Prickles passed the last ingredient — pickled newt eyes — to Mistress Moonshine. She plucked it off his spiny arm and dropped it into the bubbling cauldron. Both watched intently as the green solution frothed and turned pink. A smoky, pink heart puffed from the top of the cauldron. “It worked,” Mistress Moonshine cheered, throwing … More FFM16-2 In the Name of a Hug
Every year on July 1st, people in the Archeoastronomy Planetarium vanish. They say the Trickster takes them, sucking them from their seats beneath the starry dome. None were seen again. Today was Fenwick’s turn. He had studied all the articles. He knew every bit of the lore of July 1st madness — which was to … More FFM16-1 The Trickster
This week we are focusing on the topic of diversity and how it applies to your writing. For this article, your panelists from the week 1 Live Characterization Discussion Panel are back to share our views with you. What are diverse characters, and what does it mean to have diversity in your stories? DamonWakes It’s hard … More Character Diversity
Don’t much remember the warm these days. Warm went way-away, with the birds, the cars, and the man who sold papers on the corner. Used to buy papers. Now I sleep in ‘em. Mags sleeps in ‘em too. She’s a good girl. Went looking for food again today. Walked the big road, ash-snow falling down. … More The Winter Queen
We’ve all heard about characters being strong, or competent, or flawed, or multi dimensional, but there’s another important character trait to remember: proactivity. A proactive character is someone who moves the plot. Who makes decisions and then acts on them. For the sake of this article we’re going to define this process as “protagging,” a … More Character Proactivity
Welcome to the first ever NaNoPlotMo live discussion. We invite C-A-Harland, illuminara, queenofeagles, and DamonWakes to discuss their views on the creation and development of characters. This month we talk about how visual artwork can play a part in character design; making your characters distinctive, especially in a large cast; characterization in flash fiction and … More Characterization Discussion Panel
1. Create something every day. If there’s one secret to productivity, this is it. It’s not sexy or exciting, but the bottom line is that creative masterpieces aren’t built overnight. They take time and dedication, and you will only make real progress if you work every day. If you haven’t formed a daily habit of … More 20 Ways to Boost Your Creativity
The thing about bridges was they had an over and an under. What people tended to forget was there was also an in between. But the go-overs never looked down, and the go-unders never looked up. Worked just fine for me. Meant it usually took them longer to find the bodies. Crows knew about the … More Bridges
One of the most interesting, and also time consuming, parts of speculative fiction writing is the world building. There are numerous tools online to help you figure out what you need to think about, and also give you inspiration, but even then, the art of world building can take weeks, even years. Many writers are … More World Building – The Core Elements of Cultures
A deadly virus, a mad scientist, a dictatorship, and a rebellion. Put these together with a human subset who spend half their time as animals and you’ve got a wild adventure on your hands, and that is exactly what Mercy Kill by G. R. Visini delivers. Genetically mutated shapeshifters, known as Lupines, roam the … More Review on Mercy Kill by G. R. Visini
C. A. Harland 