Fantasy With a Hint of Asian Spices
I launched a podcast today titled … Fantasy and Faith. The first episode was just an intro episode looking at some of my history and the challenges I’ve faced as a writer. Its available on Substack and also on YouTube Podcasts. I would really appreciate your support on either channels. I’ve also published a collaborative […]
Read More Fantasy and FaithToday, I’m treating this blog post as therapy. I’m feeling over-stretched and out of sorts. As usual, I have taken on too much. My new day job is very demanding and often leaves me feeling exhausted at the end of the day. I’ve also made a commitment to my old job, to help tie things […]
Read More Stretched ThinMuslims, like Christians, have formed various denominations and splits. This post will give you a lightspeed understanding of what they mean and how that may relate to your character. One Ummah Muslims have a lot of similarities to each other, and there is this over-riding concept of One Ummah (roughly translates to nation). The Ummah […]
Read More How Not to Write Muslim Characters Part 3That’s a little misleading. It should be, the Art of Not Juggling Too Many Projects Introduction I, like any other writer, dream of seeing my work in print (or e-ink). I have half-a-dozen ideas that I want to get down on paper or onscreen, but with too many things on the go, I’m going to […]
Read More The Art of Juggling ProjectsIn the last post, we explored the different stereotypical characterizations of Muslims. In this post, we will look at how to write a Muslim better. Muslims are like any other human being. They have needs and wants, they have family and friends, they have aspirations and goals. Therefore, ground your character in these qualities. The […]
Read More How Not to Write Muslim Characters Part 2I was recently asked to beta read a book for a writer friend that featured Muslim characters. It is always a difficult task writing about a diaspora that you are not from or intimately familiar with. So, the aim of this article is to provide you with a foundation to avoid the common mistakes. All […]
Read More How Not to Write Muslim Characters Part 1I wanted to test the mettle of AI, so as an experiment I fed Microsoft Copilot the blurb from my novel, The Changeling King. Here is the original prompt complete with the text of my blurb: Write me a chapter of a fantasy story using this blurb: At the height of the Age of the […]
Read More Ink and Algorithms: AI vs. Human WritingI’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, but wanted to allow my thoughts on the matter to crystalise a little bit before committing words to digital paper. AI is here. Its been here for a while now but its finally becoming common place in the public domain. Understandably, its making some […]
Read More The Influence of AI on Writing: Current Trends and Future ImpactMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Lulu is one of the big self-publishing companies that offers high quality products with clear pricing strategies. It has helped many authors achieve their dream of seeing their name in print and over the years has developed a series of tools and packages to add value to its services. […]
Read More Book Review: Lulu’s advice on Marketing your bookRating: 3/5 Knowing how to write a good fight scene for a fantasy author is the equivalent of knowing how to write a love scene for a romance writer. We are constantly told to write what we know about, and yet most of us have never really been in a fight or had some kind […]
Read More Book Review: Rayne Hall’s Writing Fight Scenes