Etymology is not the first thing that comes to mind when one sits down at their desk to begin penning a jaunt through lands replete with wizards and dragons. It’s simply not as entertaining as building out the world or navigating the twists and turns of a suspenseful plot. But with its focus on the […]
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The Big One
Maybe you thought I was dead, maybe you thought I’d disappeared into the wilderness never to return. Maybe both! Alas I’m sorry to disappoint.
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The Alchemy of Creativity
Inspiration is no less labyrinthine, mysterious or sudden than our own identities.
Continue ReadingThe Substrate of the Purely Villainous
Any true aficionado of the villainous–of antagonists in film, literature, interactive media–knows that the truly diabolical are not those with mundane or even sympathetic aims. They are those whose reprehensibility is alien to us, unnerving in their capacity for estrangement from the normal motivations which occupy our species. We, as consummate consumers, eventually tire of […]
Continue ReadingWhat Happens When They Give Up?
It is important to note the chief similarity between main and side characters. That is, at any point, a main character might become a side character and vice versa. Their lives could stop. This is what helps them achieve personhood, this imagining them as people with control over their lives and not bound to some […]
Continue ReadingInteruptions of Inference
It’s important not to interrupt yourself, but it’s even more important not to interrupt the other person. In writing or in speaking, interruptions can be disastrous. Reading isn’t any different, and the dialogue writers hold with their readers is (or should be) as sacrosanct as that which we might have with a friend or close […]
Continue ReadingScene Geography
Where things are is almost as important as the things that are being said. Oftentimes it is enough to address objects or terrain or the layout of a structure as these are met by the character who is moving through them; sometimes, it is even necessary. Detailing the scene in sum before the characters have […]
Continue ReadingEnd the Cycle of the Saga Chronicled by the Archive
Since the reintroduction and consequent explosion of the Lord of the Rings in the United States during the 1960’s, the vaunted trilogy is something that has haunted the genres of fantasy and science fiction. It became almost a rite of passage. You weren’t a serious practicer of the craft if you hadn’t a trilogy to […]
Continue ReadingInception Self-Deception
There’s something I used to be a big proponent of and have only just started getting back into (in terms of writing): ambient music. And I don’t mean some Brian Eno tracks or the OST to Elder Scrolls, which for a long time have been my usual auditory watering holes. Those are still my go-to’s […]
Continue ReadingHow Many More Doors Need Stopping?
I’ve never picked up his stuff, mostly because I’m forever whittling down a massive backlog, but someone finally tried explaining the appeal of Brandon Sanderson to me. I’m not sold. The person’s love for his books, namely the Stormlight Archive series, stemmed from his non-traditional style. I was not aware he had one, much less […]
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