Analysis
The best monsters have something fresh and interesting to offer. In other words, they’re high in novelty. Novelty not only gives a monster that wow factor but also contributes directly to spookiness. Let’s look at five monsters that gave audiences something to remember.
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Storytelling
Writing dreams allows us to discard the last vestiges of reality and embrace wild surrealism, paint colorful metaphors, or explore the inner workings of our characters. Unfortunately, standard-issue dreams come with a problem: they don’t matter. Without impacting future events, they’ll feel like a tangent … read more »
Q&A
Hi Mythcreants, thanks for taking my question! I was wondering about fantasy naming conventions. Are there any specific things to avoid/emulate while creating names in fantasy cultures? -Evan Read more »
Podcast
Parents: Most people have them, but they really get in the way when your underaged hero wants to have dangerous adventures and save the day. Perhaps the parents should just be dead? That’s certainly an option, but there are others, we promise! If handled correctly, … read more »
Analysis
Mythcreants is about serious story analysis, drilling down to the core issues of plot and character. But not today. Today, it’s time to laugh at some extremely bad technobabble. And since our readers are no doubt connoisseurs of weird scifi tech, I knew that no … read more »
Storytelling
In 2014, I was researching best practices for writing scenes when I noticed something: they looked an awful lot like the best practices for a whole novel. The concepts were the same; they’d just been given different names. I wrote an article declaring plots were … read more »
Comics: Once Upon a Trope
The only way to find clues in a photo. Read more »
Q&A
Hi Mythcreants, After reading “Establishing Important characters”, I have a question. My work is a zombie apocalypse series and has one protagonist. In each book, I introduce some important characters assisting the protagonist. However, they are total strangers the protagonist hasn’t known before, many of … read more »
Podcast
Last week, we discussed the line that opens your story. Now, we’re talking about the line that ends it. Even the best story must reach its final page eventually, and it’s important to know what that last line is even for. Should it wrap up … read more »
Worldbuilding
Arr me hearties, climb aboard this here pirate spaceship and prepare to have yer buckles thoroughly swashed! Today we’re taking a deep dive into the worldbuilding of Revenger, a space opera novel by Alistair Reynolds. Don’t worry, I promise there won’t be any more attempts … read more »
