I've talked about villains before and how they can be very nuanced in their motivations (without those motivations being redeeming) but today, thanks to Emma Clare's Friday post, I became inspired to talk about abject, absolute, abominable villainy! The twirling mustache type, the one that is so pure ...

When I see artists just getting into the craft or people simply looking to improve their art ask for advice, the most omnipresent answer is “practice”; I don't like that answer. It assumes the person asking the question doesn't realize this is obvious, and hasn't already been ...

When they happen, nightmares can be anything from a terrible experience to a nuisance that can be settled with a warm cup of tea or chocolate. And while they harp on our peace of mind and our precious time asleep, the general consensus among psychologists is that, if it isn ...

There's a reason why any literature professor worth their salt will urge you to reach a novel or enjoy any piece of literature in the language it was originally written, if you are lucky enough to speak that language: because the author intended every word that you read to ...

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This is a big, awkward, contentious and fiery subject. What we're talking about in this Quackcast is the current phenomenon of social marketing and how it ...

Writing good romance is hard- it has so many pitfalls to avoid, so many tropes to grapple with and principles to keep in mind, that experience is necessary.

Writing actual platonic friendships between a male and female character is even harder.

The basic reason why it is harder is because ...

This is an eternal problem for readers. Writers don't really tend to care about it too much, but readers HATE it!
What am I talking about? Basically, it's when a character gains a power, acquires an item, learns some info or a spell, meets a magical person or ...

With Valentine's day just behind us and a lot of talk of love, I thought I'd take a look on the exact opposite of love and affection- how do we write and display hatred in characters? How do characters hate, and what's the difference from rage?

In ...

Having discussed a general approach to writing characters with mental disorders (with a lot of thoughtful comments by you further enriching what I had to say!) it's only right that we wrap up this very quick analysis with an example of a story that properly portrays them.

I chose ...

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Copyright is a huge thing! It allows us to make money from our creations and stops other people from stealing them. But culture isn't about a ...