Embracing Discipline and Accountability

This is Father’s Day weekend, and I am a stay-at-home dad with three young sons and a daughter who will be born sometime next week. My Father’s Day commitment to them is my pledge, right now, to no longer let them, and the stress they cause me, keep me from writing. It’s time to embrace … Read more

How to Woo the Writer’s Muse

This Valentine’s Day, I find myself feeling lonely.  My wife and kids are in the next room, playing and having breakfast, while I sit at my computer, wishing that somebody was here with me who hasn’t been around for quite some time. My muse has left me.  Again. In the Mythic Scribes forums, I hear … Read more

Writing a Great Villain

Loki

When it comes to villains, we’ve seen the clichés.  Dark lords.  Psychopaths.  Petty super villains who kill their own henchmen. We’ve also heard the advice.  Villains need personal goals.  Villains need depth.  Villains need to be the heroes of their own stories. In my experience, conversations about villains get overshadowed by the question of whether … Read more

Transforming a World Into a Setting

Every time I ask other fantasy writers a question about the worlds I create, one of them will inevitably respond, “What does this matter to your story?” That’s because many new writers, influenced by roleplaying games and the illustrations featured in our favorite fantasy novels, are prone to view worldbuilding as filling in the gaps … Read more

How to Market Your Self-Published Book

The reality of marketing a self-published book and finding your audience presents a challenge somewhere in-between the faint dream of online success, and the sense of screaming unheard into the web’s dark and angry void. Traditional publishers target their marketing towards their network of book reviewers and buying agents who, in turn, bring a book … Read more

Delivering the Story

To find your voice as a writer, it’s important to develop a consistent style. As your style develops over time, you will find it helpful in learning to write quickly and in making stronger choices with your writing.  You want to cultivate a writing style that delivers the full impact of the story that you’re … Read more