PLEASE DONATE! Fantasy Author’s Handbook is brought to you free of charge, but if you can spare a one-time donation of $5, $20, or maybe $5 per month, that would really help keep Fantasy Author’s Handbook happily handbooking into the 2020s.
Fantasy Author\’s Feeds
Fantasy Author’s Datebook
Are you following me?
- WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM A RANDOM SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL: DONOVAN’S BRAIN fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/wha… 1 hour ago
- “This is really exclaimey!!!” Galen exclaimed. “Yeah,” replied Bronywn, “I got that on the first exclamation mark.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 hours ago
- 5 of 5 stars to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe goodreads.com/review/show/42… 4 hours ago
!NEW!
- Find me on Kindlepreneur: Master Guide to Selecting the Best Book Editor
- Longwinded One Podcast: Episode 158: Philip Athans: The Years of Phil
- The Best of Fantasy Authors Handbook …is now available–58 revised and expanded essays from the first five years of FAH!
- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
Books on Writing
- 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
Buy My Books
- 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.
- 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!
- Morbid Dread of the Dawn Read my story in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias!
- The Dogs Are In the Alley Again: A new horror story in Jitter #7
- Harbinger Asylum: Published one of my poems!
- The Lighthouse Keeper That Left A new poem in Harbinger’s Asylum!
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.
- GoodReads Join me at Facebook-for-readers
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?”
- 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.
- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- Monsters in D&D, Books, Movies… Dicegeeks Podcast interview with Phil!
- 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 Monsters With Philip Athans The Creative Penn Podcasts me!
- Classic Monsters, Modern Love: How a New Generation of Fans is Keeping the Universal Monsters Alive
Past Posts
Tag Archives: Mel Odom
BEGIN WITH MOVEMENT
Starting, once again, with the basic caveat that there is no one way to always do anything in creative fiction, and the advice I’m about to give is not meant to be blindly applied to every single sentence you ever … Continue reading
Posted in characters, freelance editing, freelance writing, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, 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, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing dialog, writing exercises
8 Comments
LOOKING BACK AT “32 OF LOVECRAFT’S FAVORITE WORDS”
This post originally appeared on the blog Mel Odom and I set up for the Arron of the Black Forest series—a series that stopped, unfortunately, at the first book—but looking back at this I thought it was worth sharing again, … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, characters, creative team, E-Books, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, monsters, 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, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, H.P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft, Lovecraftian, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
2 Comments
SEPARATING THE AUTHOR AND THE WORK, THE ARTIST AND THE ART
Bill Cosby, rapist Michael Jackson, child molester H.P. Lovecraft, racist You know I don’t watch the TV news, so I’m happy to report that I have done no wallowing in the sick spectacle that has become of the once venerated … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Uncategorized, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, Conan, creative process, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, resolutions, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
5 Comments
ONE OF THOSE WEEKS
Another late blog post this week, though I’ve really been thinking about it all day. I could write about this, I could write about that, I could write about the other thing . . . and though I always like to keep it … Continue reading
Posted in Books, conventions, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, how to write fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, jay Lake, Mel Odom, Mike Resnick, Philip Athans, Publishing, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing process
Leave a comment
SOME COPY TIPS
Cover copy, sell copy, catalog copy, web copy . . . the reality is that unless you, your editor, or some other helpful soul writes this, your book will forever be overlooked. Though yes, it is possible to present a book without … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, indie publishing, NaNoWriMo, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, author bio, authors, best sellers, Books, Conan, copywriting, cover copy, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing author bio, writing cover copy, writing exercises, writing process
7 Comments
NOBODY’S FAULT
Yesterday, another huge tornado ripped through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, brushing terrifyingly close to the home of my friend and occasional collaborator Mel Odom. After a few tense hours we finally heard through Facebook that he’d managed to … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, The Fathomless Abyss, transmedia, Traveller, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing process
1 Comment
FOUND: SIXTEEN-AND-A-HALF DEADLINES, SLIGHTLY USED
Ah, what a change two and a half years can bring! On October 5, 2010, here at Fantasy Author’s Handbook, I posted a, unabashed plea for deadlines: WANTED: ONE DEADLINE, ANY CONDITION in which, among other things, I bemoaned my … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, horror novels, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Traveller, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing process
Leave a comment
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: TRAVELLER5
Some time ago, I recommended the long out of print MegaTraveller role-playing game supplement World Builder’s Handbook as a helpful tool for creating believable planets and star systems. Since then, I have begun work on a new series of tie-in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Traveller, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Erik Scott de Bie, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Marc Miller, MegaTraveller, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Robert E. Vardeman, Science Fiction, sophont, Traveller, Traveller novels, Traveller RPG, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
BUY MY E-BOOKS, PLEASE
Tuesday again, so soon? What to write for this week’s Fantasy Author’s Handbook post? Ideas abound, but this morning I thought, hey, maybe it’s time for a little shameless self-promotion. And it might just kill two birds with one stone. … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, E-Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, The Fathomless Abyss, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, author self-promotion, authors, best fantasy for Kindle, best fantasy for Nook, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, e-books, e-readers, Fantasy, fantasy author on Twitter, Fiction, genre fiction, J.M. McDermott, jay Lake, Kindle fantasy, Mel Odom, Mike Resnick, Nook fantasy, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
6 Comments
NIRVANA GATES AND MY TENDENCY TO AVOID GROUPS
What could these two things possibly have in common? A couple weeks ago, in my class at Bellevue College, we were discussing how characters interact with the world they live in, and we went through an exercise inspired by the … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, The Fathomless Abyss, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, Brad R. Torgersen, Cat Rambo, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, J.M. McDermott, jay Lake, Magic: The Gathering, Mats Minnhagen, Mel Odom, Mike Resnick, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises
2 Comments
