June Newsletter You can give us feedback via the contact form on our website. (If you reply to this email, we might not see it.) Have a wonderful month! | |
Q&A, Storytelling, Worldbuilding, Magic By Chris Winkle on 05/31/21 Hey, Mythcreants! One of the many story ideas brewing in my head is a sort of magic system revolving entirely around good luck charms and talismans. Basically, you possess an enchanted artifact that manipulates probability in your favor, making them highly sought after by adventurers. […] Read in browser »
Analysis, Themes By Oren Ashkenazi on 05/29/21 A story’s atmosphere is its general feel, and when the atmosphere gets muddled, it can seem like you’re suddenly reading or watching an entirely different story. While a lot of factors contribute to atmosphere, two of the most important are theme and tone. When a […] Read in browser »
Storytelling, Plot By Chris Winkle on 05/28/21 A good story makes it feel like characters are on a collision course, events are coming to a head, and the story is generally on its way to a climax and resolution. We call this feeling of progress toward the finish line “movement,” or, alternatively, […] Read in browser »
Roleplaying, 5E Subclass Ranking, D&D, Roleplaying Systems By Ari Ashkenazi on 05/27/21 Last week, I ranked the artificer’s subclasses from weakest to strongest, and this week, it’s time for the barbarian. As a reminder, there are three main categories I look at as I judge the power level of each of these subclasses: combat strength, allowance for […] Read in browser »
Q&A, Worldbuilding By Chris Winkle on 05/24/21 Hi, I love your blog a lot and it has helped me immensely with my work. I have a worldbuilding question for you. I have been working on a fantasy series for a while now. And I have the basics of my world already plotted. […] Read in browser »
Analysis, Romance By Oren Ashkenazi on 05/22/21 It takes several factors to make a compelling romance, but everything starts with attraction. This is what draws the lovebirds together in the first place. If there's no attraction, then nothing else matters because the romance can't even get started. That sounds simple, but many […] Read in browser »
Writing, Wordcraft By Chris Winkle on 05/21/21 When you’re writing an exciting fight scene, the last thing you want is prose that makes it feel like a slog. Great action prose is tightly worded, uses active language, and makes events feel vivid and immediate. I’ve previously listed some principles that can help […] Read in browser »
Roleplaying, 5E Subclass Ranking, D&D, Game Mechanics By Ari Ashkenazi on 05/20/21 I’ve written a lot on how the various classes in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons compare to each other. I think it’s important for players to have accurate expectations of what their chosen class can do going into a session. Someone that picks up a […] Read in browser »
Commentary, Q&A, Disability By Fay Onyx on 05/17/21 In my fictional world, a disease (possibly affecting the nervous system) was discovered that causes various degrees of physical and mental disabilities. However, rogue scientists find out that certain patients carry no visible sign of the syndrome (they can only be detected with medical tests), […] Read in browser »
Analysis, Monsters By Oren Ashkenazi on 05/15/21 The best monsters have something fresh and interesting to offer. In other words, they’re high in novelty. Novelty not only gives a monster that wow factor but also contributes directly to spookiness. Let’s look at five monsters that gave audiences something to remember. Spoiler Notice: […] Read in browser »
Storytelling, Plot By Chris Winkle on 05/14/21 Writing dreams allows us to discard the last vestiges of reality and embrace wild surrealism, paint colorful metaphors, or explore the inner workings of our characters. Unfortunately, standard-issue dreams come with a problem: they don’t matter. Without impacting future events, they’ll feel like a tangent […] Read in browser »
Q&A, Worldbuilding, Language By Chris Winkle on 05/10/21 Hi Mythcreants, thanks for taking my question! I was wondering about fantasy naming conventions. Are there any specific things to avoid/emulate while creating names in fantasy cultures? -Evan Hi Evan, Great question. What to aim for and what to avoid depends on what approach you’d […] Read in browser »
Analysis, Technology By Oren Ashkenazi on 05/08/21 Mythcreants is about serious story analysis, drilling down to the core issues of plot and character. But not today. Today, it's time to laugh at some extremely bad technobabble. And since our readers are no doubt connoisseurs of weird scifi tech, I knew that no […] Read in browser »
Storytelling, Plot, Story Plotting 101 By Chris Winkle on 05/07/21 In 2014, I was researching best practices for writing scenes when I noticed something: they looked an awful lot like the best practices for a whole novel. The concepts were the same; they’d just been given different names. I wrote an article declaring plots were […] Read in browser »
Q&A, Zombies By Oren Ashkenazi on 05/03/21 Hi Mythcreants, After reading “Establishing Important characters”, I have a question. My work is a zombie apocalypse series and has one protagonist. In each book, I introduce some important characters assisting the protagonist. However, they are total strangers the protagonist hasn’t known before, many of […] Read in browser »
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