Author of Hopeful Speculative Fiction
In this introductory post in the new Character series, Vivian and I explain the basics of character, starting with what kinds of characters there are and how that’s determined by their relationship to the central conflict of the story. We touch on idealistic characters and how to handle them as well as the differences between … Read More “Character 101: Getting Started” »
Designing magic systems is an essential part of fantasy stories, and I wrote a detailed description of how to go about this, starting with genre and thematic questions, moving to hard versus soft magic, and then into the magic itself: where does it come from and how do you control it? Since this is published … Read More “Writing 201: Magic Systems” »
To show how ads can work in the real world, or at least in the real fictional world of Stellima, I took the Tshutshi Cogni-Chip Manufacturing Company, the go-to place to get cognichips, and created an advertising campaign for them. It started out as practice for creating ads, but as I developed more ads alongside … Read More “Practicum: TCCMC Advertisements” »
Advertisements are so much fun to analyze, and it’s such an important skill to have. If you’re looking for ways to understand advertisements so that you’re a savvy consumer and not blindly falling prey to things, this post walks you through everything from car insurance ads to propaganda. However, ads can also help with your … Read More “Writing 201: Advertisments” »
Okay, I know I say below that I love point of view more than anything, but really, dramatic structure tops the list. In this illustrated walkthrough of the main dramatic structures available to people, I explain how almost everything in Western literature is some variation of the 3 Act Structure, talk about how the dramatic … Read More “Writing 101: Dramatic Structure” »
Earlier on the Stellima blog, Vivian wrote a fascinating analysis of illnesses, what they are, how they feed and spread, and all sorts of fun stuff. After that post, they wanted a fantasy-focused illness that wasn’t a run of the mill disease or random magical disease number 3289, but something inspired by the magic system … Read More “Practicum: Fantasy Mana Diseases” »
Exposition is a powerful tool in writing, but done poorly, it leads to infodumps and extremely boring writing. In this fun, engaging demonstration of how infodumps can be salvaged, I walk through different steps you can take to avoid and fix infodumps, and what you should do to strengthen your exposition even if you start out … Read More “Writing 101: Exposition” »
One of my absolute favorite aspects of writing is Point of View (POV), and I love teaching it in a variety of ways. On the Stellima blog, I have a detailed and comprehensive explanation of the various options, and I walk through a brief scene involving my cat Lily to demonstrate how the different POVs can change … Read More “Writing 101: Point of View in Writing” »
It can also be quite fun to examine POV through the lens of video games. Several years ago, I compiled lessons that I taught in my classes showing POV through video games. I walk through first and third person in particular, comparing it to various classic games in order to show the benefits of each … Read More “Writing 101: Point of View in Video Games” »
