Writing sparkling dialog isn’t easy, but it’s an essential writing technique to master. Good dialog sounds natural, but paradoxically, it isn’t the way real people talk. Real dialog meanders, it’s repetitive, it stops and starts. It’s boring. There is a lot to say about dialog, but in this blog, I want to talk about subtext. …
I’ve been writing for a little over four years, now. And they have been productive years. I’m about to turn in my fifth book to my publisher. I hope I still have a lot of room to improve, but I’ve spent enough time to develop my own thoughts on the process and the techniques of …
I wouldn’t contend that my books are art, but writing is an artistic endeavor. It requires you to open your heart, plumb your emotional depths, and invite criticism of something you love. Offering your story to the world is to invite someone to stomp your heart. I know a few writers who appear unfazed by …
My favorite author, fantasy or otherwise, is Patrick Rothfuss. I would put The Name of the Wind up as the greatest fantasy novel ever written. Just my opinion. Not looking for a fight. There might be what some would consider spoilers below, and these are my personal interpretations, so be advised. As a writer, I …
Resist the Urge to Explain or RUE. It’s a rule every aspiring writer (and a few well-established authors) should learn. To illustrate what this rule means and why it works, I’ll use a scene from The Thousand Names, the first book in The Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler. I reread it recently and was …
“More valuable than gold, its secrets known to very few, and no one outside the Ishian River valley.” The above line, from Argren Blue, describes the blue pigment of the title. It seems farfetched that a pigment could be more valuable than gold. But, in fact, ultramarine, the blue pigment for hundreds of years was, …
When our youngest daughter discovered she couldn’t actually go to Hogwarts, she took it hard. I’m not sure how other parents would have responded to this minor trauma. I took her out to commiserate over chocolate shakes. She, at least, had an excuse. She was very young. What can I say? I often find myself …
Witches don’t exist. That’s what Signe’s mother tells her, and she wants to believe her mother. The problem is, no one else does. The Witch was a fun story to write and a familiar character from Spirit Sight plays a small, but crucial, part. You can find it at The Lorelei Signal.
When Nara Flynn was inducted into a magical sisterhood, she imagined herself a bulwark against evil, defender of the vulnerable. Escorting an Imperial tax collector did not live up to those expectations. But Nara discovers she can tell her own story, no matter where she is. Nara is my favorite of my many characters. She is …
