Okay, picture the scene. It’s the weekend, you’re a hot guy. You walk into a bar and spot the woman of your dreams, so you make eye contact, she smiles back.
She’s interested!
You buy her a drink and sit down beside her. Then what? You smile at her, then smile at her some more and wait [...]

You think you know what I’m going to say about show and tell, don’t you? You think I’m going to say that you should always,  show and never tell, huh?
Well, I’m not. I’m of an age where I no longer have to believe everything my teachers tell me. I’ve been in Language Arts classes since [...]

To be fair, there are more than three way a person can improve both writing and role-playing. There’s being creative, consistent, concise, captivating, communal, or concrete. Heck, we could write whole books about how to be a great role-player and still leave oceans of awesomeness untouched.
But let’s start simple. Here are three ways to be [...]

A recent post on building suspense mentions ‘hooks’. That means writers need to set bait on a tantalizing tidbit, toss it out and snag the reader or the player’s attention.
A good hook is hard to resist. Before you know it, your rod bends and you’ve got a live one! But how do you know which [...]

I’m sure you’ve seen dozens of posts on how to be a better creative writer and finding the motivation to write. They usually give tips on creating a nice writing environment, what kind of music helps thoughts to flow, hints about where to visit to get an inspiring break, like an outdoor café, a walk [...]

How do you keep a reader in suspense?
I could be mean and leave this post at that question just to illustrate my point, but that wouldn’t make for interesting reading, now would it?
Suspense is all about building anticipation. That anticipation keeps your readers turning pages or stuck on the page, and anticipation keeps readers coming [...]

Write what you know is one of my mantras. I tell this to new writers and gamers all the time. First-hand experience of an event or a particular local makes your fiction writing work come alive with detail.
But what if you have a character so unlike you that you’ve never experienced half the things your [...]

‘Write what you know’ is a phrase often heard within creative writing circles and it’s a almost a cliché. There is good reason for the saying, though, and within gaming and role-playing, writing what you know provides one of the keys that let you add depth to your storylines and characters.
No Golden Shovel Awards
You [...]

Names have magic. Some primitive cultures believed that to give your name was to give another person power over you. And tales mention that if you ever meet a demon, you should try calling it by it’s true name and see what happens.
I believe names do have power. If chosen correctly, names help define your [...]

Let’s take a break from the world of role-playing and look at the other driving force behind this blog: creative writing.
It’s hard for some to get into the mood for writing. We have plenty of excuses for that lack of inspiration. The laundry needs to be washed, the house is dirty, the desk is cluttered, [...]