I couldn't agree more! This is one of my big pet peeves when reading a story/watching a movie. It's right up there with characters doing something blatantly stupid or out of character simply because it's the easiest way to move the plot forward.
I have to agree with Skip and Peat -- I start with people. Once I have a couple main characters, I can develop the race/society they come from. And from your societies comes your geography -- a horse culture is more likely to be found on the open plains than the jungle, for example. I like to...
I found myself dealing with this question with my current WIP. The idea I came up with for my main character is that he's under a curse that causes him to go into a mindless rage whenever he draws his swords, attacking friend and foe alike. As such, he tends to avoid combat if at all possible...
The teaser definitely has an Inception feel to it -- but it's also not showing any real details as to the plot of the movie, so with any luck the movie itself won't feel like that.
I am a huge fan of Google translate for this. I will take an English word that is what I more or less want my fantasy word to mean, then I'll go through all the languages Google has one at a time (being seriously OCD does help with this endeavor, I will admit, as it is not a super quick...
So many criticisms, so little time (so be prepared for a long post)! First let me just say that I did enjoy the movie, for what it was. But mostly that's because I ignored what little story there was (and tried my best to ignore how blatantly that story just ripped off the original trilogy) and...
Well, I guess someone has to be the voice of dissent, so in this case that's me. Visually it was impressive, and it definitely looked and felt like a Star Wars movie. But the story left A LOT to be desired. Starting with the fact that the majority of the movie was nothing but a remake of the...
My belief is that "making a living" as a writer means you are writing full time as your primary source of income. If you're still working a day job, even part-time, then I would say you're not yet "making a living" as a writer. Now as far as how much that income is, obviously that's going to...
A great author to follow when it comes to email lists and author platform is Nick Stephenson (he's a thriller author who also does marketing for authors training). He talks a lot about building email lists and the best ways to do it. He's also recently been talking a lot in his newsletter about...
Came across this site, which describes itself as "The free library of Historical European Martial Arts books and manuscripts", and felt that was something worth sharing.
Wiktenauer, the world's largest library of Historical European Martial Arts books and manuscripts - ☞ Insquequo omnes...
I'm kind of the same way, but I figure I may as well be on there. I'm kind of the same way with Facebook these days -- I have my Facebook page, just to have it, but don't really do much with it.
So in an effort to promote my website/build my author platform, I've gotten my author self setup on most social media -- Facebook page, Twitter & Pinterest accounts, and on Google+. Out of curiosity, is anyone else using Google+? I'd love to connect with other Scribes and expand my circles.
I've been using my blog mainly to post about my writing experiences, or about areas of writing that interest me. But I also posted a short story to it to showcase a little of my writing.
I think posting "deleted scenes" isn't a bad idea. You could also put up character sketches or background...
With Ant-Man out today (very excited to see that), this week's blog post is all about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and other shared fictional universes.