The Imitation Game & Alan Turing’s Legacy

“You just defeated Nazis with a crossword puzzle!” I finally saw The Imitation Game. It is a masterful film and dramatization of the famous mathematician Alan Turing’s help in defeating the Nazis while paving the way for the machines we know today as computers. I loved this movie. It was inspiring, moving, and at times…

Fantasy Worldbuilding Part 2: Essential Components for a Realistic World

Last week’s post looked at worldbuilding in general and why it’s so important to have a well-developed setting as it is the foundation on which the story is built. It’s critical to have well-rounded, convincing characters, and it’s just as critical to have a developed, convincing world.  Today’s post is digging in more to take…

Being a Writer in a World of Instant Gratification

Most of the time, the best things take the most time. As a writer, this statement could not be more true.

So You Want to Be a Writer? Here’s 10 Things You Need to Know

So you think you’re pretty decent with words and you enjoy telling stories, and you want to be a writer. You should think you might want to be a writer. Here’s what you need to know about being one. (Note: This post is mostly cynical humor as I speak out about the harsh reality of…

Why Taking Breaks from Writing is Important

Taking breaks is important. As mortal Earthlings, moderation with everything is vital; we can’t handle too much of anything. This is why we sleep at night. This is why we take breaks at work. This is why we take school breaks during the summer and Christmas time. And this is also why we should take breaks…

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Writing, Sci-Fi, and Speculation

Ever since I decided to become a writer and publish a book, my stories have been all about breaking the fourth wall. No matter who the characters are, what the genre is, or what the story is about, the plot is centered on a main character who is seemingly trapped in reality. Leo from Netherworld is given…

Realism and Antirealism in Writing

As a writer, I draw upon realism to create antirealistic worlds. As a reader, I have to accept truth on different terms when I immerse myself in a book and believe in the fantastical world the story is about. Versimilitude is the appearance of being real or true. It’s important when it comes to both…

Writing Main and Secondary Characters

A few days ago, I ran a poll on Twitter, asking fellow readers and writers what kind of characters make up the majority of their favorite characters. 32% voted “Protagonists/MCs,” 15% voted “Antagonists,” and 53% voted “Secondary characters.”

Fixing Tropes in Fantasy Fiction

The Google dictionary defines the fantasy genre as “a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure, especially in a setting other than the real world.” With fantasy, you have freedom. You can make whatever you want possible. You can create your own worlds, your own species, your own rules and laws. And yet, fantasy…

7 Tips on Creating a Complex Antagonist

When I first developed my story for Netherworld, I just created a villain simply so that my protagonist had some evil to fight against. But when I started questioning my villain’s motives, I realized that to have a full story, it is crucial to develop the villain because that’s the crux of the problems that create…

Twenty One Pilots and Expessing Your Belief Through Art

The song “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots was put on my mental list of “questionable songs that might be good.” Only until recently, it was moved up to my mental list of “Personal Top 21 Songs.” Okay, maybe not 21, but somewhere around that number. Shortly afterward, Twenty One Pilots became one of my…

Michael’s Movie Mentions: Storytelling Similarities in Movies and Writing

Did you know that, in many ways, the art of making movies (visual storytelling) is often similar to the art of writing?

Thoughts on the Anime “Your Name”

Yesterday, Hannah Heath and I went to see the anime Your Name. It was released in Japan in 2016 and it went over so well, they wisely decided to release it in the United States also. It got a whopping 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That, and the fact that it was about a body…

The Problem with Geekery (by a Geek)

I know this post is a bit unusual and controversial and I might get a lot of, er, interesting comments, based on what kind of followers and readers I have. But there’s a problem Geekery has that we geeks are aware of, but don’t want to even admit or think about. It’s the white elephant…

Story Prompts: Thoughts, Questions, & 10 Favorites

This morning’s post is going to be all about story prompts, including favorite selections from Pinterest. It is also a desperate move made on the blogger’s side to think quickly of a blog post idea the night before the morning it needs to be posted. I think one of the main reasons I have Pinterest (besides…