C. L. Nichols

Fort Worth, United States

Blogger at Medium

Author at Freelance

Editor, Author and Blogger at Freelance

Featured in: Favicon

medium.com

facebook.com Favicon

substack.com

Articles

Thriller Worldbuilding #7

1 day ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

The final, most diseased, most unhinged, most irreversibly broken version of this world. This isn’t just dark. This isn’t just twisted. This is where nightmares are born and reality goes to rot. The Detective Who Was Too Late vs. The Criminal Who Was Never Free1. This City Doesn’t Just Hide Evil. It Makes It.There is no justice here. There is no survival here. There is only an endless, suffocating void that swallows up people, memories, and history without hesitation.
Writing Your First Novel: Reading Widely Matters

1 day ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Absorb different styles to strengthen storytelling. Writing a novel requires creativity, discipline, and an understanding of storytelling. To become a better writer, be an active reader. Reading is more than a pastime, it’s training. Gain insights into pacing, structure, character development, and dialogue. If you write psychological horror, study books like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn or The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. These will help you understand how to build tension.
Thriller Worldbuilding #5

2 days ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

A World Where No One Exists for LongUnfiltered horror, suffocating paranoia, and a world so diseased it eats its own. This isn’t just a thriller anymore. It’s a rotting, breathing nightmare where every street drips with deception, and every person is already damned. 1. The World Doesn’t Just Hide Secrets — It Destroys ThemNothing stays whole here. Truth isn’t buried. It’s shredded, dissolved, burned before it can ever be spoken. The detective knows the bodies exist, but they never find them intact.
Lost in the Shadows

2 days ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Check out the Speculative Fiction stories: Shorts, Quickies, TellTales, & Serials. Also, read the non-fiction articles about many speculative topics. Follow publicationForgotten Train Stations with a Spooky PastAbandoned tracks, decaying platforms, and echoes of the past. These eerie train stations tell stories of mystery, tragedy, and ghosts that refuse to leave. Train stations carry an air of nostalgia. They represent movement, transition, and the quiet hum of lives crossing paths.
Suspenseful Thriller Worldbuilding #2

3 days ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

A Detective’s Hunt vs. A Criminal’s EscapeSetting shapes fear, power, and survival on both sides of the law. 1. The World Through a Detective’s Eyes: Order in ChaosDetectives move through cities like surgeons dissecting a corpse. Every alleyway, every forgotten stairwell, every flickering streetlight holds a piece of the puzzle. Their world is shaped by patterns, evidence, and inconsistencies. Geography matters. A case in a sprawling city means tracking suspects through surveillance gaps.
Meditation Sharpens Creativity

4 days ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Writing is finding the right mental space where ideas flow naturally. Some days, that space feels locked away, buried under distractions, self-doubt, and frustration. Meditation opens the door. Meditation strengthens focus, clears mental clutter, and improves creativity. When your mind is overwhelmed, your writing suffers. Meditation trains you to slow down, process thoughts, and let ideas surface. It’s not about waiting for inspiration. It’s creating the right mental environment for it.
Grammar Rules! Conjunctions: Connecting Words

1 week ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses so ideas flow smoothly. There are two types of conjunctions: coordinating and subordinating. Coordinating conjunctions connect parts of a sentence that hold equal importance. (To help remember these, FANBOYS stands for:)For — Explains reason: She stayed inside, for it was too cold to go out. And — Adds information: I like reading, and I enjoy writing too. Nor — Shows a negative link: He neither called nor texted.
Grammar Rules! Verbs - The Action Words That Bring Sentences to Life

2 weeks ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Pay attention to verb choice and tense. A verb is a word that shows action or a state of being. Every complete sentence has a verb. The cat sleeps on the couch. “Sleeps” is the verb. It tells us what the cat is doing. Types of VerbsAction verbsdescribe what something is doing. They can be physical or mental actions. Run, jump, write, danceShe writes daily. The boy jumps over the fence. Linking Verbs don’t show action. They describe a state of being. Common linking verbs:Be, seem, become, appearShe is happy.
Grammar Rules! Nouns: The People, Places, and Things

2 weeks ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Nouns name the people, places, things, and ideas that make up the world. They’re the words let us understand who or what we’re talking about. If you can point to it or think about it, chances are it’s a noun. Person: Words like “teacher,” “artist,” and “doctor.”Place: “School,” “park,” or “New York.”Thing: “Phone,” “book,” or “car.”Idea: Abstract concepts such as “freedom,” “happiness,” and “love.”“The dog chased the ball.” Here, dog and ball are nouns.
Grammar Rules! Commas: When to Use (and When Not To)

2 weeks ago | medium.com | C. L. Nichols

Use commas without pulling your hair out. Commas often trip people up, yet they’re one of the most critical tools in writing. They help readers pause, organize information, and avoid confusion. Misplacing a comma changes a sentence’s entire meaning. When to Use Commas1. In a ListCommas are like traffic signals in a list. They keep everything orderly. “I bought apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes.”Notice the comma before “and” (called the Oxford comma).