Sep 15, 2014 | Character Development, Imagination & Creativity, Organic writing, Plot Development, Story Concepts, World-Building, writing |
Think of writing like sailing a massive ship. There are an enormous number of mechanical actions that synergistically combine to keep the ship plowing forward through the waves. It behooves you, as the captain of the vessel, to have an understanding of all of those...
Jul 28, 2014 | Book Three, Imagination & Creativity, Philosophy, Plot Development, World-Building, Writer's Block, writing |
There’s something known as writing yourself into a corner. This phrase might be used to describe any number of authorial ailments, from the scene that mystifyingly “doesn’t work,” to the sinking realization—many chapters in—that your entire plot resolution hinges on...
Jul 13, 2012 | fantasy, Indie Publishing, writing |
I was recently interviewed by Lela Michael for Self-Publishing Review on the use of languages in fantasy. Interview: Fantasy Author Melissa McPhail on the Use of Languages SELF-PUBLISHING REVIEW: In my SPR review of Cephrael’s Hand, Book One in your series, I...
Jun 27, 2012 | Character Development, fantasy, Story Concepts, writing |
I’m still on this subject of character development. It’s a hot topic among fiction writers—or at least among bloggers, who seem to think it’s a hot topic among fiction writers. In any event, all of the recent posts flying about the blogosphere on the subject have...
Jun 4, 2012 | fantasy, Plot Development, writing |
Do you ever feel caught out of time? I had a day recently where I felt I’d skipped out of the time stream followed by the rest of the world. Like the needle on a record player suddenly dislodged backwards, I wound up running eleven minutes behind everyone else. I...
