One of the most overdone tropes in fantasy, ever, is the concept of ‘dark bad’ and ‘light good’. I’m so utterly tired of it, and I bet much of the world is as well. Yes, humans are a diurnal species and trust the sun to be ‘good’ for us. It makes sense, biologically, we’d likeContinue reading “Darkness versus “The Light” – We need to twist things up more.”
Category Archives: Writing-Related Articles
Build a Vampire for nearly ALL magical settings – including MMORPG roleplay (Yes, this means World of Warcraft & FFXIV); How I take Vampires with me everywhere (Games & Writing)
It’s no secret that I absolutely love vampires, and if there’s a magical universe I either write or play a video game in, I will find some way to create them if there isn’t already established lore. Heck, I can pull this even if there is established lore and I simply don’t like it. It’sContinue reading “Build a Vampire for nearly ALL magical settings – including MMORPG roleplay (Yes, this means World of Warcraft & FFXIV); How I take Vampires with me everywhere (Games & Writing)”
When Inspiration hits, write that down!
It can be terrible having an awesome idea only to lose it later because you may think you’ll either remember the details then, or it just isn’t interesting enough to preserve. Even if you think you are unlikely to return to the idea, you should try and write it down, or find some way ofContinue reading “When Inspiration hits, write that down!”
Wait… I DO write sci-fi!
For the longest time, I denied really enjoying sci-fi, because there’s plenty of tropes and things in the genre that don’t interest me. As it turns out, however, I actually have a strong love for it, but not anything involving spaceships. I’m not a huge fan of the setting of a spaceship, it really isn’tContinue reading “Wait… I DO write sci-fi!”
Over 50 rejections, but I’m publishing anyway!
Ouch. To be honest, agents really do not like my story, and I will not lie and say all these rejections didn’t hurt. I tried very hard to push my story, but in the end, agents said no. That’s okay. Self-publishing is my choice, and while feedback on my story has been mixed so far,Continue reading “Over 50 rejections, but I’m publishing anyway!”
5 Tips on Recording & Editing Narrations
I adore narrating things that I write, along with audiobooks in general. Heck, I have an audiobook for The Dancing Crow that people seem to enjoy! I edited that entire audiobook on my own after a lot of research (using the audio files my narrator gave me after he recorded himself), and now have quiteContinue reading “5 Tips on Recording & Editing Narrations”
Monster Biology – Yay or Nay? (Magic v. Biology to explain your lore)
I adore these two things: magic and biology. Honestly, the two go hand in hand. After all, Biology is magic to me. However, sometimes people in fantasy explain their monsters with ‘it’s just magic!’ without really looking into the biological aspects of it, because you can do pretty much anything in fantasy without thinking tooContinue reading “Monster Biology – Yay or Nay? (Magic v. Biology to explain your lore)”
Cobratongue University: Summer Daze and Crimson Nights {Canon Short Story}
Introduction Hey bats! Recently, a short story I wrote got accepted into an anthology. I wrote this one as well, and since it didn’t get placed anywhere, wanted to share it! It’s a perfect time to post, since it’s the middle of summer in my area (and would be in their area too, given theyContinue reading “Cobratongue University: Summer Daze and Crimson Nights {Canon Short Story}”
Many Perspective, First Person – How I do it, and Mistakes I’ve Made.
I pretty much started out with first person when writing via Red Viper. The book started out on Wattpad, its first iteration, anyway. I admit, nowadays I do regret not writing it in third person, but perspective hopping is a lot of fun and has worked out for the series pretty well. Plus, it’s goingContinue reading “Many Perspective, First Person – How I do it, and Mistakes I’ve Made.”
Romance – Are my “Ships” too obvious? Hm… nah.
Well, maybe they are. But that’s okay. It’s intentional. You see, I have a ‘hot’ take that’s quite hot, if you know what I mean. It’s okay for ships to be obvious. Sure, the payout might not be as strong as the ‘resolved love triangle’ (A trope I hate, by the way), but if youContinue reading “Romance – Are my “Ships” too obvious? Hm… nah.”
Des M. Astor 