One of the most important aspects of a novel is its narrative structure. Do you present your story as linear or non-linear? How does the story fit into the typical three-acts of story-telling: setup, conflict, and resolution/beginning, middle, and the end? What are...
The other day I was re-watching the severely under-rated Tomorrowland (in my opinion, anyway) and I was reminded of just how much I love the optimism the film has. It asks ‘Why can’t [something] just be fun?’ but it also has a really wonderful analogy about dealing...
In previous blog posts, I’ve gone over how the roleplaying games I’ve played have inspired the way in which my novel’s fantasy universe works. These past two weeks I was writing the chapters which introduce another magical tool into the mix: summoning. If you look at...
With the new year has come a new drive to work on my novel, and so far I’ve been as productive as I had planned to be in relation to it. By the end of the month, I should have finished Chapter 7 and the whole story should be in full flow. One of the areas that I...
You have so many plans to have a productive day of writing, whether that be doing a review of something or making some progress on that novel. Then you sit down to begin and you just go blank. It’s one of the most frustrating feelings in the world. Even when you know...
Think back to most fantasy stories, from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to Rowling’s Harry Potter series to Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle and so on, at the heart of these worlds is a form of magic. The properties of magic can really make any fantasy world feel deep,...
