I missed Caturday! So, I thought I’d share with you this really cool video of a cat playing with a dolphin from YouTube! Fascinating stuff. As an animal lover, it’s interesting to me to see how different species interact with each other. Well, that and perhaps I may want to become a guardian for another […]
Category: Blog
Musings and Opinions
Adding Depth to Character Backgrounds
Creating characters can be a lot of fun, provided you avoid developing a Mary Sue character you’re overly attached to. Heavily-idealized and pet characters are hard to kill when they need to be and can be burdensome on the reader. The side effect to creating a Mary Sue character is your reaction to the situation when someone doesn’t like your work. I’ve seen many writers get more defensive because that character means something to them that goes above and beyond the call of: “Well, I love my work.”
The book I’ve listed in this post is called, The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays. When I’m stuck developing a character, I turn to this resource and sift through the pages.
Squirrels! For April Fool’s
Hey folks, Just wanted to pop in and say that I wrote something fun for April Fool’s. Author Lilith Saintcrow, besieged by squirrel terror in her backyard, was the inspiration behind “The Squirrel.” It starts with… Once upon an evening dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, How to script an ensuing volume for my […]
On the Voynich Manuscript and Other Ancient Texts
When you write in the realm of horror, dark fantasy and science fiction, you’re often required to read and research different topics for reference. Like many other authors, I’ve poured through copies of ancient texts to get behind the myths and legends, to view them with a critical eye. Working on Argentum, for example, required […]
[Game Design Concept] Politically-Based Card Game
You’ve heard me talk about how life inspires me to write short stories like Lady Yellowbird and the Flight of the Sad Panda, but I haven’t discussed how things around me also inspire me to design, write or play games. The recent events here in Madison have made me wonder if political tactics and issues […]