12 Ways to Make Better Creatures for Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you’re inventing creatures for your fantasy or sci-fi world, you might be wondering: How can I make them feel more real? How can I make them come alive in … Read More
Writing Diverse Urban Fantasy
Today, more and more authors are being called out for writing problematic content, including the imbalance of male-to-female heroes, the preference for white protagonists, insensitive depictions of trauma, and countless other forms of … Read More
7 Secrets to Creating Likable Characters
Character likability is one of the most important parts of telling a good story. If readers don’t care about your characters, it’s doubtful they will care what happens to them. … Read More
What Is Urban Fantasy?
Today we have a special post! I’m interviewing published author J.P. Dailing to talk about a sub-genre of fantasy: urban fantasy. We’ll answer questions such as: What is urban fantasy? What makes this … Read More
How to Tell If You Have Too Many Characters
“Do I have too many characters?” you may wonder, biting your nails as you scrutinize your fictional cast. It’s good that you’re asking, because oversized casts can cause hefty problems. Having too many … Read More
The Right Way to Kill Your Characters
Writers are murderers. Well, kind of. We do spend a lot of time killing people. Fortunately, those people live exclusively in our imaginations (and in the imaginations of our readers), so … Read More
3 Steps to Finding Your Story’s Hook
One of the scariest questions for a writer is: “What’s your book about?” After the wide-eyed panic sets in, you may stutter a longwinded, half-coherent attempt at an explanation. But soon, … Read More
5 Storytelling Lessons from the Throne of Glass Series
Throne of Glass is currently my favorite epic fantasy series. While I wouldn’t say the books are perfect, one aspect of them blows me away: The characters. Ironically, these characters are somewhat … Read More
The Right Way to Torture Your Characters
As writers, we often joke about how much we enjoy “torturing” our characters. Of course, this doesn’t just mean literal, physical torture, but any of the numerous ways we make our … Read More
10 Traits of an Epic Hero
Last month, we talked about how to write epic villains. Naturally, it’s time to discuss the other side of the coin: Epic heroes. There will be some overlap with these … Read More