by Joseph Malik | Sep 7, 2016 | Worldbuilding
Today, I want to touch on the only thing in fantasy more divisive than elves. Prologues. Let me start by saying that I don’t hate prologues. At least, not categorically. In fact, I’m thrilled when I read a properly-written prologue, and yes, there is a...
by Joseph Malik | Aug 10, 2016 | Dragon's Trail, Worldbuilding
So, we were talking elves over on Mythic Scribes. Talk of elves always brings up talk of cliches. Cliches fuel fantasy, particularly the pulp fantasy market. It is possible — and apparently lucrative — to take a bunch of fantasy cliches, and hammer them...
by Joseph Malik | Jul 25, 2016 | Writing Craft
This started out as a forum post on Mythic Scribes, but a few days later the exact same issue came up on KBoards: “You guys always say ‘study the craft,’ but what does that mean, exactly?” I have had the following conversation with so many...
by Joseph Malik | Jul 20, 2016 | Writing Craft
Let’s just get this out of the way right now. Movies aren’t books. I keep seeing this again and again in blog posts and on forums: writers touching back on movie scenes as examples of dialogue, pacing, and even character description. This makes me mildly...
by Joseph Malik | Jul 18, 2016 | Worldbuilding, Writing Craft
Touching back on language, today, because I found some old beat sheets and dialogue excerpts in my Boxes O’ Worldbuilding a few days ago. And because any day, now, my editor is going to run into the Faerie during the line edit and I’m very likely going to...
