I’m at about 75,000 words of Bandit Girls, the first installment in my Tales of Port Saint Frey. The world is coming together in a cohesive way in this project that I can only attribute to experience. I’m getting better at this gig with every book. 75,000 words means I’m at the end game for a roughly 100,000-word novel, which is where I’m hoping to end up. The manuscript is littered with ALL CAPS notes Read more…
Busy weekend. The worldbuilding course went well, and if you attended I would love to get feedback on how it worked for you. We covered my main points: Every author, even mainstream authors, must do worldbuilding. Avoid the infodump and pages of backstory. Watch out for the dreaded phrase, “As you know,…” as that often signals a clumsy halt to the story while you explain the essential elements. Find your telling detail, the one that Read more…
The Writers’ League of Texas has invited me to lead a class on worldbuilding this Saturday. For more information about the class, please click the link below. I Want to Go There: Creating Believable Worlds My philosophy of worldbuilding can be compared to the famous opening of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care: “Relax. You know more than you think you do.” What we will cover includes: Types of research, avoiding the infodump, and the Read more…