So, you want to be immortal? Or at least to live longer than 80 years without becoming decrepit or having to contend with deteriorating conditions we normally call, "getting old". ...

You've created a world you consider realistic for stories or role-playing games. Or perhaps a tale of your world, original or not, is hailed for its realism.

Realism seems to be something worldbuilders and writers and gamemasters aspire to have in their creations. However, that does lead to the interesting question of just what is realism in the settings you create or use? What is this quality of realism ...

OK, the last few columns have been pretty serious (well, in theme, if not execution). I've covered a lot of the basics in a few general overviews and principles, looked at fleshing out worlds and the nature of power, and in general, been technical.

So, lets sit back for a column and discuss the fuzzy stuff, the intuitive, the non-linear part. It's a column ...

5 ways to know if you have passive voice and fix it

Objects are acted upon
Limited Dialogue
Look for Was
A feeling of being in the past
The Answers
This article is a follow up on some of the topics I discusses in LWA V, but yet it deals with a type of voice that many beginning writers stumble into, and not by choice.

OBJECTS ARE ACTED UPON

Passive voice, unlike the more excited active voice, gives writing a sense of going no where. The bad thing is that most writers don’t even know their writing in the passive voice until it’s too late...when they finally relax and read their work. In passive voice everything just happens, and objects are acted upon. What do I mean by that? Look ...

Nobody was more surprised than the author that WARCHILD came out the way it did. I was working on a fantasy novel when a character’s little voice propelled me to the computer one day and strung out what eventually ...