Start here: On Writing Fantasy, Building Systems, and Understanding How People Think
New to my work? Read this first.
Creative compound interest
Keep creating. Do something every day. Just one thing. It might take 2 minutes or 2 hours. The magic isn't in the individual sketch, paragraph, or chord…
Write through their eyes
When describing a scene, don't just paint what's there. Paint what your character sees through their emotional lens. The scared protagonist doesn't notice…
The Political Circle
Like many of my mad ideas for websites and apps, the Political Circle came from a need to better understand my characters. In the fantasy world I'm creating…
The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs
The best advice I ever received as a young man (apart from my dad's): Never be afraid to change your mind. Rereading C.S. Lewis's *The Last Battle* as a…
Your Instincts Speak a Different Language
I'm convinced our instincts are our right brain trying to communicate non-verbally. When you get that "something's not right" feeling about a person or…
The feedback you're avoiding
Today I shared my WordMaze idea on Reddit, asking for feedback. My finger hovered over the 'post' button longer than it should have. The responses came back…
House of Donn
I always have such good memories of getting to know Ken Colley during the filming of this little ditty. For years, he'd always been 'that bloke wot was in Star…
Testers wanted for puzzle game!
I've been working on a little idea that came to me recently in a dream. I get a lot of ideas from dreams. My first novel, The Elementalist was one of many.…
Immediate, not remote
The past few days have been something of a series of epiphanies for me as a writer. The final one came just last night, while working on the final section/act…