For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to stuff that terrifies me, especially if it’s from the area of the unexplained, paranormal, or supernatural. I fondly remember the second grade when a classmate snuck a book from the high school section of our school’s library that retold all sorts of “true” ghost […]
Don’t distract your readers with terrible character names
Coming up with names for your characters is easy, right? Just to hit one of those random name generator sites like Seventh Sanctum and you’re done. Of course it’s not like that at all. A name generator site is a good first start, but what goes into picking the names of the inhabitants of your […]
Podcast Episode 24 – Customs and Laws in Worldbuilding
In this episode of The Write Good Books Podcast, Scott and Jason share their thoughts on what goes into setting up the society of your fictional world. How are laws made? What are the local customs? And how much writing time should you devote to this? Click the link below to stream the episode. Also […]
Five Links Friday 9/16/16
It’s the end of another somewhat successful week. And even better, it looks like fall is coming and the weather is getting to be a bit more to my liking. You know? Ugly and rainy. Anyhow, here are five links for you to read as you start your weekend. 1. Since I’ve done a couple […]
Five Links Friday 1/8/16
So, yeah, we’re buried in sleet at the time of this writing. Hope the weekend gets a little better. For now, however, here are the 5 best writing(ish) articles I read this week. Take a look and stay indoors for the next couple of days! 1. Derek Haines takes a good look at something that […]
“I always wanted to write a book, but…”
Writing is weird. It’s the only hobby you can have where you make absolutely no money from it but gain instant respect from people when they find out that you do it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve published zero short stories or a hundred. It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent twenty years “working on a […]
Five Links Friday 7/31/15
Hey, it’s Friday! The weekend is here, and so is… Five Links Friday. 1. Check out 4 Key Ways to Ramp Up Tension and Pacing in Your Fiction from C. S. Lakin’s blog. Tension an pacing often go hand in hand, so there’s a lot to learn from this post. 2. Ben Schmitt has a […]
5 Things I Gained From Attending O Comic Con
I think we can all agree on one thing: Nothing beats a good science fiction convention. This weekend, the first annual O Comic Con took place in the Omaha metro area. I turned over the piggy bank, loaded up the kids in the Buick and hit the Interstate. We had a killer time. I went […]