Confessors Not Martyrs

Confessors Not Martyrs

If anyone still doubts my advice to stay away from protests or who insist we "Need more heroes like Kyle Rittenhouse," I refer you to the latest search term popularity data from Google Trends. Those who are convinced we should send more young men into the lions' den in order to…
September 4, 20206 Comments
Stay Away from Protests

Stay Away from Protests

Less than a week after seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with first degree murder for defending himself in a Kenosha street battle, another dissident who took part in political street action, Jay Bishop, lies dead in Portland. Though police have yet to officially name a suspect, evidence from citizen journalists continues…
August 31, 202019 Comments
Secondary World Religions

Secondary World Religions

World building is the one element that sets speculative fiction apart from every other category of writing. When designing a secondary world, it’s crucial to establish a foundation of internally consistent principles to help readers suspend their disbelief. Religion in general has been a constant of human existence. Writing a…
August 19, 202012 Comments
How Does Your Magic Work?

How Does Your Magic Work?

A speculative element is what sets the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror apart from literary fiction. There's no element more speculative than magic, and it's become a common term of art to speak of an SFF universe's "magic system". By reader request, here is my philosophy of magic…
August 17, 202028 Comments
The River Plot

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…
June 16, 202018 Comments

Moral Terms

Spend enough time staring into the abyss toward which the Left is hurtling us, and you eventually notice that political ideology is just a thin layer of scum coating the surface. Politics is, after all, the art of properly organizing society toward the greatest good for the most people. It's…
April 23, 20208 Comments
Remember Thou Art Dust

Remember Thou Art Dust

... And to dust you shall return. Ash Wednesday has arrived to usher in the Lenten season. During this time of preparation for Easter, Christians are encouraged to renew and deepen our vigilance in prayer, fasting, and penance. Before His glorious Resurrection, Our Lord first had to pass through His…
February 26, 202030 Comments
The Necessity of Editing

The Necessity of Editing

The most eye-opening part of being a professional editor has been the fascinating look it offers into other writers' creative process. There's a lot of talent out there that oldpub would never give the time of day. These authors are finding audiences thanks to newpub. At the same time, you…
February 6, 20206 Comments
The Purpose of Your Life

The Purpose of Your Life

... could be to serve as a warning to others. As Devon Stack learned when he stepped outside his comfort zone to document the wreckage left in the wake of a wasted life. As with all of Stack's videos, this one is worth every second of your time: I've seen…
December 2, 201944 Comments
Books Are Not Head Movies

Books Are Not Head Movies

A number of readers have asked me to explain my frequent editing advice against writing by playing a movie in your head and transcribing what you see. To complement the inherent advantages the novel has over film as a storytelling form, here are a few proscriptive reasons to avoid approaching novel…
November 27, 201920 Comments