National Novel Writing Month
Stephen Deas
It’s that time of year again, when my Twitter stream is going to fill up with the hash-tag #nanowrimo; and a good few of you, if not most, if not…
writing advice
Ten Fantasy Clichés That Should Be Put To Rest
Eric Christensen
Anyone who follows celebrity gossip knows there is a downside to fame. Addictions, bankruptcy, and sex scandals threaten to tarnish a star’s image. Perhaps the biggest downside of fame is…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Nine: Order and Chaos
Nyki Blatchley
I’ve spent most of this series discussing how the figure of the Chaotic Champion works in story. My contention is that he’s* a universal concept in human story, whether the…
The Rulebreaker’s Guide to the Semicolon
Amy Rose Davis
When I started writing fiction again in November 2009, I just wrote. I didn’t care about what was okay, what was forbidden, and what was tolerable—I just purged my head…
Five Ways To Use NaNoWriMo As Your Writing R&D Department
Adrian Faulkner
November sees the arrival of NaNoWriMo, the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. In a couple of weeks many of you will be writing like…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Eight: Which Kind of Hero Are You?
So far in this series, I’ve been concentrating on describing, in the most straightforward way, the various categories of Chaotic Champion and how each works. As I said in the…
Believable Fantasy Character Design
Ben Galley
Enter a man. He is tall, ruggedly handsome, a pinch over six foot, with eyes of swirling green and blue. His arms were toned and muscular, and there was a…
Small Press vs. Self-Publishing
Ashley Barnard
Given the choice, I feel safe in saying that the vast majority of writers would prefer to be published with a large publishing house, particularly after a bidding war that…
Writing Groups – Part Two
This is part two of our interview series on writing groups. If you missed part one, you can read it here. In my previous article we looked at how writing…
The Chaotic Champion – Part Seven: The King Hero
For nearly a thousand years, great authors and poets have written virtually uncountable quantities of words about King Arthur. Each has tried to sum up what was special about that…
Fantasy Writer’s Resources
I think it is fair to say that every writer has a bookshelf containing well-thumbed, go-to resources. Odds are that shelf contains a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a style guide…
Writing Groups – Part One
It can never be overstated about the amount of feedback a writer needs. In order to learn and improve having someone else comment on your work is vital. And whilst…