Storm Front
The first in an old favorite series that, looking back, may be a little rough around the edges, but still promises a ton of fun and delightful intrigue as the books progress.
My Own Kind of Magic
I want to tell you a story. When I was a senior in high school, I took a ceramics class with a couple of my friends. It was a third period class, early in the day, and afterward we would all have to go our separate ways again to our fourth period classes. Usually, one…
Compression (AKA: Five Word Dialogue)
Oftentimes when we set out to write a story or a screenplay, dialogue proves difficult to handle. Sometimes it’s unrealistic; sometimes it’s unnecessary. And sometimes it’s too much, usually in the way of serving up exposition to your audience or trying to make issues as crystal clear as possible. But this often bogs down your…
Five Characters in Search of an Exit
A clown, a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and an army major wake up in a large, metal cylinder. No, this is not the start of a complex joke. It’s the opening to a fairly popular episode of the original Twilight Zone series, first aired in 1961. These vastly unrelated characters all have one…
Learning to DNF
I used to be very adamant about finishing the books I started. This might be due to the somewhat spiritual take I have on stories and storytelling—i.e., I took the time to step into this world, and therefore I “owe it” to the book, and to myself, to see it through to the end. Otherwise,…