Category Archives: Thoughts

Mazes, Traps, and Dungeons

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

One of the big standards of fantasy adventure books are traps and mazes.  The latter isn’t as common as the former and I can already hear some people groaning about the topic because they think these are terrible concepts.  Dungeon … Continue reading →

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Present Tense Tips: Use At Own Risk

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

I have to say that the above scene from Spaceballs is very close to how some people have reacted to present tense writing.  I know this is a topic I beat to death, but it’s my style and I take … Continue reading →

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Recurring Minor Characters: Why?

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

People talk a lot about protagonist, antagonist, secondary characters, and sidekicks when it comes to writing.  When writing a series, you can have a big cast of characters that fall into these characters.  You can also have a small group … Continue reading →

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Author Pitfalls: You Probably Fell Into Some of Them Already

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

The world of writing is a dense jungle full of poisonous creatures, carnivorous plants, sudden drops, and a stopwatch that changes speed every few seconds.  You may be calm and plan the initial idea, but chaos will appear for most … Continue reading →

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Wuv. Twu Wuv in Literature

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

Romantic leads are difficult outside of romance, but they are one of the most popular and accepted subplots.  Everyone loves a good love story or tragic love story.  The whole trick is to make the characters believable.  Unfortunately, not everyone … Continue reading →

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Eating, Sleeping, & Other Little Things in Literature

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Charles Yallowitz

I’ve been asked a few times about how one fits in the necessary daily actions of a character during a story.  This ranges from eating, sleeping, using the bathroom, and grooming activities.  They’re tiny things, but many people wonder about … Continue reading →

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History of a World in Print

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Charles Yallowitz

Long ago in February, I wrote about the use of writing a history for a fantasy world.  It brings depth and characters can mention past events like we do.  Gives your world a more organic feel. This time I’m going … Continue reading →

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Morality and Fiction

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Charles Yallowitz

I might run the risk of getting into trouble here, but it’s something that I want to write about.  Morals and ethics within a fantasy setting are an interesting pitfall.  The nuances of these categories differ among groups and individuals.  … Continue reading →

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The Parts of Sexy Fantasy

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Charles Yallowitz

Originally, I was going to write my opinion on how to write a seductive, sexy character in fantasy fiction.  I’m not an expert on this, but it’s a topic that the debut of Sari has prompted me to think about.  … Continue reading →

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The Art of the Betrayal in Writing

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Charles Yallowitz

Another topic that Misha Burnett suggested was writing about the ‘Betrayal’ scenes that happen a lot.  This is a tough subject because it has been done very often.  There are many opinions on this, so I’m not spouting gospel here.  … Continue reading →

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