by Jim
“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir How long can you continue a story before it has to come to an end? It’s a tough question … Read More All Things Must End
+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, violence, Writing
by Jim
“Hey, I’m curious… I’m starting a new story and I was wondering how far you can take things? Like do you have any opinion on how dark you make subjects? Would you write about murder, rape, torture, etc, and would you limit how much detail or what goes on? At what point does it go too far?” -(Asked to remain anonymous) Well reader, it … Read More How Far is Too Far?
by Jim
“I would be very interested to know how you personally plan a book. I’m writing my first one and started in a very haphazard way. I’m normally quite good at holding information in my head but since I’ve started writing my book discovered I’m not as good as I thought I was. To begin with a wrote a few notes and launched straight in … Read More Planning Your Book
by Jim
Learning Separation So you’ve created the perfect character or characters. They’re everything you wanted them to be. Their personalities are perfect, they’re well-liked by your audience, and everything is going well. Then as you get deeper and deeper into your writing, you begin to feel like you’re living through their experiences with them. Suddenly, you’re protective of that character and your writing becomes far more … Read More Author’s Advice Pt. 15
+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Writing
by Jim
“…They say that horror comes from the uncanny. The evil things lurking in the backs of our minds. Those creatures seldom compare to the torments that insecurity and shyness impose upon their respective victims, do they?” -Bad Nog Hi Bad Nog, Phew… quite a loaded question. Now we’re getting into the psychology of evil. Are their demons worse than the ones they inflict? Well … Read More Horror Roots
by Jim
Hello all, so as time goes on, my advice blog is getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, as with all things, you run out of topics to give advice on. If anyone has any questions about writing, publishing, my stories, etc. etc. please feel free to post a comment or email me at jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com . I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post. … Read More Need advice on a certain topic?
by Jim
Don’t let writing consume your life. So you’re writing, you have a great idea and you want to get the whole thing down while it’s fresh in your mind. It’s perfect and if you don’t write it down right now, you’ll lose it. I get it, I’ve been there. There is certainly nothing wrong with taking that moment to get that info down, but … Read More Author’s Advice Pt. 13
by Jim
So is it possible to ethically write characters or circumstances that go against your personal beliefs, code of honor, and/or standards? It’s not an easy thing to do, for sure, but to a point, I’d say yes. Allow me to provide an example: In college, I took classes dealing with European Socialism and Fascism. In one of the classes, we were asked to recreate … Read More Going Against Your Beliefs.
by Jim
So… one thing I’ve always struggled with is how long each chapter should be. A few paragraphs, a few pages, what? The definition from Webster: Full Definition of CHAPTER 1 a : a main division of a book b : something resembling a chapter in being a significant specified unit <a new chapter in my life> 2 a : a regular meeting of the … Read More Author Advice Pt. 12
+ advice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, angels, Artist, Author, awful, bad, bad guy, Barack Obama, Belief, Bloomberg, Book, bully, Characters, chase, Children, christianity, Church, conservative, Cover, Dean Koontz, demon, desire, Directing, Disney, Divinity, evil, Fairy Tale, fantasy, ficiton, Fiction, George Bush, God, Graphic design, gun, gun control, gun rights, Heaven, Hell, Help, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, History, horror, Inappropriate, Inspiration, John Carpenter, Judaism, liberal, literature, Lord of the Rings, Loreena Mckennitt, Lost, Love Never Dies, Magnifica, Mary Poppins, mean, Metal, misygony, Movie, Music, Musical, Mythology, Newtown, Novel, NRA, obsession, Opinion, Page, Phantom of the Opera, Poetry, Politics, prejudice, Princess, psa, Psychological, Psychology, Publishing, Q&A, Question, racism, Religion, responsability, Rock, Romance, rules, Science Fiction, Script, second amendment, Sequel, The Mummer's Dance, The NeverEnding Story, thriller, traitor, True Story, Update, Urban Fantasy, Van Canto, video games, villain, Walt Disney, Worst, Writing
by Jim
So you’ve written your story. Your characters are beloved, not only to you, but also your reading audience. Well now you’re writing the next part in your series and are ready to do the unthinkable… You’re going to have one of the characters turn on the others. One of your main good guys is now to become a villain and not just a villain, … Read More The Traitorous Main Character
by Jim
It’s NEVER too late to start over. Are you working on a piece you’ve just lost all love for? Are you writing something that you really didn’t want to write in the first place? Do you really not care whether your newest piece get’s done or not? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, STOP! Close out of what your writing … Read More Author’s Advice Pt. 10
+ advice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, angels, Artist, Author, awful, bad, Barack Obama, Belief, Bloomberg, Book, bully, Characters, chase, Children, christianity, Church, conservative, Cover, Dean Koontz, demon, desire, Directing, Disney, Divinity, Fairy Tale, fantasy, ficiton, Fiction, George Bush, God, Graphic design, gun, gun control, gun rights, Heaven, Hell, Help, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, History, horror, Inappropriate, Inspiration, John Carpenter, Judaism, liberal, literature, Lord of the Rings, Loreena Mckennitt, Lost, Love Never Dies, Magnifica, Mary Poppins, mean, Metal, misygony, Movie, Music, Musical, Mythology, Newtown, Novel, NRA, obsession, Opinion, Page, Phantom of the Opera, Poetry, Politics, prejudice, Princess, psa, Psychological, Psychology, Publishing, Q&A, Question, racism, Religion, responsability, Rock, Romance, rules, Science Fiction, Script, second amendment, Sequel, The Mummer's Dance, The NeverEnding Story, thriller, True Story, Update, Urban Fantasy, Van Canto, video games, Walt Disney, Worst, Writing
by Jim
Can I just ask… what the heck happened? When I first published my work, I got a lot of comments from readers, both positive and negative. Divinity in particular got positive and negative comments from die-hard Christians and atheists, and I don’t understand the negativity. I certainly can’t speak for the rest of the world, so if it’s different outside of the U.S. PLEASE … Read More Free Exchange of Ideas…
James Harringtons Creative Work 