I have made posts before regarding designing a language for your fictional world, so now is the time for a concrete example, in the form of my own. Yes, Maldene has a dictionary, and even an alphabet. You can download the font file for the alphabet in the Downloads section of www.maldene.com, but for the …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/plot-talk/888
Writing Tips: Writing Rules For A Hero
Every good story has its heros, but what defines a hero? How are some heros greater than others and what can you as a writer do to see that the Reader views him as heroic? The answers are not all that hard but are worth enumerating. First off, the obvious. A hero has to have …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/875
Maldene: Chapter One audio
Yes, I’ve finally done it. Now you can actually listen to me read the Chapter 1 teaser of Maldene. The audio is posted on the bottom of the Story Page, or just go directly over to Here. Enjoy the listen!
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/news/860
Writing Tips: Writing A Good Villain
Every story needs a good villain, but a great story needs a great villain. So, just what comprises a great villain? Just having someone in a black hat that can unstoppably destroy everything he touches is a bit juvenile, too basic, and rather unimaginative. On the other hand a villain can’t be weak either. So …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/843
Writing Tip: Even Magic Needs Logic
The biggest cop-out in a fantasy story is when the author (in the form of one of the characters) has something happen as a result of some magic spell or item of power and when the illogic begins to rain down just says “It’s magic, it doesn’t need any reason.” Well, I’m here to say …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/811
I’ve Been Interviewed On Skype
A couple days ago I was interviewed by Kaamil Garyson of Sinister Prose, and even better it was a full video call via Skype! You can view the whole thing direct on YouTube right Here, or view the embed which should (hopefully) appear below. You can also check it out on his blog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMlW3eQxAQ
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Writing Tips: Time Travel In A Story
Time travel is one of those things that is great as a concept, but all too often a horrible miss in execution. Be it in books, movies, or TV, too often the author thinks that the phrase “It’s time travel, who can understand it?”, or “Temporal physics gives me a headache,” is all they need …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/788
Writing Tips: Designing Aliens and Monsters
Every good SF or Fantasy story needs its monsters or aliens, but it is not enough to simply slap together something ugly and then drop it in front of the characters. To make your story believable in any setting, the monsters must feel as real as everything else. First off, the creature has to make …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/746
Writing Tip: Weather in Your World
If you are writing an epic that spans the globe of whatever fantasy or SF world you have created, sooner or later the subject of weather will come up. And if you do indeed have an entire world to deal with (or most enough of one) then it is not just enough to start sprinkling …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/737
Writing Tips: How to Write Fight Scenes
Fight scenes can be a two-edged sword. On the one hand they look great and exciting… visually on thew movie screen. But trying to put that on paper can very quickly end up as something like “parry, parry, thrust, oh parry” for a couple of pages. I learned very quickly tat you have to get …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/712
