(I know this one was supposed to be a treatise, but I figured this would be a more dynamic way of providing the same information)
2023-02-08 03:11:13 +0000 UTC View PostPlease choose one topic from each of the lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on January 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month only, unless they are suggested again for March.
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2023-01-08 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostNot every good story needs an antagonist, but most do. So long as the story itself has an protagonist whom the audience is supposed to relate to or empathise with, and a goal which that protagonist wants to achieve, that narrative also needs something which prevents the protagonist from achieving that goal, something which the protagonist overcomes, and by doing so changes - either as a character, or in the reader's perception, or both. This is the basis of what some of you might recognise as...
2023-01-06 19:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on December 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month only, unless they are suggested again for next F...
2022-12-08 07:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostThere are obviously many ways to categorise the history of battle: in the identities of the dominant powers of a given time or region, in the type of weapons used, of the sort of tactics, strategies, and so on. Add to that the fact that these immediate factors are determined by the nature of the societies which the combatants come from, and we can also add factors like dominant political or religious systems, class structure, gender politics, division of labour, industrial technology, and a h...
2022-12-08 07:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on November 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month only, unless they are suggested again for next J...
2022-11-10 05:46:30 +0000 UTC View PostSo, now we've set up the conditions for your battle, gathered the armies, plotted their lines of march, determined their campaign objectives, and put them on a collision course with each other, it's time actually write the fighting, right?
Well, not quite.
Before we do that, we have to dip back out into what might be called 'Operational Planning' in the context of military theory. This time, however, we won't be thinking as military planners, but as writers. Just as commanders hav...
2022-11-10 05:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSorry this month's updates took a bit longer than expected. It's been a tough week here. However, I did get this month's articles done within a reasonable time frame, and things should be cleared up for next month.
Now, without further delay, the voting post for November's articles:
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting wi...
2022-10-10 06:58:09 +0000 UTC View PostSo far, we've talked quite a bit about writing fight scenes. However, there's a certain and rather considerable difference between writing a one-on-one fight or a limited brawl and writing mass combat between two armies or other large groups of belligerents. Naturally, this is something I'm rather familiar with. It's probably the case that most of the fights I write are mass combat rather than single combat, whether that be a cavalry skirmish, or a "set-piece" battle, between two armies who'v...
2022-10-10 05:59:15 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the voting post for October's articles.
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on September 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month on...
2022-09-08 17:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostNot every story needs fight scenes, but a lot of them do, and for good reason. After all, a fight is one of the most direct and efficient expressions of external conflict which any narrative medium allows. It is an almost pure expression of a conflict between one character, faction, or concept against another, whether they be equipped with swords, guns, giant robots, armies, fleets, magic - or nothing more than words, will, and their bare hands. Every writer should at least know the basics of...
2022-09-07 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the voting post for September's articles.
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on August 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month onl...
2022-08-07 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSo, you've put together your setting. You've assembled your institutions, defined your classes, and figured out how they relate to each other. You've got yourself a religion (or multiple religions), an economic system, and even a military structure. You have, by every definition, put together a three-dimensional, internally consistent, and functioning fictional society.
Only one problem.
How do you introduce that society to your audience?
If there is one thing never to forge...
2022-08-07 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the voting post for August's articles.
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below. Voting will end at 11:59 PM PST on July 21st.
Topics marked with the asterisk (*) have been chosen by backers at the $10-a-month tier. They will be available for voting this month only 2022-07-08 07:10:18 +0000 UTC View Post
This month, I'll be handling something that's sort of a continuation of both the subjects I've talked about before. Going forward from last month, I'll be continuing to talk about how worldbuilding ought to be used in storytelling - but I'll be focusing in particular on the subject of the worldbuilding we discussed as the topic of the month before that, namely that of a fictional society's military, although a lot of what I'm about to talk about could just as easily apply to some extent or an...
2022-07-07 17:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostThis is the voting post for July's articles.
Please choose one topic from each of the three lists below, and reply with the respective letter and number of your two chosen topics in the comments below.
Because of the delays caused by my hard drive failing, I'm going to move the deadline for the end of voting back a few days to make sure everyone who wants a say can get one. This month, voting ends at 11:59 PM PST on ...
2022-06-11 07:15:45 +0000 UTC View Post
