Top Ten Most Popular Posts
Ditch These Five Character Archetypes
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: Need an … read more »
Five Dualities That Can Replace Good and Evil
Let’s face it, fights between pure good and absolute evil are getting old. Black and white morality doesn’t lend itself to nuanced characters, and it rarely feels realistic anymore. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have epic battles that determine the fate of the world. … read more »
Lessons From the Terrible Writing of Eragon
I’ve never read Christopher Paolini’s Eragon before now, but I’ve heard it compared to both Star Wars and Harry Potter. I know I can expect a young male chosen one and (obviously) the dragon on the cover. Perhaps a dragon named Eragon, as that’s just … read more »
Four Behaviors Fiction Needs to Stop Glorifying
We humans have spent the last 200,000 years trying to figure out how to treat each other, and while we’re still confused on a few subjects, the basics are pretty solid. At least, they should be. Somehow our fictional characters can’t go two seconds without doing something horrible. Read more »
Six Emotional Motives for Your Characters
With emotional drive comes the character depth your audience will love. These inner forces are incredibly flexible. They can form the backbone for your entire story or simply add another dimension to the plot and characters you already have. Read more »
How to Create a Rational Magic System
Magic systems vary from colorful bears with tummy badges to ritual blood sacrifices. Magic isn’t real, so it can be anything we want. But that doesn’t mean all magic systems work equally well for stories. Some feel cohesive; others feel random. Read more »
Five Failed Character Arcs
Character arcs form the heart of the story. They give audiences a reason to cheer a character on and add emotional depth to the plot. But not all characters arcs are equal. A good arc doesn’t just take a pauper and make her queen; it … read more »
Three Writing Exercises for Better Characters
Characters can be tricky to pin down – or even write correctly in the first place. Some lucky writers have characters that are willing to sit down and chat with them. Others can slip themselves into their character’s shoes without much difficulty. If you’re having … read more »
Six More Character Archetypes to Ditch
Bad characters abound in our media, threatening to overwhelm our bastions of good storytelling. Or at least that’s how it can seem when you turn on the TV or flip through a random book. Many of these characters come from flawed archetypes that writers use … read more »
Six Characters Who Should Have Died
Character death is a tricky subject, whether in prose, roleplaying games, or television. Sometimes a character can pass before their time, especially if an actor’s contract expires or a critical hit goes the wrong way. On the other hand, the death of a beloved character … read more »
Blogger Favorites
Seven bloggers wrote at least two articles this year. I badgered each one until they told me which piece they liked the best.
The Why & How of Second Person
Second person point of view has a bad reputation. For some reason, using “you” as the personal pronoun in a narrative (as opposed to “I” or “he/she/they” in first and third person) is an underutilized form that is looked down upon. Critics say the protagonist … read more »
Six Consequences of High Magic
Some fantasy settings, like anything written by Brandon Sanderson, impose strict limits on what magic can do. Others – like The Wheel of Time,* The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and just about any D&D setting – do not. In these worlds, magic is both … read more »
Matriarchies, Patriarchies, and Beyond
Mythcreants hosted a panel at this year’s GeekGirlCon in Seattle. Chris, Oren, Rhys, and I discussed gender in spec fic and how you can create matriarchal, patriarchal, or egalitarian societies for your stories. It was a lively event with many challenging questions from the audience. … read more »
Crafting Plausible Maps
Building a map for a fantasy setting involves a lot of details – most of them fun! Art styles, fonts, and icons need to be chosen. But some mapping concerns go beyond mere aesthetics. If you’re building a sizable chunk of continent on an Earth-like … read more »
How to Personify the Seven Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins are classic examples of immorality, and it’s fun to bring them to life within your characters. However, storytellers can’t just tell the audience that a character embodies greed or lust; they need to show those traits in action. Characters exhibit them … read more »
Using Conflict to Revive Your Story Game
In many roleplaying games, it’s the GM’s job to get the level of conflict just right. They provide the goons with guns kicking down doors, giving the players a common antagonist to unite against. A GM gives a story momentum. In a GM-less story game, … read more »
Why Social Justice Is Intrinsic to Storytelling
I suspect more than one reader of Mythcreants has wondered why we don’t just stick to the technical advice and avoid all that political stuff. Why are articles with wording exercises and obscure weapons intermixed with long rants on gender equality and unjustified violence? It’s … read more »
Happy New Year to all our wonderful readers and patrons! Thanks for your encouragement and support.
Thanks for this . . . as a latecomer to the blog, it’s helpful seeing stuff like this.
. . . and now I want to write in second person.
You realize that second person is a legitimate writing perspective. You know it tends to work best in shorter formats. You go write some.
Will do . . . but right now I just started my entry for the “No shit, there I was” submission call . . . hard to do that in second person.
But, I will do a SP piece this week. Might even share it.
It will be fun adding yet another tool to my sure-fire rejection arsenal.