This article is by Sheila Wisz Ellayn. It was over thirteen years ago that I went to sleep one night, unaware of the great and terrifying adventure that awaited me. The lights went off, I was feeling good and it seemed like anything extraordinary would take place that night. It was then that I encountered… Continue Reading
Swords, castles, princes, serfs – just those four words are enough to place readers in a fantasy setting. They evoke a place both mysterious and reminiscent of fairy tales, archaic enough to hold secrets, but grounded enough to be relatable. It’s a trope to make all magical settings feel familiar. Let’s reboot the Medieval Kingdom.… Continue Reading
This article is by Cassandra Rose Clarke. Imagine a typical fantasy writer’s day. They wake up, have their cup of coffee, faff about on Twitter for a bit, and then settle down and begin to work. Their work, of course, consists of retreating deep into their own minds, pulling on tiny threads of the fantastic… Continue Reading
This article is by Kyle Malone. Foreshadowing has come to rank as my favourite literary technique. This is not due to the fact that it is the hardest to grasp (far from it), but because when used correctly it remains one of the most powerful. The art of storytelling, of whisking readers into other worlds,… Continue Reading
I started writing a little over six years ago. I’m taking it seriously, and I have dreams and ambitions for what I want to achieve, but for the time being it’s mainly a hobby. It’s fun, but I want to take it further, and I’m trying to figure out how to get there. Today I’d… Continue Reading
This article is by S.H. Mastersmith. A character’s arc refers to the journey a character goes through, and the changes and self-discoveries they make along the way. The character starts the story with certain thoughts and morals (or lack thereof) and through a series of events, those thoughts and morals are changed, for better or… Continue Reading
A few years ago, I wrote an article for this site called The Walking Dead is Not About Zombies. In it I show that the zombie apocalypse is just a backdrop. The thought experiments that explore who we are as humans is where the core value of the storytelling resides. Now, a few years later,… Continue Reading
This article is by S.C. Sharman. When readers pick up your book you want them to have a hard time putting it down. Even if that means staying up all night until they’ve read the whole thing. The way to achieve this is by building suspense. Here are four proven ways to keep the suspense… Continue Reading
This article is by S.C. Sharman. Foreshadowing is a literary tool in which a writer hints at what is to come next for the audience. Offering slight hints of what is to happen next is a proven way to keep the reader on the edge of her seat. The trick to using it properly though,… Continue Reading
We’re all different. We come from different backgrounds, live different lives, and we’re all the main characters of our own stories. These stories too are all different, and they take place in different worlds – our own. A consequence of this is that we see the world in different ways. We have different opinions, and… Continue Reading
