6 Sentence Sunday: The First Miracle
Inside the cage was an ogre, a terrifying creature that resembled a gigantic man with protruding fangs and brutishly large arms. In a satirical twist, the neophytes had painted its…
Prayer to Deyos the Protector
Deyos, Allfather, glory unto you You who protected your servant, Patroteres Although he was beset by villains and thieves, You came to him in his moment of need Gentle father,…
Kylara and the Dragon
Wings darken the sky over the fields of grain Children cry in terror and flee before the wind Families lock their doors, but still the village burns The dragon eats…
My Alien Penpal
Creating a new world is hard enough. Then describing it in a story is a little like pretending that you have an alien penpal.
An alien would have no context or prior knowledge to understand the world that you are writing about. You don’t know what your reader’s life is like, so you can’t compare the things that are unfamiliar to them to something that is familiar to them. But you don’t want to get so bogged down in the details of explaining every little thing that you bore them. (more…)
Why I Will (Not) Use My Religion in My Stories
I have been religious for my whole life, and my faith is important to me. It’s as much a part of me as anything else, and it’s especially important when I make decisions about how I live. I want the things that I do to honor the gods and show my respect for their creations. You will not hear me talk about this very often, though. My spirituality is very personal for me, and very private.
More to the point, though, I do not think that a story is a good place for religion. Of course there are characters for whom religion is important, and it may affect them in good or bad ways. And creating religions is a personal favorite of mine for world building. A story should also reflect the ethics and philosophy of the author in certain ways. But a story is a very bad place to preach about ideas, religious or otherwise. (more…)
Research Wednesday: Venus Flytrap
This week, one thing that I researched was the Venus flytrap, one of the more popular types of carnivorous plants. What is so fascinating about them? Well, for me, it's how unique…
Research Wednesday: Choreomania
As a writer, my ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes it can be spontaneous, like a suggestion from a friend, a flash of insight, or a memory from the past. But
ideas can also come from research, where I actively go and learn more about the world in order to find new and interesting things that I can incorporate into my stories. Each Wednesday, I’ll highlight a topic of research or something cool that I found which helped inspire me.
This idea came from listening to classical radio. I don’t remember the name of the piece that was being introduced, but the DJ was talking about the historical context of something that she
was about to play when she mentioned the idea of choreomania: the compulsion to dance. Although I was doing something else at the time, the name stuck with me, and when I sat down at my computer later that afternoon, I knew that I had to learn more.
My New Project: Korinna
I am so excited about this new book that I am writing and I feel like it’s really coming together. I am so close to publishing Small Town Witch, so I haven’t forgotten about that and I will be doing a lot more work on that very soon to give everyone some excitement for the new release, but right now I just want to let you all now about my newest project and how well it’s going.
I don’t have a title yet, because I am horrible at naming stories. I usually use just the name of the main character as short hand for the story until well into the first draft or even during revision. This book’s main character is Korinna, and since she’s probably going to fill up at least three books, I’ve labeled the project “Korinna Book 1”. Here is the plot in a sentence:
The illegitimate daughter of the murdered duke must capture and tame a dangerous monster in order to take control of the city away from the greedy council before the curse that killed her father destroys them all.
Another Perspective on Lore vs. Innovation
This afternoon, there was a discussion on Twitter's @LitChat with author Joanne Levy (@JoanneLevy) about her new book, Small Medium at Large. The chat covered a number of topics about…
Lore vs. Innovation
If you've ever tried to write a story about a type of mythological creature before (say, a vampire) then you probably already know what this issue is like. How do…