Reposted: Hellish Quart Early Access Review

Check out this great piece by Kit Sun Cheah, readers: “It is easy to kill someone with a slash of the sword. It is hard to be impossible for others to cut down.” Yagyu Munenori Hellish Quart Early Access Review Hollywood, games and fiction gets fencing wrong. Protracted clash of blades. Wild telegraphed flailing and …

Reposted: Flawed Characters – Part 1 (incomplete)

Enjoy this great piece by Nate Winchester, readers: Flawed  Characters - Part 1 (incomplete) Sometimes I think this stuff must be obvious. But then I watch some TV show or movie… I’ll admit that writers can be a bit too in love with our own cleverness. We certainly love to construct a sentence with more …

Reposted: Story Theory and the Quest for Meaning

Take a look at this intriguing piece by K.M. Weiland, readers! Story Theory and the Quest for Meaning Story has been our constant companion throughout the journey of human existence. Why is that? Modern audiences are inundated and entranced by advanced storytelling. But stories have been with us from as far back as we can …

Reposted: A Pulp Perspective on Urban Fantasy

Check out this great article by Kai Wai Cheah, readers! A Pulp Perspective on Urban Fantasy What is urban fantasy? A fantasy story set in a city. A simple definition. With that, you could have a story of jinni and magi in late 19th century Istanbul, an occult detective solving supernatural crimes in 1920s New …

Reposted: How to Pick up a Pen

Take a look at this interesting article by J.D. Cowan, readers: How to Pick up a Pen "I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney." ~ Mickey Spillane It's been awhile, so let us …

Reposted: 5 Types of Editing for Authors

Check out this great article from Belinda Pollard, readers: 5 Types of Editing for Authors I often get asked about the different forms of editing, so here’s a summary. First, let’s dispel a myth… Editing is not spellchecking. Some phases of editing might include a spellcheck, but professional editing is much bigger than that — a whole …

Bulletin: Buy Me a Coffee?

Along with writers James Pyles and Rebecca Spellman, this author has decided to join Ko-fi, a platform which allows artists to solicit donations. The price set by Ko-fi is $3 – the price of a cup of coffee. If you like my stories and my posts here at A Song of Joy, you can click …

Reposted: Yakuza 0 and the Art of Writing the Anti-Criminal

Check out this intriguing piece by Kit Sun Cheah, readers! Yakuza 0 and the Art of Writing the Anti-Criminal Kiryu Kazuma is a bad guy. Kiryu Kazuma isn’t a bad guy. The main protagonist of most of the games in the long-running Yakuza franchise, Kiryu Kazuma is the heart and soul of the series. Yakuza 0 explores his origins as a …

A Lesson from the Orient

One that should help you write that fight scene you have been wrestling with, future authors! Take a look at this demonstration on how to disarm a sword-wielding opponent with nothing but a rope – ninja style! Ninja Rope Fighting Technique - Rope vs Sword https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4meBZnP2c8

Reposted: 3 Character Arcs in the Karpman Drama Triangle

Take a look at this intriguing article by K.M. Weiland: 3 Character Arcs in the Karpman Drama Triangle Drama presents something of an interesting conundrum. On the one hand, drama is the essence of story. Without it and its inherent dissonance, conflict, and stakes, there really isn’t much to a story. As writers and readers, we love drama. …