Parallel Earths are a classic element of writing, almost as commonly accepted as aliens, faster-than-light-travel, magic, and cyberspace. Indeed, my entire Xai project is based on the idea of parallel worlds - so it's a subject close to my heart and a few other vital internal organs

Writing parallel Earths however is more difficult than it seems. It's easy to slap a few changes on our world or on a particular time period - but this doesn't mean it produces a consistent, coherent, or believable ...

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 ...

Batten down the hatches, the concepts are rebelling!

Ok, the rest of the column is not going to sound nearly that exciting, but consider some interesting things I've observed in fanfic and writing over time:

Sonic the Hedgehog darkfic? Yes, they exist, there's quite a few, and some can get very dark.

How many times in "Sailor Moon" is the male lead of Tuxedo Mask (affectionately known to a friend of mine as "Wuss Boy) replaced, or sometimes made brutal or vicious?

Ever seen people work on ...

Story beginnings - Ten pitfalls to avoid

In the same way that editors don't want to see an ending they've seen before, equally, there are some story beginnings that have been done to death. Here are ten you shouldn't use.

"It was a dark and stormy night."

The "weather report" gambit. Not only is it a lazy way to start a story, but this one was voted "Worst story opening of all time." ...

Oh, we've seen him or her. Deadly cool hard-as-nails, unflappable. Juke boxes start when he hits them right, people back down when they see that fire in her eyes. Focused as a laser, immovable like the core of the world; James Bond, Batman, Shaft, Black Canary. The badasses.

We know them, of course. Now the problem is writing them.

Earlier, I addresses the heroic paradox of the violent hero, and noted a particularly egregious archetype I called the Unlikeable Heroic Badass (UHB) - the borderline sociopath that some authors assume people should ...