What I Learned From Six Years Of Writing

I’ve been seriously writing for six years, and I’ve written twenty one novels or novellas that are at different stages of the process, from first drafts to published. As you can imagine, I’ve learned quite a few things throughout the course of my writing journey. I’ve gone from a kid who knew basically nothing about...

Worldbuilding: All About Perspective – A The Way Of Kings Story Study

Everyone sees the world in a different way. This should be visible in your worldbuilding, otherwise, it will sound like reading out of a textbook, and that’s the last thing you want. In The Way of Kings (and Mistborn as well), Brandon Sanderson masters the art of perspective-based worldbuilding. (I could go on and on...

My Outlining Process – Writing Advice

One of my favorite parts of the writing process is outlining, and my method has developed a lot over the years. I've pretty much eliminated writer's block from my life through my multilayered outlining process. (I like to do this all in one or two sittings so I don't lose the story concept.) Step One:...

Worldbuilding Tips – Building Your World

Worldbuilding is one of my favorite parts of storytelling, and if you’re a fantasy or sci-fi author, it’s absolutely essential. As a lover of worldbuilding, I’m going to share a few tips. Disclaimer, these are all based on my personal experiences and opinions.  One: Read The Greats It’s important to read books with great worldbuilding...

Acing Character Voice – Writing Advice

Character voice is extremely important, no matter the story. Character voice, particularly in POV characters, is how a character sounds to the reader. The narration is distinctly theirs, recognizable through patterns of thoughts and use of language as well as tone. Every character has a different way of thinking, a different perspective on the world,...

Setting Reasonable Goals – Writing Advice

I love setting goals for my writing. Goals keep me on track, keep me accountable, and make me feel like I’m making progress. Whether you are participating in something like Camp NaNo or not, you need to know how to set reasonable goals for your writing.  One: Know Your Story.  To set a goal for...

Character Arcs: Examples From Mistborn

I group character arcs into two main types, with one being external (physical changes like gaining abilities or growing stronger) and the other being internal. In this post, I’m going to be talking about internal arcs. Also, for internal arcs, there are positive arcs and negative arcs. Vin, the main character from the Mistborn trilogy,...

Starting Over and Giving Up – Writing Advice

I spent the last several weeks working on a sequel to a story I finished back in May. I was 40,000 words in and only a few chapters from the climax when I had an epiphany: This wasn’t the sequel I wanted to write. Just as I was planning to finish the book, I was...

Editing: Tearing Your Story Apart – Writing Advice

When I’m reading through my first draft, I like to break it apart and put it back together. Sometimes that means reoutling, sometimes it means finding everything that needs changing or is underdeveloped and redeveloping it. Once, I had to reorganize the entire second half of a story, and many times I’ve had to recharacterize...

Editing: After The First Draft – Writing Advice

I know the first time I finished a first draft, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew I needed to edit, but I didn’t know exactly how to go about that. Now, I know. Here’s one thing you should know before you start: Draft Order. Draft One is your first draft. Draft Two...