Reposted: 2 Skills You Can Learn From Writing in a Different Genre

Take a look at this interesting piece from Story Embers, readers! 2 SKILLS YOU CAN LEARN FROM WRITING IN A DIFFERENT GENRE January 9, 2023 Allison Raymond Everyone has favorite genres that they fill shelf after shelf and hour after hour with. One of mine is contemporary fantasy. Yours might be romance and historical fiction. …

Reposted: Comparison Isn’t Your Biggest Problem (And Other Ways Envy Makes Writing Miserable)

An interesting piece, readers: COMPARISON ISN’T YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM (AND OTHER WAYS ENVY MAKES WRITING MISERABLE) January 2, 2023 Gabrielle Pollack The most helpful writing advice I learned this year came from the letters of a demon. C. S. Lewis published The Screwtape Letters serially in a newspaper called The Guardian. Eight decades later, I listened to the rumbling voice …

Reposted – Worldbuilding: Life, Death, and Rituals

This is a good reflection for the New Year, readers. Check it out! Worldbuilding: Life, Death, and Rituals DECEMBER 31, 2022 ~ CROSSOVERCREATIVECHAOS So how do your world’s cultures handle life and death? And when I say rituals, I don’t just mean the kind of formal recognition of christenings and funerals. (Though those are more important to tying …

Romantic Relationships – A Speculative Commentary

Last week we discussed love among characters. This ranged from brotherly love (philia), or the affection between friends who are or can be as close as brothers, to romantic love. I was not able to express all my thoughts on romantic pairings last week and thus this post will contain those ideas. Previously, we discussed …

Reposted: 8 Tips for Dealing With Negative Reviews

A worthy post from K.M. Weiland, readers: 8 Tips for Dealing With Negative Reviews of Your Book If one of your goals as a writer is to be read, then sooner or later you will have to deal with negative reviews of your book. This could be as simple as a family member or beta …

Reposted – Business Musings: Advertising, Marketing, and Connection

A good reminder from Kristine Katheryn Rusch, readers: Business Musings: Advertising, Marketing, and Connection Posted: October 5, 2022 Kristine Kathryn Rusch Every time I turn around, someone is talking about advertising. It seems like every news story mentions it. Many of the magazines I subscribe to mention it. When I go on social media someone …

Reposted: Conflict + Choices = Character Agency

A thought-provoking article from Ms. K.M. Weiland, readers: Conflict + Choices = Character Agency Note From KMW: Character agency is a hot topic these days, but truly it was always an important topic for writers. Why? Because a character (particularly a protagonist) with no agency is a character who isn’t likely to be very interesting. More …

Reposted – GameLit: Not Just Written Games

A thoughtful and helpful reflection on GameLit (Game Literature) from Benjamin Cheah, readers: GameLit: Not Just Written Games Gamelit / LitRPG is one of the hottest literary genres on the market. It attempts to replicate the gaming experience in written form, taking the tropes of role-playing games and reproducing them on the page. As a …

Reposted – Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 7): Competition

Take a look at this thought-provoking piece by Kristine Katheryn Rusch, future authors: Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 7): Competition This is another one of those deceptive titles, like “Money.” Because when most writers read “Competition” as the sub header here, they think, Yep, there’s just too much competition out there. A handful of …

Reposted: How to Structure Stories With Multiple Main Characters?

Take a look at this piece by K.M. Weiland, readers! How to Structure Stories With Multiple Main Characters? One of the most common questions I’m asked is how to structure stories with multiple main characters. If you have two (or more) characters who are equally important to the story and receive equal POV time, how …