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- The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction The book at the heart of all this!
- Writing Monsters Advice for SF, fantasy, and horror authors
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- Six Guns & Spaceships Featuring my space opera western story “Rendezes”
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- The Haunting of Dragon's Cliff with Mel Odom, a new sword & sorcery barbarian is born!
- Completely Broken A novel of contemporary horror
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- A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's the Legend of Drizzt An essential companion to the greatest hero of the Forgotten Realms world
- I Made a Friend An alternate history/dieselpunk story for your Kindle!
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- The Dogs Are In the Alley Again: A new horror story in Jitter #7
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- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
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- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
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- How to Create a Magic System: M.S. Farzan and Storyteller’s Handbook features The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
Past Posts
Category Archives: NaNoWriMo
RANDOM PLOTS & WRITING PROMPTS
This morning I ran across the article “Plot Devices: Help for Writing Your Yarn” by Edward J. Wood, which looks at, primarily, three sources for plot ideas: George Polti’s 36 Dramatic Situations, Plotto by William Wallace Cook, and Wycliffe A. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, freelance writing, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, monsters, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Romance Novels, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, SF and Fantasy Authors, Story Structure, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
7 Comments
VOTE FOR MY NaNoWriMo IDEA
It’s that time of year again—the end of October, another Halloween, and another National Novel Writing Month all set to begin just one week from today. I’ve tried it twice in the past. Got an okay start the first time, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, freelance writing, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, monsters, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Bella Lucky, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, The Book of True Names, watch less TV, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
19 Comments
MY 3.85-HOUR WORK DAY
I’ve used this space to suffer over my personal work ethic, writing process, and relative lack or excess of projects, and I don’t really want to belabor the point, but . . . here I go, once more belaboring the point in hopes … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, freelance editing, freelance writing, freelancing, Game of Thrones, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, technology, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, freelance editing, freelance writing, freelancing, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing process
7 Comments
RANDOM BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION PROMPTS FOR WRITERS
The year-end mental inventory continues, so bear with me a little. This one is going to be fun. I’ve talked a bit about my struggles with depression over the last half of 2015 and before that, and scheduling schemes and … Continue reading
Posted in creative team, how to write fiction, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, technology, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, resolutions, Science Fiction, watch less TV, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
15 Comments
A LITTLE END-OF-YEAR CLEAN UP
No new year’s resolutions, I promise. But still the end of one year and the beginning of another gives us all an opportunity to stop and think about what’s been working for us, personally and professionally, over the past year … Continue reading
Posted in Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, resolutions, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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LET’S GET ORGANIZED
Is it really December already? That’s insane. There’s no way it’s already December, especially since I still haven’t finished three projects that should have been done in August. That’s absurd. The world is out to get me. The calendar has … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, how to write fiction, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, resolutions, Science Fiction, watch less TV, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
5 Comments
CRASH!
I hate excuses. I’ve railed about excuses here, and in particular, the “my dog ate it” of the 21st century: My hard drive crashed. But about a week and a half ago, my hard drive crashed–and panic set in then … Continue reading
Posted in Books, how to write fiction, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, technology, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
JUST ENOUGH OUTLINE TO GET STARTED
With November suddenly upon us, it’s time for me to get to work on Bella Lucky and the Monsters of Methone, but in previous posts I admitted I had some big holes to fill in the plot before I could … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, how to write fiction, monsters, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, children's book, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Philip Athans, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
1 Comment
STARTING WITH CHARACTERS
Continuing to put together my outline for Bella Lucky and the Monsters of Methone for next month’s—no, next week’s (yikes!)—start to NaNoWriMo, it’s time to focus in on the characters. I also want to continue along the short, bad book … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, creative team, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, technology, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, character motivation, creating characters, creative process, defining characters, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
3 Comments
OUTLINING WITH NOTE CARDS 4: THE OUTLINE ITSELF
If you haven’t been following along with this exercise in using note cards to plot/outline a novel, go back at least to here and catch up. This next step is what Holly Lisle recommended doing after I’ve got my note … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
3 Comments
Fantasy Author's Handbook 