Creative Writing with the Crimson League

January 29, 2024

Sometimes you just have to wait and let the solution to a plot issue come to you

As I write this, I have FINALLY figured out how to close out a subplot I am trying to add to the prequel to my Herezoth trilogy. General Grombach, who features in The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope, has some serious plot armor in the prequel, and it was causing me issues. I couldn’t…

January 28, 2024

Sunday Reflection: a prophet like Moses who teaches with authority

In the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, we see Moses teaching with authority because He spoke with God “face to face, as with a friend.” While those books are clear Moses could not look upon the face of God, he spoke with God directly. This is why he could teach and rule…

January 26, 2024

Advice for beginning writers 5: hive mind compilation!

I recently asked on my Facebook page what advice my fellow writers have for beginners. I got some great responses! Paraphrased by me, with credit given to the author who contributed the idea, here is what people offered. I will put author names in quotes as their official Facebook page is named, so that you…

January 24, 2024

Advice for beginning writers 4: the rules are more like guidelines, anyway

This fourth post giving advice to novice writers is this: know the rules. Know grammar–it is your RESPONSIBILITY to know grammar if you want to publish your writing, period. Know stylistic regularities, such as what isn’t a dialogue tag and what is (only words that imply speech. “Smiled,” “grinned,” and so on? NOT dialogue tags.)…

January 22, 2024

Advice for beginning writers 3: focus on learning the craft (by doing)

When you’re writing your first novel or first few short stories, focus on learning, growing, and on the story you want to tell. Focus on discovering the process that works for you as a writer. Don’t worry about the market or what you think will or won’t sell. Don’t have expectations about how good it…

January 21, 2024

Sunday Reflection: Repent and believe

In today’s Gospel reading at Mass, we get Jesus’s first words in the Gospel of Mark: Repent and believe in the Gospel.” This is a message not enough Christians hear today, let alone the non-Christians we are called to evangelize. First, repent. We must recognize that we are sinners, and that, contrary to the platitudes…

January 19, 2024

Advice for beginning writers 2: don’t force plot

My first novel will never be published, largely because the plot does not hold up that much. This is because I forced my characters to do some really stupid things, all to advance the plot to a particular place I wanted the plot to go, when that place didn’t end up making sense. A good…

January 17, 2024

Advice for beginner writers 1: JUST WRITE

This is the first in a series of posts with my advice for beginning writers. I’m no expert, per se, but I’ve been writing for over 15 years, and I’ve studied literature and writing in grad school. If nothing else, maybe the fruit of my experience over that time is worth some small something. The…

January 15, 2024

Don’t forget that writing should be FUN

I always say that the “right” writing process is the one that works. There all kinds of ways to write and prepare to write. Some are slower, some are faster. Some involve more work on the front end, some more work on the back end. But what is the “right” process for you? I think…

January 14, 2024

Sunday Reflection: What are you looking for?

Today’s Gospel gives the first words Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John: “What are you looking for?” My favorite translation (The RSV-CE) puts it, “What do you seek?” This is an important question. It is important because, as we saw last Sunday with the Presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple, not everyone…