Fantasy writing lets you create any kind of world you could imagine. You’d think with the year we’re having, that I’d be sick of dark and apocalyptics settings. But, I’m not. It’s still an escape. It’s a little uplifting. Putting characters in such a terrible world and seeing them thrive despite that. By Book 4…
Often novel writing, especially with fantasy books, is about using a setting you can’t see. Some people are fortunate enough to plan a trip for their novels. I’ve never been that fortunate. I have traveled a lot, though. In The Sciell’s Legacy, the 4th and final book in The Merging Worlds Series, some of my…
I’ve hiked the Cornish Trail in Hudson Highlands State Park a couple of times. It’s a pretty chill walk with a nice abandoned building about 1 mile in. I spotted something different over the weekend. Maybe it’s new. More likely, I hadn’t noticed it. The wooden gazebo sat atop the hill a little off the…
Spiritfarer on the Nintendo Switch has become one of my new favorite obsessions. The game is beautiful. It looks like something out of a Studio Ghibli movie. The boat, especially, is giving me Howl’s Moving Castle flashbacks. It’s got a lot to teach you about building an engaging world. Well-Rouded People You play Stella as…
If only magic was real. It’s not but I can give my characters the powers I want. You can make a fantasy world without magic but I find it more fun to include it. Usually, I go into a story already knowing what kind of powers I want to give my characters. I’ll add some…
Have you ever tried researching your genre’s audience? Just Googling fantasy readers? You won’t find a lot. Most of the content is usually dated or you can’t vet them. I’ve tried using those databases you can only access through your school or local library. Even then, it’s difficult to find genre market research data. Why…
Happy New Year.. and new decade! You probably have some projects lined up for the new year. Or maybe you have a project in mind but that little voice of fear is keeping you from diving into it. I’ve published 13 books and written twice that number and I still have to constantly battle that nagging…
Your characters are on an adventure or simply walking around town. They encounter a foreigner with a heavy accent, speaking a language they don’t understand. Maybe they do understand. Or maybe, your characters never encounter foreigners. It’s your story. You could create a world where everyone speaks the same language. The history behind that could…
I like elves, fairies and dwarfs but I’ll sometimes roll my eyes when they show up in a story. It’s more interesting when an author creates their own race, calling it something new. My story, The Marked Hosts, has dragon shifters but they’re called Sencial. The Del’Praeli in my Merging Worlds series were inspired by vampires. How…
Sometimes, I imagine I have magical powers. As I’m walking through the city, I picture my power manipulating this object or breaking that object. Of course, I always give my characters abilities. They usually get into fights. Here’s your guide on how to write a fight scene with powers. Here’s an example from The Lost…
