#WritingCommunity

Journey into Darkness: Creatures & Monsters

Oct 24, 2021
8 min

Journey into Darkness: Creatures & Monsters

This week’s #AuthorNook question examined the darker side of our writing by examining the creatures and monsters we craft. The answers were varied from fantastical terrors to very real, equally terrifying human monsters. Here are a few expanded responses from authors M.C. Burnell, Mark Ferguson, Izabela Rattila, and Alina Leonova. I hope you enjoy! Join the conversation in the comments if you wish. Feel free to ask the authors any questions you may have, or discuss the darker

50 views1 comment

Journey into Darkness: The Darker Side of Magic

Laken Honeycutt

Oct 16, 2021
5 min

Journey into Darkness: The Darker Side of Magic

This week’s #AuthorNook question, examined the darker side of magic: if it existed and if so how it manifested in our worlds. And if not, that's okay too, but what does that look like. Answers were varied and expansive, brilliant and fascinating. I wish I had room to invite everyone here. Clearly, at the very least, the darker side of magic is a compelling force. It was a delight to read everyone's thoughts this week. Here are a few expanded responses by Spyder Collins, K.R.

55 views0 comments

World Building: Magic Systems w/Kira of the Wind

Laken Honeycutt

Oct 2, 2021
12 min

World Building: Magic Systems w/Kira of the Wind

This week’s #AuthorNook question, hosted by me, Erika McCorkle, asked the fantasy writers of Twitter to describe their world’s magic systems. We received a variety of answers describing hard and soft magic, mana or life-force-based systems, magic melded with science, and magic based on elements or astronomy or other natural phenomena. We were delighted to read everyone’s responses and see the amazing amount of creativity that goes into your worlds. Here are expanded responds

48 views0 comments

Laken Honeycutt

Sep 26, 2021
9 min

World Building: Foundations

Behind every great story is the foundation it lays upon. Those little glimpses into the past, the hints at reason peppered on a page, the intrigue that hooks us and draws us into the story. This week's #AuthorNook Writing Q invited authors to share those foundations of their worlds and how they crafted them. There were so many incredible responses! It was a pleasure reading through the histories, lore, and mysteries of everyone's worlds. This week's blog goes a little further

73 views1 comment

World Building: Gods & Their Followers w/Kira of the Wind

Laken Honeycutt

Sep 18, 2021
7 min

World Building: Gods & Their Followers w/Kira of the Wind

When writing fantasy worlds, it’s common—though certainly not required—to include beings of incredible power who may be perceived as ‘gods/Gods’ in their worlds. This week’s #AuthorNook question on Twitter was asked by me, Erika McCorkle, co-hosting with Laken for a month of world building-related topics. As one who has a deep interest in reading about powerful characters, it was my pleasure to read the various responses. Some gods are real in their world while others are not

84 views1 comment

Laken Honeycutt

Sep 11, 2021
9 min

World Building: Dare to Landscape

Let’s face it. It takes bravery to create our own worlds. This week, I asked Twitter’s #WritingCommunity to discuss landscapes they had created in their world building. I was blown away by all the courageous sharing of amazing places! If you haven’t seen the thread, really take a look at it by searching #AuthorNook on Twitter. It was a pleasure reading everyone’s responses and I hope others enjoyed the discussion too. I realized our landscapes are the cradle that our stories

66 views0 comments

Laken Honeycutt

Sep 4, 2021
8 min

Rogue Characters

This week, I asked Twitter’s #WritingCommunity to discuss a character who surprised them. There were so many amazing responses. How wonderful it was to see all these incredible stories of rogue characters and the unique ways they manifested! It was a pleasure reading everyone’s responses and I hope others enjoyed the discussion too. I realized, some of our best characters—that we love, that our readers love—weren’t really planned; at least, not in the beginning. They came to

41 views1 comment

Laken Honeycutt

Aug 21, 2021
5 min

The Characters We Love

This week, I asked Twitter’s #WritingCommunity to discuss a favorite character they had created. How wonderful to meet so many unique characters through that discussion. Authors shared selflessly their beautiful and nuanced characters during this week’s #AuthorNook discussion on Twitter. Afterwards, a thought occurred to me. It would seem that the best characters are the ones who reside in our hearts. I know I can sense this when I read a novel that it’s those loved character

93 views5 comments

Laken Honeycutt

Aug 14, 2021
5 min

The Mosaic Garden of Character Creation

Character creation goes beyond the two dimensional. When I asked Twitter’s #WritingCommunity how we craft our characters, the answers were varied and fascinating. During this week’s #AuthorNook discussion, writers touched on everything from digging into the history books to exploring a character’s life since their birth. Some authors created detailed charts, while others studied people they know irl. But the thing that seemed to connect us all, that tied all the variations to

37 views2 comments

Laken Honeycutt

Aug 7, 2021
4 min

Author Feature: E.P. Stavs

E.P. Stavs is the author of YA fantasy, NA thrillers, gothic horror, and whatever else she's in the mood to write. When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her friends and family and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Today, I’m feeling really fortunate because I got to interview one of my favorite writers. E.P. Stavs is author of The Shendri Series and also an incredibly supportive person of the #WritingCommunity on Twitter. Hi Erin! Thank you so much for talkin

14 views1 comment

Author Nook

I created #AuthorNook on Twitter as a space for authors to discuss and connect over their process and craft. As the questions gained in popularity, I thought perhaps people might like to discuss these thoughts further and created the Author Nook Blog.

In this blog, I invite three to four authors to expand upon ideas they presented in the Tuesday #AuthorNook WritingQ. My hope is to present a myriad of perspectives across genres on the ways we, as writers, approach our process and craft.

I hope you find this space interesting and engaging. And if it's something you think you may enjoy, please join the discussion on Twitter every Tuesday by following #AuthorNook.

Contributing Authors

Rosalyn Briar

Ciara Skye

J.E. Glass

Erika McCorkle

Rachel Hobbs

Dan Fitzgerald

Sean Hill

Casie Aufenthie

Jami Fairleigh

Pat Luther

K.R. Wieland

Mark Ferguson

Isabela Raittila

H. Ferry

A.D. Wills

E.P. Stavs

Samantha L. Eno

K.L. Bone

Arianna Allen

Jayce

Elyse Cunningham

Anny Borg

Ryan Replogle

Maxime Jaz

Maria Blackrane

David Partelow

Michele Quirke

Spyder Collins

Alina Leaonova

L. Krauch

J.T. Tenera

Basil Serpent

Rab Ferguson

M.C. Burnell