This strategy can be easily adapted to other software. If you do use Scrivener, I’ve created a downloadable Scrivener template for convenience. The problem of complexity If you ever have a difficult time managing the threads of your plots and subplots, this strategy may help you. It can also help to bring lackluster characters to … Read more

For those of us exploring past, future, or speculative worlds, we often go to great lengths to avoid physical anachronisms like cell phones in the wild west, but we don’t often consider philosophical or ideological anachronisms. And yet, I find doing so gives me great insight into the human condition I may not have discovered otherwise. And more importantly, it strengthens and deepens my characters. I’ll explain why. Read more

Magic is real, and it’s created every time we make a piece of art or choose to live our lives creatively. Art and creativity are a communication between our thoughts/experiences and the deeper, less conscious, more powerful part of the mind that controls so much of our perceptions and behavior. So how can we use that magic with intent to shift our experience and to create better, more creative art? Read more

I’m going to make the case that the way you capture your ideas is just as integral to the creative process as what happens in the mind. It not only prevents forgetting great ideas, but it creates a feedback loop that leads to more great ideas. Read more

Why are people so driven to create—to leave behind something that did not exist before—an extension of the self, willed and manifested outward into the world where it can leave an imprint on the minds of others?How are people able to produce such complex and beautiful artistic creations? Why are some people considered creative geniuses while others believe themselves to be uncreative? Read more