Western Watch — Chapter 28
By popular demand (Hi Mom!), Chapter 28. Ostinik watches the trio of fools scatter to the stone yurt like terrified mice. The riders flying up the road hold no fear for him, though he twists his lips in a sour Read More …
Tag: Writing
What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank — A Book Review
Your characters need to eat. In novels with a modern, urban setting this isn’t usually a problem. Hungry? Drive-thru, supermarket, or delivery; there are a plethora of choices. Historical and — more particularly — fantasy novels is where things get Read More …
Three Little Indie Author Observations
I’ve been writing, on and off, for about 15 hears, but only became serious about it in the last five. I joined a couple of social media platforms, created my website (author platform), read and followed my favourite bloggers and Read More …
Character Reference Sheet Example for Lady Tiandraa
Novels typically involve several different characters appearing over the course of scores, if not hundreds of pages. Authors need to be consistent in character depiction, personality and dialogue. A character reference sheet is immensely helpful in this regard. I thought Read More …
Three Simple Rules to Increase Your Word Count
Do you have trouble sitting down to write? I do. I open a blank page, see the word count at zero, and sigh. I am a lazy writer. I hate sitting down in front of the computer to write fiction. Read More …
Western Watch — Chapter 26
Tiandraa shifts in her saddle. Stone-faced Red Hand nobles stare hard at Merreth, pausing while reaching for sword or crossbow. A mount snorts, bends its neck, begins cropping the dried scrub grass along the roadside. The breeze off the river Read More …
Eight Observations on a Writers’ Group
I decided to end our in-person Writers’ Group this week. We’d had a good run. I joined in 2000, and I understood the group had been in operation for the previous five years, so twenty-two years is impressive. I’d thought Read More …
Western Watch — Chapter 22
Agaric wrenches the sword from the dirt-scratcher’s throat and the man spasms one last time. Pain-filled gurgles, and the slick crunch of steel hacking through bone fills his ears as his warriors dispatch the last of the armoured men Read More …
Western Watch — Chapter 20
Hurry, damn, it. They’re coming. In seconds a thousand clan hooves will be pounding up to Little Westhold! Merreth looks up sharply and peers along the road. No clan. Of course, if they were on the road there’d be Read More …
Two Books on Genre for Indie Novelists
You hear a lot about genre when you get into writing novels. In this post I’ll provide a thumbnail overview of two books on genre that I’ve found enormously helpful in my writing. First, some background: What is genre? According Read More …
