Finding Inspiration: Using Secrets as Writing Prompts

It’s possible to draw inspiration from all sorts of sources; including some that perhaps aren’t as obvious as others. Every source of inspiration can have its own unique impact on the final story you write, and different people will get along better with some prompts than others, so it’s worth experimenting and seeing what works for you.

Today we’re going to use people’s secrets as prompts for our stories. Secrets are great as they inherently contain some aspect of drama or conflict, otherwise they wouldn’t be kept secret.

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Giving, Now – Donating to the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Service

If you want to go fast, I’m putting the summary tl;dr (Too Long; Didn’t Read) at the top: For the month of December, 2017, every penny I make from every format of both my books I’ll be donating to East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service. This covers eBooks and paper copies of both The Hollow Traveller and The Clocks Have Stopped.

Right, now the longer version.

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Defining Subgenres

How can you define a subgenre of fantasy?

High fantasy is often described as being set in a fantasy world, and then by the stature of the main cast of the plot. This barely separates it from “Dark fantasy”: typically also associated with a fantasy world, and thus the only differentiation is the style and stature of the cast – stereotypical and epic or magical cast members define the story as “high”, whereas dark, horrifying, or doomed cast members create the “dark” fantasy setting.

What of the story that includes the paladins, wizards, and elves of high fantasy, and the aberrations, violence, and grit of dark fantasy? Can a story be high dark fantasy? Given dark fantasy’s old title of “low fantasy”, this seems wrong, yet it is clearly possible.

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In Search of a Scary Old Man

We all make assumptions. Every time we imagine the face behind a voice, or the taste of food in a picture, we’re making an assumption.

Assumptions on their own aren’t a bad thing. Forcing our assumptions on others, or refusing to believe in something that doesn’t match our assumptions can be more of problem. But assumptions themselves are automatic and natural, built upon experience and what we already know about the world.

These assumptions can be curious, though. Where do they come from, exactly?

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What is There to Say?

I haven’t posted or spoken about Orlando in any way after the horrifying events this week. I haven’t said names like Miguel Honorato, or Deonka Drayton. I haven’t written about gun control, or media representations of minority communities. I’ve not said anything.

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On Schedules, Poems, and Time

Dear friends, after three years, the Fort Knight’s Tale schedule is changing.

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The Words We Use

The English language is limited. Well, language itself is inherently limited, because an unlimited language would make communication rather difficult. So, by necessity, a writer will reuse words. I think it is the words we choose to reuse that create the most telling picture of our work.

With the recent release of my book, The Clocks Have Stopped, I thought I would take a look at some of the repetition of words I have used in the book.

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The Joy and Terror of NaNoWriMo

Hi all,

As you may notice, this blogging thing is a new fixture on Fort Knight’s Tale. It would seem I decided that writing poetry and short stories on a weekly basis, while keeping up with work commitments and the like, was taking it far too easy. So on that note, commence the blogging!

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