Author: JRVogt

I think I’ve got a theme going. First we had explosive and other weapons of destruction, both minuscule and massive. Then we had skeletons–the product of using those previous elements on a story. So hopefully you’ve got accurate methods of death, and the results of death. What’s left? A couple…

Yesterday had to do with researching violence and other means of inducing death within a story (but inducing it in achingly researched, believable fashion!). After a character has been dead for some time, or there’s someone prowling through a home with bunch of closets, eventually you’re going to come across…

Today, I bring you oodles of: Knives! Guns! Explosives! Learn how to properly discuss them, write about them, refer to the various bits and pieces, and have your characters use them without…you know…cocking the trigger on a rapier, or something like that. Want to know what materials go into various…

For those of you who missed them, here are some of the more…interesting rumors and articles that were spawned in the writing world as of Sunday, mostly thanks to various April Fools pranks. Though this isn’t to say that some of these news flashes wouldn’t be welcomed if they actually…

Usually I don’t do much work on short stories when I’m neck-deep in the first draft of a novel manuscript. Once I’ve gotten that draft packed up and shoved into a drawer for proper aging, I then turn my mental eye onto whatever short story ideas have been simmering in…

I’m going to let John Scalzi be the teacher for the post today. That is to say, not that he’s sitting here typing, which would be weird because then he’s referring to himself in third person, but that the link o’the day is Scalzi’s explanation of How To Manipulate Amazon…

Yeesh. Figures that the year I move away from Denver, Jim Butcher is going to be one of the speakers and attendees of the Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference. I attended PPWC last year and had a great time, as well as the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s Conference. Usually when you…

Hugo and Campbell award nominations are in. Check out the categories and the nominees here. Brandon Sanderson (Elantris, Mistborn) is putting up a series on his blog addressing bad storytelling techniques that almost every author uses. But are they so bad, and what other options are available to us? Check…

I’ve never really dabbled with flash fiction much. This is because most of my attempts at short stories usually end with me looking at pages of scribbles and thinking, “Maybe this will work better as a novel synopsis.” I tend to overwrite, and so rarely do I hit the 500…

Today, I bring to you links of humorous content. You will enjoy them, or else it shall be a sign unto all people that you have no redeemable sense of humor. Ouch. That sounded a little harsh, even to me. Oh well. Deal with it. For starters, Steven Brust posted…