Sub-Plots are a key part of any story, especially a fantasy one. You have to keep a careful eye on how many you have and what purpose they are serving in order to keep a handle on your story. This month in my newsletter Writing on Caffeine, I’ll be looking at why Sub-Plots are … More How To: Writing Sub-Plots
Consider how you would talk to your partner, your sibling, or someone at work. You might have different jokes that Having a unique world starts with the geography of that world. The geography of your world will dictate the climate of your world, your character’s homes and cities, and aspects of the way they interact … More How To: Creating your world’s geography
Having a distinctive character voice for each character can help your reader understand their secret inner words. Not just through dialect, but the type of words they use and who they use those words too. Consider how you would talk to your partner, your sibling, or someone at work. You might have different jokes that … More How To: A Character’s Voice
This month we’re on writing craft, and specifically exposition and description. Exposition and description is one of my favourite parts of writing, its my chance to reel in the reader into my world, show them the world of my characters and drop clues to the plot twists along the way. Exposition in the writing sense … More How To: Exposition and Description
Identifying how power works in your world is important because, let’s be honest, power is what drives society. Who has it, who doesn’t have it, and what those in power do with that power impact swathes of society and the people within it. It constrains some actions and allows others, creating a complex web of … More How To: Power and Politics
So why are antagonists important? I think every writer ponders this question at some point during their creative project. I personally find myself pondering this during the editing stage, when the first draft is mapped out and now I need to work out why everything happens. Antagonists are important because they not only provide the … More How To: Writing the Antagonist
What is a writing goal? Have you set writing goals for yourself before, but never been able to stick to them? Writing goals each serve a different purpose in your writing journey. Picking the right writing goal for the place in your writing project will help you continue the momentum with your project, and carry … More How To: Writing Goals
This edition of my “How To” series I’m looking at creatures & animals that populate your fantasy world – how to make them unique, how to make them fit within your world, and how to make them relevant to your story. You don’t need to build every detail One of the things about worldbuilding is … More “How To” – Creatures & Animals
The weather. Not something that would normally be considered paramount in a worldbuilding session. It’s a thing that, unless fundamental to your story (e.g. Stormlight Archives’ “Highstorms”), it is part of your patchwork of the world that enriches the world of your story. However, if you think about your day-to-day life, you still decide a … More "How To" – Weather
As January brings us into a new year and a new decade, I thought it would be nice to chance up some of my blog pieces. Over the years I’ve been writing, I’ve collected various bits of information that are squirrelled away in notebooks and in my mind that might come in handy to other … More How To: Character Drivers
Alex.J.Cobalt 