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- Mental Health America (MHA) – founded in 1909 – is the nation's leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 hours ago
- Tidying up is not joyful but another misuse of Eastern ideas – aeon.co/ideas/tidying-… via @aeonmag 6 hours ago
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- Advanced Horror Workshop: NEW 4-week course for the serious horror author.
- The Yellow Ants of Kanduru: Tai of the Ebony Jungle #1
- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
Buy My Books
- KINDLE SUBSCRIPTION Subscribe to Fantasy Author’s Handbook for your Kindle!
- Six Guns & Spaceships Featuring my space opera western story “Rendezes”
- Devils of the Endless Deep My trip into the Fathomless Abyss
- Write to the Cover Featuring my story “Bella Lucky and the Titan of Tarvos”
- Australians, Buy Here! Order from Boomerang Books in Australia.
- Google eBookstore Buy ebooks for various readers.
- UK Readers Buy Here! For our friends in the United Kingdom, via WHSmith
- 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
- Tales from the Fathomless Abyss The anthology that started it all!
- The Haunting of Dragon's Cliff with Mel Odom, a new sword & sorcery barbarian is born!
- Completely Broken A novel of contemporary horror
- Annihilation My entry in the Forgotten Realms series R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen
- 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!
- The Dogs Are In the Alley Again: A new horror story in Jitter #7
Communicate With Me
- Twitter @PhilAthans Admit it, you need to keep up with me at least a couple times a day.
- LinkedIn Here’s my public profile on LinkedIn, for what it’s worth
- Athans & Associates Creative Consulting Creative consulting services from an IP development pro.
- Story Coaching One-on-one time on your project, via Writer’s Digest
- GoodReads Join me at Facebook-for-readers
Grasping for the Wind
- SEPTEMBER 7: NATIONAL BUY A BOOK DAY Go to Grasping for the Wind, read my column, then buy a book on September 7!
- Content is King: My Grasping for the Wind swan song. Be a CONTENT PROVIDER!
- ROBOT IS THE NEW VAMPIRE Read my first column on Grasping for the Wind!
- THE WORLDS THAT OUTGREW THEIR STORIES September Column: Two Roads to Intellectual Property Success
- THROW YOUR BOOK A PARTY Advice for Authors on Signings and In-store Events
- Five Things Every Aspiring Author Should Know Don’t say I never warned you!
- Is Science Fiction Bad for Us? My December 2010 column on the desensitizing effect of SF.
- Convention Etiquette for Professionals and Panelists Tips for conventioneers with help from Jack Emmert, Richard Garfield, James Minz, Matthew Stover, and Kristine Katheryn Rusch
- Pile on the Huge: In which I discuss scale in SF books and movies.
- The Knee-jerk Reductionism of our Ill-considered Bloggers I jump in on the debate: Is fantasy morally bankrupt?
- Why I Read Five Books at Once The method to my (reading) madness.
- Been There, Survived That: Notes from the “bookpocalypse” as seen from the “recordmaggedon.”
- SFFWRCHT: The transcript of a wild-and-wooly Twitter chat session.
Interviews & Guest Posts
- CLARKESWORLD INTERVIEW 1: I took part in a roundtable interview with other speculative fiction editors.
- MAKE-BELIEVE MONDAYS INTERVIEW: Debra Parmley’s Make-Believe Mondays is a must-read blog for SF/Fantasy fans, and she’s interviewed lil’ ol’ me!
- Celebrity Game Table: A detailed look at my Tegel Manor Campaign from 2003.
- Publisher's Weekly “Is the Universe Expanding or Contracting?”
- Bolthole Interview: I talk Warhammer, writing, and more with a great Games Workshop fan site.
- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Writer's Digest Interview: On Writing F&SF.
- Porter Anderson vs. Movie Examples: With some nice things to say about my Living Dialogue seminar at the Writer’s Digest conference.
- Horror Authors: How to Scare the Heck Out of Your Readers A guest post at The Write Life with practical tips for scaring the crap out of your readers.
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- The Creative Penn added me to their list of editors!
- Kindlepreneur added me to their list of editors!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- How to Create a Magic System: M.S. Farzan and Storyteller’s Handbook features The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
Writer's Digest Online Tutorials
- ACT OF VILLAINY: Breathing Life Into Your Antagonist…up now at Writer’s Digest University!
- Five Things Every Horror Author Needs to Know: A Writer’s Digest Tutorial
- The First 10 Pages: How to make the best first impression with your writing.
- Engaging Your Readers Through Emotion and Description: Show, don’t tell!
- Writing Scary: The full 69-minute online tutorial on scaring the crap out of your readers, via Writer’s Digest University.
- Keeping Pace, Part 1: The Big Picture, via Writer’s Digest
- Keeping Pace, Part 2: Pacing an Action Scene, via Writer’s Digest
- Worldbuilding Basics for Fantasy & Science Fiction Looking for a good place to start? This is it!
- Six Strategies for Breaking Through Writer's Block Get back to writing!
- Navigating the Author-Editor Relationship Insight into publishing’s most crucial give-and-take.
- LIVING DIALOG: Bring Your Characters’ Words to Life
- Rarefied Atmosphere: Crafting a Unique Sense of Place
- Point of View: Whose Story is This, Anyway?
Writer's Digest University Courses
- Worldbuilding: Revised 4-week course for SF & fantasy worldbuilders.
- Horror Writing Intensive: Analyzing the Work of Genre Master Stephen King
- Pulp Fiction Workshop Starting again soon–register now!
Past Posts
Category Archives: RPG
STAN LEE (1922-2018)
I owe the lion’s share of my own creative education to three men, all of whom, as of yesterday, are no longer with us. In reverse chronological order, those men are Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, comic books, conventions, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, RPG, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Stan Lee, worldbuilding, Writing
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A SERIES OF POSTS ON MOTIVATION: CONNECTION
Assuming we’re still hanging in on the “Six Human Needs” I introduced a few weeks ago, a good starting point on the subject of what drives us all, I’m pressing ahead with the fourth of the six: connection. Connection has … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, freelance editing, freelance writing, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, character motivation, creating characters, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, genre fiction, J.M. McDermott, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises
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A SERIES OF POSTS ON MOTIVATION
I’ve been toying with this idea for a long time now, gathering up notes and so on, and decided to take the plunge this morning and finally get into it. Though I have been writing a bit lately on motivation … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, freelance editing, freelance writing, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Story Structure, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, 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, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises
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DOING MY OWN WRITING EXERCISES, PART 4: A LIST OF LISTS
In an effort to actually do the writing exercises I’ve recommended here (and elsewhere), I’ve already done my list of titles, writing to an image, sort of a failure on a dialog exercise, and writing to a random story prompt. … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, monsters, Pulp Fiction, RPG, SF and Fantasy Authors, Story Structure, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, 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
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OUR FLIGHT TIME TODAY WILL BE…?
This post does contain spoilers through the episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones that aired Sunday, August 20, 2017 (Season 7, episode 6: “Beyond the Wall”), so read accordingly. GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS FOLLOW: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy movies, freelance editing, Game of Thrones, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, Story Structure, technology, 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, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice
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LOVECRAFT’S FIVE DEFINITE ELEMENTS, PART 5: THE DAMAGE IT CAUSES
We’ve come to the end of a five-part series inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s essay “Notes on Writing Weird Fiction” in which one paragraph stood out for me as the beginnings of a horror/weird fantasy manifesto: Each weird story—to speak more … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy movies, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, 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, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, H.P. Lovecraft, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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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, intellectual property development, 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
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