Cameron Montague Taylor

Fantasy Author & Fiction Editor

writing exercises

Morning Pages: The Dreamer

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: I’ve been blocked lately. Or, if not blocked, deeply unmotivated to write. Work is partly to blame (it’s crazy right now!). It’s difficult to find energy to be creative when I can barely struggle my way out of bed in the morning. Part of the difficulty I’m having re: writing and getting work done is a result of how hard I find it to get back into the complex pattern of a preexisting story. I have two big projects open right now, and both of them really require that I screw my head on straight before I put my hands to the keyboard. Instead of trying to get myself into those story worlds, however, I motivated myself by trying out a new one (probably the next standalone in the queue after Tombs of Glass).

I’m not in love with it, but getting the opportunity to explore the new world and try to visualize one of the story’s main settings for the first time was fun. It certainly satisfied my need for creative activity — one which has been going sorely unmet of late.

Sometimes I avoid writing in future story-universes because I’m afraid I’ll jinx it, I guess — that I’ll write the most interesting, pivotal, or important scene… and once that’s down on paper, I won’t feel the need to actually go through the process of writing the novel that’s supposed to surround it. Over the past year of so, I’ve become less convinced this would ever happen to me (especially if I love the idea enough), so I’m trying to give myself permission to play in these future worlds even before they’re solidly lodged in my book queue. I’m looking forward to writing more flash fic in this universe in the future!

“We wear wedding rings to denote marital status. How else are partnerships (of any kind!) broadcast through fashion/jewelry/styling in your world?”

“Rings:” Oceana ‘verse. Arden makes a sly statement using local customs.

“Legend has it, an ice queen resides in the north.”

Oceana ‘verse. Siath doesn’t like the way the court talks about House Verhaaren.

“Where do we go when we dream?”

Tal learns the tools of his father’s trade.

“Write about a candlelit procession—for a wedding, a funeral, or a major holiday.”

The winter solstice is a time for special celebrations in the Oceana ‘verse.

“Homecoming + gates + canter.”

Valory from the Oceana ‘verse comes home after his first time traveling abroad.

“Careful. The moon’s gaze is upon you.”

Ryn has a difficult time adjusting to a land without sun.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • Do you do any pre-writing (scenes, flash fics, etc.) before you start a story?
  • Are you ever afraid that getting those pivotal scenes down while pre-writing will kill your drive to start/finish the story?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Click here to visit Cameron's patreon page!

Morning Pages: Friendly Ghost

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: This might not be particularly writing related, but I’ve learned that when I have something important happening on a particular day, I’m entirely incapable of focusing on anything but that thing. I had an important job interview over the phone the day I wrote “Friendly Ghost“, and holy cow, even though the interview only took a half hour total, my mental energy was shot. I tried, desperately, to get words down on the page, but only managed to eek the flash fic out in the moments before going to bed, long after winding down from the day’s buzz.

I’d like to figure out what it’d take to nudge my brain out of that space and into a more productive place — or at the very least, a place where I could focus for more than a few minutes at a time. Anyone have tips? Now that I’ve realized this about myself, I’d love to figure out a way to ameliorate it in the future.

The Prompts:

“Whenever we try a new and unusual meat (alligator, snake, etc.) we always joke that it ‘tastes like chicken’. But what do the animals (or supernatural creatures) that prey on humans think we taste like?”

“Onion Rings:” Lor from Hook, Line, Sinker is back… and she’s hungry.

“Your character walks into a long hall of portraits. What do they see?”

Oceana ‘verse. Arden doesn’t remember his mother.

“Character one: *Bursts through the door, looking panicked*
Character two: “What did you do?”
Character one: “Nobody died.”
Character two: “WHAT KIND OF AN ANSWER IS THAT?!”

“Nobody Died:” Anya and El from Weaver end up with another companion.

“Your MC is a psychic sketch artist for law enforcement. A victim comes in to describe a crime. What do they see?”

“Cat Burglar:” Otherwise known as a long-form dad joke.

“Bar fight + carrots + snow.”

“Snowflake:” Oceana ‘verse. Some lads don’t know how to take a hint. Miss Ehrin is happy to teach them a lesson.

“A house haunted by friendly ghosts.”

Casper ain’t got nothing on this.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • What are your coping strategies when you’re having trouble concentrating?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Click here to visit Cameron's patreon page!

Morning Pages: Who He Is

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Pick a prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: The gay pronoun problem defeats me even at the best of times.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the GPP, it’s when you’re trying to choreograph a scene between two characters who share a pronoun. It hit me harder than usual this month (though to be fair, most of the characters in this month’s roundup shared a scene with their same-gender partner, so I did this to myself). The choreography in “Who He Is” proved particularly difficult to sort out, especially in the beginning when Mel attempted to carry Nev into a tent. Two sets of limbs, and all of them belong to a “he” — a predicament, indeed!

This month, I also wrote a short blog post about epithets in fiction (and defeating the GPP), so I made a particular point of watching how I navigated the GPP during edits. It turns out, my natural response is to delete as many pronouns as possible for the sake of increased clarity. Thus, instead of writing, “Nev had fisted [his/Nev’s] hands in the front of [his/Mel’s] coat, I deleted pronoun #1 and wrote “Nev had a fistful of his coat” — the subject of the second ‘his’ mostly implied by the prior sentence.

Interested in reading more about the GPP (and finding tips on how to avoid resorting to epithets like *the Potionmaster fisted hands in the Prince’s coat*? Say no more. Here’s the blog post on epithets.

The Prompts:

“Show a funerary service in a world that isn’t ours.”

“Last Farewell:” Oceana ‘verse. It’s never easy to lose a parent.

“There’s a woman working in the lighthouse on the old point. She sings to the fishermen every time it’s rainy or foggy and it’s hard to see the light. Write a story from the POV of one of these fishermen.”

Miss Eliza might be borderline tone-deaf, but that doesn’t bother the local fishermen.

“That’s not who he is.”

Mel from The Dark Arm of the Maker sees Neveshir perform dangerous magic for the first time.

“Snowed In.”

Oceana ‘verse. Men who’ve lived their whole lives in the tropics dream of snow.

“Oh, I’ve seen plenty.”

Siath from the Oceana ‘verse is a good brother, even if a nosy one.

Picture Prompts

“Connect the dots:” Oceana ‘verse. Some games are more fun when your partner has freckles.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • Do you have any tried and true tricks for getting around the GPP?
  • What are they?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Morning Pages: Interpretation

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: I never write in present tense. (I don’t know why this is.) For whatever reason, past tense has always felt more natural to me—probably because most of the SFF I read as a kid was written in third person past. Sometimes I write in present tense when I’m zero-drafting, though that’s mostly because I’m throwing the scene onto the paper as I imagine it while paying very, very little attention to tense and grammar. Often, a hodge-podge of past and present will hit the paper, only for me to spend time converting everything to past tense (and, well, legible English) when I’m writing the first draft.

I had no idea how hard writing in present tense would be until I tried it for pieces I wrote this month (“Interpretation” in particular).

I don’t know what inspired me to do it. The first sentence of “Interpretation” came out in present tense, and I looked at it for a minute, then decided to roll with it instead of making corrections. And holy cow—I had to do multiple passover edits just to make sure there weren’t any sneaky tense issues going on. (Hint: there are probably still some sneaky tense issues hanging in there.) Some of my craft experiments throughout the past few months (with POV, mostly) have made me hanker to try something other than the Third Person Multi I’d call my mainstay… but wow, nothing about writing this snippet in present tense makes me ever want to try it again. I’m pretty sure writing a novel this way would utterly break my brain.

If you routinely switch back and forth between tenses… wow friend, I commend you for it. My brain sizzles just thinking about it.

The Prompts:

“Write a snippet of dialogue in which two listeners interpret the conversation in completely different ways.”

It’s no secret that Imran finds the Oceanic language strange.

“I can feel your nerves.”

Maestro intimidates his principal cellist.

“You said that the last time I died. Or was that two deaths ago?”

Weaver ‘verse. Jael Soti can’t seem to stay alive.

“Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat”

Miran from the Oceana ‘verse has some regrets about how he raised his sons.

“A mythical creature hides in plain sight.”

“Hook, Line, Sinker:” The bartender is a selkie. Hear me out—I have evidence.

“A stubborn, controlling, or selfish character makes a concession for someone who is starting to become their friend.”

“Shaken:” Max Battista never got along with catchers… until he met Marshall Bedford.

“Monsters in folklore prey upon unsuspecting humans who wander into their wild realms; in fact, many monsters rely on said wandering humans for food or resources. So what happened to these monsters during quarantine?”

“Hunger:” If you hear someone calling your name late at night, don’t answer.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • Do you tend to write in past or present tense?
  • Why do you think you gravitate towards that choice?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Click to visit my patreon!

Morning Pages: Bad Idea

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: I’ve had a lot of fun incorporating experiences from my work-life into SFF worlds this month. Between What’s That Smell, Ivy, and Bad Idea, I’ve used sailing not just as a mode of transportation or a backdrop for an epic quest, but as the purpose, the punchline, the vector through which the story gets told.

(Okay, Ivy has nothing to do with sailing, but have I gifted someone a plant they ended up being allergic to? Yes, yes I have.)

There’s a lot of me and my specific, concrete experiences in these flash fics. What’s That Smell is, fundamentally, a joke for anyone who has spent any time living or working aboard a sailboat. Mystery smells (usually unpleasant ones) are part and parcel of shipboard life, and when I say I’ve gone through entire compartments sniffing things with my fellow crew, trying to isolate the source of the funk… well. Yes. I had a lot of fun with that fic.

Then there’s Bad Idea — the ultimate personal-experience-as-narrative. This past month, I’ve been training to perform high-risk, close-quarters maneuvers in tight channels with fast currents for the very first time. Do I have the license to captain a ship? Yes. Have I trained for years to dock vessels like this? Absolutely. That hasn’t stopped me from feeling desperately unprepared for the responsibility on my shoulders. There’s only so much training can do for us, though. Past a certain point, we need to take the leap, trust our skills, and figure out the rest as we go.

I could flesh out a lot of allegories, here, but the obvious one is the connection to writing/publishing. Eventually, we hit a point where we’re no longer in the ‘learner’ phase… and what then? Do we self-publish? Join bigger, badder writing groups? Query and try for trad? Pitch to serialization sites? Whatever we choose, eventually there’s no prep work left to do, and we just have to bite the bullet and go.

But how do we know when we’re ready, whether at the helm of a ship, after editing a manuscript, or otherwise?

Well. That’s the question, isn’t it?

The Prompts:

“Maybe this was a bad idea.”

A young pilot second-guesses their career choice.

“What’s that smell?”

Oceana ‘verse: Ehrin plays every sailor’s favorite game.

“Fish out of water (literally or figuratively).”

Oceana ‘verse: Imran never belonged in Anaphe.

“Write a story based on a real-life tragedy.”

“Feed:” They all know they’re going to die here.

“A character gets asked to do a favor they really don’t want to do.”

“The Look of Her:” Oceana ‘verse. Arden gets conned into being Jonah’s wing-man.

“You bought a run-down coffee shop located in a laid-back, mundane town for below market price. Not a perfect investment, but it’s an investment you can afford. You turn the coffee shop into something unique and contemporary that changes the town for the better. Suddenly, the coffee shop becomes a gossip hub where secrets of the town’s residents begin to unfold. Turns out, this town isn’t so mundane after all.”

Oceana ‘verse AU; a narrator watches two strangers get closer during the long months of the pandemic.

“Character A gives character B a gift. It backfires.”

Mel from Dark Arm of the Maker isn’t so good with house plants.

“The sky is all wrong, here.”

It’s hard to travel so far from home.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • How do you know when a story is ready for submission/publication—whatever submission and/or publication mean to you?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!

Click to visit my patreon!

Morning Pages: Righting Wrongs

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Welcome to Morning Pages — it’s time for a monthly roundup. I hope you’ve got your pencils sharpened and ready to write. Wanna join in on the fun? Read the prompt, set your timer* and get ready to let the words flow. Feel free to post the results of your work in the comments below where we chat about writing and (if the mood strikes us) get a craft discussion going.

If you want critique from other commenters, use #YESTHANKS in your comment. Otherwise, you can tell us about the flash fic and the process you went through to write it. And of course, I’m always open to hear what you think about my excerpts!

*you can write for as long as you want, but most folks choose 15-30 minutes.

What I learned this month: I’ve been crafting stories in my head since I was a little kid. I don’t think that’s a particularly unique trait—I think the unique bit is how I wrote so many of those stories down, and finished approximately none of them. I have endless writing notebooks kicking around drawers in my apartment, and because the writing isn’t quality (look, some of them date back to middle school) I tend to overlook them as sources of inspiration.

The thing is… there’s nothing wrong with the ideas I came up with. The flaws were always in the execution—because it takes a heckin’ long time to develop any kind of writing craft, and I certainly wasn’t there when I jotted down the ideas for those stories.

But flaws in craft have nothing to do with concept flaws, and I’m starting to see that I shouldn’t stop myself from revisiting old ideas just because the dialogue is wooden or the descriptions are awkward. The fun part about rereading my writing notebooks is revisiting the stories, not how they’re told. And now, years later, I finally have the ability to retell them the way they originally deserved to be written.

I’m not sure I’ll end up throwing any of these old ideas on the backburner pile, but hey—I might. Either way, it was worth revisiting one of them in the short after which this roundup is named. Check out Righting Wrongs for a window into Teenage!Cee’s head.

The Prompts:

“Put the main character from one of your books into the circus.”

Turns out, Arden from the Oceana ‘verse is a decent aerialist.

“It will take the rest of my life to right the wrongs I’ve done.”

Revisiting Crecia: a world I built when I was a kid.

“Beware the Six-Toed Cat.”

Anya from Weaver doesn’t put much stock in advice from psychics. (Maybe she should.)

“If you find yourself in need of an answer, blow out a candle and ask the smoke. But ask quickly–it can’t stay around for long.”

An old King wonders whether he was right to wear the crown.

“The island is made of skeletons, creatures big and small polished into shining bone roads. The people who live there are peaceful. So far.”

“Albatross:” A shipwrecked sailor pays for his errors.

“You’re Spoiling Me.”

Neveshir from Dark Arm of the Maker has a hard time believing he deserves kindness.

Picture Prompts

“Monolith:” Arden and Val from the Oceana ‘Verse explore a foreign land.

Get Involved!

Answer the prompts or dive straight in and respond to others’ comments — let’s share our knowledge, our experience, and have a discussion we can all learn from! Don’t want to miss a post? Subscribe to the blog in the sidebar to get notified about new posts.

Today’s questions:

  • Have you ever rewritten a story you started as a kid? How much time passed between the original idea occurring to you and the rewrite happening?
  • Were you happy with the end result? Why/why not?

Looking for more writing? Become a Patron!

In addition to extra flash fiction (at least once a week), my Patreon hosts my full-length novels, artwork, behind-the-scenes worldbuilding, and more. Click below to check out the tiers I offer and support the blog!