‘Said’ vs. Synonyms: How to use both as dialogue tags

Heated debate rampages across the online writing community as to which dialogue tag is morally, ethically, and mechanically correct to use: 'said' or one of its many synonyms. Use all the alternatives! Never deviate from 'said!' A great way to get (angry, rageful) interaction on Twitter is to ask the writing community which to use. We average writers get caught in the middle. We just want to know the answer so we can keep writing, not start a flame war between influencer titans. We get mixed results, however, because the truth lies somewhere in the middle. In the mix of both. Let's talk about what that means.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps Gameplay Mechanics: why I quit and why I came back

This assessment of the gameplay mechanics in Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes from a player who dislikes making mechanics choices. From leveling trees to deploying finite resources, I would just rather not. Yet Ori and the Will of the Wisps manages to incorporate both of my weaknesses and for this reason, I bounced off this game almost at once. Despite my love for the first game, Ori and the Blind Forest. Despite my being excited enough to pre-order the game. But two years later, I came back and loved it. Let me explain why.

Book Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree is a cozy fantasy that explores the NPC side of adventure fantasy. The narrative follows Viv, a successful barbarian-class orc mercenary who dares to ask how life could be different if she hung up her sword and brought something new to the world. Deciding to open an obscure business known as a 'café,' Viv relies on a magical item of good luck to lead her to the perfect location for her shop and to bring exactly the right people into her life for success.

How to Find and Fix Filter Words and Filter Phrases in Your Writing

Writing advice often relates to the same two topics: show, don't tell and write in the active voice. So, say you're taking on these two nuggets of wisdom. You're ready to incorporate the advice you keep getting from your critique partner(s) and your writing group! You've learned everything you need to know about how to change passive voice into active voice and how to show rather than tell. Yet, even though you've made certain to use verbs that aren't being verbs and you've incorporated adjectives as descriptors, your writing still feels clunky. It's still getting dinged at your critique group meetings.

This is because oops! in trying to fix one problem, you've introduced a new problem. And that's the use of filter words and filter phrases in your writing.

Book Release — With Words We Weave 2022: Hope

An exclusive, never-posted tale about our intrepid Hopeful Wanderer graces the pages of Texas High Plains Writers' most recent anthology — With Words We Weave 2022: Hope. A spiritual sequel to one of the web series flash fictions, "Occlusion" pits the Wanderer against an old, vengeful foe as their blood and everyone else's starts draining … Continue reading Book Release — With Words We Weave 2022: Hope →