What is a Beta Reader and Why Should You Have One on Your Team? A beta reader tends to be a fan of the author's works without any formal editor training. They read through an author's manuscript in order to spot plot inconsistencies, loopholes and bits and pieces that don't mesh with the author's style and story...

Here's the thing about fantasy characters Fantasy characters can get a bit stale after a while, just like any genre - without variety, the whole thing becomes predictable and a tad boring. While some of the clichés I mention below tend to apply often in fantasy, it is rare (but not impossible) for all five of...

You've written the next great novel and you're ready to receive your accolades. But should you go the traditional route, or should you self publish? 'To self publish, or not to -' Ack, what a mouthful. Nevermind that. You're here to determine how to go about getting your masterful piece of writing out into the...

My Top Five Cliché Female Character Traits Every famous story, ever, has been 'flattered' by publishing houses commanding loose adaptations of the story to give the readers what they want. Vampires and werewolves took over a couple of years ago. Dystopians were next. Then re-told fairy stories. Now we're heading into super power comic book...

What would you do if you found a magical object with mysterious powers? When Merry discovers a beautiful locket in Wave Singers, inlaid with a swirling shell, she doesn't realise that her life is about to change forever. What would you do if you found a magical object? Would you seek to return it to it's...

When creative writing, we could all use a couple of writing tips from time to time... Words. Beautiful, frustrating, incredible, dynamic words. Sometimes, they can be tricky to get out in an understandable manner, especially when you're on a deadline. Whether you just feel a bit blocked or you're deep in the wilds of procrastination-land, my...

First things first, before we get into Cerean Funerals - Google 'mourning veils' and see if you don't creep yourself right out immediately. *Shudder* So, every horror movie ever made notwithstanding, let's ignore the possible terror connotations of the mourning veil in the featured image and instead think of why one would wish to even...

Much like I put together some of my favourite female heroines, now is the time for the male characters Male Characters in Fantasy books often fall into one of two camps; either they are princes, honourable beyond belief (often to the wrong person), or they are perceived as 'paupers', yet to take up their foreordained...

What happens when a mermaid dies? Is there a mermaid funeral? In popular literature, the original Little Mermaid redeems her soulless self by joining the air nymphs and beginning a journey that could one day allow her to reincarnate as a being with a soul. The rest of her mermaid kind is doomed to long...

Do you love elemental magic? Fancy getting started on the Equilibria Series but unsure of where to start? That's fair enough - as standalone books, each adventure ties together but begins in completely different places. So I've created a handy quiz to determine which of my characters you can identify with the most, to help lead...

Deadlines? Why worry about those when you can follow my procrastination tips and successfully avoid all semblance of work for another day (at least)? I'm in the middle of writing my fifth book, as yet unnamed (although I have ideas...) and I'm behind. The late summer due date is looking very close for the amount...

Evil Villains are everywhere in fantasy fiction, waiting to trip up the hero and bring the world crashing down around them... I've compiled a short top 5 list to highlight a couple of evil villains that pop to mind, only omitting the obvious ones - He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and Sauron, among others - to avoid listy repetitions. Red Queen The Red...

Here's My Top 5 Awesome Magical Powers 1. Teleportation Clearly an amazing skill to have, if I could blink and spend the afternoon sunning myself on a Caribbean beach and still be home in time for tea sans airfare, I'd clearly be winning at life. The only teleporter that comes to mind right now is Kurt in X-Men and...

Fantasy Clichés are there for a reason. Great books were written. Readers took them to heart. Publishers decided to provide more of the good stuff. Eventually, copycat styles flood the market. The tropes written about become fantasy clichés. Now, I'm not saying the points below are bad. But sometimes, when they all come together at...

Nicely lining up with International Women's Day, I'd put a post together about my top five female fantasy characters. It was hard to narrow the list down as so many ladies get the awesome treatment in fantasy, but here are a couple of enduring favourites as well as a few stars from more recent...