The Latest
Why Wonder Woman is finally the Strongest Superhero (too)
So starting this week Wonder Woman is the ultimate superhero. We should have seen it coming. Not just the movie’s pedigree; was it really a surprise...
Video Gamers as Writers – Twitching Our Way Into Character
Some writers hone their skills by a mix of soaking up lessons from the masters and researching specifics, from history to sentence structure. I’ve done all...
Grappling with the Superhero Grapnel
How much of a comics nerd am I? I grumble about heroes’ grappling guns being unrealistic… at least for the superheroes that are claiming to be possible....
Life’s A Pitch – the Quiet Writer and the Book Fair
It's one of the more humbling moments of writing. Sitting at a live event—yesterday it was the huge Los Angeles Times Festival of Books—and watching so...
A Writer’s Confession: Kvothe’s Ballad
The following is a confession I wrote to myself some Easters ago after a session of reading, that I realize I'd never shared with this blog....
Flying Free – get The High Road FREE Through April 21
It’s a strange feeling, taking a book I’ve written and offering it for no charge. After all my months of cramped weekends, all the times I...
Who’s On First – A Character System for Variety in Scenes
Are you using all your story? All the characters, all the possibilities and combinations that a tale has ready to unleash? On the one hand, it’s...
Been There Done That? Similar Problems with Writing Similar Scenes
There are stories that rely on their central concept to shape much of their plot into their favorite kind of sequence, and try to make it...
Doctor Strange vs Iron Man movies – Beating Hearts and Blind Eyes
How could the coolest, most unique thing about a Marvel movie turn out to be the worst thing? Maybe because it was all that happened in...
The Long-Running Series Part 2 – Other “Easy” Lessons from Role-Playing Games
Lesson Three: Room to Grow Half the secrets of a long-running game or story (as I blogged last time) might be simply making it the best...
The Long-Running Series – Two of Four “Easy” Lessons from Role-Playing Games
(Reality check: This is written in the aftermath of the Great Los Angeles Rainstorm—and yes, this week that’s reality. All part of preparing to venture forth...
Loose Cannons can Lose Your Canon – WHEN Should You Shake Up Your Characters?
Why would a story that rips forward at light-speed pace take a whole first season for what seemed like ordinary short-term TV conflicts? When Babylon 5...