Tag Archives: writing

Take to the Skies to Save your Hometown–in my first-ever game!

Today’s the launch date for my interactive superhero fiction, Skystrike: Wings of Justice! At over 330,000 words long (!!) this is my longest work of fiction. But…you might want to play through a few times to read more of them. … Continue reading

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Maps and Direction: Exploring a Metaphor

I recently stopped in at a local gas station/convenience store to look for a local area map that will help me think about where to buy my next house.  The woman next to me in line immediately asked where I … Continue reading

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Drafting the Novel: How long did that take you to write?

On Friday, I finished the first draft of my first international thriller novel.  It’s always an exciting moment to finish a project, especially one that you’ve been planning for a long time.  One of the things that readers often ask … Continue reading

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Developing Fictional Worlds: The Nits are All you Have

As you may know, my most popular blog entry (still) is the one entitled Bilbo Baggins’ Bathrobe: A Example of Poor World-building.  Every month or two, someone new discovers this post and feels they must take me to task for … Continue reading

Posted in essays, fantasy, fiction, history, medieval technology, research, Uncategorized, worldbuilding, writing | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Hand-bound Book of Elisha

Some years ago, I did a research project on medieval bookbinding, complete with making my own (rather clumsy) examples. At a street fair in Providence, I found this amazing book offered by a graduate of the Rhode Island School of … Continue reading

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Satirists, Lost and Found

Last week was an interesting one in the realm of satirical literature. It brought us word of the sad passing of a modern master, Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld novels, and also of the re-discovery of the grave of … Continue reading

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Finding a Balance: Cultural Appropriation and Under-representation

Writing fiction has lately become a bit of a minefield where, if you write about another culture, you risk charges of appropriation, and if you fail to include representatives of other cultures, then you are exclusionary. I have always operated … Continue reading

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The Mentor Who Knew Too Much

I often read unpublished manuscripts, either because I am paid to critique or edit them, or because I am trading beta-reading with author friends.  Recently, I’ve read several manuscripts with a common flaw:  a secondary character who knows almost everything, … Continue reading

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Fan Fiction: intrusion or flattery?

I belong to a number of writers’ networks, and the topic of fan fiction arises on all of them from time to time.  Fan fiction, for the non-writers out there, is when a fan writes his or her own stories … Continue reading

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The Uses of History: Inaccuracy and Injustice

One of my commenters on another post included the following: Kenneth Chase cites a book called “Teppo denrai” by Takehisa Udagawa who states: “If historical inaccuracy is ignored for the sake of the message then it is not clear what … Continue reading

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