Writing

Beloved, Notte by Ruthanne Reid

The City of Az’Kabek

It sounds like exaggeration, does it not? I was there, and it is still difficult to credit.

Terry Pratchett's Silhouette

The Pratchett Principle

Sir Pratchette wrote 400 words a day to create Discworld. Imagine what you can do with yours.

Stop Comparing Yourself

How to Be Happy as a Writer

This week, let’s make ourselves a pact. I’ll stop comparing myself to other writers – and so will you.

WIP: Boy, Is She Persistent

She guided me – taught me, which by design should not have been possible – to never kill children, to avoid the unwisdom of well-armed cities. She
taught me, friend, to stop before my prey would die.

WIP: Notte Finds Peace

I had discovered a state of existence other than hunger, and I wanted more. Tranquility spins a siren-song of its own.

WIP: For Daws to Peck At

They did not grow old. They never knew illness. They could be injured, but they healed, and they never simply lingered. All this was why Jonathan made no sense.

Regaining Momentum

Writing after a dry period is really hard, but there’s no secret to getting back into it. There are only a few simple steps.

Learning From Those Who Came Before

We write our stories, and we do the best we can. For many of us, that means we write from perspective born of backgrounds we didn’t control, educations we weren’t aware were cheap, and information we didn’t know was dated.

Stop Thinking About Marketing

The reason we feel the need to hold baby creations up to some 30-year pro’s for comparison is because our culture teaches us to judge all art according to salability – but salability is not the point of art.

Unnamed Story With Gray: Snippet

That power. Lips could lie but power could not.

I was in a van with Robin Goodfellow
and some Shadow’s Breath rando, and I had no idea where we were headed.

Notte Snippet: The Word of a Friend

We carried stories from town to town, transmitting parables like pathogens, connecting people via the thin threads of empathy and imagination who would otherwise never meet.

Beloved Notte (coming soon)

NaNoWriMo: The Salted Road

So many things seem eternal, seem, in the moment, to be without end and culturally permanent scars. The great flood; the memory of dragons; the knowledge that there are demons in the dark.

Writing Fatigue (and what to do about it)

This month is not about producing something publishable. It’s about teaching yourself to just keep writing, to ignore the inner editor, and to let yourself just spill words onto the page.

Goodbye, Stan Lee

Fellow creatives, Stan Lee left big shoes to fill. We have some work to do.

DO YOUR WORDS

Do Your Words

“Do your words” may be the most important words ever for writers.

Here's your sign

Here’s Your Sign

Hey. Creative soul, I’m talking to you.

This is your sign not to give up.

Beloved Notte (coming soon)

Notte Snippet

The tower was filled with breaking. Breaking wills, breaking minds, breaking cries. At every turn, every landing, even every stairwell, Saqalu draped and twisted, wings out, faces stretched, and if they were aware of me at all, they told me to run.

Beloved Notte (coming soon)

Notte Snippet for May, 2018

She sort of… skipped, boots barely touching the treacherous ground, keeping on her feet even as I slipped and staggered and relied solely on her grip to keep me on mine.

Beloved Notte (coming soon)

Pearl’s Bottom

Yet another snippet from Notte! Unedited, messy, etc. Enjoy!

Horse’s instructions seemed simple: I was to find the city of Mercy; to locate the inn called Pearl’s Bottom; to rent a bed, yet not use it, and instead wait in the public room below for a week and a day.

 » Read more about: Pearl’s Bottom  »

Patience is a long, long road

Your Trajectory Is Not Fixed

Here’s a lie I’ll bet you’ve been told: “You have to figure out what you want to do before it’s too late.”

Stop wishing. Start doing.

Keep Going (Just Like Pixar)

Two of my favorite go-to videos when I’m feeling down about writing. Take a few minutes and watch. Your heart will thank you.

You can do this: head into the tunnel

You Can Do This

Bad Crap is happening. No matter where any of us fall on the political spectrum, we can see that. It’s frightening. It hijacks imagination and energy, leaving only fear. So what’s a creator to do?

Finding Time to Write

Finding Time to Write

Bad news: you will never FIND time to write. Good news: there is still hope for you, struggling writer.

When Writers Freeze

When Writers Freeze

Writer’s freeze: when you know where you need to go, and maybe how to get there, but when you sit down to write it, your brain just stalls.

Location as a character

Location As a Character

Your location affects your other characters and plot every bit as much as your protagonist, antagonist, awesome sidekicks, eponymous heroes, or sarcastic love-interests.

Who raised your hero?

How to Figure Out Who Raised Your Hero (and Why You Need to Know)

Your characters didn’t appear the moment you write the first page. Just like in your own life, they were influenced by someone else—for good or ill. Understanding why your characters respond the way they do is crucial to character development, and knowing who influenced them is a key part of that.

It's all right to be a beginner

Arm Yourself: You’re Allowed to Be a Beginner

Bear with me. As I write this post, I’m more than a little mad. And I don’t mean “crazy,” either. I encountered a fellow the other day who spoke things so poisonous, so deadly to the creative mind, that I suspect he’s already left a battalion of writer-corpses in his wake.

And I’m not staying silent about it anymore.

Only You Can Tell Your Story

No One Can Tell Your Story But You

Writing is a strange thing, filled with emotional roller-coasters and storms and deserts. Who would ever put themselves willingly through this? Well, you (and me). Why? Because you have something to say. The only person who can tell your story is you.

Typewriter

Why You Need to Write What Scares You

What would you write if you knew you couldn’t fail? I promise I’m not setting you up for failure. There is a very good reason I’m asking this question.

Confront Your Fears

Let’s Talk About Fear

According to last week‘s responses, failure is the number one fear that writers face. Maybe we should start by defining it.

How do villains justify THAT?

How Did They Justify THAT?

Why does this matter? Because if you’re not writing your villains with the awareness that in their head, they’re not the villain, you may be writing a flat, 2D character.

Why I Left Smashwords

I’ve made a scary Indie-pub decision: I’m leaving Smashwords. Let me break down precisely why.

That Moment When

There came a funny moment today when I realized that Notte’s voice is very much like Tolkien’s. I don’t mean the world Tolkien created. I mean the actual man.

Ten Steps to Perfect Cover Design

Follow these ten steps, and your cover will look professional. Whether your cover looks good depends on the photos and fonts you choose, but if you follow these steps, your readers will thank you!

New Wiki Entry: Bardsey Island

Island of 20,000 saints; home to Merlin’s Apples; supposed resting place of Merlin himself: this island has a hell of a history.

I Freak Myself Out

I assumed I must be crazy, which I think is the default for any of us who go through something and keep it to ourselves.

Time Out

I know what comes next. I just don’t have the brain-space to write it.

The First War: The First Mention

So here’s this thing that I’ve know about forever, but have had no opportunity to talk about yet. It’s called the First War, and was probably one of the most culturally significant things to ever happen among the Mythos.

Three Weeks and Counting!

You may have noticed my absence. Never fear! It is due to Writing Focus, which tends to produce good things. By the way, I will be offering The Christmas Dragon free via the newsletter, and it will also be briefly free on Kindle.

Notte Snippet: Yes, That’s Elf-TV.

It was some kind of fey soap opera. Falling somewhere between clownish tragedy and romantic comedy, it shone with vibrancy and humor in this dark, underground world.

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