Recent content by Tholepin

Folkloric Forays, despite its name, is a solid resource. And not just for wee folk. Ms. Carolyn Emerick has been teaching and researching folklore for years and has built a staggering amount of data. It's all free as well. Best of luck.

Suppose you find a La Grange point between the Sun and Mars and erect a solar wind blocking shield. This would allow the planet's existing mechanism to redevelop a magnetosphere. NASA has plans to actually do this.

Tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, and finally tell them what you've told them works fine in the classroom - it's good, sound teaching. When writing, as Mr. Asimov says: show the effect. Let the readers emotions fill in whatever you've shown them. Too much telling; Show...

An excellent source are: A Pirate of Exquisite Mind (Dampier) by Diana Preston; William Dampier written by W. Clark Russell; A New Voyage Round the World by William Dampier. A source-book about pirates written by a gentleman-of-fortune. He wrote the first travel book, gave us the word...

One remark that managed to stick is: Start your story as close to the end as possible. Editors love it!

Mark Twain was a master of writing dialect. Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful example. Subtle elides, emphasis, sentence structure and vocabulary change from parish to parish. I've read where one knowledgeable critic could pick each location by reading Twain's dialogue. That is something to...

Every enclave, if sufficiently cut-off from other societies, must and will construct a "God," or "Supreme Being(s)." Organisms "need" that component in their journey. It is important to write a collective conscience of the peoples you imagine to give a logic for their actions. This balances the...

One of the best resources for illuminating other realities. You've only just begun.