Fiction Writing Help: 19 Types of Sensory Details

I’ve offered this bit of fiction writing help to friends in the discord server of the writers here, but I wanted to formalize it as a post for folks to refer back upon. One of those archived posts of mine that to make link copying easier. (It’s getting eerie how often I have to google my own site to find citations, etc.) Anyways, here’s the list of 19 Types of Sensory Details. If you’d prefer it…

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The Best of CL Moore — Catherine Moore's empathy

As I continue to work my way through classic science fiction short story anthologies, The Best of CL Moore came up next. The books I borrowed (all at once and for an insanely long amount of time) are almost exclusively first editions from the Brooklyn Public Library. I’ve treated them tenderly. As I’ve gone through them, I’ve returned them one at a time. This round featured Catherine Moore’s…

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Person, Place, Thing Writing Prompt Generator

We’re going to try this out. I have no idea if it’s working, so I’m going to keep tinkering: Random Generator Person, Place, Thing Prompt Generator To which email should we send this? Generate

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Zoe Kaplan interview

Lancelot Schaubert — Zoe Kaplan, thanks for joining us. When was the first time you speculated in a scifi or fantastic way? Zoe Kaplan — Probably infancy, but the earliest physical evidence I have is a fantasy “novel” I hand-wrote on notebook paper in the 5th grade. It was based on a game a friend and I played with barbies and involved a lot of murder. Lancelot Schaubert — Barbies and Murder. I…

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Tap and Die ebook

A cowboy separated from his wife visits an ambassador’s gala above an active volcano. Magical terrorists attack. Separated from his clothes and family, he must wield a lightning wand against an invading army in hopes to set the fantastic world’s diplomats free. Will he make it out clothed, reunited, and unsinged? Conceived as a genre-bending — even Nabokovian — satire of Die Hard, one Canadian…

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Benjamin Chandler Interview

Lancelot Schaubert — Hey there Benjamin Chandler. When was the first time you imagined another world or the implications of a new tech? Benjamin Chandler — Oh, I’m sure it was during childhood, setting up plastic dinosaurs in the garden or playing with toy monsters and spaceships. It wasn’t until high school, though, that I tried to put something on paper. Lancelot Schaubert — Any oral…

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Andrew Najberg Interview

Lancelot Schaubert — When was the first time you made up a story, Andrew Najberg? Andrew Najberg — Hm. I started writing short stories in 5th grade. To put it nicely, I was a bit…disruptive…in my classes. I’d just been moved to a new city and school from a place I’d been very happy, and I can’t say I adjusted well. For one reason or another, the teachers I had gave me a lot of leeway to guide my…

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ADHD Background Noise and International Coffeeshops

I’ve talked to several writers lately about ADHD background noise. When does it help? When does it hurt? How do coffeeshops play into that? I’m noticing something simple about myself. I do benefit from coffeeshop noise, but not from active conversations in my own language nearby. Whatever’s happened to my brain since moving to NYC, it’s gotten harder and harder for me to filter out what’s…

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Anthony Cirilla Interview

A Dialog Between Editor Lancelot Schaubert and Three-Time Contributor to OF GODS AND GLOBES, Dr. Anthony Cirilla : * * * Ed. Lancelot Schaubert: So this Of Gods and Globes series isn’t astrology, or isn’t supposed to be, so what the heck are we doing here — enough for a third volume? Dr. Anthony Cirilla: As with most complicated concepts in history, we have to start with, “What do we mean by…

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T.J. Glenn Interview — Teel James Glenn

Lancelot Schaubert — Thanks for joining us, T.J. Glenn. When was the first time you imagined yourself in a fantasy or pretended you were someone else? T.J. Glenn — Oh, easily when I was 8 or 9 years old, creating stories with my GI Joe action figures etc. LS — Who was your favorite? T.J. Glenn — You mean which fantasy world? Easily Tarzan. Then John Carter. Then Conan. LS — In that…

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Of Gods and Globes III Poster 12x18"

Museum-quality posters made on thick matte paper. Add a wonderful accent to your room and office with these posters that are sure to brighten any environment. • Paper thickness: 10.3 mil • Paper weight: 189 g/m² • Opacity: 94% • ISO brightness: 104% • Paper is sourced from Japan This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver…

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Nostalgia Near Me

Recently when READY PLAYER ONE came out, I started a debate on SMS about nostalgia near me with two old friends from an old book club I ran in Joplin. We read READY PLAYER ONE the year it came out or something. By “start a debate,” I really mean that I got emotional about nostalgia per se and started ranting some counterpoints at a simple observation one had made when nostalgia near me started…

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Dad is Good at Rearing Domestic Animals

One thing that seems so strange in retrospect is how many animals came through our home and therefore how good Dad was at rearing domestic animals. Now and again, I grew jealous of them, but I cannot deny that, generally speaking, my father was really good at rearing animals. I had, much like a halfling or a kobold, a riding dog.  My father bought a chow-chow for my mom. If you know nothing…

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Transitions Between Scenes in a Novel

One of the big things I’ve had to work hard at fixing, both in nonfiction and fiction, is transitions. Treehouses, you see— Wait. Let me explain. Transitions between scenes: the problem. Most transitions when I’m thinking or writing happen internally for me. They happen very quickly and I tend to get frustrated because they take more time to explain than to tell. Most of the time, especially…

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The Things We Carry

The Things We Carry is a novelette set in the Vale Megacosm. The full version is available here for subscribers or the ebook can be purchased here for folks that don’t want a subscription quite yet. A brief sample is available below for all. Subscriber Content Add content here that will only be visible to your subscribers. For mom. And Ashley “There are only two stories: a strange man comes…

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The Things We Carry ebook

A midlife widow whose last daughter moves out of the house finds herself suddenly bored with the urban landscape of a fantastic world. So she packs up her bags to see if all of the crazy bedtime stories she told her kids about the countryside were true. But she’s been a widow a long time. And sometimes the biggest monsters aren’t the ones you meet in the wild. Sometimes they’re the things we…

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Socratic Dialog Verses Narrative Dialog

There’s a distinction between Socratic dialog and narrative dialog in recorded debates and stories respectively. I hope to show that when both are perfected, the distinction is erased.  Often, my narrative dialog will fall flat when it rises to a Socratic register. And often my Socratic dialogs will feel hollow when they simply serve a sort of plot or titiliating conflict. The former can leave…

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