Author: Ethan Kincaid

Ethan Kincaid was born in 1985 in Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa with a degree in Linguistics and a minor in Japanese Language. After finishing his education, he settled down there with his wife Kaitlyn and became a full-time writer. In 2011, he moved to Montreal and discovered its vibrant writing culture. In 2015, Ethan moved to Helsinki, Finland with his wife; he works as a creative craftsman and part time author. The greatest joy in his life lies in helping others find venues for their own personal expression.

NaNoWriMo 2014

Winner-2014-Web-Banner

BAM!

Yes it’s been another great November for me. I finished my 50k wordcount on the 26th and was able to take a couple days off besides. I took a break from writing for the rest of November and now I’m working at finishing the novel.

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, I strongly suggest you take a look. It’s a blast.

As for Blood of Midnight, I’m going to wait until I’ve finished my NaNo novel to decide what’s to be done about Hollow Vengeance. It’s possible that I’ll publish the NaNo novel first. Hollow Vengeance needs a major rip-tear-and-repair job before I can enjoy it enough to write it in full. I mean, if the author hates it, the reader can’t help but hate it. I would much rather push back the release date than put out something that is crap.

In other news, I’ve signed up for Jill Jepson’s Review and Renew Writing Challenge 2015. I found it so helpful last year that I decided to do it again. It starts in January, so if you’re interested, you still have a chance. It’s free.

Thanks for stopping by y’all.

Does This Costume Make Me Look Racist?

So, I’ve had some really interesting conversations lately. The good kind of interesting. Around this time of year, I see a whole lot of debate going on as to what costumes are and aren’t acceptable to wear.

sexy indian princess

I’m pretty sure no one thinks this is acceptable.

I have a few simple benchmarks for this kind of thing so I’ll just mention ’em here and you can see if you think it’ll help you decide what to wear:

1. Is it a specific character? (ie: An Indian VS Sitting Bull, or Pochahontas) If it is, and you’re sincerely dressing as that person because you like them, not to make fun of them, then that is not a caricature/racial stereotype. Go right ahead.

2. Is it something you’re actually afraid of? If so, go right ahead and empower yourself by putting on the face of your inner demons for a night. Samhain is the single most appropriate Holy Day for fear work. Do not let other people get in the way of your therapy or your expression of spirituality. They have no right to do that either.

3. Has someone told you your costume offends them? If so, ask them if they are part of the cultural/religious group you are portraying. If they are not, disregard their opinion. Oftentimes people who get offended on behalf of other people end up being wrong and members of the social group in question don’t actually care or think it’s funny too.

4. Does the costume have “Sexy” in the title? If so, it’s probably ridiculous. 

Just my two cents. Take it for what it’s worth.

Shifting Gears – NaNoWriMo 2014

I’ve been struggling with Blood of Midnight: Hollow Vengeance. It’s been going slower and slower until there have been days where I haven’t been writing at all, too intimidated by the prospect of slogging through another chapter. When I began writing the sequel to The Broken Prophecy I very much wanted to focus on the female lead who got less attention than her male counterpart in the first book. It annoys me that there are far fewer female protagonists than male, and even fewer female protagonists of colour. Very often, the only female characters of note end up being the male lead’s love interest and nothing else. I did not want that to be the fate of Phoenix.

But there’s a difference between what you should write and what you want to write. I found myself not wanting to write Phoenix but feeling like I owed it to feminists and women of colour. I rarely ever get inside this character’s head. Is it because she’s female? Is it because she’s not white? I don’t know.

The feedback I’ve had so far from people who have read the chapters from Phoenix’s point of view has been universally positive. They like her. She’s a badass. She doesn’t take shit from anybody. She’s complex. She sometimes makes the wrong decisions and has to deal with it … So what’s my problem with her? Continue reading “Shifting Gears – NaNoWriMo 2014”

How to Make Crystal Clear Shadowhunter Blades

mortal

So you wanna look like this? Well, bad news: there’s only one Jamie Bower in the world and chances are, you’re not him. But I can help you out with that sweet, sweet Seraph Blade.

You can commission a blade from me. Here’s my Etsy shop! Or you can email me at ekincaidwrites@gmail.com to ask about custom orders. Each blade is made to order and is individually made by hand so please allow for a few weeks of crafting time.

But what if you want to make your own? Well, here’s a tutorial on how to carve one from solid acrylic. I make them out of liquid resin these days, but that is a huge expense for a single seraph blade which is probably what you want if you’re reading this.
Continue reading “How to Make Crystal Clear Shadowhunter Blades”

How to make a Shadowhunter Witchlight

Anybody else a fan of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series? I love it, and cosplaying as a Shadowhunter is a lot of fun. There are a few tricky bits to the costume though, and one of these bits is the witchlight.

How the crap do you do this?

Witchlight

Well fear not! I have found an easy, cost-effective way to do just that. Continue reading “How to make a Shadowhunter Witchlight”

Business Cards

Woohoo! My business cards arrived from VistaPrint and they’re gorgeous!

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Now all I need is a business card holder so I can carry a few around with me. Yaaaaaay! I feel so professional now. Ha!

Shadowhunter Bracers Project

And the cosplay crafts continue! From what I’ve seen in the City of Bones movie, Shadowhunters seem to wear hand protection as a rule. A pair of motorcycle gloves would do just fine but I can’t seem to find a used pair so I got creative.

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What’s this? Well, this is a pair of children’s shin-guards. I thought we were making bracers! Yes. Yes we are. Stay tuned for the transformation. I spotted these puppies in a used clothing shop in the sporting goods section. Continue reading “Shadowhunter Bracers Project”

Shadowhunter Stele Project

So I’m a fan of Cassandra Clary’s Mortal Instruments series. And my friend Scarlet and I are going to cosplay as Shadowhunters for Otakuthon and Comiccon. Woohoo! Well, one of the things necessary to a Shadowhunter’s gear is a stele. It’s a cross between a wand and a tattoo gun. Yes that’s just as awesome as it sounds.

As the description states, each Hunter’s stele is different and tends to reflect something of their personality. Instead of trying to replicate one character in particular, I decided to get creative and do my own Shadowhunter. As such, I mucked about with my crafting materials and made something unique.

I wanted it to be practical so I decided to build it around a sharpie marker so that we can touch up our Marks while at the convention.

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Continue reading “Shadowhunter Stele Project”

10 Tips and Tricks for Creating Memorable Characters

 A friend of mine found this excellent article on developing good, fully-fleshed-out characters. 

Check it out!

Science fiction and fantasy are built on cool ideas and fascinating worlds — but those things are only as good as the people who live around and inside them. How do you create compelling fictional characters? It’s a huge challenge. But here are some tips that might make it easier.

There’s no silver bullet or easy formula for creating characters who live and breathe inside your head (and hopefully other people’s heads, too). If there were, we’d all be using it and it wouldn’t be such a nightmare. I struggle with this all the time — I’ll have a story reach an eighth or ninth draft before I realize that a major character is still basically a scrap of paper, carried along through the story on the wind. And after years of grappling with this issue, I’ve come up with some things can help me to imagine the character as a real, separate individual instead of a function of the plot or story.

Note: this essay is adapted from a mini-lecture I gave at Clarion West a couple weeks ago. Thanks to everyone there who asked questions and gave feedback on it. (And this is a good place to plug Clarion West, which is an amazing writing program that you should all support and apply to. I had such an incredible experience there, and felt privileged to hang out with the next generation of mind-blowing SF writers.) Continue reading “10 Tips and Tricks for Creating Memorable Characters”

Amazon wants to sell for less? Whoa!

Here’s an interesting article regarding the price of ebooks. Amazon is battling it out with Hachette for the right to price ebooks lower to reach a wider market. This could be big news guys. Finally, reasonably priced books for all!

A Message from the Amazon Books Team

A Message from the Amazon Books Team

Dear Readers,

Just ahead of World War II, there was a radical invention that shook the foundations of book publishing. It was the paperback book. This was a time when movie tickets cost 10 or 20 cents, and books cost $2.50. The new paperback cost 25 cents — it was ten times cheaper. Readers loved the paperback and millions of copies were sold in just the first year. Continue reading “Amazon wants to sell for less? Whoa!”