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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 30, 20202 min read
SPEAKING OF HOLIDAY DISASTERS ...
I suppose I asked for this one with all my stories about holiday disasters last week. On Thanksgiving, my roommates and I put everything...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 25, 20201 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: HOLIDAY DISASTERS
After the year my family's (live) Christmas tree fell over and made a huge mess, my mom started collecting other stories of holiday...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 24, 20202 min read
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
How I probably looked under my mask I think we've all heard horror (?) stories of crazy things people have seen and overheard at Walmart....
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 23, 20202 min read
WATCH OUT FOR THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Seven-ish years ago, I worked for my church helping proofread the latest edition of our scriptures for publication. It was the first time...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 20, 20201 min read
14 CLICHÉ-BUSTING FANTASY NOVELS AND SERIES
After all our exploration of fantasy this week, you might reasonably ask, "Well, are there any fantasy writers who break the stereotypes...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 19, 20201 min read
6 RESOURCES FOR FRESH FANTASY CREATURES
A lot of our stereotypical fantasy races/creatures come from European mythology and folklore, particularly Greek, English, and Norse:...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 18, 20201 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: GET OUTTA HERE!
Years ago, my sister "K" was trying to write a non-cliché fantasy novel. It became a common topic of conversation between her and me. One...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 17, 20201 min read
2 WAYS TO CREATE ORIGINAL FANTASY NAMES
In yesterday's post, one of the overdone fantasy techniques I mentioned was using way too many diacritics. As far as I'm concerned, this...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 16, 20204 min read
8 THINGS FANTASY WRITERS NEED TO QUIT DOING. RIGHT NOW.
Years ago, I started noticing an alarming trend in fantasy. As one of my English professors commented when we were discussing it: "It's...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 13, 20202 min read
WHAT'S WITH FRIDAY THE 13TH, ANYWAY?
Oddly, despite my accident-proneness, Friday the 13th has never bothered me. So, naturally, today I started wondering about why this...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 12, 20201 min read
LESS THAN 48 HOURS LEFT!
Remember this? But I'm realizing that even two graphics don't have enough room to explain all the ways this course benefits you: Gain the...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 11, 20201 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: VETERAN STORIES
Ironically for someone who makes her living with words, I've been realizing lately that I have a hard time expressing myself about...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 10, 20202 min read
FEED YOUR WRITER SOUL
Last week, my therapist and I were discussing self-care. I had a hard time thinking of what I'd actually been doing for self-care, and it...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 9, 20201 min read
THE ONLY 3 THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER IN CHARACTER NAMES
Today's post is partly inspired by one of my favorite Peanuts strips. I've silently (or not) echoed Lucy's thoughts more than once! There...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 6, 20201 min read
FIND THE FUNNY
While trawling Facebook today, I came across this apt comment: 😂 Now I have to wonder who on earth would accept ballots as stakes. . . ....
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 5, 20201 min read
COURSE LAUNCH: MANUSCRIPT-CRITIQUE CERTIFICATION COURSE
This is becoming a launch week. While you're waiting for Indie Writing Wisdom (available December 1, links to come), check out my...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 4, 20201 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: THAT'S A SUPERPOWER?
While I was teaching sixth-grade history, my fellow teachers and I started talking one day about weird "superpowers" we have. Here are...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 3, 20203 min read
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: "KNOT" A PROBLEM
Over the last three days, I've had three different people ask me to teach them how to crochet: My roommate "S" "S's" friend "A" My sister...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 2, 20201 min read
COVER REVEAL: INDIE WRITING WISDOM
I've been waiting to make this announcement until I got the go-ahead from the lead author. Introducing . . . If you can't tell, that's my...
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