Creative Writing with the Crimson League

January 12, 2024

Side quests vs. Sublots

Today I want to discuss the difference between what I call “side quests” versus subplots. What’s the distinction? A subplot connects with the main plot in (usually multiple) ways and affects the main plot. It’s one of the threads that compose the main plot, so to speak. A side quest does not connect so much…

January 10, 2024

When characters act counterintuitively

Is it ok for your characters to do something counterintuitive? Of course! Great characters in great books do this all the time. The key is pretty simple: just make sure they have a reason not to do the logical or simple thing. Maybe their goals aren’t obvious and the seemingly obvious thing to do doesn’t serve…

January 9, 2024

Character Spotlight: Zalski Forzythe, because everyone loves a good villain

Zalski Forzythe (ZAL-ski FOR-zaith, ) is definitely my favorite villain–and one of my favorite characters overall–in my entire series. He’s one of those characters who absorbs all the focus in every scene he’s in. Every editing pass I made through The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope, I could feel the anticipation when I knew…

January 8, 2024

Character Spotlight (because my novel is 99 cents right now): Lanokas the Lighthearted

Preparing for my book launch last summer, it didn’t take me long to decide to start character spotlights with Lanokas (LAN-oh-kass), the Crimson League’s swordsman. I realized relatively recently that, apart from one couple who steals the show in book two of my trilogy, almost all of my favorite scenes or discussions in the entire…

January 8, 2024

Different ways a scene or conversation can advance the plot

There are various way a scene or conversation in your novel can advance the plot–because every scene should advance the plot in some way (prologues maybe excepted, as they take place before the plot begins and set it up). No scene is going to, or needs to, do all of the things I’m going to…

January 7, 2024

Excerpt because my book is on sale right now for 99 cents: Reaching the Hall of Sorcery

The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope is on sale for 99 cents for kindle for a few more days. Please take advantage and help me spread the word! You can get it here Today’s excerpt involves a slight spoiler–nothing beyond a revelation that would necessarily be part of a trailer, however. That’s why I…

January 7, 2024

Epiphany: God reveals Himself

The Feast of the Epiphany today traditionally links three events from the Gospels: The visit of the Magi, when God revealed Himself to the Gentiles; the Baptism of the Lord, when the heavens opened and the Father revealed Jesus to be His Beloved Son; and the wedding feast at Cana, when Jesus revealed Himself through…

January 5, 2024

Let your characters face the consequences of their actions (also, my book is on sale!)

I posed a question to my beta reader for the second edition of book two last year, before I sent the manuscript off to my editor. I asked her if I should soften a particular bad decision one of my younger characters makes in the story. Her response was really gratifying to me. “She’s what,…

January 3, 2024

What is most important to you? Character, plot, style, theme?

Every writer and every story is different. Honestly, I think every writer will hold the basic building blocks of written fiction in a different tension. A unique tension. These building blocks are character, plot, style, and theme. Personally, I think the best stories put character, and character development, first. We see the characters grow. We see…

January 1, 2024

The question to ask before you cut a scene or paragraph

There are LOTS of times as a writer when you need to cut a paragraph or scene from your WIP. Before you do, there’s a question to ask yourself: DOES THIS PIECE OF WRITING CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING SPECIFIC THAT I NEED TO INCORPORATE ELSEWHERE? My editor recently suggested I cut a paragraph from book two of…