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How To Write Shop

Articles on the craft and business of writing

Science Fiction

Writing Non-Human Characters

March 16, 2011 by Alex Bledsoe Leave a Comment
Graveyard

The non-human characters I have created as a fantasy writer have varied from the goddess Rhiannon/Epona in The Sword-Edged Blonde to the vampires of Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood, and most currently the Tufa of The Hum and the Shiver. Below is a list of things for you to keep in mind when … [Read more…]

Posted in: By Genre, Characters, Fantasy Tagged: characters, Fantasy, Science Fiction, vampires, writing fantasy

Unpronounceable Character Names in Fantasy and Science Fiction

February 16, 2011 by Alex Bledsoe Leave a Comment
unpronounceable character names in science fiction and fantasy novels

One of the cliches of science fiction, fantasy, and horror writing is the tradition of unpronounceable character names.  You know the kind I mean: a string of consonants and, instead of vowels, various punctuation marks.  Examples are Lord K’lghn, Gy-v’nly from the planet Y’jhtrg, and the awful Q’vintg from beyond the black depths (okay, I made … [Read more…]

Posted in: By Genre, Characters, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Writing Craft Tagged: Fantasy, horror, naming characters, Science Fiction

Realism When Writing Fantasy and SciFi

December 15, 2010 by Alex Bledsoe 8 Comments
realism in fight scenes writing fantasy writing science fiction

One problem with writing fantasy novels in which heroes and heroines wield swords, shields and sundry other objets d’mayhem, is that most of us have no idea what using those things is actually like. Luckily, it’s almost a moot point–most of our readers have little experience in this area as well, and so don’t know … [Read more…]

Posted in: By Genre, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Worldbuilding, Writing Craft Tagged: Fantasy, LARP, Science Fiction, weapons

Worldbuilding 101 Creating a Setting, Rothfuss, Wolfe, Steele and Ozment

October 29, 2010 by HowToWriteShop 2 Comments

This is from the Worldbuilding 101 panel at MadCon in 2010. Panelists included Patrick Rothfuss, Gene Wolfe, Allen Steele and Nicholas Ozment Notes compiled by Jenna Reynolds (These are not meant to be direct quotes.) When you are building a world (worldbuilding) for your stories, what is your process? What do you start with? Gene Wolfe: I start … [Read more…]

Posted in: Worldbuilding Tagged: Allen Steele, Fantasy, Gene Wolf, MadCon, panels, Patrick Rothfus, Science Fiction

Featured Book

Techniques of the Selling Writer 
by Dwight V. Swain

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain

Classic book on how to write books that readers will want to read!

This is one of the foundation books that all novelists should have on their bookshelf.

Get at Amazon

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Featured Book

Techniques of the Selling Writer 
by Dwight V. Swain

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain

Classic book on how to write books that readers will want to read!

This is one of the foundation books that all novelists should have on their bookshelf.

Get at Amazon


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