I spent months looking for an artist to create the cover of my first novel, The Scorpion Game. There are lots of competent cover designers our there, but I wanted to make sure I got someone who could really deliver something unique. I settled on Beijing artist Yuehui Tang. Let me tell you, it’s not

One mistake will kill a story faster than any other: not following through.  Anything that goes into your story has to come to a satisfying conclusion.   It’s here that most authors fail, whether they’re just starting out or multi-book veterans.  This ranges from huge mistakes like failing to wrap up a major plot strand to

In life and in art there ain’t no steps you can skip.  I know because I’ve tried to skip them all at one point or another but now I know every single one of them is essential and equally important.  To get good at your craft, you’ve got hundreds of skills to learn and you

One day I woke up and I was sick of being sick.  And that one moment changed everything. Some of what I am going to tell you here will be like telling the ancient people that the world was actually round and not flat.  Just come along for a little while and listen.  See if

One of the writers in my long term writing group sent out this video of John Cleese on the 5 Steps to getting into a head space where creativity can flourish. I liked it so much that I dug up a longer version of it for you. The whole lecture was 36 minutes and there

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, some of the best story telling is happening in video games right now.  Roger Ebert continues to be an idiot for thinking that video games are not art.  It’s very simple Roger, Video games are art already.  He is basically a dinosaur from another era, who

There are millions of people who want to write.  Of course, it’s talent that often determines who makes it and who doesn’t.  Or luck.  Or both.   Sometimes people are just in the right place in the right time.  E.L. James, who wrote the publishing phenom 50 Shades of Gray, copied the right book when

The basic mechanism of character change in any story is incredibly simple.  A hero starts off with a weakness that is ruining his life and he moves to the logical opposite of that weakness.  If he’s purposeless, he gains purpose.  If he’s fearful, he becomes fearless.  If he lacks maturity, he becomes an adult.  If

If you’ve played Mass Effect 3, you know the ending has generated a lot of controversy.  No matter where you stand on the ending, one thing is for sure, Mass Effect marks the beginning of games as an art form.  How do I know?  Anything that it sparks intense and passionate debate is art, pure

I’ve started looking around for concept artists to help sketch out my universe.  It’s incredible the quality of work that’s out there.  Over the past few weeks I’ve scoured the internet high and low looking for brilliant visual designers.  Every day I continue to find more who’s work I love.  I’ll be reaching out to

My best friend and fellow internet junkie, Kevin, sent me this link to old time photos.  He is always sending stuff like this out.  I have no idea where he finds the time.  I don’t always get a chance to look at everything he sends, but I’m glad I got to see these amazing old