2025
- November 10th Chapter Eleven – What Kind of a Story is This?One of the things that had been nagging at me for the last several chapters was that the most important aspect of the story–God!–was being neglected. I feel very strongly that if you’re going to write a Christian story–Mike, then you’d better make sure you’re not just throwing in enough window dressing at it to fit […]
- November 3rd Chapter Ten – A Change of ToneI believe that in some respects a story writes itself. What I mean by that is once you’ve got your characters set and you place them into a scene, they need to behave in a way true to themselves–that’s the problem I ran into last chapter with Prince Juhstice; he wasn’t and it will have to […]
- October 27th Chapter Nine – Getting Ahead of MyselfAfter introducing a new “impact” character last chapter I felt that I needed to flesh him out right away since I needed him to “get busy” stirring some things up. I considered doing that while he was doing the actual stirring, but it seemed like I had a perfect opportunity to have Ohrder take over […]
- October 19th Chapter Eight – Deep and WideThough still early in the overall story, I’ve reached a point where I have to ask myself, “Just how big do you want this to be?” It’s an important question. I think with what I’ve already got going, if I just stick to the main plot and the smattering of subplots I’ve introduced, I’ve already […]
- October 12th Chapter Seven – Balance of PowerSince this is basically just a continuation of the last chapter my goals are largely the same; emphasis on good, tense ‘action’ scenes while continuing to grow the this particular subplot. However, I will take a moment to talk about one of the things I feel very strongly about–even if I don’t always pull it off. […]
- October 5th Chapter Six – The Plot ThickensWhen I was little my favorite toys were action figures; small or large, it didn’t matter. GI Joes, super heroes, or movie monsters, they were all good. But just owning them wasn’t enough; they needed to get busy. Back then I didn’t worry about sound plot mechanics, I was perfectly content having Dracula get into […]
- September 28th Chapter Five – Tough LoveLike in real life, character development often comes through fiery trails. I’m already quite fond of my ‘main’ characters, but if I want them to grow–and I want keep my readers engaged with them, then I need to turn up the heat on them. With that in mind, and knowing that I also need to keep […]
- September 14th Chapter Four – New Chapter, Same GoalsBy the time I finished the last chapter, which was focused on giving the readers a good introduction to our leading lady, I knew that I had more work to do along those same lines. Princess Chahrity isn’t an only child and her big brother also plays a big role–though not quite as significant, in […]
- September 7th Chapter Three – Main-ish CharactersAt this point I’m thinking that I’ve introduced enough things that I probably need to spend some time on the people doing them. I’ve already been working on Ohrder and Begone, who are the main characters in the story–or are they the only two? And even if they are, how much time do I spend developing […]
- August 31st Chapter Two – What’s Going On Here?One of the things I always have to ask myself is, “Am I ready to write this chapter?” It’s an important question because how on earth would I ever expect to explain to someone else what’s going on if I haven’t figured it out for myself? I suspect this is the heart of most cases of ‘writer’s block’ that authors […]
- August 26th Chapter One – Before I Type a WordIs this worth bothering with? I’m not talking about this series of posts on how I do the writing process–that’s certainly debatable. No, I’m referring to all the ideas that pop into my head that could become a book, or at least a story of some kind. My way of sorting that out is to […]