In terms of reading, I think Feburary 2013 will best be remembered as the month I discovered the amazing, hilarious, and deeply feelsy work of John Green. I’ve been hearing about Green’s writing for quite some time, but finally pulled the trigger on his newest work, The Fault in Our Stars, as my first book of the month… and followed it up quickly with Looking for Alaska. I’ll say more about those books below, but this has been one of the more enjoyable Booket Lists I’ve been able to put together so far. Continue reading →
What Eddy Writes
Spun Yarns, Tall Tales
The Writing Jam
This weekend, I picked up the guitar, something I wasn’t sure I’d do again for a long time yet. If you had told me back in college, when I was strumming away almost hourly, that I would have dropped the guitar in my late twenties, I would have scoffed at you.
Perhaps I would have even played you a ditty about it. I was fond of ditties. Continue reading →
Reboots: What Batman Can Learn from Bond
The arrival of Skyfall at my house this week, along with the announcement that Star Wars will be doing spin-off stories, has had me thinking quite a bit about reboots. It’s funny that a franchise like Bond, which was wallowing in its own mediocrity not even a decade ago, could become the poster child for how to reinvigorate an intellectual property, but I guess stranger things have happened — like J.J. Abrams sitting astride two of the most beloved sci-fi universes that have been or ever will be created. Or Daniel Craig turning out to be one heck of a Bond. Seriously, did anyone see either of those things coming? Continue reading →
The Ongoing Battle: Content Versus Time
There will never be enough time to consume all the content you love.
Yikes, that seems really cynical when I look at it again. But alas, I feel like it’s true — or at the very least, it’s true for me. There will never be enough time to watch all the shows I want to see, read all the books I’m dying to read (including graphic novels and comic books) or take in all the brilliant Internet posts that are waiting in that gigantic online whirlpool.
Because you see, as crappy as it is to say, we’ve only got a finite amount of time in which to consume this content. Continue reading →
Rule Dumps in Fantasy
After my post about writing bad epic fantasy the other day, a friend of mine had a nit to pick with me regarding one of my qualms with the genre.
“Friend!” she cried, brandishing a steel sword kissed by Death. “I disagree with your list!”
“Bring your most logical argument!” I shrieked in reply, magical power coiling around me like a writhing serpent.
Actually, none of that happened. We were playing 7 Wonders around a dinner table, and she said she didn’t like that I said rule dumps were lame. But sometimes I really do wish my life had magical battles. Continue reading →
The Booket List: January 2013
So far, 2013 has started off strong in the reading department. I fell behind my desired pace in the last week or so, but as of now I’ve already read a few books for the year, and a couple of them have been fantastic. Continue reading →
How to Write Epic Fantasy
I’ve got a strange love-hate thing going on with epic fantasy, guys. In some ways, it was my first love. High tales of chosen one heroes and grandiose adventure-taking is what spawned my love of reading in the first place. Things like Record of Lodoss War, the Wheel of Time, Final Fantasy games and the like. Despite the genre’s numerous downfalls, it’s the thing that I still want to write again someday, even if I’m a bit burned out on epic fantasy as a whole for the moment.
So, in preparation for that day of passionate reunion, of once again walking the fields of Middle Earth or a loving rip-off of it, here are some of the best tips I can give you on how to write the most amazing, generic epic fantasy of all time.
Note: And for the record, none of this is serious. It’s so hard to tell over the intertubes, sometimes.
Deadly Writing Sins: Overcomplicated Plots
I’ve got a few bad habits when I write. I tend to overwrite action sequences, because, hey, who doesn’t love a good explosion or a flying kick to a ninja lizard’s face? I also sometimes bury the feels for fear of being melodramatic. Sometimes that’s fine, but I turn these things into Jurassic Park style paleontological digs, leaving the reader scrambling through layers of dirt. On the flip side of that, sometimes I tell too much, when it comes to worldbuilding and backstory. I feel a bit like George Lucas, ignoring the story in favor of blasting “LOOK AT WHAT THESE HANDS HAVE WROUGHT” across some glowing, alien landscape.
But my worst writing sin? I over-complicate. When something in the story could happen in 2 steps, I turn it into 5. Instead of moving the character from point A to point B, I take him on a tour of his pitfalls and hang-ups, throw in some backstory, and maybe even a couple of info dumps. Quite simply, this is bad writing. And for some reason, this is how my brain defaults the first time I work on a new idea. Continue reading →
Why You Should Quit Trying to Make it
Hey, creative friends. We need to talk. There’s something you’re desperately trying to do and it’s probably hurting you and you don’t even know it.
You need to quit trying to “make it.” Continue reading →
When Do You Put a Book Down?
Guys, I’ve got a bit of a confession. It might make you cast me into a river and call me a witch, or hurl me through the nearest inter-dimensional portal, but I don’t know if I like Neil Gaiman books. Continue reading →