If you want to get lost down an Internet blackhole, you should take a look at the Periodic Table of Storytelling. It doesn’t help that it links to TV tropes.
You should hop over to their Leet World section if you ever get the chance. Weird to see so much work put into something you’ve written.
There are quite a few ways that video games are better than real life. For one, there are very few consequences for your actions. Want to eat mushrooms? Snack away, Mr. Plumber. Want to try to defeat the world’s most evil wizard with a bunch of Deku nuts? Have at it, Hero of Time! Pretty much anything goes.
But one of the things I really love about video games happens to come from role-playing games in particular — the idea of leveling up. Continue reading →
Sometimes I’m a fat princess. No, I’m not having an identity crisis, I’m just identifying with the excellently realized character in THE GIRL OF FIRE and THORNS by Rae Carson, one of the most recent books I’ve read. The book follows the exploits of Elisa, a powerless, overweight, self-conscious princess that happens to have been identified as God’s Chosen One at birth — and never quite feels like she matches up to the mark of the Godstone that rests in her navel. Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
After a long Labor Day weekend, Prior Incantato is back, with the piece of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that I’ve been waiting to cover ever since I first got the idea for this thing. We’re going to talk about mirrors, desires, phantoms and Flamels. At the end of Part 4, Harry vanquished a troll and got his Quidditch on. What’s next? Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
And we’re back! This week we tackle the next three chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which gives us our awesome first game of Quidditch, trolls, tricks and leviosas. At the end of Part 3, Harry had just been sorted into Gryffindor, where he found out that Snape hated him and all was not quite what it seemed at Hogwarts. What mysteries will he stumble upon next? Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
Welcome, Muggles, to Part 3 of Prior Incantato, where we’re digging into the world of Harry Potter on a chapter by chapter basis with constant vigilance. At the end of Part 2, Harry received his ticket to the Hogwarts Express, and now eagerly awaits the escape from his evil captors, the Dursleys. Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
Welcome to Part 2 of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We last left Harry at the worst vacation ever, warming himself near a fire fueled by a bag of potato chips as he awaits his birthday. When the clock strikes midnight, someone knocks on the door. Continue reading →
Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.
I don’t want to introduce this thing too heavily, but if you’d like to know more about why I’m doing this blog series, see these two Harry Potter related posts. The story of the Boy Who Lived is, I feel, one of the greatest modern pieces of writing about death, redemption and sacrificial love – and I don’t know if anything will challenge that title for a long time to come.
I wanted to take some time to dig through the halls of Hogwarts again, to see Harry Potter grow up, to analyze the way J.K. Rowling develops characters and sows the seeds of mystery. Hopefully, I can become a better writer as a result, and we can grow to appreciate Harry’s tale a bit more together. After all, even though the Boy Who Lived is gone, the ones we love never truly leave us. Continue reading →
Growing up, I was always a big reader. You could also insert nerd, dork and dweeb following that sentence, and it would sit just as well. While I enjoyed watching shows on TV or even Empire Strikes Back on VHS – which was my favorite movie until Jurassic Park came out – I never got quite the same satisfaction as I did reading a fun adventure on paper. There was something about holding the story in my grubby hands, interacting with it by turning pages, seeing the words as they formed whatever pictures I dictated and really having time to connect with characters. Sure, movies had people that I loved, but spending several weeks with a character in my brain was infinitely more satisfying than just a few hours on a screen.
But I never knew a video game could do the same thing until Final Fantasy 7. Continue reading →
Inspired by my good friend Jeff James, who’s been writing great little bits of sudden fiction lately over at Full of Words, I decided I wanted to try my hand at a few creative writing exercises. As I’ve been working on all kinds of other stuff for about eight months on end now, my creativity has needed a bit of a shot in the arm.
So, I decided to run with a small idea I had and let it go for about 1000 words or so: a boy returns to bury his father and finds a secret. There are vampires involved, and Assassin’s Creed 2. It should be noted I’m not a huge fan of the vampire trend, but I thought the idea was a fun one and jumped on it. I’m pretty pleased with the results. Feel free to let me know what you think. Continue reading →