(Disclaimer added Sept. 30 2020 because someone singled out this post to look at and that gave me a mild anxiety attack: This article is what we might call heavily outdated. It’s from before I came out as or, in point of fact, even realized that I was trans. I keep it here because it’s […]
I’ve mentioned this topic on numerous occasions before today–usually not positively. With this in mind I should clarify that I don’t consider the reader’s imagination some heinous devilry to subvert or an annoyance holding back my genius. You can’t write a working story without it. At the end of the day it’s the reader’s […]
I doubt it’s a secret to anyone who frequents this blog, with its digi-sword framing and intermittent edge-bursts, that I harbor more than a little spite towards some writing and even some other writers–a double dose for myself on both counts. I feel no guilt for admitting this; many creators drive themselves with gnawing emotions […]
Welcome, readers, back to… hold on, when was the last issue of North’s Tough Guide to Fight Scenes? Ah. Early last October. Hm. Maybe the hedgerow bit has been out of use too long to be relevant. However, I’ve put those five and a half months to good use! I’m growing more adept in pointing […]
Welcome, once again, to North’s Tough Guide to Fight Scenes! We’ve been on hiatus for a while as I finished my first novel and started on query letters for it. Now that that’s well under way and we’ve all had some time to cogitate over the previous entry in this series, it’s time for the […]
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the Tough Guide to Fight Scenes! It’s been a gut-slinger of a battle so far–outside the field the stubborn Americans, inside the stolid Germans. The first waves have broken, the trenches have been deepened, the 88s are reloading and it’s time we get into the nitty-gritty of breaching these […]
Welcome back to North’s Tough Guide to Fight Scenes! I’m your host, a sapient Camcorder with legs made from broken pencils. That is a lie. I am obviously North, and today I present to you my G.A.F.F.E., here meaning “Generalized Authorial Fight Framework, Expandable.” Of course, we all know that I chose those specific words […]
For anyone wondering whether that title is a tribute to Dianna Wynne Jones and her Tough Guide to Fantasyland: you’re goddamn right it is. And if you haven’t read that, go do so and enjoy the sensation of creeping horror that so much of it is still so accurate! So, here we are, the opening […]
In the same vein as my last post, I’m coming back to one of my old favorites again. This’ll be a lot more controversial because I’m going to put an unfixed bayonet between my teeth and charge right into popular advice from other authors. Specifically, established authors with published books and follower counts they could brag […]
This is one of those topics I drift back to every so often over the years, and I never quite feel I’ve sold the idea. So: something in you, writers aspirant, may rebel immediately at hearing I want you to research for your fantasy. “It’s fantasy! Why do I need to research just to make […]
Ashenvein Gate: Stories & Dreams 
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