It’s been a while. Well, it’s actually only been a month, but it felt like a long month. My July was absolutely packed; I accomplished more in just a few weeks than I have in several years, so let’s talk about everything I’ve done since we last caught up. From hiking a mountain in Colorado to passing exams here in Kansas City, I feel like a totally different person than I was when I released my last post! Amidst all this, I was reading John Gwynne’s The Hunger of the Gods, so I’ll be giving some of my spoiler-free thoughts on that book in this post, too.

No one presents conflicts quite like villains, and they’re the topic of today’s conversation. See, while almost every villain presents a conflict, not every villain is going to be great. What is it, then, that makes a villain great?

Today, I’m going to be doing an essay regarding the two main kinds of magic systems in fiction: hard and soft. I’ll explain what these are, give some examples, and then dive into the pros and cons of each system. This isn’t really a “which is better post” because that’s really up to each reader’s personal preference (and because we all know that hard magic systems are better, don’t we?).

Today is going to be a slower, more chat-style post because I wanted to do something less formal than what I’ve been putting out. I’ll be rearranging my bookshelves for the summer season! If you haven’t noticed—and I can’t blame you if you haven’t—I like to rearrange what’s displayed on my bookshelf based on the current season! For a good while now, I’ve had pinks and greens on display for spring. Now, it’s time to get my shelves ready for summer filming.

For a little over a year now, I have been referring to this story as Keeping Secrets from Friends, as a bit of an on-the-nose codename. Not only was I legitimately keeping the nature of my new story a secret from everyone, but much of the story does revolve around the sorts of things that we hide from everyone, including our closest friends. However, the official title of the novel is Spencer & Curt.

This post is going to be something of a list of predictions while simultaneously just being a wishlist of things that I really want to see in this sixth book. Anything I mention here isn’t just something I think we will see, it’s something I really want to see and believe is entirely feasible.