World Boxed: A story of sorts
The first five chapters of World Boxed is available to read on my website, now. World boxed charts the narrative in my head as I play World Box.
Tag: writing
The as-yet-unnamed novel: Progress report
I have been working on an as-yet-unnamed novel from the first draft towards readiness to seek an agent. This is not the first draft novel I have worked on but this is the one that most fully represents what I can do. Thus it will be the novel that will …
Diagrams for creating magic systems
One of the fun parts of world-building is creating a magic system. This is true for both novels and tabletop role-playing games. Why do we need magic system diagrams? Magic systems are often at their most interesting when it is clear what they cannot do rather than what they can …
It is time to level up my writing
This past long weekend, I decided it was time to level up my writing. I intend to study various forms of writing in-depth and – more importantly – how to get paid for them. I’m not talking pennies but actual my-time-is-worth-something money. I figure that while I am at it, …
Colin Blaze and the unlimited stories
I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to an “open-source character” – Colin Blaze. The Colin Blaze character and some of the others around him are designed to be used by anyone at all. Colin Blaze is a private detective cursed by a witch to have only cases …
Brexit, food, and writing to be proud of
The longer lockdown dragged on, the harder it became to write. Then I had a birthday and started a new blog. A blog all about food and my largely unhealthy relationship with it. After just a few days of couples counselling, food and I are still not talking. However, I …
Writing another 20k words by the end of the year
I got to 55,000 during NaNoWriMo. I was on target to end at 75,000 but life happened to me. Still, I have decided that December if the month of getting things finished.(You can see my progress here). My December word sprints This list does not do totals at the moment. …
Dave interviews Matt: Writing and Vlogging
In the first of several experimental videos, Dave (a friend) interviews me. whatever Dave says, I have to talk about. Why do I write? Who is my target audience? How are we vlogging? Types of writing Tense and point of view (first person, third person, and all that)
What is a sequel seed?
I would like to introduce you to the concept of the sequel seed. I am going to, very briefly, explain what a sequel seed is and how to use them. A sequel seed is something that is organically part of the story that can, in time, be nurtured into another …
Writing about writing challenge
Over in the Thanet Creative Facebook group, I have been taking challenges for topics about writing to research and write about. These challenges have all been posted on the Thanet Creative blog. In no particular order, here is what I have been writing about. Tenses and viewpoints Character and Dialogue …