Articles For Writers Here are articles written by Will on the craft of writing. They focus, in particular, on the craft of writing fantasy.
THE ARTICLES
The strange dichotomy of writing - I get inquiries and emails from people all the time who want to write a book or a novel. This is what I tell them.
How to land a book publishing deal - I did it and you can too. - It really is about knowing what a potential publisher wants and doing that work ahead of time.
Books for Writers - This isn't an article. It is a hand-picked selection of books for writers. They have a particular slant toward writers of science fiction and fantasy. And they run the gamut from grammar to marketing and more.
Using invented language in your novel -Are you writing a science fiction or fantasy novel? Are you also creating a language or maybe some words for your novel? Creating words and a language is an exciting and rewarding thing. It can help to breathe life and originality into the story and the world you are creating. But it can be a bit of a challenge and there are some mistakes that you can make. Your reader, of course, has never heard of any of these words ( you created them after all) so you have to be careful. In this article our guest writer ( Roberta Osborn) has given us some terrific guidelines and tips on how to create and manage your invented language.
How to create a Map for your Novel - There is no denying that a map is a wonderful addition to your novel. It draws your reader even further into the story and the world you have created and it is a great way to help them understand the story and what is happening. Here is a great tutorial by a guest writer on how to make a great map for you novel.
The Importance of Finding a Mentor - This is a guest article written By Christoper Ballantyne, a web visitor who is working on his first novel. Finding a "Mentor" or even a friend as an up and coming writer is perhaps one of the most important aspects of a writer's career which is often overlooked or not even considered.
How to write a large scale battle for your fantasy novel - There are a few things you need to think about when writing a big battle in your novel. I give you some tips, thoughts, ideas and point out some of the pitfallls you should avoid.
A Guide To Medieval Weapons For Fantasy Writers - This is an in depth article that will help you put weapons in your world in a way that makes sense. It goes over what makes a good weapon, how to integreate it into your world and there is a list of the more common medieval weapons
Map Making for Fantasy Writing - Some useful tips and guidelines for creating maps for your writing. A map can help your reader visualize your world and help you write a better novel.
Stephen King - The secret lesson he has for you as a writer - There is no mistaking that Stephen King is a masterful writer. His prose is clean and extraordinarily well written. But there is another, very valuable lesson, he has to offer you as an aspiring author. To understand this lesson you have to take a look at his body of work.
How to Write an Epic Fantasy Novel - A no nonsense approach to starting the writing and completing it.
Chasing the Wild Unicorn: How to find your Unique Writers Voice Finding your unique writing style and voice is much like chasing a wild unicorn. You can’t do it! The harder you look, the further away it gets. You have to let it come to you. Here is some advice on how to let it come to you.
The Internal Conflict is more important than the Dragon – Advice for Epic Fantasy Writers When writing fantasy it is very easy to let your imagination soar and to create amazing worlds and incredible creatures; and while you may give your reader something to enjoy you won’t really make a connection with him or her. The thing that will make the connection with your reader is the internal conflict your protagonist has to go through. This is what makes him or her human and this is where you have a memorable impact on your reader.
Self-Publishing a Novel? You absolutely need to put this on the last page
You have been working hard on your self-published novel and soon your dream will come true -It will be printed. Or maybe you have already published a novel and are working on your next one. Don’t skip this very important step.
How to Write a Great Combat Scene – Advice for Fantasy Writers
A great combat scene is a memorable event in your reader’s life. It is a microcosm of the struggle that is contained in the book itself. And good combat scenes are often dog-eared by readers and returned to over and over again. You can give your reader a great combat experience if you follow a few simple guidelines.
How to Find Interesting Words and Names for Your Fantasy Writing
Tolkien was a Philologist which made him an expert at linguists and the history of languages so it easy to see why his writing is filled with wonderful names of characters, creatures, and places. You don't have to be a philologist to also find words that fit into your fantasy writing and accentuate the feel of your created world. Here are some tips and hints on how to do it.
Use Your Journal to Dramatically Improve Your Writing - The Easy Way
If you are keeping a journal on a regular or even semi-regular basis, you have made a great step toward developing your skills as a writer. But, you are probably only using a small part of what a journal can be. You need to take the next step in journal writing and make your journal work for you. Here are some practical tips on how to do that.
Designing Video Games sharpen your eyes and think like an artist
Good Video Game design is not just about fast action and challenging beasts and creatures. One of the most important, yet most overlooked aspect of video game design is the believability of the world the game takes place in. When designing a video game you don't have to be a great artist but you do have to think and see like one.
It's All About the Cover - Advice for self publishers With only a few seconds to catch the attention of a potential buyer the cover is the most important tool you have when trying to sell your book. You have spent hundreds of hours working on your manuscript. You should also put a fair amount of energy into the cover. Here is some solid advice on what to do.
Forget about the Grammar and your writing will improve - The number one reason why writers don't write is the fear of poor grammar. The red pencil marks of an editor pointing out dangling participles and passive sentences strikes enough fear into a person that it can prevent him from writing. Writing grammatically well is desirable, and necessary, but it is something you don't have to worry about. I will explain why but lets first take a look at what writing is.
Epic Fantasy - It's Really about the meaning of life Epic fantasy has long been considered escapist literature and something that adolescent’s read to pass the time. It brings to mind muscle-bound heroes who fight dragons and rescue princesses. But Epic fantasy is really much more than that. It is about the search to find meaning in our lives. Read...
Writing Epic Fantasy - Taking a Courageous Approach to the Genre Epic fantasy is a genre about heroes taking on challenges of epic proportions and overcoming obstacles that are seemingly impossible to overcome yet the genre puts out (safe) multi-volume cookie cutter novels that follow a specific formula laid out by Tolkien and Campbell. Break this trend in your own writing. Read the essay
Writing Fantasy - A creative Approach to World Building One of the most appealing things about fantasy is that it usually takes place in a fantastic and imaginative world. The mention of the Names Middle Earth, Midkemia, or Narnia brings up vivid images in a reader’s mind. But building a rich and vivid world takes a level of visual creativity that can be daunting to a writer. How do you get your reader to feel the stones of your New World? How do you get him or her to feel the landscape and the world as if it were a real thing? How do you show your reader the world when all you have is words to explain it with? Read the Complete essay
Everybody wants to write - But Why? The craft of writing has taken on a revered position in our society. Why is this so? It isn't writing itself that we admire. It is the mystique of writing that we admire. When a person thinks of a writer specific images come to mind. Maybe you think of Ernest Hemingway braving the natural world or Jack Kerouac braving the midwest -hoboing his way from railyard to railyard. Maybe you think of Tolkien and the wonders of Middle Earth.
Will's Guaranteed, Sure-fire, four-step method that will get you writing today In the world we live in there are so many distractions that make it very difficult to write. But you can cut through all the clutter and get writing. Here is a plan that will get you going!
Writing is an individual process. There is a different style of writing for every writer. I heard that Jack Kerouac wrote out is book On the Road on one long piano roll. One heck of a way to write a book. He said that he didn't want to break up his stream of thought by separating it into pages. Kind of cool! The point here is that there is no right way to right. Everybody is different and there are plenty of tools that can help you write in a way that is good for you.
Resources for Writers
On Writing
- Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches , not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie . King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery , the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers , and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo , that I barely remember writing."
Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story
Completely revised and rewritten to address the challenges and opportunities of the modern era, this handbook is a short, deceptively simple guide to the craft of writing. Le Guin lays out ten chapters that address the most fundamental components of narrative, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view. Each chapter combines illustrative examples from the global canon with Le Guin's own witty commentary and an exercise that the writer can do solo or in a group. She also offers a comprehensive guide to working in writing groups, both actual and online. Masterly and concise, Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer's shelf.
The Chicago Manual of Style
Alchemy with Words: The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy vol 1 (The Compete Guide Series) (Volume 1)
World Building (Science Fiction Writing) This book is designed to give science fiction writers the solid grounding they need in real science to make their fictions read like fact. World Building is a blueprint in words, calculations, tables and diagrams to help writers transport readers from one world to another.
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy Orson Scott Card's Hugo award-winning classic on the art and craft of writing science fiction and fantasy is available in paperback! Card provides invaluable advice for every science fiction and fantasy writer interested in constructing stories about people, worlds and events that stretch the boundaries of the possible...and the magical. They'll learn: * what is and isn't science fiction and fantasy, and where their story fits in the mix * how to build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world readers will want to explore * how to use the MICE quotient--milieu, idea, character and event--to structure a successful story * where the markets are, how to reach them and get published There's no better source of information for writers working in these genres. This book will help them effectively produce exciting stories that are both fascinating and market-ready.
The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference
Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
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