Author of Hopeful Speculative Fiction
When you write, conflict forms the core of the overall story and each scene. This walkthrough of strategies of techniques discusses what conflict actually is and how to talk about it in stories. What does a character want, and what prevents that? Conflict! Pacing is a huge part of conflict, since you want to balance … Read More “Writing 102: Conflict” »
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” »
The Heart of the Guardian, a fantasy novel by Anne Winchell and the third book in the Imperial Saga, has been published on Amazon for paperback and Kindle. Buy Paperback Buy eBook The Heart of the Guardian Growing up, Ari depended on his parents for help navigating the dangerous world after the Transition. As he … Read More “Heart of the Guardian Out Now!” »
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” »
This myth, available on this website only, explores the relationship between the wolves and people of Tamarud after the wolves feel threatened in their abilities and territory. Stories of jealousy are common in Tamarudian mythology, and this serves as an explanation of the split between the vasha wolves of the south and the anova wolves … Read More “The Myth of the Wolves” »
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” »
