Jesse Teller

Tag: Writing

  • A New Time

    A New Time

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    I guess it was 2018, maybe 2017, but that doesn’t sound right. I had been up all night writing. Going around the Horn is what we used to call it. I would get up, eat, write, take the kids to martial arts, come home, cook dinner, go downstairs for a second shift, usually a writers…

  • The Wasting Away

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    For years I have been coming here to bleed. I have been sharing with you the wild and horrifying stories of my life and I have been honest, brutally so, about my abuse and my issues. I have been showing it all and not holding anything back. So today I will do the same as…

  • No Way Forward

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    I’m very good with deadlines. They are never a problem for me. I see a job from far out and I get started on it weeks ahead of time. Usually the post you are reading now would have been done a week ago at least. Maybe even longer. This time though, it is late on…

  • Lost Confessions: Idle

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    I’m bipolar. Tragically bipolar, I like to say. I have a really bad case of it. For those of you who don’t know what the disease is like, I will describe a manic episode. You can’t calm down. You are jittery like you’re strung out on a pot of coffee. You can’t sleep, sometimes for…

  • The Prince of Darkness

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    “I can’t. I just can’t. You have to find another.” Shadow was crying. It was 2008 and we were stuck. We had signed up for a writing workshop and paid a hefty sum. The cost of admission included a reading from seven people. Five editors would read the first five pages. They would weigh in…

  • Haunted by the Nameless Boy

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    It’s all in the name. One name can propel a story for me. One fantastic name can make or break it all. I have gotten lucky and created a few great names. Saykobar Hesh, Volacha Brinchay, Kolaster Vagan, Tobin the Treefrog, Rayph Ivoryfist—all these names crafted the character for me. They all brought that character…

  • The Hope of the Nation

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    On October 5th my fifth book Song will be released. The cast is led by a wizard named Rayph Ivoryfist. Many and varied are the shades of his personality, and wild and rampant are his powers. He is scary to write for many reasons. How do I challenge a character this powerful? How do I…

  • Illusions of Dialogue: The Vanishing Tag

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    This is the lesson I have heard when it comes to dialogue: Don’t tag too often. Don’t get too specific with your tag. First, let’s define tag. A tag is very simple. He said is a tag. We have all seen them a million times. Remember that. We will get back to that. Tags are…

  • The Illusions of Dialogue

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    I came from a family of storytellers, I mean, gifted storytellers. They could pick you up and lift you into a tale like none other I have ever known. I apprenticed under them, and it made me the writer I am. I have been telling stories all my life and writing for most of my…

  • Vanity

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    Man, am I about to piss you off. It is amazing how furious a good number of you are going to be by the end of this blog post. Just to let you know, before I get started here, I am a writer—a fantasy writer—and I am unpublished. I feel as though I need to…