Stories: Anatomy of a Fiction Hero, Part 2

Jul 17, 2015 | Creative

In part one I gave a few examples of different types of heroes and how they play out on screen (or on the pages). But what makes a good hero, or for that matter a good villain? Some villains are great at making us grind our teeth every moment they’re on screen...

This Amazon Book By… Who?

Jun 21, 2015 | Creative, Musing

James Altucher wrote recently about how one of his books was plagiarized on Amazon. (Newsletter only, so no link.) He’s had it up on the site for some time, but someone from Bangladesh was able to copy the whole book, create an author account using James’s...

Anatomy of a Fiction Hero, Part 1

Jun 2, 2015 | Creative

Heroes in stories aren’t always purely good or evil. In fact, the best ones usually aren’t. But there seems to be a balancing act to create a likeable character that slants one way or another. You can create a villain who is indeed an asshole that the...

Pushing Talk to Walk, Reverence To Action

May 9, 2015 | Creative, Musing

Two important lessons that have molded my life a bit only after failing at them many times: However good you think you are at something, there’s always more to know. And you should never stop trying to know more. Thinking you’re good at something is...

One Reliable Method For Getting Past Writer’s Block

Apr 21, 2015 | Creative, Musing

Some writers I’ve followed claim there’s no such thing as writer’s block, that it’s just one of many excuses we make for not doing the work. I can agree that writing is a challenging and sometimes scary thing, and excuses are common. But I...

Aperture of Clarity

Jan 9, 2015 | Creative

Haven’t written poetry in some time, but I came up with this a week or two ago and figured I’d share it here. “Aperture of Clarity” Once upon an age Before he’d built his rage A passion brewed inside Not so easily denied Day and night he...