I’m so excited to talk about world-building this week. There is just so much potential when you’re creating your fictional world. You can make mountains bright red or create people who spend half of their time in the skies. Just look at stories like the Wheel of Time or even simply Lord of the Rings … More Crafting Your World: Building Your Plot pt. 3
Dynol, Quirst. The coast. The Red Dragon burst into a flurry of action as it caught sight of land. Nevena Proksch, captain of the Dragon, had been sent by the queen of Nubik to land in the small country of Quirst. It was a strange little country, run by men rather than women. Better yet, … More Upon the Coast of Quirst
Stage 1: Catch the spark. This is the most thrilling part that any to-be-author is going to see for quite some time. Where the ideas come from is a bit of a mystery. It begins, I suppose, with an impression or an image that sparks the novelist’s mind in the form of a creative what … More The Process of Writing a Novel: An Unpublished Author’s Edition
Way back in the day, before motor vehicles became the primary source of transportation in America, Europe, and so forth, people used to travel from place to place via horse and buggy. Often, the horse would have a blinder on, to prevent them from spooking on the road. With such an object obstructing their vision, … More Searching for Answers with Blinders On
This post primarily discusses King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, though I also talk about her other works and compare it to A Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin. There shouldn’t be any spoilers, but I make no promises. So, without further ado, let’s reflect. I talked about the issue of information flow … More March Reading Reflections
Last month, I discussed writing a book’s abstract, a sort of premature “book blurb” to help you keep both interested and focused on the most important aspect of any novel project: the plot. For many of us, however, the plot is one of the hardest things to develop, and so is best cultivated by exploring … More Drafting Character Sketches: Building Your Plot pt. 2
Nyles, Cova-Wrehn. Within Fort Ardok. It was the eve of Orianne’s fiftieth birthday, and her grandson Cyril wanted to make it something special. It wasn’t every day that people made it to fifty! Grandfather Laurent only made it to forty-seven before he passed, the Lord bless him and protect his spirit. Caught the plague that … More A Special Treat For a Birthday
Allow me to kick this off with a little anecdote. A year ago, I took a business class, trying to use my time in college to learn things not just English-related. I immediately disliked the professor, for a variety of reasons, but that’s hardly the point. He made it clear time and time again that … More Let’s Talk About the Robots, Shall We?
First, to note: this post will be discussing Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, so potential spoilers for the book and possibly the movie. I was first introduced to this book through the movie trailer, and it looked like something I might enjoy watching. But, as you may know, I’m a busy lady, and I never … More February Reading Reflections
I’ve already confessed (multiple times, admittedly) that my favorite part of writing is the world-building. If I could, I would immerse myself in one world or another and build, build, build. Like Tolkien, I would know the people, their beliefs, their sense of fashion, their ethics, their language, their history. You can, I think, find … More Building Your Plot: An Introduction to Your Abstract
