Greetings! Today's post will be a short one, and mostly just an announcement concerning a new short story I've made public on the site. I wrote this one last November during National Novel Writing Month; it's rougher around the edges but still one I wanted to share. You can find that story, and a brief... Continue Reading →
Unfinished Stories: Child of the Sun
Introduction: This snippet is presented as the fifth of my "unfinished stories"---a series of short tales I've begun to enjoy including here on the Goblin Opinions site. This one is particularly unique, as it was originally intended to be the prologue of a novel I began writing last November. Now, things got a little sidetracked... Continue Reading →
Writing with Clarity
Greetings! Today I'd like to talk to you about an aspect of writing that I've had a hard time with recently, and that I know others struggle with, but that I believe there is a clear solution to. I've recently been reading Dæmon Voices, a collection of essays on writing by the English author Philip... Continue Reading →
Science Fiction: A Genre Study
Greetings! Today I’ll be discussing the great genre of science fiction, providing examples of the genre at work, and examining its various applications. The goal here is to give you a better understanding of the genre, and perhaps some inspiration for your own stories set within it. Primary subgenres A difference should be mentioned here:... Continue Reading →
Judging Popular Fantasy Maps
Good afternoon! Today I'll be assessing and ranking a series of ten maps from modern and classical fantasy stories. There are too many of these to count, but I'll do my best—apologies if I'm not able to get to one you wanted to see. By no means am I some sort of cartography expert, but... Continue Reading →
The Winds of the Storm
Introduction: This short story was written late in 2021 to be submitted to an online contest of short stories. I've decided to post it here, so that it may be viewed by the visitors of this site. It varies distinctly from the other short stories I have presented here; I categorize this tale as science... Continue Reading →
January Review: Storms, Souls, and Dystopias
Greetings! Today I’ll be talking to you about some of the books I read in January 2022, as well as going over some other things concerning the Goblin Opinions site as a whole. I plan to have one of these every month, as a sort of overarching multi-book review/check in. Additionally, I’ll ideally have a... Continue Reading →
Vaean—My Worldbuilding Project
Upon my first day entering the world of innovation, I was surprised. Not just because I had expected something small and had instead found something grand. Barely for the fact that the inhabitants of this realm felt, acted and appeared as humanoid. Not because they subverted my expectations, acting happy to see me instead of... Continue Reading →
Overcoming Writer’s Block
Writers talk about writer's block a lot. It's a question nearly every author gets asked—how do you deal with writer's block? How did you beat it? It's an issue that, it seems, penetrates every writing community, and the question of how to overcome it is one that no person, book, or google search has yet... Continue Reading →
So, you’ve found me
Goblin Opinions, The various thoughts of J. Dan Goodberry, writer and occasional philosopher. Greetings! Chances are if you’re seeing this, you’re new to the Goblin Opinions site. Either that or you’ve just stumbled upon an update conducted to (hopefully) improve the site in some way or another. Well, either way I’m happy you’re here. With... Continue Reading →
Goblin Opinions 