Joseph Lin

This week, I want to throw a bit of a different topic into the mix. Discussion!

How Much Research Should Fantasy Writers Do?

I know you’re not all fantasy writers, but I’m sure a high percentage of you have at least read fantasy once or twice. What do you think? Should fantasy writers do research? Why should they or shouldn’t they? What sort…[Read more]

If there was one thing I least enjoyed when I first started writing, it was world building. I found it boring, pointless, and frankly I just wanted to write my book without having to worry about details.

And now here I am doing a post about world building. What has the world come to?? 😛

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert at this,…[Read more]

After last week’s look at plotting vs pantsing, I thought it would be a perfect time to look at what good plot structure looks like. This is the basic framework of how to have a structured story that has everything happening at the right times for the right reasons.

And it’s called the three act plot structure.

The three act plot structure i…[Read more]

Welcome to our first topic about story theory that isn’t talking solely about theme!!! *throws confetti* Okay, celebration over, let’s get back to business. 😛

Today we’re going to look at the mythical two types of writers: the plotter, and the pantster. It’s going to be a very theoretical lesson, unfortunately, but it will apply more solidly in…[Read more]

Yes yes, I know we only just finished a word war, but we’re changing up the schedule a bit.

Most of you probably know that November is National Novel Writing Month. A lot of you are participating in NaNoWriMo too (go Meerkats!!) so we decided that we’d scrap the prompt war and instead…do a month-long word war.

Starting: November 1
Ending:…[Read more]

So hi all!

I know that it’s kind of last minute, but I am thinking of going to do NaNoWriMo this year… I was wondering if there were any veterans among you who could enlighten me or grace me with your wisdom. Since this is my first year, and also since I have next to zero time, I know it will be a great challenge, but I still want to try. I…[Read more]

Unique and realistic characters are something we all strive to write. No one wants to hear that the readers can’t connect or care for the characters we worked so hard on and spent so much time with. So we try to make them unique. We give them quirks and personality and struggles and fears and dreams and—

Hold on, Jane, what on earth does this hav…[Read more]