript is going to be full of knots and splinters, cracks, chips, and ragged bits. You're going to send it off to your editor, and you probably pay by the word, not the error, but...
Xeno’s Finish Line
Have you ever been close to finished with something for so long that it feels like you'll never actually be finished with it? "Almost done," you say, then work another week and say the same again. A month left in a months-long project is certainly a definition of...
Has it Been a Year Already?
It's actually been a year and a month since I published my first novel on Amazon. How time flies. I'd meant to do a first-year summary of my experience, and it slipped by somehow. Instead, we'll do a baker's dozen of months. 13 Months as a Writer I write the books. My...