The Designer Guide to Secondary World Religions

Ragnarok Publications has been gracious enough to host an article that I wrote on designing fictional religions on their blog. How do you avoid clichés like Crystal Dragon Jesus, the Evil Church of Evil, and smarmy secularist characters who know the Bible better than lifelong churchgoers? You build from the…
October 28, 201613 Comments
Captain America: Civil War – A Writing Master Class

Captain America: Civil War – A Writing Master Class

I just got back from seeing Captain America: Civil War, and I wanted to get my thoughts down while the experience is still fresh. So this will be more of a stream of consciousness post. A two and a half hour master class on writing Being an author, I can't…
May 8, 201613 Comments
Fandom Is Dead. Long Live Fandom!

Fandom Is Dead. Long Live Fandom!

If you change the medium, you change the message. Philosopher of communication Marshall McLuhan argued persuasively that advances in media, regardless of content, can incite dramatic, culture-wide effects. A best selling print book can reach millions of people, but turn that book into a hit movie, and you increase its…
January 28, 2016
How to Handle Character Agency in Your Writing

How to Handle Character Agency in Your Writing

Continuing my loose series on advice for aspiring authors, it's time to address a subject that will leave hardcore outliners scratching their heads, but will have organic/discovery writers nodding in commiseration. That subject is character agency. Or, as frustrated writers lament: "What should I do if my characters want to…
December 16, 2015
How to Write an Effective Amazon Book Description

How to Write an Effective Amazon Book Description

Over the past week or so, my friends and colleagues have been helping me to refine the product description for Souldancer. I'm glad for the help, because as I've said here before, a good product description is one of the most vital elements of successful indie publishing. Like all aspects of…
December 4, 20152 Comments
How to Divide a Book into Chapters

How to Divide a Book into Chapters

There's no shortage of advice for indie authors these days. If you're thinking of self-publishing a book, there are scores of professionals who stand ready to offer you tips on everything from cover design to pricing to social media advertising. This abundance of free expertise isn't just limited to marketing…
December 2, 20152 Comments
How I Got Here: A Writer’s Journey

How I Got Here: A Writer’s Journey

Photo by Neil Jones I'm a professional writer. Some of my work is self-published; most of it has been published by other people. A common misconception about writers is that our work is our brand. That's only partly true. The one indispensable element of a writer's brand is himself. Audiences…
November 9, 20152 Comments
The Self-Publishing Beatitudes

The Self-Publishing Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are eight benchmarks given by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount that describe the perfection of Christian life. Not only are they points of reference for building virtue, they're also interrelated to build on each other. Here are eight mental habits that I've found useful in my…
November 3, 20152 Comments
Why Authors Need to Be Readers: Books that Informed Star Wars

Why Authors Need to Be Readers: Books that Informed Star Wars

Star Wars concept art by Ralph McQuarrie The best way to prepare for a writing career, besides writing every day, is reading at least as often. The importance of broad and deep reading for good writing strikes me as so self-evident that it baffles me whenever I ask aspiring authors…
October 23, 2015
How to Flesh out Your Novel with Three-Act Structure

How to Flesh out Your Novel with Three-Act Structure

Graph by Wendell Wellman Final editing proceeds nicely on Souldancer. As I've mentioned before, Soul Cycle vol. II will focus more on romantic themes than Nethereal did, without watering down the horror. In fact, my editor's first comment on the manuscript was how consistently eerie SD is. Since I'm trying a rather ambitious interweaving…
October 8, 2015