From the start, Lev Grossman, the author of The Magicians was disarmingly awkward. Well, not from the start. He eased into it, if such a thing is even possible. But still, it was disarming. I'd spent the previous night absorbing the first 100 pages of Grossman's first fantasy novel and feeling dwarfed by it's prose.... Continue Reading →
Games for Writers: Silent Hill 2
When I got serious enough about my writing career that I started feeling guilty for spending a bunch of my time playing video games, I started to rationalize my pass time by calling it research. Example: "Yeah... I can play Final Fantasy XII today because, hey, maybe it'll give me some inspiration." Not the worst... Continue Reading →
The Editing Process
Around when his eyes start to sting and his head begins to throb, Louis realizes he misses the writing process and very much prefers it to the editing process. Fondly, he remembers that the former was like this: -Louis sits down at his computer and rereads the pages he wrote the previous day (or the... Continue Reading →
Character Design: Why Bother?
I was sitting in class at City College once, not taking notes - drawing instead. One of my peers looked over and asked what I was doing. I turned my book so she could see a sketch of one of my favorite main characters. It wasn't enough for her. "Who's that?" I told her and... Continue Reading →
Where to Start?
I'm embarrassed to tell you exactly what hooked me into writing fantasy. Embarrassed because, in retrospect, it's shameful. Most writers will tell you immediately that they were turned by Tolkien, or someone very similar. While I feel such a start has it's disadvantages, it's definitely based in literature. And that's good. Because I got my... Continue Reading →
Inktrap 