Recent content by Justin Cary

Let me thrown in another possibility. I like to dictate onto a voice recorder first then transcribe my dictation at the end of the day. The convenience of being able to hit a button and talk something out is great because I don't lose ideas looking for paper and I can have the little digital...

I am sure a more ambitions person than myself could create a bell curve of alcohol to output chart and impose that against a alcohol to writing quality chart to find the inebriation sweet-spot :D

Could it be an invocation by the gods of art and writing? But seriously, I have a day job for pay, I have a writing job for less pay. Were I to choose a lifetime vocation it would be writing but even if it payed all the bills my family and I would still need insurance. Writing is hard work but a...

It is a city of gangs and gang like alliances. Mentor character has enough power to hold the alliances but with him gone the apprentice has to try holding the alliances until he can secure power on his own. What do you think about gaining power by rooting out enemies within. Having him finding...

I think that it should be established in the story that science has reached a point where magic and science are blurred from near the beginning. Individual characters or even the majority of characters can be unaware of this fact, but if the reader is blindsided by a sudden revelation of this...

The character is an apprentice mage but this fact is being kept secret. Right now he is acting as the voice of the wizard leading the fight against demons that have emerged from their underground prison. A loose pact of gangs lead by the wizard are trying to push the attackers out of the city...

I'm 300 pages into the book I'm writing and need to come up with ways a character can quickly rise to power. I'm thinking within 10K words or less. Has anyone seen examples of a sudden rise to power in any books they have read, or does anyone have motivations that could explain a quick rise to...

Even if this is your final edit, I hope you have moved on by now. Your work is not, nor will it ever be perfect, but it will never be DONE if you spend too much time writing toward perfection. Stop writing this sentence and write the next one. Any of the alternative you suggested will work and...

There are a few things I would consider. If you kill a readers favorite character they may lose interest in your bool and lose trust in your writing. You can't get a character back once they are dead(and retain trust). I'd be wary of killing off too many main characters in general. You may look...

Of the two I prefer the second description. You could also explore various metephores that occur in nature such as "light glinting off the smooth surface of a pond changing his appearance..." or " like flickering shadows that stab at Ailin's eyes giving a distinctly different form in quick...

Of the two I prefer the second description. You could also explore various metephores that occur in nature such as "light glinting off the smooth surface of a pond changing his appearance..." or " like flickering shadows that stab at Ailin's eyes giving a distinctly different form in quick...

I am most productive at the library. I have no other reason to be there except to write and I am in an environment that promotes what I am doing so I don't feel like I am wasting me time. Speaking of wasting time, they do not have wi-fi thus no web distraction. I am surrounded by motivation...

I would not try to force humor into a story. The best jokes and humorous situations rise organically. A forced humor usually falls flat and may jolt the reader out of your story. Be patient, if the story is going to be humorous it will catch you by surprise and be the better for it.

I think an antagonist should be as well written as a protagonist. Some people are drawn to the bad guy and some to the good. If you commit to both characters with equal diligence you can capture the minds of either type of reader.

Sounds like plenty to start with. As you say, you are going to be exploring this character more fully throughout the book. I don't think a reader even wants a characters entire history right up front. In life we are content to meet people and not know every shade of their past. I think it is...