Recent content by Prince of Spires

I think the main issue is that you don't have a source of constant heat high enough for them to really work out metallurgy. The problem with underwater lava flows is that they're not constant. You'd have a whole profession of underwater blacksmiths sitting around for weeks near a mid-ocean ridge...

Can't say I'm surprised really. A system that rewards people writing reviews so they can get reviews themselves? And then people don't actually read the books but just write a nice review and leave a 5 star rating? Sounds like what I'd expect. I know some people who can get through a book in a...

Rose stilling longing for her first love wasn't because of the setting. It was because they used it as a frame story, and if she'd stopped caring then that whole episode where she tells of how she met Jack would have felt silly. They could have told all three versions in all three settings, with...

The honest and harsh truth is that it's very likely that no one will read your work. That's not because of movies or gaming or TV. The book market is still growing. Google gives me something like Americans buying something like 1 billion books per year. The book market is alive and kicking...

Personal opinion, but when looked at from a distance, setting is just window dressing. It's important window dressing, and it's one of the reasons why we read certain works and dislike others. But it's still just window dressing. You can tell any tale in any setting and explore the same themes...

Every writer is different, some plan everything and write 20k word outlines, others sit down with nothing more than an interesting looking character and take it from there. Find what works for you. If it doesn't work, try something else. I used to start a lot and never finish anything. Mainly...

Do the gods, or religion, actually play a role in your story? If not, then you can just ignore the whole thing and handwave it. Just consider how often real-world creation myths, or gods come up in everyday conversation, and use that as a starting point I would say. Decide if you want a...

Of course, with all the different creatures running around in Seahaven, I can't imagine being dead is much of a burden for your characters really. More a mild inconvenience as they go about their day...

Party? Write a book? Maybe both? Not dying would definitely be a step up of course. Here's to hoping!

I've got a Bryn in my next novel who is female. So if you want to read and review one with a female Bryn in it, then I can send you a copy once I publish it. ;)

It's been a long time since I read some advice from Joanna Penn. She's a great resource for plenty of indie-author stuff (though you should keep in mind she's been at this game a long time, and what worked for her 15 years ago may no longer work for you). What tools is she using? It's definitely...

Professional translators use AI. They have been for years, though they called it a computer program before AI became a hype. Source: my father was a translator at the largest translation organisation in the world (he's retired now). Howeve, they don't use AI to create their finished product...

There is a big contradiction in this statement to me. Making complex stories and characters means that you're already writing books with those in it. If you haven't written stories with them, then they're just ideas, which is very different from actually having those characters appear complex on...

It doesn't feel very surprising, given all the controversies of the past year. I also think those are as much or more a reason for shutting down than overal economic troubles. Feels like they took a torch to their building and are now surprised to see it go up in flames. Attempting something...

I think it's the curse of the Fantasy genre to be hard for AI to read. There are a lot more invented or unusual words in a medieval-esque Fantasy tale than in a modern day Romance novel set in New York or some undefined American town. I'm guessing that once the editing options become better...