This is Marc Schuster. He teaches English. He edits for Philadelphia Stories. He’s also a writer and knows a thing or two about characters, especially since contemporary short stories (which he lectured about at this past weekend’s Writer’s Conference) are driven by characters, rather than plot. His full thoughts and lecture notes are available here,… Continue reading Marc Schuster on Characters
On Speculative Fiction
At this past weekend’s Philadelphia Writer’s Conference, I described myself as primarily a writer of ‘speculative fiction’. A few people asked me what I meant. There are some stereotypes that I think are assigned to areas of speculative fiction I’d like to dispel, and more depth in those stories when they’re done well than some… Continue reading On Speculative Fiction
Flash Fiction: The Hunter
It’s been a busy weekend, and I have a lot to write about, but it’s going to take some time to recover and process. So while I do that, here’s a bit of flash fiction that came out of this weekend. It’s my first honest attempt at fiction this short. So, as I will say… Continue reading Flash Fiction: The Hunter
IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Brokeback Mountain
[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/brokeback.mp3] Here’s a fun fact you might not have known about me. I grew up in house full of women. It was my mother and my two sisters, and when I was a young boy my grandmother moved in with us as well. Being surrounded by women, it’s probably no surprised I was exposed to… Continue reading IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Brokeback Mountain
The Almighty Bean
(Coming to you from the Philadelphia Writer’s Conference…) Maybe it’s because I’m American, but I tend to associate coffee with books and literature. I know that it’s traditional to discuss literature along with politics or other current events at tea time, but Americans are more drinkers of coffee than tea. I enjoy both, and in… Continue reading The Almighty Bean
The Home Stretch
Maybe it’s just me, as I amble towards the end of my current project, doing my utmost to follow my own tenth rule of writing fiction. There’s something that I’ve noticed over the past week. Maybe it’s just because I’m getting into ‘conference’ mode, or maybe this is a side effect of continuing to get… Continue reading The Home Stretch
Agents
No, silly, not those agents. It’s been been over a year since I discussed The Fine Art of Selling Yourself. Other than being almost done with a novel that, while imperfect, might actually have a shot of getting some ink, very little has changed for me. I still think pitches should be simple, agents should… Continue reading Agents
Intellectual Indigestion
This was going to be the first of a few posts inspired by The Oatmeal,, but I have quite a bit of work to do if I want to get something tangible squared away by Thursday. “First you do the work that feeds your belly,” someone very wise told me recently, “then you do the… Continue reading Intellectual Indigestion
DPS Delivery Man
So following yesterday’s WoW discussion and my request for advice, Rick Carroll said the following: DPS is easy to find. DPS is everywhere. Good, smart dps is not. Any doofus with a computer and a connection can spam buttons at an enemy – smart dps knows what they are doing, how it works, and when… Continue reading DPS Delivery Man
Starting Over Is Hard To Do
So my wife and I have returned to Azeroth. Kinda. Starting brand new characters on a brand new server is a great idea on paper. But there are a few issues with it that are making things, for my part, somewhat confused. Since this is a blog just as much about gaming as it is… Continue reading Starting Over Is Hard To Do
