III. How it will be solved or what is learned. Now that we have our characters in the heat of the moment, at the end of their ropes, stuck between a rock and a hard place (no more clichés, Jill!), we need to bring them through it using their own wisdom. No fair bringing in… Continue Reading
The Offering Altar and Platform in Barthos’ Temple
Ideas are everywhere. I came up with the idea for this contraption on one of our long car drives through Eastern Oregon. I was thinking about book two and what horrors might befall poor Achan in Darkness. We drove past some of those huge, metal pylons that support electricity conductors. I got thinking of stories when a… Continue Reading
Medieval Facts: Lighting, part three: Oil Lamps
We are spoiled. Electricity is an amazing convenience. People have lived without it since God created the earth until Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879. Before then, oil lamps were the main source of light at night or in dark buildings. People had plenty of light because fuel was abundant. Oil lamps were… Continue Reading
2010 Christy Award Nominees Announced
Did you see? Scroll down to the visionary category. Yay! By Darkness Hid is a finalist for the Christy Award! How cool is that? I’m also totally excited for my friend Christina Berry’s nomination in the First novel category and for Andrew Peterson’s nomination for North! or Be Eaten. I LOVE that book. It’s wonderful. Click… Continue Reading
Q & A: Do Authors Make Money?
Ellie asked: Will publishers actually publish your stories/ books/ novels to where they’ll sell and you can make money? Also, what percent of the book’s earnings do you get usually? I was guessing around 3% minimum and 6% maximum if you were really lucky. This is a great questions, Ellie. Most magazines will pay a flat… Continue Reading
Dreams Sometimes Change…
…and that can be a very good thing. In my novel, By Darkness Hid, Achan Cham is a stray. This social rank is lower than a slave, because a slave at least had one parent claim him. Strays are the lowest of all and branded as such by their owners. But Achan dreams of a… Continue Reading
VOYA NAMES BY DARKNESS HID, A BEST OF 2009 TITLE
VOYA magazine placed named By Darkness Hid on their list of Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Novels of 2009. (Click on this link to see the full article from the magazine.) Some of the other titles on the list were Peter and the Sword of Mercy by Dave Barry, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins,… Continue Reading
My Visit to Alaska Public Schools
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting several schools in Alaska and speaking about being a writer. Monday, I visited Houston High School. This was interesting since I graduated from Houston in 1993, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the school was a junior/senior high school. So this facility was new to me. … Continue Reading
HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY, PART 2
II. The Struggle Now that you know who your character is and what problem he or she is faced with, it’s time to escalate things. Why is this problem difficult for your character and how will they tackle it? Let’s go back to our examples. Basketball boy: Our hero needs an A and he has… Continue Reading
HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY, PART 1
Magazines pay well for good fiction stories, but writing a short story is harder than it looks. Short stories range from 800 to 2000 words in length, which is anywhere from four to ten double-spaced pages. This gives you very little room to create interesting characters, a fascinating plot, and tie it all up at… Continue Reading
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Review by Jill Williamson Ponyboy Curtis lives a different kind of life. It’s 1967 and he lives with his brothers on the poor side of town. This makes him a Greaser by default. Ponyboy doesn’t mind being a Greaser, until the Socials jump him one day. Thankfully his brothers come to the rescue and… Continue Reading
To Darkness Fled is now up for sale!
The fourth list is out! Three new Marcher Lord Press novels released today, incuding my second novel, To Darkness Fled (Blood of Kings, book 2). All three 4th release novels are sequels. To Darkness Fled is the second book in my Blood of Kings trilogy. Steve Rzasa’s The Word Unleashed is the concluding story from The… Continue Reading