Top Ten Articles – September 2019

Well, since it’s the end of the month, I thought that I’d do my usual thing of collecting a list of links to the ten best articles about writing etc.. that I’ve posted here over the past month. As usual, I’ll also include a couple of honourable mentions too.

Unfortunately, due to being very busy at the time of writing many of this month’s articles (in addition to suffering from a fairly heavy cold for a few days), the quality varied somewhat. But, on the bright side, there are more articles about the horror genre than usual, mostly thanks to the fact that I was reading a few horror novels and was also preparing last year’s Halloween stories at the time too.

In terms of book reviews, I ended up reviewing fourteen novels this month and my favourites were probably: “The Skin Palace” by Jack O’Connell, “Day Four” by Sarah Lotz, “The Deep” by Nick Cutter, “Universal Harvester” by John Darnielle and “And The Rest Is History” by Jodi Taylor.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – September 2019:

– “Three Possible Reasons Why ‘Shock Value’ Was A Major Part Of British Horror Fiction During The 1980s”
– “Three Basic Ways To Make Your Horror Story More Or Less Scary”
– “Three Reasons Why Modern Creative Works Use Nostalgic Elements”
– “Three Reasons Why Horror And Comedy Go Well Together”
– “Three Reasons Why Paperback Books Are Awesome”
– “Three Differences Between 2010s and 1980s Horror Fiction”
– “Should You Use First Or Third Person Perspective Narration In Your Story?”
– “Three Possible Reasons Why Paperback Cover Art Was Better In The 1980s”
– “Three Basic Tips For Including Character Backstories In Your Story”
– “Three Basic Tips For Writing Epic Large-Scale Battle Scenes”

Honourable Mentions:

– “Three More Reasons Why Reading Is Better Than Gaming”
– “Three Quick Tips For Adding Dark Comedy To Horror Stories“

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Top Ten Articles – August 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month and this means that it’s time for me to collect a list of the ten best articles about writing, making comics, reading books etc.. that I’ve posted here over the past month (As usual, I’ll also include a few honourable mentions too).

Despite being busy with various things, this month’s articles turned out better than I expected. Not only that, I also managed to review thirteen novels this month too – my favourites were probably: “Cabal” by Clive Barker, “Kill The Dead” by Tanith Lee, “Anno Mortis” by Rebecca Levene, “Meddling Kids” by Edgar Cantero and “Lies, Damned Lies, And History” by Jodi Taylor.

Anyway, here are the lists, enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – August 2019:

– “Three Ways To Make Familiar Horror Monsters Scarier”
– “One Essential, But Overlooked, Element Of Fantasy Fiction – A Ramble”
– “Four Reasons To Read Books By Lots Of Different Authors”
– “The One Time You Should Avoid Writing Advice – A Ramble”
– “Three Random Tips For Making Your Zombie Story Stand Out From The Crowd”
– “Three Thoughts About Writing Short Fantasy Fiction”
– “Three Benefits And Downsides Of Reading A Lot”
– “One Way To Improve The Filler Comics In Your Webcomic”
– “Three More Thoughts About How To Make Zombie Stories Scary”
– “Three Lessons Writers Can Learn From 1980s Horror Fiction”

Honourable Mentions:

– “Three Awesome Reasons Why Books Are Rebellious”
– “When Is It Ok To ‘Break The Rules’ In Your Writing?”
– “Small Recaps Are Useful For Your Readers! Use Them! – A Ramble“

Top Ten Articles – July 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month and this means that it’s time for me to do my usual thing of collecting a list of links to the ten best articles about writing, art, books etc.. that I’ve posted here over the past month. As usual, I’ll also include a couple of honourable mentions too.

This month’s articles turned out fairly well, although there were more articles about writing than about making art (this seems to be something of a trend over the past few months). Plus, this month also saw a comic-format article (linked at the top of the list later in this article) too – seriously, it has been years since I last made one of these 🙂

Likewise, I also ended up reviewing fourteen books this month and, to my delight, also read more sci-fi novels than usual too 🙂

My favourite books from this month’s reviews are probably: “Nova Swing” by M. John Harrison, “The Accidental Time Machine” by Joe Haldeman, “Ghost Dance” by Rebecca Levine, “Blood Music” by Greg Bear, “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” By Jodi Taylor and “The Ice Queen” by Alice Hoffman.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – July 2019:

– ” ‘Books – A Comic’ By C. A. Brown” (Comic)
– “Three Reasons Why Authors Write Books That Are ‘Difficult To Read’ ”
– “Three Things To Do When You Worry That Your Short Story Is ‘Badly Written’ ”
– “Good Stories Always Have ‘Deleted Scenes’ – A Ramble”
– “Three Basic Tips For Making Your Thriller Story More Gripping”
– “Three Thoughts About How To Use Multiple Story Threads”
– “How To Use Misdirection In The Horror Genre – A Ramble”
– “Three More Tips About When To Abandon A Short Story Project”
– “One Clever Way To Make Minimalist Art Interesting (With An Example)”
– “Three Tips For Writing Bleak Fiction (That People Will Actually Want To Read)”

Honourable Mentions:

– “Three Beginners’ Tips For Writing Heavy Metal-Themed Stories”
– “Awesome Art Can Lurk In Unlikely Places – A Ramble“

Top Ten Articles – June 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month and this means that it’s time for me to collect a list of links to my ten favourite articles about writing fiction, making art etc.. that I’ve posted here this month. As usual, I’ll include a couple of honourable mentions.

All in all, this month’s articles turned out surprisingly well given the hot weather at the time of writing them. Likewise, with my daily art, I finally started making a mixture of realistic landscapes and my more traditional sci-fi/retro art (rather than just landscapes) again 🙂

However, the hot weather affected this month’s reading quite a bit. Although I was able to review 14 books this month, the weather meant that I had to focus more on shorter books, TV show spin-off novels and/or fast-paced novels.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed some of the books I read and my favourite ones from this month are probably: “Martin Misunderstood” by Karin Slaughter, “No Time Like The Past” by Jodi Taylor, “The Eye Of The Beholder” by Marc Behm, “Plague Town” by Dana Fredsti and “The Ectoplasmic Man” by Daniel Stashower.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – June 2019:

– “Three Basic Tips For Writing Gruesome Horror Fiction”
– “Three Things Artists Can Learn From Old Survival Horror Videogames”
– “Three Reasons Why You Should Abandon A Novel You Don’t Enjoy Reading”
– “One Basic Tip For Taking Dramatic Reference Photos In Bright Weather”
– “Three Basic Tips For Making ‘Silly’ Stories Compelling”
– “Two Basic Tips For When A Genre Won’t Work In Your Chosen Medium”
– “Three Reasons Why Reading Regularly Is Important If You’re A Writer”
– “Four Wild Tips For Writing Hedonistic Stories”
– “Three Tips For Keeping Up Your Reading During Hot Weather”
– “Three Things That Novels Can Learn From Computer Games”

Honourable Mentions:

– “Three Thoughts About Film Theory And Writing Fiction”
– “Finding The Right Writing Style For Your Story – A Ramble“

Top Ten Articles – May 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month and this means that it’s time for me to do my usual thing of collecting a list of links to the ten best articles about writing fiction, reading books, making art etc… that I’ve posted here over the past month. As usual, I’ll include a couple of honourable mentions too.

In terms of articles, most of this month’s articles were writing-based ones and the quality was somewhat variable (mostly due to things like hot weather at the time of writing, which tended to drain my enthusiasm a bit).

This hot weather also had a slight impact on the number of book reviews I posted this month (with only twelve of them appearing). On the plus side, thanks to the fact that the weather sometimes made me gravitate towards quicker/easier novels, I had time to post the first game review I’ve posted here this year (plus, two “Doom II” level reviews too 🙂 ).

Anyway, out of the novels I read this month, the best ones were probably “Dead Of Night” by Jonathan Maberry, “Sacrilege” by S. J. Parris, “More Tales Of The City” by Armistead Maupin, “Bloodlist” by P. N. Elrod and “Dying Words” by Shaun Hutson.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – May 2019:

– “Storytelling In Books vs Storytelling On TV – A Ramble”
– “Three Tips For Making Your Zombie Story Stand Out From The Crowd”
– “Writing: Creativity Via Limitations – A Ramble”
– “Three Tips For Finding A Short Story Idea”
– “Four Reasons Why Novels Are More Punk Than You Might Think”
– “Three Ways That Writers Make Stories Faster Or Slower To Read”
– “Two Ways To Spruce Up A Familiar Story”
– “Three Reasons Why Books Don’t Get Remakes”
– “Working Out What To Show The Audience – A Ramble”
– “Obscurity And The Written Word – A Ramble”

Honourable Mentions:

– “Three Thoughts About Writing Fiction Set In The Mid-2000s”
– “Three Tips For Coming Up With Realistic Fictional Videogames For Your Story“

Top Ten Articles – April 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month, so it’s time for my usual list of links to the ten best articles about writing, making art etc… that I posted here over the past month. As usual, I’ll also include a couple of honourable mentions.

All in all, this month was a reasonably good one in terms of articles (not to mention that this blog also celebrated it’s sixth anniversary too 🙂). But, like with the past few months, there were fewer articles due to the usual book reviews.

In terms of book reviews, this month was a bit of an interesting one. Although there was something of a temporary drop in the quality/sophistication of the books I reviewed near the end of the month (mostly for time, weather etc.. related reasons), I ended up reviewing thirteen books this month 🙂 The highlights were probably “The Scarlet Gospels” & “Weaveworld” by Clive Barker, “Autonomous” by Annalee Newitz, “A Trail Through Time” by Jodi Taylor, “Dominion” by C. J. Sansom and “Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy” by S. D. Perry.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – April 2019:

– “Six Things I’ve Learnt From Running A Blog For Six Years”
– “Three Tips For Writing Reassuring Horror Fiction”
– “Three Thoughts About Novelisations And Spin-Off Novels”
– “Three Tips For Finding Your Own “Style” Of Horror Fiction”
– “How To Know Which Details To Include In Photo-Based Paintings/Drawings”
– “Using Banality In Dystopian Fiction”
– “Three Sneaky Ways To Reduce Reader Frustration”
– “Two Reasons Why Writers Include Metafiction In Their Stories”
– “Three Reasons Why ‘Low Fantasy’ Is Better Than ‘High Fantasy’”
– “How To Find “New” Art Techniques – A Ramble”

Honourable mentions:

– “Three Achingly Hip (And On-Trend) Tips For Writing A Modern Novel” [APRIL FOOL]
– “Three Reasons Why Writers Should Watch Game Design Videos“

Top Ten Articles – March 2019

Well, it’s the end of the month and this means that it’s time for me to collect links to my ten favourite articles about writing, making art, making webcomics, reading etc.. that I’ve posted here over the past month. As usual, I’ll include a few honourable mentions too.

All in all, this month was a reasonably good one in terms of articles – even though, like with the previous few months, there were fewer “ordinary” articles due to the fact that I’m posting reviews every 2-4 days. Likewise, I also tried (and failed – I finished it, but the quality was terrible) to write a 1980s-style horror novella at the time I was writing this month’s articles (and also started another novella project which I decided to write at a slower pace).

Talking of reviews, I ended up reviewing 13 novels and 2 “Doom II” WADs this month 🙂 The best novels that I reviewed this month are probably: “Box Nine” & “Word Made Flesh” by Jack O’Connell, “Zombie Apocalypse! Acapulcalypse Now” by Alison Littlewood, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury, “A Second Chance” by Jodi Taylor, “Working For The Devil” by Lilith Saintcrow and “Heartstone” by C. J. Sansom.

Anyway, here are the lists 🙂 Enjoy 🙂

Top Ten Articles – March 2019:

– “When Does Cover Art Really Matter?”
– “Two Terrifying Tips For Writing Extreme Horror Fiction”
– “Four Thoughts About When (And How) To Abandon A Book You’re Reading”
– “Three Random (But Realistic) Tips For Writing 1990s-Style Fiction”
– “Three Random Tips For Creating Satirical Comics”
– “Two Ways To Save Time Whilst Making Art”
– “Two Basic Differences Between Modern And Older Novels”
– “Two Basic Things To Do When A Creative Project Fails”
– “Two Ways To Make Greyscale Drawings/Paintings Based On Your Colour Photos”
– “Three Basic Tips For Writing Book Reviews”

Honourable Mentions:

– “The Joy Of….”Middle Brow” Fiction”
– “One Quick Way To Rekindle Enthusiasm For Your Story”
– “Two Practical Reasons Why English Lit Lessons/Lectures Are Important”