Writing

Saving the Writer’s Soul from Work-for-Hire Hell

What creative ownership really means, writing a sword and sorcery tale I can finally call my own, and how it all went wrong when I wasn’t writing for…

Jan 28 • Alec Worley

Who Dies First? Conan the Barbarian vs. The Bloody Nine

Fantasy writers, learn how to keep your fight scenes sharp with two classic examples of sword and sorcery

Dec 2, 2025 • Alec Worley

We Need To Stop Being Weird About Theme in Stories

What your story is really saying and why you need to stop saying it

Nov 5, 2025 • Alec Worley

Lessons from Hannibal Lecter: How to Write a Human Monster

Can horror be scary without the supernatural?

Sep 29, 2025 • Alec Worley

The Best Scene in 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981) Isn't the One You Think

How to write a comedy of terrors

Aug 28, 2025 • Alec Worley

Building a Labyrinth of Liminal Horror

Checking into Daisy Johnson's The Hotel (2024)

Jun 26, 2025 • Alec Worley

Fantastic Beasts and How to Write Them

Some Jurassic examples of great monster-writing

Jan 28, 2025 • Alec Worley

Starve Acre (2019): How to Farm a Field of Horrors

How Andrew Michael Hurley’s compulsive folk horror novel casts its bleak and atmospheric spell

Aug 20, 2024 • Alec Worley

Lessons From Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'A Wizard of Earthsea' may be a classic, but does anyone still care? Writers and creators of fantasy, neglect this book at your…

Jul 24, 2024 • Alec Worley

A No-Mucking-About Beginner's Guide to Starting Out as a Writer

Mapping the labyrinth

Jun 14, 2024 • Alec Worley

Evolve or Die: Is this the End for Sword and Sorcery?

Can the genre ever move on from Robert E. Howard's Conan? How can writers possibly innovate within this narrow fantasy subgenre? Is the sword and…

Jun 5, 2024 • Alec Worley

M.R. James and the Craft of Fear

Learn the subtleties of writing terror from a master of the scary ghost story

Mar 14, 2024 • Alec Worley

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