It’s not unheard of for fantasy fiction writers to spend a lot of time and effort on world-building. Character-building, on the other hand, often takes a back seat, resulting in one-dimensional archetypes instead of a cast with personality and motivations. Imagine the depth and complexity fantasy fiction characters might have if writers spent as much [...]

No Comments »

I write for a living. I spend eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, sitting at a desk writing. I write business requirements, use cases, test cases, and technical documentation. It is a rare occasion that I finish my day feeling like a writer, however. No sense of euphoria or completeness, as though I’d found [...]

2 Comments »

Awards serve two primary purposes: to stroke the ego of the award-winner and attempt to raise awareness. There are three major awards for fantasy fiction: the World Fantasy award, the Hugo, and the Nebula. Both the Hugo and the Nebula do not differentiate between science fiction and fantasy in their categories. Nominations and voting are [...]

2 Comments »

My stance on beta readers and critique groups isn’t as contrary as my last post made it seem. I use beta readers. Sometimes, it’s just my wife. Sometimes I’ll seek out subject matter experts or other genre writers. I’m very particular about who I solicit input from, and what input I’m interested in. I used [...]

No Comments »

Serial and flash fiction are popular formats among online markets like Mindflights or Laser & Sword. The short length makes them an easy read on a web page, and in the case of serials, a natural hook to draw traffic back to the site time and again. I’ve toyed with the idea of publishing fantasy [...]

No Comments »