Recent content by K.S. Crooks

Consider the lifespan of the characters/species in your stories. Living for 80-100 years means past events prior to anyone currently alive happened more recently than if characters live for a thousand years.

You should probably exam what you think of as "black" features and why this new population needs to have them. It's not uncommon for people of one ethnicity to have trouble seeing all the difference in people of another. For example someone of African decent may have trouble seeing differences...

I had a similar problem years ago. What worked for me was forcing myself to finish the story I was currently working on. To do so I had to ignore how good or bad I thought the story was. The point was to finish something and get out of the cycle of continually starting something new. I also...

Perhaps treating your original story like it was written by someone else would help. Something like pretending it's a story from a contest and you have to come up with the next part...Or three new parts. This way you are not tied to what was written before. Another option is to take the general...

If I know where the characters/story will be in the future I will skip over the current spot and write the section further along. I will then go back when how they git there comes to me. Another option is to write something, anything for that part of the story. It being bad or unwanted doesn't...

Side characters can do several things. They can provide skills and knowledge the main character doesn't have (Dr. Watson for Sherlock). They can provide motivation to the character to strive for something they don't want for themself (Primrose for Katniss). They can provide a connection and...

Sometimes try changing your focus while still writing. If you get a little stuck on the plot write more about how the characters look or feel, or about their surroundings. Fill in the gaps people typically forget when we don't remember that a reader can't see all we envision for a story. I had...

Things that come to my mind: Age of the characters- When very young, you need to come up with reasons/circumstances for the adults not to do all the work or take all the risks Type of world- Have a setting different than 20th century England. A world with of humanoid species (elves, dwarves...

Some things to consider: Are they a team or random individuals who happen to be together? in either case, when are the characters together? How many of them at a time and for how long? Are their goals the same? Are the consequences of failure equal?

For me it all depends on how far in the future is the vision looking at. The sooner the event, the sooner the character needs to know about it. It may even turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. For me it also feels a bit much to have a character have a dream, about someone else's vision about...

I sometimes set a goal for a chapter. The characters have to get somewhere or learn or do something. Once this is accomplished I create a new chapter.

Give them all a cell phone and force them to go on instagram in their off hours. I find this can keep anyone in a zombie-like state.

Start with the end result- which dragon wins and what is the damage taken. Then work your way backwards, thinking about the order of each wound and how they came about for each dragon. If your dragons speak then add appropriate dialogue. Finally, consider all the damage to the surroundings...

Travelling at night often requires a light source to be used. This may cause the travelers to stand out as the only light in the darkness. Also if they travel using animals, like horses, having adequate moon light is key.

The movie Spaceballs also has Princess Vespa.