Author: elleoaksco
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Magic Systems: Ideas for your next Fantasy World
Magic systems are the ultimate tool to conflict and worldbuilding in any fantasy realm. Magic can add a layer of mystery or be the greatest point of tension and raising the stakes. Whether writing a fantasy novel or embarking on a new campaign in the roleplaying world, knowing and understanding the magic system will be…
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Self-Publishing on Draft2Digital: Checklist for Your Book
Collecting all the info and metadata for your book can take time. As if writing the book wasn’t enough, you’ll need to write a blurb, find keywords, and collect other info needed by the distribution site of your choice before you can finally hit publish. To make it easier, we’ve collected all the info you…
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How Much Conflict Should My Story Have? A Writer’s Guide to Conflict
Conflict. It’s what drives the plot, the characters, it gives the story meaning. But how do you determine if you have enough conflict? Focusing on one conflict makes the story one-dimensional. But when you throw in too many conflicts, well now you’ve got a mess to sort through. Let’s take a look at how to…
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Reasons You Should (or Shouldn’t) Self-Publish Your Book
The decision to self-publish is about much more than being a writer. When you decide to self-publish, you are embarking as an entrepreneur, starting a business, committing to learn much more than simply writing a book. To help decide if self-publishing is right for you, I’ve put together a list of the pros and cons…
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Flash Fiction Fixin’: The Choice is Mine
Hello, all! Today I share with you a piece of flash fiction I wrote for a Creative Writing class almost a decade ago! (How time flies!) Take a read through and in our next post, I will detail what I would do differently as a writer with more experience. It’s normal for old writings to…
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Distractions: How NOT to Pull Your Reader from the Story
When an audience says they couldn’t get through a story, what do they mean? In fantasy and sci-fi, a reader should and will understand that it is a work of fiction. They will suspend disbelief. So, what is it that pull them from the story? We’ll go over some examples of distractions for readers and…
