Category Archives: Thoughts

Creatures of Fear: Spiders . . . I’ll Really Have to Muscle Through This One

I had to make it a funny meme because this is something that will lock me up, make me cry, and pray for unconsciousness.  Even that picture is a tough one since spiders freak me out.  I’ve gotten better with … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 53 Comments

Creatures of Fear: Serpents of Various Sizes

So, I was thinking of making this week about three common animal-based ‘fears’ that seem to show up in fiction.  It’s not too strange to know a person is scared of an animal, but these three seem to always get … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Drama, Drama, Everywhere!

Maybe it’s because drama has a slightly different meaning these days, but I find it a difficult subject to discuss.  Randomly ask a friend what they think of drama with no context and they’ll talk about the real life stuff.  … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

Elemental Uses: Earth Can Be Fun

The last of this element series is one that doesn’t get as much attention as the others because it has a lot of limitations.  Earth isn’t an element that can be rationalized very easily if it comes from the human … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

Elemental Uses: Water the Tri-Form Element

Water users tend to fall into one of three categories with a third rarely showing up.  I’m going to divide it up that way instead of what I did before.  Mostly because water is an element that is infamous for … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Elemental Uses: The Versatile Wind

Unlike fire, wind is used with a lot of versatility.  Many times, you’ll find characters specializing in one style like flight, wind blasts, weather manipulation, or lightning.  That last one is a strange part because it’s a wind/fire combo, but … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Elemental Uses: Fire Is More Than Destruction

Today and next week, I’m going to be doing some posts on the classical Four Element system that gets used in magic a lot.  Not only going through the history, but showing various ways to use it.  Typically, you see … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

2017 Top 5: #4- Why Not Write About the Writing Craft?

This post originally went live on August 21. A lot of author blogs focus on the writing craft and make posts about tenses, grammar, plot creation, genre, and other topics.  Others go into the nuances of Amazon, marketing, and whatever … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

2017 Top 5: #5- Short Stories vs Novels: A Taste of Both Worlds

(This whole thing was a lot more difficult than I realized it would be.  A lot of the top 5 ended up being promos that didn’t work any more.  So, I stuck with things that were topics for conversation and … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

The Art of Bantering: Not As Easy As You Think

What exactly is banter these days?  I know the official definition is a ‘playful or friendly exchange of teasing remarks’.  Not exactly like what you see in one of the above examples, but I keep seeing examples of banter that … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 33 Comments