Dear readers, I finished a first draft of my “Caterina the Wise” retelling for the Clarion Write-A-Thon. This week, I randomly selected a story called “Liombruno” from Basilicata. My Italian geography is not very good, so I researched the city and learned its geography is really cool. It is a southern Italian region in the […]
Tag: sf&f
Clarion Write-A-Thon: More on Retelling Catarina the Wise
Readers, Last time, I gave you some initial thoughts on “Catarina the Wise”. Today I want to dig a little deeper, because there’s something eating away at the heart of my process. Simply, the question: “Should this be a literal retelling, beat for beat, or should I capture the essence of it?” I thought about […]
Clarion Write-A-Thon: Initial Brainstorming and Selecting the First Italian Fairy Tale
Hello readers, Last week, I talked about what I’m writing for the Clarion Write-A-Thon. I spent some time this weekend thinking about the negative experiences I’ve had, and have been mulling over Colorism because it’s something I want to be mindful of when writing these stories. Italian-Americans are sometimes treated differently because we’re not deemed […]
New Class for Novelists: Adapting Your Novel into a Game
Hello! I am teaching a new class through the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers on Sunday, July 12th. Adapting Your Novel into a Game with Monica Valentinelli July 12, 2020 9:30 am – 11:30 am PST Are you a novelist with a fascinating world? Have you thought about turning your novel into an RPG? In […]
Magic Monday Dispatches No 1: Worldbuilding
Welcome to Monica’s Magic Monday Dispatches where I dive into magic, magic systems, and worldbuilding! Behold, the first dispatch. What is magic, anyway? According to the Oxford Dictionary, it’s “the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces” (1). That power, then, is wielded by a practitioner–witch, wizard, sorcerer, […]