Some of the worst writing advice I keep hearing is along the lines of “Don’t use any dialogue tags other than ‘said’.” I believe this originates from “Elmore Leonard Rules of Good (aka bland) Writing”. I fully intend to write an article addressing Elmore Leonard’s terrible rules, but the one...
One of the most common pieces of writing advice you are likely to hear is “write what you know.” In fact, “write what you know” and “show don’t tell” are parroted by English teachers so often as to reduce the advice to mere hackney adages with about as much weight...
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Brandon Sanderson, and I especially love the books of the Cosmere “super-epic” which includes the epic series of Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive (among others). The world-building, characters, and magic systems of these series are nothing less than astounding. But sometimes it’s...
Brandon Sanderson (author of Mistborn, Stormlight Archives, and the guy who finished writing The Wheel of Time) is one of my favorite authors. He has his own YouTube channel, and his videos are certainly worth watching if you are a Sanderson fan, a fan of fantasy in general, or an...
If you’ve ever taken any creative writing courses, then you’ve heard it countless times before: “show, don’t tell.” In fact, you are probably sick of hearing it. But for a beginning writer, this simple bit of common writing advice is actually quite unhelpful. What does it actually mean when we...
Brandon Sanderson, who is widely considered the current reigning champion of modern fantasy epics, may seem to be the last person to have suffered endless streams of rejection letters from agents and publishers. In fact, before he was published, Brandon Sanderson wrote 13 novels, all rejected by everyone he sent...
If you’re anything like me, you’re terrible at spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Incidentally, those are four key elements of writing that all aspiring authors should master. In fact, as far as obstacles to writing go, this is perhaps the next biggest obstacle next to plotting and story development....
I’m going to start a series of short articles on writing tips for aspiring authors, mainly focused on spec-fic (i.e., fantasy and science fiction). As an aspiring fantasy author myself, I feel that my own experience in learning the craft, world-building, character-building, and plot-building may be helpful to other aspiring...
I must go back to the stars again, to the lonely sea in the sky, And all I ask is a starship and a helm to steer her by; And the coils kick and the star’s song and the solar sail’s shaking, And a gray mist on the planet’s face and a bright...
My steampunk fantasy short story, The Clockwork Horseman, is published and available now on both Amazon and Lulu and it can be found in the anthology Devil’s Armory III. Alas, there does not appear to be an e-book version! Oh well. The story will one day be available in e-book...
