Apologies for getting this one out so late; crazy week. Crazy enough that I’m writing this in a laundromat. Seriously. There’s a Marc Anthony video playing on the big TV they have here… Let’s do this! So, I’m excited about this week. This is the first time where a stat that I made up actually... Continue Reading →
Louis Santiago’s Fantasy Story Stats – Week 1: Genre and Subgenre
There’s not much I can tell you that you don’t already know about genre and subgenre. The former is a broader classification and the latter is more specific. Both are categories into which your book fits. But is that really all that they are? Are they the serious afterthought they generally seem to be? Or... Continue Reading →
Louis Santiago’s Fantasy Story Stats – Week 0: An Introduction
Disclaimer: The following ideas are based on the observations of an amateur fantasy writer. These ideas are absolutely not fact and should not be taken as more than suggestions for how to look at your own work—a tool that you use to supplement your writing at best. If you like the ideas you find here and... Continue Reading →
On Choosing the Right Soundtrack
Last time was pretty serious. Well, maybe not serious--maybe more like incredibly straight forward and academic. And <em>boring.</em> So I thought I’d get a little loose this time—talk about something I like, with the stipulation that I tell you at least twice that it’s something I like. And that would be assigning a soundtrack for... Continue Reading →
Your Fantasy Characters and How to Understand Them
It's time for some honesty. When I think of the original version of my book (which I really try to never do), among all of the things that were horribly wrong, there's one factor that's oddly hit or miss. Characters. When I set out to rework the novel, a major part of the endeavor was dedicated... Continue Reading →
Earth-Modern Race in Fantasy: The Balance No One Talks About and the Quest for “Nobody Cares”
After my last article, it’s become essential to talk about something I’ve considered for a long time. My last article, of course, was all about the uncanny in fantasy—the strange balance there has to be between elements that are familiar and unfamiliar (on a scale skewed by theme and tone). However, there’s a particular topic... Continue Reading →
The Uncanny in Fantasy
Man. So, last week's piece? That was a monster, huh? Seriously, I don't know how many pages that was. And you know what? I don't want to know. It's been a week and I'm still pretty drained from all of that Milestone business. So when I tried to decide on a topic for this week,... Continue Reading →
On Reaching the Creative Writing Milestones
Earlier this week, I popped open an email from a friend. She's an aspiring author like me, and like me, she has her strengths and her weaknesses as a writer. In particular, she does really amazing research; I definitely search for a quick answer or example for an element I want to use, get it... Continue Reading →
A Year Later
So I was on the bus with Chaos Mechanica last week after seeing The HughJackverine. It had been about two years since I'd last seen him (Mechanica, not HughJackverine), and talk eventually turned to work. Our days after Infinite Ammo have seen him get a position with Dual Shockers, a gaming website. And they've seen me...... Well,... Continue Reading →
Brand New Day – Day’s End
It's a curious thing finishing the same book a second time. As I put it to my brother and anyone who would listen at the end of March, the ending was exactly the same and completely different. The same general things happened, but all of it happened in different ways. Ways I was a lot... Continue Reading →
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