Disclaimer: I thought I'd take a new turn with this post. I've put out a handful of Games for Writers articles before in which I talk about specific games that promote good writing in large or small ways. However, I've never written any warnings to budding fantasy writers about the (many) bad influences gaming can have... Continue Reading →
Very Comfortably Insane
Not to be a downer, but at the time of this posting, I still don't feel it. It's been a week now. A week since I finished my rewrite of my first novel. And somehow, I still don't really feel it. There were moments when I almost did--moments when I wrote to a friend about... Continue Reading →
Games for Writers: The Walking Dead – Season One
Wow. I haven’t written one of these in a while. But as Season Two of The Walking Dead releases tomorrow and as I hit more scenes in my Outline that need to be completely overhauled, I felt now was a perfect time to get back to my Games for Writers series. Why The Walking Dead?... Continue Reading →
Louis Santiago’s Fantasy Story Stats – Week 4: Novelty and Concept
Disclaimer: If you’ve been following these posts from the start, then you’ll need a quick clarification; I’ve been figuring these Stats out every week as I've written these posts and, as a result, I absolutely wound up changing the name (only) of one of this week’s stats. It went from “Originality” to “Novelty,” a really... Continue Reading →
Louis Santiago’s Fantasy Story Stats – Week 3: Tone and Spirit
Welcome to Week 3 of my Fantasy Story Stats. This is another exciting Week as it’s another where I get to go on about one of my own Stats. And really, it’s the statiest of the Stats so far—Spirit. Spirit, which was actually the first of them and the reason these posts exist at all.... Continue Reading →
Louis Santiago’s Fantasy Story Stats – Week 2: Theme and Focus
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 →
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 →
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