Change is hard. There’s a reason “change management” is an entire field, one in which many organizations repeatedly fail. In that sense, an effective character arc can be thought of as a novel-length project in character change management.
Gradations of Omniscience
These terms we use – first person, second person (please don’t use second person), third person limited, third person omniscient – are an easy shorthand to describe how we are choosing to approach narration in a given piece. The more I work with different approaches to viewpoint and storytelling, though, the more important I think it is that the description come after the choice of viewpoint.
Reaching for Words
I am more aware of the words I am choosing, I think about the writing itself more with each sentence, and that is a problem. It makes me more aware of the gap, makes the gap between the story I want to tell and what seems to be appearing on the page loom larger.
Life in a Medieval City Review
We’re all supposed to be getting away from the stock, default medieval Europe-inspired fantasy settings, because they’ve become passe. It’s true such settings can be overused, but they are mostly overused because so many authors fail to utilize books like Life in a Medieval City.
A Delay
At risk of being made a liar yet again, I’ll offer September 2026 as a new goal to finish Golems and Kings.
Some Thoughts on Character Death (And Resurrection)
We can all agree there are fates worse than death, but death can still be considered the “ultimate” consequence because it is, at least under normal circumstances, final.
A Historically Adjacent “Adaptation”
I was intrigued by how well the riddle’s tone and contents, read through the lens of referring to a travelling minstrel increasingly unneeded by his society, could map into the world of Impressions, and especially the druids’ fate.
The Rhetoric of Fiction Review
Several of the posts you’ve been seeing in recent weeks, and several in weeks to come, are prompted or inspired by the time I spent with Booth’s indispensable text. That’s not a word I select lightly.
Saving Your Darlings
To kill your darlings means, during the revision process, to take a hard look at the parts of the story you're particularly passionate about, but which may not serve the overall plot/character/story, and cut them.
Tastes of the Cosmos Release Post and Author’s Note
This is a story which has been told before. My twist on it, if there is a twist to be found, is to present it (mostly) from an alien perspective.
IGC Publishing 