We'll send our best work every month.
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.
While Mike is away with a cough, Oren uses his perfectly objective viewpoint to declare which systems are superior to others. Jim praises games he can break with power combos, and Chris raves about mechanics that make GMs do all the work. They all share … read more »
Dialogue is like music; rhythm flows from its notes and pauses. By shaping the pace of your dialogue, you can make this rhythm more engaging. Plus, those annoying tags become less noticeable when you’re not hitting the same beat every time. Read more »
What you write between double quotes isn’t just ideas on a page; it’s notation for vocal sounds. Thinking of dialogue as sound will help you shape the voices of your characters and communicate their tone to readers. Read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss what goes into a strong climax. They describe examples that are masterful or weak, list common problems, and offer tips for making climaxes stronger. Read more »
Writers use labels, known as dialogue tags, to tell their readers which character is speaking. Many writers think dialogue tags are part of their story’s narration. That’s a mistake. Tags aren’t narration; they’re a technical necessity like punctuation, font, and quotes. We don’t want readers … read more »
Telling an egalitarian story means fighting back against a lifetime of cultural programming, not to mention systematic bias in production, publishing, and marketing. So even when we try to make our stories just, problems we haven’t noticed can sneak their way in. Graded on a … read more »
As you know, this will be a podcast about exposition which, as you also know, is a method for relaying information to the audience. It’s one of those techniques that’s easy to miss when it works, so we have to look extra close! Read more »
Archetypes tell us what role a character plays in a story. Many of these roles are critical for storytelling, but some are just the opposite. Troublesome roles allow storytellers to cut corners, reducing the overall quality of the tale. Take these five archetypes: Read more »
Informally, a person’s karma is the destiny they have earned. It means that those who have done good deeds will have a better future awaiting them, and those who have committed wrongs will be punished by fate. You may or may not think that karma … read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss the difficulties that come with revising a story based on feedback. They compare different methods of analyzing drafts, and offer tips for receiving and incorporating feedback from readers. Read more »