Recent content by Mythopoet

Woah, thanks for mentioning this. I've ready "Semley's Necklace" in a short story collection and really enjoyed it. Didn't know there was more! I have to read these now.

As much as possible.

When you read it yourself, do you find it compelling? Do you feel eager to continue the story? Do you enjoy the way it is written? If you answer no, then work on finding a better way to write it. If you answer yes, then it's good and you shouldn't worry about it. All that really matters is that...

Is this statement you made inaccurate? Regardless of the MCs, if there are fewer women overall in your narrative you're still making that choice. And look, I do believe that it's best to get rid of the idea "men are X and women are Y" in general. It's just limiting. It means that your men have...

Myth's here to resurrect her anime thread! So, we're at the transition period between seasons. What have I been watching and what am I going to watch? Watched last season: Arte: charming historical fiction about a woman from a poor noble house who rejects her arranged marriage and runs off to...

I felt the need to come here and gush about a book. This is such a rare thing for me. Jo Walton has been on my list of authors to read. Mostly for Among Others, which was the only one of her books I had actually heard of. But while looking through her works on Amazon I saw that The Just City...

To be quite frank, I think it comes across as anti-female that you are a writer who made a conscious choice to limit female characters because you don't like writing them. And I don't think it matters what your intent is.

I think you should be extremely, extremely cautious of using names that are specific to a culture that you know nothing about. For one thing, if you know nothing about the culture they come from, you're more likely to end up using the names incorrectly or inappropriately. But I'm a little...

Last night I finished reading the novel of Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke. I've never actually watched the movie but I'd heard it was very good so when I saw the book on Amazon I had to try it out. (I'm generally more of a book person than a movie person.) So while I...

To be honest, I think it's just a case of the simple reality that different people are draw to different kinds of people/characters for different reasons and you just can't predict it. An author may design a character to be unlikable based on their own tastes/point of view but that doesn't mean...

Sounds that kids commonly have trouble with in my experience: L, F, R, TH, SH Example: My oldest's name is Luthien (pronounced how it looks) and for a long time she couldn't say it. She'd say "woosien". It also depends on the placement of the letter in the word and what the other sounds are...

Personally, I think fantasy authors really need to stop using the word "race" for what are actually "species".

Just came across this series of blog posts from SFF author Dan Koboldt. Covering a long list of topics and ongoing, he (a genetic scientist) and other relevant experts explore SFF tropes relating to science. Looks very useful. Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy - Dan Koboldt

No. They are a tool. Not as useful as a hammer or a screwdriver, but a tool nonetheless. They perform a certain function. If you've no need of their function then you shouldn't use them, but if you do then not using them because some silly person has declared war on them is ridiculous. Anyone...

I've finished reading Children of Dune and it was almost a different experience entirely from the last time I read it. I feel like I understood certain aspect better this time. Having had deeper experiences with the first 3 Dune series books this time around, I think I will reread them all this...