Often, a title will flash into a writer's mind and spark a story idea. You can generate potential idea-sparking titles by taking parts of one title and combining it with others: Tender (by Sofia Samotar) + Ode (from Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled) = The Tender Ode, which you can riff on and create … Continue reading Creativity Prompt: Title Mash-Up
Living as a Writer series This thread made the rounds during the holidays and garnered attention and comments by long time writers even during the whole RWA explosion. From what I saw, the reaction was nearly universal: you're never too old, and stop comparing where you are to where others are. Their road isn't your … Continue reading Reminder: Stop Comparing Your Career with Everyone Else’s
We’re at that time of year many of us find hectic and demanding. Then we flow right into the new year and feel pressure (external or internal) to make resolutions and changes. All of this can harm you, for real. It can also beat your creative energies into submission so deep you won’t see them … Continue reading Creative Recharge
Many of us have spent the month pouring out words to make our 1,667 word daily goal for our NaNoWriMo novels. How many days did you hit the goal? How often did you write more, or less? It doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter if you wrote 50,000 words of something resembling a novel or … Continue reading Word-count Doesn’t Matter
Choosing the right form of magic for your novel The debate is not new, and I'm not looking to reignite it, or even consider it a debate. Both are legitimate approaches to writing magic. But selecting how magic works in your story should be a deliberate choice not a subconscious default. Magic in fantasy often … Continue reading Magic System or Just Magic?
