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Writing Article - The McGuffin

A McGuffin is an item or concept used in a story to provide motivation for the characters. Although scorned by some, it's a valuable tool used in many successful stories, from books, movies, games and anime.

In this article we take a look at what a McGuffin is, how they work, how to use them - and also pitfalls to watch out for

Writing Article - Creating Story Ideas

Ever wondered how to come up with new story ideas or where inspiration can be found? In this article, I look at the techniques I use to come up with stories, along with the criteria I feel are necessary for a good story - or fanfic - to work.

I also want to ask you all; what topic would you like to see covered in future articles?

Is there something you find difficult or would like more content on? Let me know via a comment and I'll see what can be done.

Writing Article - Scenes and Sequels

We've spoken before of scenes and how to build them, but this month the topic is set on that of Scenes and Sequels. This tried and tested method is a great way of structuring a story arc, a scene - or even a series of scenes. You can build from scratch using it, or you can use it as a check list, to make sure that you've not forgotten anything when writing your story.

This article breaks a scene down into 6 aspects that you really need to have, and then delves into each one.

It's not a "...

Milestone Accomplished

The latest milestone has been reached, as some may have noticed!

A huge thank you from me, along with a frantic panic attack and rushed conversation with my beta, College Fool, and TBG Productions as well. If it's taken me a few days to post a comment on it, then it's because I've been trying to make sure I have a plan in place to handle it and to show to you all.

So, what's going to happen?

Well first of all, I do need to explain that nothing will change until February 6th. <...

Writing Article - Fight Scenes

So you want to write a fight scene in your story? Of course you do. Whether it's medieval combat with swords and magic, or an argument between two lovers, a fight is always going to be an important and dramatic period in a story.

It's also pretty damn hard and all advice online is fairly scant. 

That's why I've decided to break it down here into two aspects - the macro (or large-scale layout) of a fight, but also the micro and how to get right down and build it one word at a time. 2016-12-28 13:38:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Writing Article - Writing Scenes

A story is written as a series of scenes that interact and intersect with one another, progressing the plot up until the end of your story. Writing those individual scenes can be difficult, which is why this article looks at the structure of a scene, what is needed to make it work and how to ensure your story flows.

This is useful for every writer, but especially for those who tend to get lost or stuck in their writing, wondering what comes next. After reading this you should understand how on...

Patreon Writing Article - First Chapters

The first chapter of your novel (or fanfiction) is without a doubt the most important. It's your first chance to both engage the reader, but also make them fall in love with your character. Here I look at the important things to include in a first chapter, wth examples from my work and also other fiction.

In future articles we'll start to look at chapter composition in other ways, but this article is mostly about the first and how to improve your chances of having readers want to find out more...

Patreon Writing Article - Voice

Voice is a complicated thing to talk about when it comes to writing, and being able to identify and notice it can be the most important part. Here we look at what voice is, how it can be used and how to improve the odds of you finding your own.

Patreon Article - PoV, Tense and Voice

Perspective (PoV), Tense and Voice - three aspects which are key when writing a story of your own. In this article I delve into the first two aspects of this, while covering Voice in something of a summary. Next month's article will go further into voice, which is a rather advanced topic that holds many people back from having their work published.

This article does not consider every single tense (as there are 12) but rather the ones used in creative writing for fiction. There are objective t...

July 2016 patron supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Writing Article - July - Dialogue

Good dialogue can sell your work. It shows character, creates tension and otherwise controls the flow of your story. But it is also one of the most complicated aspects of writing, and one that many struggle over.

This article looks in depth at dialogue, the do's and dont's and even goes on to break down an example story rich with it.

As always, the article is attached. To see it you'll need to open this post by clicking on the title, where it will then be visible. 

June 2016 patron supported

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Writing Article - Character Design Part 2

As always this is an attachment here and to read it you will need to click on the above title to open this post in full. Here we follow on from last month's look into character design.

I focus here on the aspects of creating a character, their growth over the course of a story and also revealing them to your readers. This should be required reading for not only someone making original work, but also fanfiction. It does not matter that you are using existing characters in that case, as you ...

May 2016 patron supported

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Writing Article - Characters (pt1)

Hey everyone, here's a writing article about Characters - useful for both original work and fanfiction. Here I look into why characters act as they do, the psychology behind character - and how that should help you make your work believable.

In next month's installment I'll be looking at character creation, making a new person from scratch, how to introduce them over the length of the story (and it should be the full length) and also how to handle their growth as a character.

April 2016 patron supported

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March 2016 Patreon supported

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February 2016 patron supported

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Writing Article - Writing a Romance

Have you ever wanted to write a story or fiction piece about romance? It's one of the biggest markets, whether you're an aspiring novelist or a Fanfiction writer. There are plenty of things to remember however, and the attached goes through many of them.

This isn't an article on how to write love, or how to fall in love. But how to structure, plan and execute a romantic story. It offers real-life examples, including some of my own works you might be familiar with.

If there's any ...

Three Scoops - Smaller

A smaller version, for those having trouble loading the full one xD - definitely because I totally forgot to compress the other!!!

Three Scoops Please

It's done... oh thank the lord, it's done. This is the companion picture for the Valentines Professor Arc one-shot which will come out on the day.

Hope you all like it anyway, leave a comment if you do ;D

Milestone Reached - Sort of

Hey all, as of... well, right now, I suppose - we've reached the necessary level for the next milestone. The goals haven't updated yet, since Patreon has introduced the new "hidden real amount" thing... so my support level has reached $1000 behind the scenes.

So starting next month (March), assuming there are no big cancellations from Patreons, the update level for my works will decrease to 14 days!

What will this mean specifically?

Well... it should mean something like...

January 2016 patron supported

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December 2015 patron supported

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November 2015 patron supported

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Milestone Reached!

Wow - a great thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this milestone. Seriously, thank you all for your continued support - I certainly hope my work is keeping up to the standard I (and you) expect!

As promised a new story will be added to my rota, and as of the date of this message that will be Stress-Relief. When any other story ends, a new one will take its place. So this isn't going to be "fire and forget" - it's going to continue.

When will it be released? Obvious...

October 2015 Patreon supported

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Writing Article 3 - Story Structure Part 1

Before you even start writing your own story there's nothing more important than knowing how to structure a story. You wouldn't try to build a house without knowing how to lay foundations, and this is the same.

Here we will look at the 3-Act Structure, which is commonly used in Movies, Books and TV Screen-writing.

Structure is something many authors don't like to read about, but also something woefully lacking from most writing (especially fanfiction). A solid grasp on how i...

September 2015 Patreon supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Writing Article Two - Descriptive Writing

Hello everyone, thank you for another month of continued support - your help has enabled me to keep my update schedule regular. This Monday (7th Sept) should be Professor Arc - but in the meantime I have written up another writing article, for those who wish to test the waters of writing yourselves.

Be it fanfiction or your own original work.

This month's piece is on the importance of descriptive writing - something which can make or break your work, and it not...