Hyba Is Writing

A short update, on this fine July day... I've decided that this blog will be undergoing a significant change in future, and part of that is going to be a complete restructuring and a shift in blog goals.   Shifting Blog Goals Originally, the blog began as a way for me to log my writing journey and share parts of books and stories I'd been working on. From time to time, I made some resources and wrote some more 'insightful' articles, and even published some stuff, but on the whole, the blog continued to operate more as a journal of sorts.  Lately, I've been considering my writing career, as it were, and I came to the conclusion that at this point in time, I would prefer to focus on creating more "educational resources" related to creative writing - templates, worksheets, workbooks, courses, workshops, etc. I'm interested in providing these all for free, so keep an eye on this space if that's something you're going to be interested in.  In simpl...

The SCRITTORIO MAGAZINE 2024 Issue is officially underway! Hello, fellow writers and readers of fiction. I come bearing good news today: It's July, which means that it's time to start working on the next issue of Scrittorio Magazine , which will be released in November 2024! Not sure what Scrittorio Magazine is? Put simply, it's a digital magazine which focuses on the practical elements of writing fiction. It's jam-packed with writing tips, lessons, and resources. You can learn more here . If you'd like to be notified when it comes out, please subscribe to the magazine here . It's free, and always will be.  If you haven't checked out the 2023 issue, what are you waiting for ? Topics in the upcoming issue will include... Narrative design in games and fiction novels Improving writing craft with prompts Fiction genre spotlight: gothic horror The horrors of love in DuMaurier's Rebecca Developmental editing techniques In the Margins: writing murder mystery w...

Parallels in Game Design and Fiction Writing Part One in a two-post series on the similarities and differences between game designers/writers and fiction authors.   The work that fiction authors - the term I'm using to refer to writers who write stories, whether in book, novella, or short story format - differs greatly from that of game writers or narrative designers, to say nothing of game designers as a whole. Or, at least, it would seem so at a glance. But as I've pointed out in a recent blog post called Ventures into Game Design, I've found that the two fields have a lot more in common than I had originally thought. We can start with the obvious overlaps. For one thing, both as a fiction author and a game writer or game designer, you have to prove your skill by doing and showing. It's not enough, really, to tell people that you're a great fiction writer if you don't have anything to show them to back that claim up! Likewise, if you want to persuade people in...