After dropping my marathon of a guide on world building, I think the next best topic to cover would be on writing dialogue. Specifically, writing better dialogue. One of the biggest criticisms I got on my manuscript’s first round of edits was on this. While my world building was strong, characters pretty good, I found myself often telling, rather than showing through my dialogues. And if you’re anyone with a tiny bit of interest in writing, you know how important dialogues can be. They can reveal critical information, help us understand the psychology or motivation of a character, or through subtext, also give us a glimpse in the potential trajectory…

Worldbuilding is hard, to put it mildly. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fantasy writer, or a contemporary fiction writer, you’re going to struggle with worldbuilding. It’s pretty much on par with writing a book. Or even a short story, to be honest. After all, you want your readers to know where your story is set in. Generally, when I’m writing a short story, I like to set my characters in today’s world.  Of course, I would argue that short stories can be easier to write because you can choose to focus on a moment in time, or a particular scene only. But with novels, you can’t get away with…