Author Archives: J. S. Allen

Plans for April

March was a fine month. Certainly better than February, and possibly more productive than January. In it, I continued my ongoing rough draft, reviewed a couple more novels from my main series, and finished some interior illustrations for my anthology coming later this spring. I also found out that I had an article published backContinue reading “Plans for April”

World Building

The most important aspect of any book next to character is setting, for without it there would be no context for the story to exist. I would go so far as to say anywhere from one third to half of any story has to do with establishing the surroundings in which the action can unfold,Continue reading “World Building”

The Worst of the Worst: Making Believable Antagonists

Continuing from last week’s post on creating good characters, I will now give a look at how best to portray those characters who are often far more interesting: the baddies. For the most part, the same rules apply to making good bad guys as making good good guys: show rather than tell, make his/her problemContinue reading “The Worst of the Worst: Making Believable Antagonists”

The Best of the Best: Making Believable Protagonists

While not all protagonists are good, it’s true, they are nevertheless an essential ingredient to any story (with a few abstract exceptions). It might seem easy to make a lead character who is generally likeable, and for some it is. But for others, creating a character out of thin air who is both interesting andContinue reading “The Best of the Best: Making Believable Protagonists”

Plans for March

February was not all it could have been. The last week in particular had a lot going on (hence the lack of any substantial posts). However, progress was made on one rough draft and the first two books of my series have been reviewed as hoped. Yet another poem was accepted for publication by TheContinue reading “Plans for March”

Some Latin Literary Phrases

After a month of rather serious subjects, I thought I’d make a lighter post about some common Latin phrases used in writing today, as well as what they mean (courtesy of Latin Made Simple by Doug Julius 🙂 . So, without further fuss, here they are:

Plans for February

January was a very busy month, if majorly disappointing in some ways. Nevertheless, I managed to make some progress on several fronts. There was a good deal of revising and reworking passages for my main series, as well as for the second installment of the Sauragia series that I hope to release this summer. Additionally,Continue reading “Plans for February”

Review: ‘Castaways of the Flying Dutchman’ by Brian Jacques

As most of you know, I am a major admirer of the literary work of Brian Jacques (see my previous post on the Redwall series here). His writing has been a source of amusement as well as inspiration for me since the age of 18. I recently read through the Castaways of the Flying DutchmanContinue reading “Review: ‘Castaways of the Flying Dutchman’ by Brian Jacques”