by Jim
Hi Jim, I’m in a major bind… I was working on my latest piece. I’d been working on it for days and… forgot to save it. I was about 140 pages in and suddenly my computer blue-screened. I’ve lost everything and Word didn’t auto-save it. I’m not sure of what to do now. I feel like having to start from scratch is a fairly … Read More Just Start Over…
+ advice, literature, Opinion, story, Uncategorized, Writing
by Jim
Hi Jim. I have always wanted to share stories as I have so many in my head constantly, but all I want to do is write some and get feedback as to whether I should go for it or not. Any suggestions as to where I could post something? Please note I work so time is limited sometimes. -Maria nunes Hi Maria, Great question. … Read More A Writer in Need.
by Jim
Hi Jim, I was wondering if you could comment on how much of an introduction we should give each of our characters? I’ve gotten a good description down, but how much time should we initially spend focused on the characters personality and traits before really diving into the story. Thanks, Adrienne Hi Adrienne, Good question and the answer is pretty straight forward; AS LITTLE … Read More Character Development… At First…
by Jim
Okay, so it looks like I’m still getting a lot of publishing questions. These are recurrent questions I get on a regular basis, and while I want to try to respond to everyone who reaches out to me, I don’t want my blog becoming redundant. So I think I’m going to repost this on a weekly basis from now on to help people navigate … Read More The Ins and Outs of Publishing, A Directory of Advice. #Writing #Author #Advice
+ advice, Characters, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Writing
by Jim
Hi Jim, You speak a lot about characters that you love, can you comment on how you write characters you hate? Thanks, Linden Hi Linden, Base them on someone you don’t like. … Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can say about that. Do you need to write a character that you want to be thoroughly dispised? Take someone you don’t like, someone you … Read More Hated Character!
by Jim
I want to talk a little bit about action figures once more as I’m an avid collector of them. They’re fun to display, fun to collect, and certainly fun to play with your kids with… unless they’re the $30+ ones with fragile parts… then yeah, just the first two! But what about characters that don’t have action figures, either because they’re just not popular … Read More Custom Action Figures
by Jim
I talk a lot about writing trends and would like to go into something that has been going on for a while now… There has been a push in more recent media circles to make fantasy and fiction more like reality… We’ve all seen this in some way, shape, or form. Be it people who let movies raise their children crying about Disney princesses … Read More Ruining Fantasy?
+ advice, Characters, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Reading, Writing
by Jim
Hi Jim, I’ve been writing for a very long time, but I need some advice. I’ve mostly worked on children’s books, but recently have started writing adult fiction. I want to use one of my characters from my children’s books in an adult setting, but I’m worried about how my audience will react to it. Some of my readers have grown up with … Read More From One Universe To Another…
by Jim
I’ve heard this one before and the best answer I can give is… no. The bad guy or villain in a story does not necessarily have to be evil at all. When Chancellor Palpatine said that goodness is a point of view in Revenge of the Sith, despite how self-serving his remark was, he was actually right on many different levels. There are actual … Read More Does a Bad Guy Have To Be Evil?
by Jim
Hi Jim, I often find myself writing a great deal when I’ve either had a lot to drink or right after smoking weed. Do you find either helps or do you know of anything else that helps spark your creativity? You don’t have to openly admit to anything illegal, but I read a while back that some of Stephen King’s best work was done … Read More Writing on High
by Jim
Okay, so it looks like I’m still getting a lot of publishing questions. These are recurrent questions I get on a regular basis, and while I want to try to respond to everyone who reaches out to me, I don’t want my blog becoming redundant. So I think I’m going to repost this on a weekly basis from now on to help people navigate … Read More The Ins and Outs of Publishing, A Directory of Advice. #Writing #Author #Advice
by Jim
Hi Jim, I was wondering if you could tell me what makes up a good fantasy story? Thanks, Sarah. Ahem… Hi Sarah, That is such a subjective… subject… that I’m not sure I can give you a definitive answer, but not for not trying. So I’m going to give you a few suggestions based on what I’ve seen work effectively. Anti-Hero. Include an antihero … Read More ‘Good’ Writing.
James Harringtons Creative Work 