Category: On Writing

The first stranger is set to read my book…in the words of a famous meme from YouTube: Finis this real life? I have one more before my editor reads my book. One more week until a complete stranger reads my first novel. Could this really be happening? “Well yeah...

TLDR version? I was created to do so (If you have not read my Mea Culpa identity blog, click here https://ericwsparks.com/mea-culpa/ to do so). This is simply what I was born to do. I do not mean this is necessarily how I’m destined to make my living (though it would...

So, I wanted to make a blog about why I write. But I realized you needed me to be more candid about my identity before you could understand both how this affects, and how it doesn’t affect, my writing. I’m a Christian. More specifically, I’m a devout Christian that...

I have just finished reading Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper for the first time. I loved every minute of it. Never mind that it is a “children’s story.” As CS Lewis noted, “When I was ten I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed...

As someone who wrote multiple short stories, I had a huge learning curve when it came to my first novel. Last week, I wrote about the need to make sure you have a key component of your world set up before you write that amazing Fantasy novel. This week,...

Quick Q&A: “Star Rating” – I don’t do that. It’s not fair to readers or writers. I could give both Homer’s The Odyssey and Adam’s The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 5 stars – but that doesn’t mean they are equal, and it’s very possible to enjoy one and...

It’s a forgone conclusion that if you’re going to create your own Fantasy world, you are going to have some form of magic. Like Samwise Gamgee, we long to see the beautiful and strange; it’s a huge lure that draws us to these fantastic worlds. But you must also...

The denouement is the second most challenging part of the plot to write – occasionally maybe even surpassing what is typically the most challenging part: a well-earned climax. Basically, you have two seemingly conflicting goals. You must: A) Wrap up the remaining storylines in an engaging and satisfying manner....

Does Art imitate Life or does Life imitate Art? Like Yin and Yang or Twin Serpents eating each other’s tails, literature and life share an ambiguous push/pull relationship. But, interestingly, society seems to have this idea that all writers are recluses who shun the world. A mystical figure that...