Category: Creative Writing

• April 29, 2024

  Character Spotlight: August Hincken

  August is one my favorite characters that I’ve written about. She comes so far and she grows and learns so much over the course of The Magic Council: The Fight for Home. I love August on her own, for her own sake. And I love her with Vane. She doubts herself a lot. She tends…
• April 27, 2024

  How I craft my characters

  I admit that the title of this post is a bit like clickbait, because the answer is: I don’t feel like I “craft” my characters at all. For the most part, they just come to me as who they are–what they look like, their backgrounds, their way of talking, their temperaments and personalities. All of…
• April 25, 2024

  Thankful Thursday: Author Life Goal MET! Y’all, I want to cry right now (as I write this days in advance of publication)!

  

  Let me set the scene . . . I was out of high school, waiting to start my freshman year of college, reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” for the first time. There’s a scene where a bunch of characters come to take Harry away from the Dursley’s. (Spoiler ahead if you…
• April 20, 2024

  Character Spotlight: Queen Gracia

  Gracia Phinnean has become one of my favorite, and I think one of the most complex, characters in my trilogy. To the extent that I added content to books two and three for the upcoming second editions, the content I added pertains to her subplots. Drafting a prequel while working on the second editions really…
• April 17, 2024

  What I mean when I say “Herezoth has heart”

  Every writer loves a good review. But sometimes, you get a review that gives evidence that your fiction is touching hearts in the way you’d hoped it would–in the way that you pray it might. I like to say that “Herezoth is for everyone,” referencing my Herezoth trilogy, and I mean it. We all need…
• April 16, 2024

  On artistic control as an indie author

  The artistic control / freedom of an indie author is a beautiful gift, if used correctly. That said, it’s important to use it rightly. If you aren’t open to learning from editors and beta readers and such, you’re in trouble as an indie. If you aren’t able to sit back and objectively ask, “Ok, is…
• April 15, 2024

  Quick, easy tips to improve fiction writing (and some hard truths as well)

  You may have heard most, or all of these, before. But I have seen the importance of them, how easy they are to implement, and how much they have improved the quality of my writing. Those are easy fixes. Now to some deeper, hard truths for aspiring writers out there. You do NOT need an…
• April 14, 2024

  Character Spotlight: Vane the Valiant

  

  “The Magic Council: The Fight for Home” doesn’t follow only one character the way “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope” follows Kora. It has a more omniscient point of view. That said, Vane Unsten is definitely the protagonist of book two of the Herezoth trilogy. He’s a sorcerer, the nephew of villain Zalski Forzythe…
• April 13, 2024

  Why book two of my trilogy is my favorite

  Book two of any trilogy tends to be my favorite. Consider “The Two Towers” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” just to name a couple of examples. But there are reasons I have a particular love of book of my own Herezoth trilogy. Here are just a few spoiler-free reasons for that. Needless to say, I…
• March 8, 2024

  My book is FREE March 8-10! Feel free to take advantage of the gift!

  Today through Sunday, “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope” is free to download on Kindle. You can get it here. Why should you? First, let that cover pull you in 🙂 Second, some common themes running through reviews and feedback have been heartening. It’s bingeworthy. Someone who gave it to their aunt said she…