Women in fiction can be tricky things for writers, especially male ones. Every individual, regardless of gender, is a creature of nuance, and unless you want your work to be regarded as lacking substance, easily disposable and the sort of thing no publishing house will get near with a ten foot pole, your ladies are… Continue reading Doing Girls Right
Checkered Flags Ahead
It’s important to have goals, in just about everything you do. The somewhat tricky part is that not everything will have defined goals laid out for you. The deadlines of a dayjob, the billing dates of utilities, the expiration on a gallon of milk – these give us tangible goals. Other goals aren’t usually as… Continue reading Checkered Flags Ahead
The IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Poll
I quietly introduced this feature yesterday. In case you missed it, take a look to the right of my main content area, just below the grinning face in the Classholes advert. This is an opportunity for you to participate in my weekly IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! feature without having to make a donation or call… Continue reading The IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Poll
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/gijoe.mp3] Ours was a Transformers house. G.I. Joe wasn’t on anywhere near as much when I was growing up. In retrospect, this might be why my initial impression of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies was a little bit rosier than my overall take has become. So I went into G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra expecting… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Break On Through
It’s difficult not to be envious of those more successful than you. People you like, respect and appreciate do things that earn them a great deal of traffic, if not a full-blown career, and you wonder, “Well, why can’t I do that?” After all, I have opinions about games and movies; I love to write… Continue reading Break On Through
Remembering Why I Play
My wife’s paladin: All this and brains, too. I have a tendency to take my games seriously. Like James T. Kirk, I don’t like to lose. I tend to find being on the wrong side of a die roll or an enemy stratagem to be very frustrating. But rather than taking the opportunity to learn… Continue reading Remembering Why I Play
B-A-L-A-N-C-E
You need it to ride a bike. It’s required for things like yoga, martial arts, arcobatics and parkour. Heck, without adequate balance you’ll struggle to walk in a straight line. It’s important. This morning Chuck suggested folks interested in freelance writing punch themselves in the face instead. To an extent, I agree. Chasing down work… Continue reading B-A-L-A-N-C-E
Growth, Change & Derailment
More often than not, characters are what will carry your story. It’s rare, however, for a character to be exactly the same at the end of a story as they are at the beginning. Just as carefully as you plot out the course of the story, you need to tend the growth of your characters.… Continue reading Growth, Change & Derailment
"Why is this here?"
When you write, having other people look over your work is critical. Provided you have some desire to get your work published, it’s important to know how it’ll be perceived by minds other than your own. It’s important to keep a bit of distance between yourself and the work at this point in the process,… Continue reading "Why is this here?"
Inception vs. Ocean's Eleven
Once again a discussion on the Escapist has caused me to pit two films against one another in my metaphorical cage. Considering both are capers with teams of experts, I’ve had to weld extra grates onto the cage to contain all of the action. However, as I was hosing down the alien bits stuck to… Continue reading Inception vs. Ocean's Eleven
