Category: On Writing

The Things Editing Teaches You, version 274

Posted on

I’ve got a new trilogy coming out soon*, which means I’ve been in the editing house of horror. My friend Cassie and I used to have divergent views on editing, where her position was, “Editing makes the book better!” and my position was, “I’d rather sand my hands than edit.” She is, as it happens, correct 🤣 My normal editing process involves a read-through, then a read-aloud. I’m looking to extend the read-aloud into the audiobook edition of the book, but the base minimum is to get the machine to read the manuscript for me. After this it gets farmed out to beta readers, then the editor. Here’s what I’ve learned this time: If this post amused you, consider hopping on my mailing list, where you’ll no doubt here hear more about my failings as a writer in the weeks Read More …

FIGHT: Vellum vs. Atticus vs. Scrivener

Posted on

There’s been a little bit of disruption in the “writer’s tools” market recently. I see a lot of questions online about which tool is the best, and having spent my time in the various saddles, I thought I’d break down which I think is best. TL;DR: Wait, I thought this was about Vellum, Atticus, and Scrivener… WTAF are the other tools for? Good catch. Let’s consider writing as workflow. For example, your workflow might start with an idea, then an outline or timeline, a draft, editing, and finally production. I’ll focus on Vellum, Atticus, and Scrivener here, but my workflow relies on a good notes app, and a great timeline tool. Unless you can keep a word bible in your skull, you’ll need a notes app. If you’re an outline (rather than discovery) writer, you will benefit from a timeline/plot Read More …

Bookshine Reviews Blade of Glass

Posted on

And Steph liked it! “Richard Parry’s worldbuilding and plot are superb here, but what really stood out for me above everything else was his knack with characters. The dialogue exchanges are natural and witty, and you get a real sense for each individual character, their growth and the depth of the connections they forge as the story progresses. Even the horses have their own personalities and moments to shine – although not so much that they steal the show or disrupt the main plot. In addition to the classic fantasy tropes of good vs. evil and racing to find ‘the thing’, Parry has mixed in some interesting moral dynamics about corruption and perfection, dark and light, and who decides who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. I love the races of ‘others’ introduced here – the Read More …

On Existential Angst

Posted on

Steph over at Bookshine allowed me to sully her blog with a topic near and dear to me after editing The Splintered Land. You can find it here: [Writer Angst 101: Continuity] If you like what you see on this site, maybe join my mailing list or become a patron!

The Sound of the Splintered Land

Posted on

When I write a new story, I mint a soundtrack for it. This helps me a) get into the groove faster when I sit down at my keyboard and b) write a story that’s more consistent feeling between sessions (if it takes 3 months to write a novel, uniformly vibing is important). My 2020 Spotify Wrapped told me some interesting things, like: I spent a lot of time writing the Splintered Land books. Many top songs in my playlist, and my top artist, all feature on the Splintered Land soundtrack. And I spent more time with those tracks than listening to music doing anything else, which explains where all my damn free time went. If you listen to the soundtrack you will probably think: Wow, Richard has weird taste. This doesn’t sound like dark fantasy. What the fuck is going on? Read More …

Meet … Geneve

Posted on

You might have missed the news that the Splintered Land trilogy is here. With a new trilogy comes new heroes. It’s time to meet Geneve! I hope you enjoy reading her story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Sorcerers are a blight. Knight Adept Geneve must end them. A wizard rumored to hold the Tome of Lost Souls is on the run. This powerful grimoire can destroy Geneve’s order in an instant. She must capture him–and the Tome. Geneve finds truth on her path. Monsters brutalize the world, and her leaders are complicit. She runs from them into the blasted plaguelands. Geneve damns herself through her choice of companions: a Feybrind who keeps his own counsel, a renegade illusionist, and one of the vile Vhemin. Her quest to uncover the Tome’s secret remains. If she succeeds, she will let Read More …

The Splintered Land’s First Draft is DONE

Posted on

I interrupt your regularly scheduled scrolling to drop some happy. Requiem’s Justice, book 3 in the Splintered Land trilogy, is code complete as they say (…in a totally different industry). Sure, sure, I’ve about seven years’ of editing to do, but let me hold this one close for a while. It racks in just shy of 120,000 words, which is more or less what the other two are. When editing is done on all three, the series will look like this: Tomb of the Six Blade of Glass The Storm Within Requiem’s Justice The astute among you will notice there are four (4) titles, which seems an odd number for a trilogy. As I’m breaking into the hot new genre (for me) of epic/dark fantasy, you’ll get an on-the-house series prequel when this launches. You’ll be able to judge for Read More …

The Price is Right

Posted on

Life’s been hard these past months. I don’t want to be a downer, but the only thing missing from this apocalypse is actual zombies (and I’m pretty sure I saw those at the mall). I know money is tight. Shit is hard. Unemployment’s at record highs, and even “cheap” entertainment like reading is difficult to justify when you’re not sure how to feed your kids tomorrow. Many people aren’t coping, and finding it harder without fantasy worlds to escape to. I have three possible solutions for you. If you’re really hard up for cash, I’ve made Chromed: Upgrade free. This is my homage to Blade Runner. It’s got cybernetics, alcohol, genetically-modified monsters, wormholes, AI, and rock music. This was the thing I wanted to write when I started to do this gig for real, and you can get it for nothing. 85,000 Read More …

The Night’s Venn Problem

Posted on

I’ve waxed lyrical about marketing on here before – we’re almost doing it again! Rebekah did a marvelous new cover for Night’s Favor. This book is a huge pain in the ass to do a cover for, because it’s not your usual werewolf book. It’s also not your usual police procedural, thriller, or supernatural suspense. It’s the all-y’all version of those things, and this makes finding readers a hyoooge challenge. What she came up with is the best damn cover it’s ever had. I mean, you can see what’s going on there, right? We’ve got Val, who’s looking a little fucked if we’re honest with ourselves, and the werewolf about to turn him into a Val-sized snack. This particular scene happens before the book starts, but that’s not really important. We want a werewolf, we want it now, and we Read More …