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- HORROR INTENSIVE Starts thisTHURSDAY! #writing #horror with feedback writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/horror… via @WritersDigest 1 hour ago
- Advice, exercises, feedback, discussion… writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/horror… #writing #horror via @WritersDigest THURSDAY! 6 hours ago
- Get all spooky with: writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/horror… #writing #horror via @WritersDigest THURSDAY! 11 hours ago
!NEW!
- Point of View: Whose Story is This, Anyway?
- Worldspinner: I wrote the Aftermath Adventure Theme for Worldspinner.com, a great new tool for fantasy roleplaying, worldbuilding, and map making.
- Rarefied Atmosphere: Crafting a Unique Sense of Place
Buy My Books
- KINDLE SUBSCRIPTION Subscribe to Fantasy Author’s Handbook for your Kindle!
- The City is Theirs My contribution to the Warhammer world!
- 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!
- How to Start Your Own Religion You won’t be the first science fiction author to try!
- 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
- Whisper of Waves First in the Forgotten Realms Watercourse Trilogy
- I Made a Friend An alternate history/dieselpunk story for your Kindle!
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.
- Facebook Eventually, it happens to us all.
- Story Coaching One-on-one time on your project, via Writer’s Digest
- GoodReads Join me at Facebook-for-readers
Gamasutra
- The Case for In-house Publishing My featured post at Gamasutra, which includes a TSR history lesson.
- A Little Respect: Writers deserve respect. There, I said it.
- The Gaming Revolution Will Be…Read? My case for more video game tie-in novels.
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?”
- FANTASY BOOK CRITIC reviews The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction
- Another Top 100 List Thank you Feedspot!
- 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.
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Pro Se Podcast: I talk new pulp with Tommy Hancock!
- Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards: Some notes on being a short story judge.
- The Shelf-Life of Sci-Fi Storytelling A love letter to the pulps.
- Author Learning Center An interview covering writing SF/F.
- Quintessential Editor on Writing Monsters Another positive review!
- 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!
- Flames Rising on Writing Monsters: A favorable review from Steven Dawes.
- The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2015: And Fantasy Author’s Handbook made the list!
- Words Are My Medicine reviews Writing Monsters
- A Great New Review of Writing Monsters: From Kids’ Animal Station
- The Creative Penn added me to their list of editors!
- Kindlepreneur added me to their list of editors!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- Unplag Interview: A few thoughts from me on writing fantasy.
- Thieves Guild Reviews: The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction
- TOP TEN BOOKS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING Including The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction!
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.
- Worldbuilding New course starting soon–register now!
- Pulp Fiction Workshop Starting again soon–register now!
- Horror Writing Intensive: Analyzing the Work of Genre Master Stephen King
- LIVING DIALOG: Bring Your Characters’ Words to Life
Resources
- 100 Monologues A new favorite online destination
- SF SIGNAL: A great source of news, opinions, and links for all things SF.
- New York Times Books: Reviews, news, and so on from the Old School.
- GAMASUTRA: News and opinions from the video game universe.
- LOCUS Online: SF’s magazine of record.
- McSWEENEY'S INTERNET TENDENCY: Because it’s frickin’ awesome.
- Hazlitt Smart writing to be found here
- TED Talks Watch one a day and be smarter
Past Posts
Tag Archives: Forgotten Realms
PLEASE STOP USING INITIAL CAPS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR CREATIVITY
I know for sure that as a reader of fantasy, and to a slightly lesser degree, science fiction, you have run across a common word with an initial cap used to convey some special emphasis, or just general “specialness,” and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, freelance editing, freelance writing, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises
10 Comments
AS HENRY MILLER COMMANDS
In the last week or so I came across Henry Miller’s Eleven Commandments of Writing, thanks to Brain Pickings. I’ve had some recent successes with a new to do list scheme, and have been writing more, if still not nearly … Continue reading
Posted in Books, freelance editing, freelance writing, freelancing, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, 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, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
12 Comments
WHAT ARE YOUR “TROPES”?
The word “trope” actually describes a figurative or metaphorical turn of phrase that swaps in a new meaning in place of the literal meaning of a word or phrase. You can get a clearer sense of the original meaning of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, comic books, 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, 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, best sellers, Books, comic books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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LAST THINGS FIRST, FIRST THINGS MIDDLE
There is no law that says you have to start writing with the first line of Chapter One (or the Prologue, which we know is perfectly fine to have in your book). I’ve know that other authors write books in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, 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, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing process
1 Comment
LESSONS FROM THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE: ITALICS
The 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style has twelve individual index entries under italics, and one of those items, “uses, other” has twenty-one sub-entries. So there are a lot of rules, but let’s look at a few that … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, intellectual property development, POD, 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, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing dialog, writing process
7 Comments
MY MEAN STREETS
I’ve been reading Dennis Lehane’s The Given Day and just loving it to pieces, but as I read it I can’t help but think about the author’s relationship to the setting: Boston, and how that’s shaped his writing. There are … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fiction, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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MY BAD SHORT BAD BOOK
I sat on a panel at the Chuckanut Writer’s Conference and the moderator had a copy of Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life by Dani Shapiro. She referenced the book a few times and recommended it, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fiction, intellectual property development, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Video Games, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
18 Comments
