I’ve never considered myself to be ‘normal’ or ‘just like everyone else’. When you’re a nonbinary person, and an asexual aromantic in a world of…
Fantasy Author Feature: Debbie Iancu-Hadad
Posted on 0 commentDebbie Iancu-Hadad is author of YA Fantasy and SciFi with strong romantic threads. Our debut trilogies publishing journeys have run parallel and we’ve been critical…
World Building Cultures
Posted on 0 commentMany writers study writing. I studied history, archaeology, politics and religion in my Bachelor of Arts, to inform my world-building. I don’t just want to…
Fantasy Author Feature: Nikky Lee
Posted on 0 commentAs as an Aussie YA Fantasy author on Twitter, it didn’t take me long to bump into fellow Aussie and SFF author Nikky Lee. In…
Living With LongCovid -My Experience
Posted on 0 commentI’ll preface this blog by saying I’m one of the lucky ones. I can still work. I can even work full time. And I am,…
World Building: Power & Conflict
Posted on 0 commentWhen I develop ideas for a new fantasy series, I think first of the overall conflict, the positions the point of view characters occupy in their world, what forms of power they wield, and what role they can play in the story’s epic conflict. In discussing power and conflict in world building, I’ll walk you through my thought process of identifying multiple forms of power and influence various characters, traditions, international bodies and more your world may contain and help you start thinking how these may impact on your story’s conflict.
Scene & Line Edit Tips
Posted on 0 commentBefore delving into specific novel editing tips, I’ll state clearly for anyone who stumbled across this blog in search of a fiction editing start point,…
The Pantser’s Journey Interviews
Posted on 0 commentConfession: the earliest incarnation of Manipulator’s War was not planned. I swiftly created a cast of thousands, moving sometimes with purpose, sometimes without and usually taking too long to get there. I’d imagine a scene or two, then sit down and write —I was a pantser. From the murk emerged main ideas and characters. The rest got deleted and the best re-written, informed by character craft and story structure studies. From there, several rounds of critical reader and editor feedback informed notes that led to a full fleshing out of my characters and story. If your first pantsed novel or two are a mess, what can help you bring structure to pantsing and help you minimise epic edits? I’ll interview three SFF authors below to find out, tracking their journeys from their pantser’s journey from story chaos to a semblance of order.
Becoming an Indie Author (Part 2: Book Launch)
Posted on 0 commentHaving covered the steps of the editing process, setting up your author platform and choosing distributors in this blog, it’s time to talk indie book…
Character Development Checklists
Posted on 0 commentYou’ve just finished the first draft of your novel; what now? First, I’d check the big picture of your story. Does your main character and…