Writing the Weird, Bizarre, and Impossible
“...most of the books I have written and those I minted to write originate from the thought that it will be impossible for me to write a book of that kind: when I have convinced myself that such a book is completely beyond my capacities of temperament or skill, I sit...
Roleplaying Games and Podcasts Collide in The Adventure Zone: A New Take on Oral Storytelling
Oral storytelling has existed for as long as humans have been able to use language. Every story told has a foundation that was built on stories told before it, starting at the beginning, in the tellings of ancient myths. The mythic structures utilized by storytellers...
My Change From Laptop to Tablet (and Why You Might Want To Consider It, Too)
When it comes to writing on the go, away from your desktop, nothing can beat the reliable luxury of a laptop - except, maybe, a tablet. Here’s what I noticed when I made the switch. Last Christmas, I asked for an iPad, mainly to have a better place to do digital art...
Weird and Surprising Facts about Your Favorite Authors and the Writing Craft
Most of us have been reading and writing from an early age, but there’s quite a bit of information out there that may stop you in your tracks regarding the origins and stories behind your favorite words, authors, and novels. Let’s take a look at some of the weird,...
Podcasts for the Book Lover
During months of self-isolation and quarantine, it often felt as though we had endless hours to spend on our own. A frequently asked question in the last year was “what quarantine hobby did you pick up?” For many of the book lovers out there, myself included, it was a...
What the Folk is That? Retelling (and Hopefully De-cringing) Classic Tales
Cringe? In MY fairy tales? It’s more likely than you might think. After all, very few stories age gracefully, I’d go so far as to say hardly any of them do. Fagin is referred to as “the Jew” several times throughout Oliver Twist, there are maybe three female...
Reckless Writing: 4 Poetry Exercises for Spontaneous Composition
Poetry can feel restricted. Like most styles of writing, it is deeply personal and blooms in solitude. It’s often viewed among the arts as a cold and lonely craft. Musicians can jam, singers can belt, painters can thrash buckets at a canvas, dancers can sweat and...
How to Make Your Fiction Cinematic
We all remember a cinematic moment from our favorite movie, recounting it scene by scene for our friends around the lunch table in high school, but when does anyone talk about their favorite cinematic moment from a book? Hardly ever it seems. Much of this is due to...
What to Do With Old Writing
No matter when we’ve begun in our writing careers, we are bound to leave unfulfilled and unfinished works in our wake. Some of them we’ve discarded so long ago that they are nearly forgotten, unless they’ve been unearthed from an old notebook in your childhood bedroom...
How My Writer’s Journal Exposed the Toxic Mentality that Almost Made Me Stop Writing for Good [A Personal Testimonial]
I think of myself as a poet and a writer. Well, that’s what I thought pre-pandemic. In March, when the world reeled back and sank to its knees, I couldn’t find that part of myself among the scattered pieces that had been my life. Suddenly, I couldn’t engage with...
Tips For Writing In the Apocalypse
Look, we all knew the end would come for us eventually, and with the way 2020 was going for us, the end might be coming sooner rather than later. Us monkeys just can’t go around banging sticks together for thousands of years without there being some kind of...
Books to Read at the Start of Another Wild Year
2020, to put it lightly, was an awful year for most people. Our ways of living have been radically changed. COVID has been a constant worry and the presidential election caused stress for many. Although much in the immediate future is uncertain, we all must find...