This comes up in the context of a fight scene in Industrial Mage. Our intrepid hero casts a tornado-ish air shield around himself and it moves with him. Instead of a fireball, he creates a fire-whip, which behaves mostly like an actual whip. He casts water bullets at the bad spider creature, targeting the joints,Continue reading “How Does Magic Work?”
Tag Archives: Writing
Learning 2 Write – XII
Scope Continuing the post on Endings – the irony of which does not escape me – I had a thought: It’s not (usually) that I get tired of a series, it’s that the series changes out from under me. Many stories (not just LitRPG) start with the struggles of our intrepid hero. As he overcomesContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – XII”
Learning 2 Write – IX
Paragraphs Already at nine? I see VIII, but I don’t see VII. Anyway… I’m reading Book V of Matter Destructor. It has very (very, very) short paragraphs. For example: When Hunter said it, the noise didn’t just dip. It died. Like someone had cut a cord. Heads snapped toward him in a wave, and forContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – IX”
Learning 2 Write
Continuous Chapter Numbers I found one: The Matter Destructor. I just downloaded books three and four. I’ve read book three, but I don’t remember any details, so I wanted to re-read it before reading book four. The book opened on Chapter 62. It’s nice that Amazon remembers my place – especially when it doesn’t tellContinue reading “Learning 2 Write”
Learning 2 Write – VI
Pacing I had a miniphany that I want to get down. “Do you have your pack?” I swung it off my back and held it up in answer. I had gotten into the habit of grabbing it whenever things got busy since I’d gotten here. “I” is the latest intrepid hero. This takes place inContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – VI”
Ablative of Means
When did “by” change? In Latin, “by” is known as the ablative of means (because the following noun uses the ablative case; “by” is “ab”, fwiw). In English, it used to be the same thing. “He was rescued by [means of] an ATV.” “The ship was sunk by [means of] an iceberg.” The active voiceContinue reading “Ablative of Means”
Learning 2 Write – VIII
Repercussions This is a short one. A note to myself more than anything. I just ran across this: [He] knew from his limited reading on the subject that because of their longevity elves had built a society with a massive emphasis on conflict resolution. Something that made sense when he thought about it. For whenContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – VIII”
Learning 2 Write – VII
Names It may not be possible to win when it comes to names. I just (as in “last week”) found out that Rhys is pronounced Reese. This broke both Torchwood and the Deryni series, for opposite reasons. With Torchwood being TV, I only heard the name “Reese” and assumed the spelling. With Deryni being print,Continue reading “Learning 2 Write – VII”
Learning 2 Write – V
Time This may be the hardest part about writing a novel – other than actually typing it out. Authors get this wrong a LOT. Time in novels must be “stretchy” simply due to the medium. As a counter example, movie scenes must run in real-time because we’re watching people do things – including talk toContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – V”
Learning 2 Write – IV
Structure I’m talking about paragraphs, chapters, and books, not plot structure. At least paragraphs are straightforward: Nominal English paragraphs. I will cheerfully admit that I am not aware of the exact details and corner-cases of English paragraph structure. I do know that quote-source changes need new paragraphs. I also know that a paragraph should beContinue reading “Learning 2 Write – IV”
Marked Up 