Issue 117 of The Secrets

I just released Issue 117 of The Secrets newsletter. This issue is titled Advanced World Design: Culture Wars.

Readers come to fiction for, among other things, the chance to explore and experience cultures that they know little or nothing about. That sense of discovery works in all fiction, genre or not. And one huge way to heighten that sensation is to have a story unfold against a backdrop of cultures in collision. Likewise, having smaller cultural clashes can be the whole substance of a story.

In this issue I go through the various types of tales that a Culture War can convey, breaking them down into their parts, so you can quickly figure out how to structure a story around them. It’s material I’ve used in numerous novels, and have marveled at in the novels of others. The reason I labeled this lesson as advanced is simply because a lot of authors never challenge themselves to deal with this great source of conflict. The authors who do really are a cut above.

If you subscribe right now, you’ll get that issue, plus all the previous issues in this volume from 101 on. Your subscription will run through issue 125, and you’ll get those issues for only $1.

If you only want the single issue, click the link or on the image above and you’ll get it for $2.

Note: Some folks might wonder why I last released 113 as a single issue, but haven’t done so for 114-116. Those issues are dealing with some business stuff that you’ll see unfolding here over the next couple of months. This includes some background on the stories I’ll be serializing. I didn’t want to tempt anyone with spoilers.