Creative Writing with the Crimson League

May 13, 2024

Eucatastrophe: the literary device I picked up from Tolkien

Tolkien is the GOAT of fantasy. His works are complex, deep, powerful in ways I can only dream of imitating. He was a genius in multiple areas, I’d say. Now that it’s clear that I don’t mean to compare myself to Tolkien here (lol), I’m super grateful for Tolkien, not only for how his works…

May 12, 2024

How hard work can be its own reward

By temperament, I’m quite risk-averse. I often need to step back and assess what metrics of risk, failure, and success I’m using. As a Christian, I believe I am called to be faithful, not “successful” as the world judges. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Whatever you believe or don’t believe in terms of…

May 11, 2024

Rewrites versus Revisions

I’ve been shocked over the past year to learn that a fair number of writers choose to rewrite a first draft from scratch rather than revise it. That’s because to rewrite a first draft would never occur to me–not unless I’m trying to work with, say, the failed draft of my very first novel that…

May 10, 2024

Character Spotlight: Thad Greller, more than comic relief

Thad is the youngest son of the Duke of Podrar. His father is the king’s chief adviser. I picture him as a few years older than Vane, the main character. Thad doesn’t have a huge role in the book, and you could certainly call him a comic relief character and not be incorrect. But I…

May 9, 2024

Thankful Thursday: Thankful to be so close to book launch! Here is all the info you’ll need for it

We’re in the “Magic Council” month of May, and I couldn’t be more excited. Book launches are a torrent of emotional ups and downs, jubilation and anxiety. But they are such milestones and achievements. I cannot wait to share this book, and Vane and August’s story, with the world. A couple of things to note,…

May 8, 2024

300 blog posts! And 200 (okay, 199) subscribers! Thank you! And yes, persistence pays off.

I would lie if I said my relationship to blogging these days is anything other than love/hate. I think the issue is I am comparing this blog to the blog I ran in blogging’s heyday back in 2012-2014, when I got thousands of hits a month. Sigh. But I’ve been running this blog for almost…

May 7, 2024

My current binge–exotic animal documentaries

Lately, I cannot get enough of documentaries on Prime about scary, creepy, and deadly animals. I prefer the ones that don’t feature the insane individuals who try to keep such animals as pets, but I’ll watch one of those if it’s all I can find. (No, I never watched Tiger King, and I don’t plan…

May 6, 2024

“Beauty and the Beast” and influence on Herezoth

I always say Beauty and the Beast is one of my 3 favorite films of all time (the Disney classic animation). Casablanca is my favorite film. I also love Newsies. Beauty and the Beast had two major influences on the Herezoth trilogy, I think. The first was unconscious. It’s Belle’s “provincial town.” Belle may hate…

May 5, 2024

My characters are like old friends at this point.

One could argue I should not have waited 12 years to get an editor, buckle down, and put out second, definitive editions of my Herezoth trilogy. But (including some time away from my fiction to focus on more important things) I have spent twelve years in Herezoth, with the Crimson League, and their families, and…

May 4, 2024

The fine line you have to walk when writing fiction

There is a fine line any author needs to walk. To a real extent, this applies to writers of nonfiction as well, but it’s true of fiction in a unique way. This “fine line” is one of the major reasons we all need beta readers and editors, because it’s hard, if not impossible, to tell…