Tag: writing

What Makes Maldene Different?

So, with a plethora of fantasy and SF titles out there, what makes Maldene so unique? That would be the question that I love to answer. To put it simply, Maldene is a complete world, and so will feel as real to the reader as if Earth itself. Start with the basics. The map is …

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Writing Tip: Your Wrap-Around Story Has To Make Sense

Many movies have what I would call a Wrap Around Story, or STory Enclosure, that amounts to the excuse for the rest of the story. The Fifth Element would be one example; big bad amorphous evil coming to destroy Earth, and that is the excuse for the adventures. Great movie, but the wrap around is …

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Listen to my interview

I short while ago I was interviewed by Sharyn Abbott of creative Impressions. Listen to the full interview HERE.

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Combining Fantasy and Science Fiction in Your Writing

Most genre stories are either Fantasy, with wizards and magic swords, or Science Fiction, with space ships and ray guns. Very rarely do you ever find something that combines both, and even then it’s usually done very badly. The old “I got my wand and he has his ray gun” approach. So, how is one …

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Thinking Up Alien Names

Fantasy and Science Fiction have something in common when it comes to names; they gotta sound unearthly. Something from another culture unknown to this Earth or any of its languages. But how to come up with them? There are numerous ways, and often the best is to just start slapping syllables together and see what …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/373

Mark’s 10 (11) Tips For Story Writing

I finally found the file I’d created from whence I got these tips from, so rather than piecemeal them, here’s the whole list at once. Then in later posts I’ll get into some specifics for fantasy and SF worlds. These are my 10 basic tips for writing a good story. Be it novel or short …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/363

Writing Tip: World Building

Okay, so I stopped numbering them already. Moving on, this tip is for those writers of Fantasy and SF in need of designing their own world. Where to start? You have some ideas but which way to go? A step at a time, and the first step is simple. Break out some graph paper, 10 …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/354

Writing Tip #2: Your Work Environment

A very important part of writing is where and how you do so. For myself, complete and utter silence just gets me fidgety. Music, on the other hand, helps me focus on my story for hours on end. And focus not only means you can be at it longer, but also better. When I’m deep …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/332

Writing Tip #1: Write the Market or Write Your Soul

The first in an irregular series of posts on what advice and tips I can give out based on my own experience in writing stories and novels. This first one concerns the dilemma of write the market or write your own. My own take on it is this: if you write what the market currently …

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.maldene.com/writing-tips/303

Artists for new cover chosen

Maldene, volumes 1 and 2, will be getting some new cover art. I just finished up today with them, getting rough sketches going, and it really is going to look a lot better. Should be finished by early Feb. Sasha Palacio and Diego Paz have been a team since High School (with Diego only recently …

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