Shong is a shy young man that just happens to be extremely skillful with the sword, not to mention part acrobat. From leaping down onto the back or a horse, to stand on it while it’s galloping as he swings his swords down from side to side, to piercing his blade to exactly where it …
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Combining Fantasy and Science Fiction in Your Writing
Most genre stories are either Fantasy, with wizards and magic swords, or Science Fiction, with space ships and ray guns. Very rarely do you ever find something that combines both, and even then it’s usually done very badly. The old “I got my wand and he has his ray gun” approach. So, how is one …
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Maldene Extras
Okay, so time for more hints, but this time it’s something you can download. If you go to the downloads page you’ll see a few things. While the map in the book is good, the one you can download has a lot higher resolution. The entire world (you could wrap it around a globe), with …
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Thinking Up Alien Names
Fantasy and Science Fiction have something in common when it comes to names; they gotta sound unearthly. Something from another culture unknown to this Earth or any of its languages. But how to come up with them? There are numerous ways, and often the best is to just start slapping syllables together and see what …
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Mark’s 10 (11) Tips For Story Writing
I finally found the file I’d created from whence I got these tips from, so rather than piecemeal them, here’s the whole list at once. Then in later posts I’ll get into some specifics for fantasy and SF worlds. These are my 10 basic tips for writing a good story. Be it novel or short …
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Writing Tip: World Building
Okay, so I stopped numbering them already. Moving on, this tip is for those writers of Fantasy and SF in need of designing their own world. Where to start? You have some ideas but which way to go? A step at a time, and the first step is simple. Break out some graph paper, 10 …
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Another plot snippet
Okay, time for another piece of the plot puzzle. If you have read my little sample, you will notice that there is a narrator. All well and good, and about the only time you hear from the narrator is in that beginning Introduction. Likewise for each successive novel in the series; a quick little intro …
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My first Author Event from 2007
In Dec of 2007 I had my first author event at the Pasadena Catalina Library. Small crowd, but my Mom (after having been really sick for several months) and a couple of friends were there. So as one for the archives, here’s the links for the pics of that event… First picture Second picture Third …
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Writing Tip #2: Your Work Environment
A very important part of writing is where and how you do so. For myself, complete and utter silence just gets me fidgety. Music, on the other hand, helps me focus on my story for hours on end. And focus not only means you can be at it longer, but also better. When I’m deep …
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first plot post
Okay, so it’s time for a little bit about the plot. Well, first I can say that this is truly an epic series, far more than just your little trilogy, and more than even Harry Potter (though I admire Rowling). Exactly how much, I won’t say just yet. I will say that this first novel …
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