help for writers – H.J. Swinford

using prophecies in fantasy without making eyes roll

Good ol’ stand-bys, ubiquitous fantasy tropes, are difficult to avoid. And sometimes we don’t want to avoid them. Goddammit, sometimes you just need a good, solid prophecy to write the story your want to write. “It’s not my fault all these other people before me have written prophecies, too!” you say. And you’d be right. Unfortunately, theyContinue reading “using prophecies in fantasy without making eyes roll”

characters as worldbuilding tools

“DON’T INFO DUMP,” said every writing-advice-giver ever. And that advice is so annoying, isn’t it? You’re going along, writing your first draft…or maybe you’re revising your old draft…whatever stage your in, if you’re trying to build a world in a well-paced, interesting story, then it can be difficult to find places for brief bouts ofContinue reading “characters as worldbuilding tools”