Successful Suitor
Courting a lady? Don’t forget the black eyeliner. Read more »
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Is Relatability Actually Important?
When talking about writing, a big deal is often made of how characters need to be “relatable,” how people prefer characters that they can identify with. But in all honesty, I have never once in my life experienced that, to the extent where I struggle … read more »
270 – Redemption Arcs
Sometimes, we love a villain. We can’t help it; they’re just so dark and cool that we want them to be heroes. But they can’t usually just become heroes on account of all the villainy they did. That’s when you need a redemption arc, a … read more »
Building Middle-Earth: What Tolkien Did Right – and Wrong
Worldbuilding is a critical component of speculative fiction no matter the genre. From constructing entire space empires in military scifi to planning a good masquerade in urban fantasy, every author will need to make choices about what to include in their world and how to … read more »
A Breakdown of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: Act II
Last week, I broke down the opening act of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. We went over the three plot arcs holding the whole film together, also known as the throughlines: Dr. Horrible’s quest to enter the Evil League of Evil Dr. Horrible’s romance with Penny … read more »
Dramatic Pose
The most important part of heroism. Read more »
How Can Fantasy Stories End Without a Big Battle?
I’m pre-writing a long fantasy series and the final “act” always seems to be a build up to one great big battle scene. Are there any other options for sci-fi/fantasy writers’ third act instead of a great big world-ending battle? That would be a great … read more »
269 – Disease in Spec Fic
For no reason at all, disease seems to be on a lot of authors’ minds right now. Whether you’re writing up a storm in self-quarantine or just thinking of new ideas during this difficult time, we’ve got all the disease-focused discussion you could possibly want. … read more »
Five Contrived Legal Conflicts in Speculative Fiction
Anyone who’s ever applied for a business license or contested a traffic ticket can tell you that the law is incredibly complicated. It often doesn’t work the way we think it does, and since new laws get passed all the time, it keeps changing, too. … read more »
A Breakdown of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: Act I
The principles we discuss at Mythcreants are actively at work in countless popular stories. That means if you’re still getting a feel for abstract concepts like tension or karma, you now have an excuse to watch your favorite movie and call it homework. Dissecting stories … read more »