By now, everyone has talked The Hunger Games to death. Though it largely deserves the hype, it seems that the conversation stops at praising what it does well. Certainly, The Hunger Games is a compelling book series that isn’t shy about its critique of contemporary society, but it falters enough to provide some… Continue reading Lessons from The Hunger Games: The Limits of First-Person Present Tense
Category: Publishing and Craft Reflections
Lessons from Women of the Silk: Weaving in Strong Messages
Gail Tsukiyama’s Women of the Silk is, for me, one of those random treasures I picked up during a used book sale in college. Half the fun of these kinds of books is that sometimes they’re terrible, but sometimes they have everything you could possibly ask for in a story and you weren’t even intentionally… Continue reading Lessons from Women of the Silk: Weaving in Strong Messages
Writing God in Genre Fiction
If I had a fancy suit for every time I’ve heard about the struggle of writing God in fantasy and science fiction stories, I would have a walk-in closet full of fancy suits. I’ve read many a blog post and forum thread hashing out this subject because some young writer is desperate to figure it… Continue reading Writing God in Genre Fiction
Lessons from Her: Sidestepping the Creepy Clichés
Oscar season is upon us and that means that deserving favorites won’t likely win in their categories. It also means that there’s a set list of movies from the past year that are definitely worth watching. I’ve never been bored with a Best Picture nom. As the awards ceremony approaches, I’m ticking off the nominated… Continue reading Lessons from Her: Sidestepping the Creepy Clichés
Lessons from Attack on Titan: How to Write a Shonen Series Without Throwing Women Under the Bus
Several years ago, I was venting my frustrations about Naruto to a friend of mine. My biggest complaint was that there are too many underdeveloped characters and all of the women are ultimately sidelined no matter how powerful other characters say they are. His response was “Well, it’s shonen. It’s supposed to focus on the… Continue reading Lessons from Attack on Titan: How to Write a Shonen Series Without Throwing Women Under the Bus
Don’t Travel Through Pants: How Dungeons and Dragons Helps Writers Solve World Problems
In the six months since I’ve started playing Dungeons and Dragons, I have learned to my delight how almost every aspect of the game fits perfectly into every weak point I have as a writer. As much as I can recommend playing the game for its own merits, I am continuously surprised by how each… Continue reading Don’t Travel Through Pants: How Dungeons and Dragons Helps Writers Solve World Problems
The Most Useful Classes For Writers Aren’t Writing Classes
When I was in high school, I thought many of my classes were useless. I wanted nothing more than to write all the time every day (and I usually did. I once filled three small notebooks with one story. Ah, those were the days). I’d often write during class and I only got caught once… Continue reading The Most Useful Classes For Writers Aren’t Writing Classes