Paper Gets Lunch
Paper stood on the monastery balcony and raised his arms. The skin folded against his sides billowed out into a photon sail. Small freckles of green grew and darkened. He ran across the marble tiles, spinning and laughing, in the…
A Gem Mine
“Paper, put down the launcher. He’s legit.” The wyvern snorted and let out a belch of smoke and flame. Rodrigo laughed. “She’s probably been holding that since you guys showed up.” Penn didn’t laugh. “We need to figure out what’s…
Writing
The stars faded as I turned from the gravel lane in towards the house. Brown faded grass stalks glowed in the late August sunrise. It was going to be a cooker today. Ravens already strutted in the water spilling from…
Bit of Luck
Penn’s footsteps echoed on the old boardwalk. The wake of a passing boat sloshed water over his memories, all along the canal. Years had passed since he’d been on Rigel 4 with Sharon. She’d been one of the best things…
Penn Buys a Space Lizard Hide
Hobbling down the Antonia’s ramp, Penn’s eyes widened in the early morning darkness. His leg wrapped in a force field that protected the burns he’d gotten in the exit fight on Sirius station. Lights glowed on an empty landing pad…
A tale of an AI Controlled Guard Unit
Fourth Paw settled down in the sniper’s nest on top of Automated Guard Unit Nine. Fourth and Nine depended on each other. Fourth had gone feral due to her small size and being the bottom of the pecking order of…
Themes and Motifs
I didn’t think about what themes and motifs meant to a novel until recently. When I did put some thought into them, I realized that some of what my work needed was a consistent: “what is my book about?” When…
Micro Stories To Develop Novel Scenes
Thanks to writing micro stories for The SciFi Roundtable, I discovered writing them when working on a novel scene works. It allows me to try out different moods, settings, character and theme development, tone, and plot work in just a…
Vogler’s “A Writer’s Journey”
It has taken me over a month to re-read his book. Taking extensive notes, re-reading as I go. He has spent a lot of time studying storytelling. The pages are crammed with useful insights and information. Being old, it requires…
What Pen to Use?
The last couple months, I have been handwriting six or seven pages a day. Laying out characters, the world, plot, theme, etc. for a new book. Or taking notes from websites like Reedsy and novel-writing-help or from books like Vogler’s…