So the New Year is in, and it’s time to get on with hitting those goals. What are mine? In writing it is to draft, edit, and publish The Killer and The Dead by the end of October. That’s a tough, but doable ask. I stand in awe of folks who boldly declare they will …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Juggling Workload, the Dizzying Kaleidoscope
This is a special New Year for me. There is something genuinely, thrillingly new for me to celebrate in my writing life. This is the first year I don’t have to wearily resolve to get published. The first year I don’t have to make that resolution as shadows of doubt inhabit my mind, knowing how …
In earlier episodes of this series I described what aiming high means for me, why missing isn’t failure, and why I think as any kind of artist it is beneficial to strive for more and push your own personal envelope, no matter what medium you work in. Go creatives! These things are all well and …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Aiming High Part 4 – What if Nobody Notices?
This is no time for analysis. I ate too much stuffing to be capable of it. I write Fantasy because I love it. Why else? If any of you out there have particular questions about Fantasy, or my approach to the subject, or want to see future columns dedicated to particular aspects of fantasy writing, …
Last week I discussed the allure of creating worlds, the joy of it often being in the freedom it grants you as a writer to shape the drama of your story from the ground up, and have the universe in which your narrative takes place become, in a sense, an active character in that story. …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: Ideas, Imagination and the Power of “What if?”
But not with disco Donna Summer. Or prog Rush. Or ska The Selecter. Or 80s dance Taffy. Or hairmetal-tacular Autograph (sponsored by Papermate, it seemed!). Though all of that music is fantastic, you will have to make do with the sound of my voice. Listen... and remember... buy my book. And post a review after …
Writing fantasy fiction is a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed it because you get to imagine anything you want, and then find ways to make it work. I mean, a lot of the time it would be much easier to not bother with the making it work part and just throw stuff on the …
Continue reading Why I Write Fantasy: The Joy of Creating Worlds
Radio Ga Ga! I am excited to share the news that I will be doing my first ever radio interview! My thanks to KYGT- The Goat for this opportunity! I'll be sitting down with Jerry Fabyanic, author of Sisyphus Wins and host of The Rabbit Hole, an hour long chat on all things word related, …
When first I wrote fantasy, I yearned for escape, to be lost in worlds of fantasy myself, away from what I perceived as the misery of my own existence at that time. Then I wrote because I yearned to write as well as my heroes, to be my heroes, use their ideas, their motifs, and …
So in this series I’ve described what aiming high means for me, and why I believe that missing the target I set myself (or yourself) isn’t failure. In aiming high, I’m also setting myself challenges in order to improve as a writer. This seems insane, because writing is tough enough on its own, and it …
Continue reading The Writing Life: Aiming High Part 3 – Striving for More
Roderick T. Macdonald 