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Graduating YA – A collaborative series

Graduating YA – A collaborative series

Posted on by R.M. Archer

Hello! Today I’m back with another Realm Makers-inspired post, and this one is going to be a collaborative series! Stay tuned to the end to check out the other contributors’ posts.

The idea of this series is thanks to Shannon Dittemore (who is absolutely lovely, by the way). She was curious about how writing develops for authors who start writing young and default to YA when they’re getting started, whether they stick to YA or “graduate” to older audiences (“graduate” is my word, not hers). This made me think, which then made me want to explore the idea and see what other authors said! So here are some of my thoughts on how my writing has changed or stayed the same as I’ve gotten into my twenties, and the other contributing authors will be sharing their thoughts in their own posts!

The Journey

I started writing when I was around seven years old, so I started writing YA from the perspective of Continue reading “Graduating YA – A collaborative series” →

Revisiting Old Drafts: The Fairy Elves

Revisiting Old Drafts: The Fairy Elves

Posted on by R.M. Archer

Today I want to do something different, just because I thought it would be fun. I was recently reading through an old (as in… decade-old) draft to pick out what was salvageable. It had some worldbuilding gems… and also some hilariously awful lines. So today I’m going to share the highlights with you so that you can laugh at my younger self with me and get a sneak peek at some things that might show up in later projects. Sound fun? Here we go.

Introductory notes

I did not divide this book into chapters, so it’s one 30,000-word chunk. Yes, this does make it hard to follow. No, apparently I didn’t care.

It’s also very obvious from the entire first portion of this book (maybe the first 50 pages? again, no chapter breaks) that I loved Continue reading “Revisiting Old Drafts: The Fairy Elves” →

Book Review: World-Building from the Inside Out by Janeen Ippolito

Book Review: World-Building from the Inside Out by Janeen Ippolito

Posted on by R.M. Archer

There are a few reasons I don’t usually review craft books: 1) I don’t read that many, 2) I don’t feel equipped to review most of them, and 3) I’m more likely to lump them into a resource round-up and have a brief summary that contains most of my opinions on them and thus not feel like a full review is necessary. But this one is a worldbuilding book, so I feel equipped to comment on it, and I have enough thoughts to fill out a review (plus, I’m not doing another round-up any time soon).

This book has been on my TBR/wishlist for years, and what finally prompted me to pick it up was research into comparative titles for my own worldbuilding book. It’s really hard to find worldbuilding books that are really focused on the worldbuilding craft rather than being some sort of workbook, but this one is, so that was point 1 in its favor. Point 2 was reading the introduction and finding the premise focused around “cultural worldview” (which was actually in bold)! So I grabbed a copy for research. I will acknowledge upfront that the nature of my reasons for reading the book make it hard not to think about it in terms of comparisons between this book and mine, but I’ll do my best to be fair in my assessment.

What is World-Building from the Inside Out about?

Go to the heart of your world and build it well!

Memorable world-building enhances story, attracts readership, and sells books! Find the core of your science fiction or fantasy people and instill your narrative with universal themes and concepts derived from real-world cultures.

-Explore different religions and governments with concise entries that include ideas for plot and character development
-Develop key aspects of your society without getting caught up in unnecessary details
-Learn how the deeper effects of appearance and location can enhance your narrative

World-Building From the Inside Out challenges you to go deep and build fantastical worlds that truly bring your story to life!

Note: Janeen will be revising and re-releasing this book soon, so the new edition will likely be much stronger and the weaknesses I addressed here may be addressed in the revision.

The first thing that stood out to me about this book Continue reading “Book Review: World-Building from the Inside Out by Janeen Ippolito” →

5 Tips for Developing Character Quirks

5 Tips for Developing Character Quirks

Posted on by R.M. Archer
This post was adapted from an Instagram post I made all the way back in 2022. I find myself pointing people to it over and over, so I thought it was high time to adapt it into a blog post for easier reference–and expand it for the new format!

One of my most popular blog posts is about five details that help bring characters to life. The first item on that list is character quirks, which I wasn’t very good at when I first wrote that post. While I’m still not a character quirk expert, I have learned a lot over my past couple of WIPs. Hopefully some of these tips and tricks I’ve learned will help you too!

First, let me define Continue reading “5 Tips for Developing Character Quirks” →