This article is by AE Jones. One of the hardest jobs for a writer is to pull a reader into their story. I mean, really, really suck them in until they think of the story as a world they can escape to and revel in for hours. And how do writers do this successfully? By … Read more
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo. It’s possible to build characters who achieve a secondary reality, and become people who live in their own right in our hearts and minds. It jars me every time someone says Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee are ‘characters.’ I want to shout, “They are not characters! They are … Read more
This article is by Rhiannon Paille. Catching Fire, the edgy, emotional, and jarring sequel to Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games trilogy pushed the boundaries, pitting teens against teens in a battle royale to the death, winner takes all. In light of the popular Suzanne Collin’s books, everyone is looking for a way to up the … Read more
For my “writer self,” cracking (or clicking) open a new fantasy novel is one of the most exciting ways to spend my free time. It’s also one of the most terrifying. After all, I don’t really know what I’ll find inside, and encountering a badly-crafted story is more than disappointing. It’s downright painful. I’m sure … Read more
I’m thrilled to announce that The Mythic Guide to Characters is here! I began planning this book in the summer of 2012, after spending five years studying the workings of the unconscious mind. As a professional academic, I had become fascinated with how the unconscious drives so much of human behavior. This gave me the … Read more
If there’s one thing no writer wants to be accused of, it’s writing flat characters. As readers, we love watching characters transform over the course of their exploits. As writers, we aspire to create those characters. And the transformation need not always be positive; some of the most compelling characters in literature grow darker and … Read more