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Chris is the founder and editor-in-chief of Mythcreants. On the side she also designs, codes, and writes stories. When she manages to escape from chronic workaholism, she likes to drink tea, wear funny hats, pet kitties, and crush her enemies at the game table.
Grace joins Oren, Mike, and Chris in discussing how artificial personalities are gendered. They mention computer voices in use today and the explanations given for their gender. They describe female and male robots and AI in science fiction, and how their depiction differs. Read more »
Happy New Year! Reminisce with us by looking over the most popular posts of 2014. Read more »
Do you know which hooks are motivating your readers to continue? Each hook creates an open plot thread; readers are pulled in because they want to see them conclude. If you mix up your subplots or don’t close each one properly, you’ll end up with a cranky audience. Read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren praise their favorite and least favorite endings. They describe what makes a great ending, and outline the traps that storytellers fall into while crafting their finish. Read more »
A story is not the people or things in it, or even the events that occur. It is a fully-expressed person, facing a particular set of challenges, operating within a specific worldview. When you don’t fully understand your story, it’s difficult to find the right … read more »
All human cultures include dancing – with the possible exception of groups that specifically forbid it. Not only is dancing intrinsic to our nature, but it’s an amazingly versatile activity. Dreaming up some dances can add a splash of realism and interest to your creative … read more »
Oren, Chris, and Mike discuss making NPCs that are helpful to the game. They share tips on how to save time making them, how to use them to better develop the PCs, and what not to do if you want players to like them. Read more »
Of the many books on writing, almost all are for a mainstream audience. Instead of stoking a fantasy writer’s enthusiasm, they can kill it with example after example featuring the humdrum lives of Harry and Sally. That’s why we need genre-specific guidance from time to time. Read more »
When storytellers are cornered by a tough plot problem, our first instinct is to ignore the problem by making our characters behave irrationally. Then we use character dialogue to handwave it and hope the audience doesn’t notice how unrealistic it is. Just take these six excuses. Read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss how themes are a common part of worldbuilding. They describe worlds with memorable themes, contemplate how worldbuilders can add themes to their settings, and mention the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Read more »