Thoughts on the process of writing epic fantasy and worldbuilding.
September is here, which means the start of our homeschooling year (my daughter is in 3rd grade! HOW IS SHE IN 3RD GRADE ALREADY?!). I’m also starting my second pass through The Ikessar Falcon in all 180,000 words of its glorious mess. I do my second drafts with an extremely critical eye–I normally do the developmental edits for a …
I hate full-on summer heat (there’s a reason I hid inside the house while growing up in a tropical country), so it was great that we received quite a bit of cloud mixed with the sun over the weekend. We had oysters, which were really fresh–so fresh you could taste the ocean in them. The last time …
I talk a lot about the prevailing attitude of ego and self-esteem as I’ve observed in the past couple of decades of hanging out with other writers. Anger and envy run rampant, regardless of success levels. There’s always someone who’s doing better than you, always someone you want to be. Looking inside, as I’ve mentioned …
Read more “The Importance of a Healthy State of Mind — On Writers and Envy, Part II”
One of the earliest lessons I’ve learned as a writer was to “trust the reader.” In the beginning, I didn’t know what this meant. How do you trust a reader? Isn’t the point of you writing is to guide your reader through an experience? Well, yes, the keyword here being guide. What I’ve learned this means …
If you peek into my Goodreads‘ profile (friend me, by the way!), you’ll notice that I read all across the board, not just fantasy. And…at least, it seems to me…my rating system seems to be all over the place. I’ve rated novels I’ve liked three stars, and novels that were frustrating to read four or …
