Normally, I wait until end of December to release my annual Reading Recap, a collection of mini reviews the fiction books I read for the first time over the year. However, my list is growing SO large that I decided to split up the lists rather than cutting books from it. It’s exciting that I …
My Villain Manifesto: Reflections on Antagonists in Fiction
Back in my old theater days, I was typecast as the villain. I played Cinderella’s stepmother (twice), Shere Khan in the Jungle Book, and—one of my favorites—Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. I’ll admit, it feels rather empowering to be the bad guy, gliding across the stage, robed in black, the other actors trembling before you… Me …
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So You’re Thinking About Graduate School?
It’s that time of year when college seniors start to sweat. The barrage of questions comes from all circles of your life and from yourself: What are you doing after graduation? Do you have a job yet? What’s your plan? What the heck are you going to make of your life? I’ve certainly been there. …
Writing Update October 2022
It has been a while since my last writing update, hasn’t it? While I aim to do these quarterly, to be honest… there hasn’t been much to update? I originally had this update on my calendar for July. Then I pushed it back to August. Then I just decided to scrap the summer update and …
Novellas In Series: Necessary Or No?
Lately, I’ve been reading series that include novellas alongside full-length novels, which has brought up questions about the roles that novellas play in the overall story of a series and whether or not I think it’s a valuable practice. Specifically, back in July, I read the three Skyward Flight novellas connected to the Skyward series …
The Subcreators: One Year Later
It’s been just over one year since we founded The Subcreators. If that name sounds familiar to you, that means one of two things. One, you know me personally and are a part of the group. Two, you’ve read J. R. R. Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories,” which defines what “subcreator” means. The idea behind the …
Where Did Whitman Court Come From?
Great question. It’s a bit of a murky journey. Here’s a fun fact about me as a writer: most of my story ideas that I’m actively working on came to me in high school or earlier. Unfortunately, though, it’s difficult to determine when an idea first occurred to me or when I started working on …
What I Write
Every year around my birthday (August 11th), I try to write a self-reflective, personal post for the blog. This year, I decided to take a step of courage and talk more in-depth about my current writing projects–something that is, surprisingly, difficult for me. I was on the fence about doing this because I didn’t want …
Writing with a Day Job: Drive
Drive. Motivation. Perseverance. That’s the topic of today’s fourth and final post in my Writing with a Day Job series. If you’ve been reading along all summer, thanks for sticking around. I hope that my fellow busy writers have gained some wisdom, encouragement, or motivation from this series. Let’s end it well. First things first: …
Writing with a Day Job: Wise Rest
Greetings yet again! This is part three of four in my series on busy writers. Trying to write a novel but only have an hour (or less) a day to write? Working a job you can’t stand but really want to be a novelist? Or shuffling between parenting your kids, managing a house, and working …
By Madelynn Orion 