I hear the hammers. Chisels sound like they’re working rocks over. It’s the sound of Chuck Wendig chipping away at the preconceptions and sorry excuses that cake around the thick skull of the writer especially after a binge of wordsmithing like NaNoWriMo. He gave me a gift on my birthday, the gift of cold wisdom,… Continue reading Drifting Between Words
Author: BlueInkAlchemist
Regarding Ms. Lane
Laundry nights at the Sheppard’s1 have become a good place to get caught up on movies, especially in the superhero genre. Being brought up as a nerd, I do have at least a passing familiarity with many a costumed crimefighter, and recently our friends reintroduced us to the cinematic renditions of one of the most… Continue reading Regarding Ms. Lane
Birthday Wishes
When this date rolled around during my childhood, I found myself wishing for new toys. More Transformers, a new video game, etc. As a teenager, the primary wish was for acceptance from my peers. Toys were a nice bonus, but what I really wanted was to fit in. It would be a long time before… Continue reading Birthday Wishes
Flash Fiction: Mind Mangles Matter
To tackle the Terribleminds tiny tale-telling trial, “An Affliction of Alliteration“: Courtesy istaevan At last. The answers were finally within reach. They’d all told him he was mad. His colleagues in the studies of the arcane and obscure, scholars like himself, had said it was forbidden for him to delve into underground ruins such as… Continue reading Flash Fiction: Mind Mangles Matter
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! In The Mouth of Madness
[No audio this week; RIP old headset. 🙁 ] There are classics of the horror genre, speaking in terms of movies, that are all about the creatures: Bela Legosi’s Dracula, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster, Lon Chaney’s Wolfman and so on. Some horror stories move away from such “creature features” and opt for a more… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! In The Mouth of Madness
Proper Pacing
I’ve mentioned in medias res previously. It’s a great way to get your audience into the swing of the story and can cut down on overwrought exposition. However, no matter how breakneck the pace of the opening, you don’t necessarily have to pound the metaphorical pavement from start to finish. You can’t spend all of… Continue reading Proper Pacing
First Impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic
I am a recovering Star Wars fanboy. I grew up on Star Wars. Before Star Trek grew into its Next Generation and into the myriad other permutations, there was A New Hope. From Alan Dean Foster to a variety of hacks, there’s been all sort of surrounding works with the series. Video games are no… Continue reading First Impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Women of Skyrim
Pop quiz: is that a man, or a woman, slaying that dragon? I’ve been playing a lot of Skyrim lately, between shifts at the day job and stabs at the rewrite. Even when it’s not entirely on my brain, the experience lingers, reminding me of quests to finish and things to craft at my local… Continue reading The Women of Skyrim
Don't Go Easy
While working on the revision for the fantasy novel, I realized something that’d passed me by on my previous edits. Well, I say ‘revision’ but mostly what I’m doing is falling under ‘rewrite’. I’m taking large chunks of my old draft, keeping what works, and cutting out what doesn’t. There’s a brand-new opening for our… Continue reading Don't Go Easy
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Last Samurai
[No audio this week; RIP old headset. 🙁 ] I had originally planned this for no other reason than the sake of novelty. I am, after all, not the only small-time Internet movie critic consistently cranking out reviews for the benefits of whomever takes the time to read my words. I have a Canadian counterpart… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Last Samurai
