Celebrate Your Success Celebrate Your Success By Megan Cutler | October 19, 2015 | Comments 1 comment The life of a writer is not for the faint of heart. Every profession has its up and downs but, I think, those related to artistic professions are particularly poignant. I’ve never met another writer who didn’t question if they should give up. I’ve never met another writer that claimed with absolute confidence their work … Read More Read More
SFFS – A Touch of Magic SFFS – A Touch of Magic By Megan Cutler | October 17, 2015 | Comments 13 comments My excerpt this week comes from Island of Lost Forevers, the first book in the Mystic Island Trilogy. Breathing deep to steady his nerves, Damian lowered his defenses. He couldn’t sense emotional echoes the way Catilen did, but he had other ways of tracking people. Everyone left a distinctive energy signature. With a bit of … Read More Read More
Getting Dressed Getting Dressed By Megan Cutler | October 16, 2015 | Comments 1 comment This is what it looks like when a princess rebels. Every dress I own was strewn across my bed, a tangle of silk and sequence. The high-necked navy and turquoise dress with the peacock feather train. The form-fitting emerald dress with silver ivy brocade. There were splashes of ruby silk and velvet black dotted with … Read More Read More
Getting Inside a Character’s Head – Part 2: Answers with Domerin Getting Inside a Character’s Head – Part 2: Answers with Domerin By Megan Cutler | October 12, 2015 | Comments 2 comments When I wrote a few weeks ago about exercises for getting into a character’s head, I flashed back to my old Livejournal days. There, I answered many a questionnaire about my characters. I thought it might be fun to do it again. So I’ve used my own exercises (in brief) with one of my favourite … Read More Read More
That’s Gonna Leave a Mark That’s Gonna Leave a Mark By Megan Cutler | October 9, 2015 | Comments 1 comment The trick to leaving your mark is to start early, her father’s words rang in her ears as she stood just outside the testing chamber. Start the moment you walk through the first door. Grab their attention. She didn’t know how she was going to manage that. Her father’s method had most likely involved vast … Read More Read More
We have Something in Common We have Something in Common By Megan Cutler | October 2, 2015 | Comments 1 comment Despite the incessant ding of the open elevator doors indicating he had reached his destination, Domerin Lorcasf lingered in the small metallic chamber with his arms crossed over his chest. “Good morning, Argus,” he called to the empty air. “How are you?” “Greetings, Commander Lorcasf,” the monotone voice sounded all around him. Somehow, it always … Read More Read More
Letting Go Letting Go By Megan Cutler | September 28, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment I often have strange, vivid dreams. I’ve long made practice of journaling my dreams, which encourages you to remember dreams more frequently. I have always used this to farm story ideas. Sometimes, my brain provides other nuggets of wisdom. I have a reoccurring dream that I get angry. I don’t mean normal, every day angry … Read More Read More
Committing a Crime Committing a Crime By Megan Cutler | September 25, 2015 | Comments 1 comment He had always been light on his feet. It was how he got the name; Silkfoot. He often boasted he could prance across a cloud. If he was wrong, no one would ever be able to prove it. A quick glance across the room confirmed his lumbering partner moving with the same silence, if not … Read More Read More
Getting Inside a Character’s Head – Part 1: Questions Getting Inside a Character’s Head – Part 1: Questions By Megan Cutler | September 21, 2015 | Comments 1 comment Characters are central to any story. If your characters aren’t interesting, no one’s going to spend 100+ pages reading about them. Interesting characters are three-dimensional; there’s more to them than their appearance and motivation. Just as your world should have pieces that move unseen in the background while your characters are elsewhere, every character should … Read More Read More
Obsession Obsession By Megan Cutler | September 18, 2015 | Comments 3 comments How do I make a man like the archmage love me? He is surrounded every day by beauty and power. He is inundated with it, steeped in it. And I am so ordinary. A skilled warrior, yes, but in an army of the elite. If it were simply a matter of skill, of proving my … Read More Read More