Families & Fantasy
There is a dearth of families in fantasy. There are, of course, exceptions, but most of these are where said families and/or children are important to plot, character, or theme. …
Individuals, Society, Change, and Story
This article centers on a combination of seemingly disparate thoughts, so I ask for your patience as I bring them all together. The conclusion, I think, will be interesting.So the…
The Blessing that is Writer’s Block
In the last article, I discussed writer’s block and started looking at three major varieties I’ve identified. The first is a slog where you have a segment that just isn’t…
Wrestling with Writer’s Block
Though it may not be self-evident, this article is a continuation of the last article’s discussion on the journey versus the destination of story writing. Along that vein, I’ve been…
Grappling with the Story – Journey vs. Destination
Writing is a strange beast. It doesn’t have any certain form, deriving its shape from the author and the nature of the specific story. I’m not talking about grammar or…
Cities of the Kayrstaran Empire
Having spent the past couple articles talking about general writing themes, I thought it might be time to return again to the world of “Tears from Iron” and the empire…
Characters and Description
Last time I began a discussion of description by talking about setting. I made the observation that the approach I think works best can be summed up as ‘less is…
On Description and Story
This is the first of two articles prompted by related ideas on description: setting and character. For both, I believe the best general approach is somewhere along the lines of…
“A Whisper in the Sands” Teaser
This week, I’m excited to provide a draft teaser for the back cover of my next book “A Whisper in the Sand”. You can also find it on my ‘books’…
Reigliff, Isi, and Independence
On this, the eve of our own country’s day of independence, it seemed appropriate for me to discuss freedom in “Tears from Iron” as well. But I’m going to take…