Cartoon or Opera? Lethality in the superhero genre is an interesting phenomenon. Heroes and villains (apparently) may perish, but their eventual return is all but guaranteed. One of the factors in bringing The Jagged Earth to life is how to deal with death. Characters – good, bad, and other – need to resonate with readers […]
Story Worlds In my quest to entertain readers, I have several different “alternate reality” scenarios in addition to The Jagged Earth on the planning books. Just to tease… there’s a place where werewolves roam and one with an invasion from outer space. That doesn’t include a few classic fantasy and cyberpunk worlds on the boards! […]
Sequel Complications I completed a basic revision on Chapter 1: Staging/Diagramming review (narrative combat and exploration matches set construction drawings) Basic dialog check (character dialog matches their specific form) Costuming & powers (match costume details and power descriptions to character definitions cross-checked against Orchids Ablaze). I already had an outline for Chapter 2, so I […]
If you’ve been visiting here long, or enjoyed Orchids Ablaze, then you likely know that I believe families are important. Whether you love them, hate them, just met them, or wish you never had, they are still important. They are a connection, for better or worse.
Reading When I decided to write as a serious effort, I picked several of my favorite authors to re-read. I tried to read them critically and dissect out what it was that so impressed me about them. It was actually a lot of fun as well as educational. I’ve written on that before, but now […]
One Character Down In the evolution of the next book in the first Lodge of the Wolf arc, I’ve decided that I may enjoy character creation a little too much. One constructive criticism from Orchids Ablaze was too many characters were running around. There actually was logic and research behind the number of characters I […]