Not a Visual Medium

Writing is not a visual medium. There's an old saying in comics that writers can't draw, and artists can't write. That's an overgeneralization. Sometimes you do get a John Byrne or a Frank Miller, but there is a kernel of truth to the cliche. Because an artist is trained to…
September 24, 201816 Comments
Promise Breakers Inc.

Promise Breakers Inc.

Apologies to my readers for the lateness of this post. circumstances beyond my control deprived me of internet access this morning. As a result, my planned post about Big Social going all Alex Jones on Mister Metokur will have to wait. That situation still seems to be developing, so it's…
August 29, 201834 Comments
A Detailed Road Map

A Detailed Road Map

A reader writes: Say Mr. Niemeier, when you write a multi-book saga like say the Soul Cycle, do you just write it out book by book or do you have a detailed kind of road-map before you put pen to paper? I answer: I outline extensively. For the Soul Cycle…
August 9, 20188 Comments
Kishōtenketsu

Kishōtenketsu

Lately I've been getting questions about Kishōtenketsu, the four-part story structure of classical Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature. My Twitter friends sent along a useful post explaining the concept. Let’s start with the word itself. It’s made up of the names of the four different acts of the structure: Ki…
July 16, 20184 Comments
Chuck Dixon’s 10 Comic Commandments

Chuck Dixon’s 10 Comic Commandments

Longtime A list comic book writer Chuck Dixon reveals his Ten Commandments of Comic Book Scripting. 1. OPEN STRONG.Get your story off and running. 2. ONLY ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE.Just the talking you need to put the point across. 3. AT LEAST THREE PIECES OF ACTION PER STORY.They can be mixed major…
July 3, 201810 Comments
Overcome or Succumb

Overcome or Succumb

Background: Artist. Foreground: "Artiste". Forget everything you've been force-fed by the literati about artists being special snowflakes exempted from the laws of supply and demand because they serve only the whims of the muse. To succeed, novelists must be no less market-facing than plumbers or lawyers. Friend of the blog…
June 26, 201812 Comments
Three Big Questions

Three Big Questions

Author, editor, and publisher Jeff Duntemann poses the three questions that authors of speculative fiction must ask when designing magic systems. There are three Big Questions you need to ask yourself as you take on a task of designing a magical system: What is the source of magical power? Where…
May 21, 20185 Comments
Sparing the Poet

Sparing the Poet

It's my pleasure to present the readers of this blog with the foreword to my upcoming short story anthology. Spend some time on authors’ blogs or online writing groups, and you’ll meet people who claim to be aspiring writers. I use “claim” because there’s no such animal. Our actions define…
April 9, 201813 Comments
#AGundamForUs

#AGundamForUs

This could be your Gundam, even though it's not technically a Gundam. Writer Bradford Walker concurs with yesterday's post on the need for a Western answer to the moribund Japanese mecha franchises and adds his own rallying cry. Left unsaid is this: fixing the issues is on us. We have…
March 22, 201827 Comments
How to Avoid the River Plot

How to Avoid the River Plot

Best selling author Jonathan Moeller offers his expert advice on how to write a long-running fantasy series without falling into any of the genre's common pitfalls. First, I figure out the overall arc for the entire series. What is the central conflict and the main antagonist? Then I decided on…
March 16, 20189 Comments