by E.A. Comiskey, and let me say, I was impressed. More on that in a few. To start with, E.A. Comiskey is an author that I already know fairly well from working with her in our critique group. She’s awesome to work with, and when I put out the word that I was looking for fantasy books to review for The Fantasy Nook, she asked if I’d be interested in her book, Some Monsters Never Die. Boy, am I ever glad I chose to take her up on the offer. But if you’re writing fantasy, then there’s going to be some fantastical element you need to make real to your audience. And if you want to bring fantasy to ..read more

Let me know in the comments if you prefer this format, the usual blog post, or both! If you guys have any questions for me regarding editing and formatting or even about other areas of writing and publishing, feel free to ask! I’m happy to answer the questions or to save them for my next video/post if I’m going to be discussing the topic soon anyway. . It was an overview of the most important things to do before your publication date along with some tips on them. Well, now we’re going to go through them one at a time and talk about them in more detail. Today, we’re talking about editing and fo ..read more

If you want to connect with K.M. Jenkins, you can do so at any of the following places: ! It’s on pre-order on Amazon right now, so go head on over and check that out! I’ll be putting up a book spotlight page for the first time. Since I haven’t read the book yet, I can’t really write a review, but I can spotlight the book, so you can see that . Let’s get started on the interview ..read more

Christians, if we have a wrong view of God, we end up on tenuous ground, unable to fully support our own arguments to either a world going to Hell or to other Christians who challenge us. In I Peter, God tells us through Peter that we should be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. But if we do not know the God we serve, we are in danger of being unable to give that answer to a world that needs to see it. I know that this study has definitely helped to ground me personally and to solidify why I believe what I do about God, and my hope and prayer is that it has done the same for y ..read more

I hope you’ve seen how key motivations are to your work. Even if readers don’t notice them consciously, the motivations need to be there for your story to work. Take some time to look at your characters. Are their motivations clear to you? Are they clear in the text (with the exception of any motives you’re intentionally hiding for a later reveal)? Have you made them matter enough? If the answer to those questions is no or maybe not, then you’ve got work you can do to improve the story. So do it! It will only make the story stronger. . Today’s focus will be motivation. , the male lead wants hi ..read more

Good plot, like good character, is something you must develop. It takes time and planning. Some books may require much more formal planning than others, but all will require some degree of planning or else a great deal of revision if you want your plot to shine like it can. While the effort may to some seem an unworthy use of time, I can promise you that this is an area you don’t want to skip. It’s an area that Donald Maas focuses on heavily in his book because, as a literary agent, he rejected thousands of manuscripts due to issues with plot. It pays to pay attention to and to develop soundly ..read more

If you’re looking for more detail on upping the stakes, check out Donald Maas’s , and we’re going to tie together our sub plots and upping the stakes. Often, sub plots are the result of upping the stakes. Whether you end up with a sub plot or not, however, upping the stakes will always result in more complex plots ..read more

I think that’s what we all hope! Well, thank you again for being a guest on the blog, and readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read today from Steven. If you did, be sure to check out his What is the moment you feel best illustrates the theme and why? That’s it for today, everyone. See you next time ..read more

Hi all! It's been a while since I posted an author's spotlight. Today, I have Emily Fortney with me. Emily reached out to me to see if I could do a book review. Sadly, with the chaos of my schedule, I haven't really been reviewing much in the way of fantasy since most of my ..read more

We're back with another interview this week! Two in a row because I was sick last week and ended up off schedule, but next week we should be back on track for any remaining interviews with authors in Iron Walls that haven't been spotlighted before. I'm hoping for one or two more before the release… Author’s Interview – Steven E. Scribner ..read more