Camp NaNoWriMo Achievement Unlocked: Night Owl Status Restored!

I take it back, NaNoWriMo.org! I’m not sure if you fixed the problem or if it fixed itself, but this time all it took was two more updates between 10PM and midnight over the past two days to get rid of that hideous mid-day flamingo and replace it with the more sensible, refined character of

I Am Not a Mid-day Flamingo!

I have a bone to pick with thee, NaNoWriMo.org. I am a night owl, not a mid-day flamingo! That isn’t even a real thing, you just made it up so that anyone who wasn’t either an early bird or a night owl wouldn’t feel left out. But that’s not what I’m here to complain about.

My Camp NaNoWriMo Project

I’ve struggled for nearly a month over what I would make my Camp NaNoWriMo project this year, assuming I’d even participate, because part of me wanted to work on the novel I’d already started and still am nowhere near finishing, and part of me wanted to leave that on the back burner and just begin

Driven by the oath. — Middle-earth Reflections

When it comes to stories by J. R. R. Tolkien, you can always rely on him in providing his readers with the most many-dimensional characters. There are rather few who are either absolutely good or absolutely evil: most individuals in the tales of Arda are rather complex and have their own — not always easy […]

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Secret Vice” and My Secret Love: Thoughts on Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins’ Critical Edition of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Language — A Pilgrim in Narnia

A Secret Vice by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 5 of 5 stars It was the fall of 2001. I was rereading The Lord of the Rings in anticipation of the film, which I was sure would be screened even in our rural, mountainside Japanese town. One afternoon, I was killing time at our church, a […]

Of god or (hu)man? — Author Scott Austin Tirrell

I’ve heard that there are two types of writers in the world. Those that map everything out and those that let the story guide them. When I was younger and king of the world, my rule transferred to my writing. I saw myself as a great architect and schemer planning the beginning, middle, and end […]

Empire — The Light is On

Searching in the fray for the story’s end, last of the leatherbound secrets burned alongside the remnants of Empire… Empire — The Light is On

Worldbuilding for Fantasy Writers and Gamemasters, Part X

THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES At the mention of the word “empire” no one would fault you if the first thing that sprang to mind was the Roman one. After all, that’s arguably the most famous empire of all, at least in the Western world. But it wasn’t the first, and it certainly wasn’t

Romanesque — The Light is On

All roads lead to Romanesque dreams… Romanesque — The Light is On

Mind Magic: Escapism, Fantasy, and why it’s the best thing mankind invented. — BookmarkedOne

By now you know I am convinced fantasy is the best and most beautiful genre of fiction in the world. But I don’t often talk about why. A while back (yes, concerts and work and university finals, I know. I’m awake now) I stumbled across Sarah Seele’s lovely post “They Found Loveliness Everywhere.” Do go […]