As I stated yesterday, I proudly support equality among all people regardless of their race, creed or gender. But along the way I have had trouble calling myself a “feminist” because there were certain parts of the community that I felt had been too extreme. One of those things is the frequent misuse of something infamously known as the “Bechdel Test”. Continue reading Equality in Writing: Why the Bechdel test isn’t enough
Equality
One of the things about having a blog with any reasonable amount of traffic is that people tend to want to know what you think about things. After one interaction I had elsewhere, I realized I could afford to do that a bit more often and decided to pick a few topics I thought would be worthwhile. And this week, I figure I should tackle one that comes up a lot in the online realm: equality.
This is something that becomes a major topic for writers all the time. Creative works get held to standards about what’s appropriate and what isn’t and you feel a backlash if you misstep. I like to believe that most of us aren’t trying to cause any harm. I know I’m not. But it’s also true that the way we interpret things can be very different.
A great problem today is that the community can be very polarized at times. In an effort to weed out bad actors it can be easy to lash out at genuine mistakes. Meanwhile, some will see those genuine mistakes, decide the other side is unreasonable, and disregard the actual bad actors. Because of that we can enter the hammer and nail scenario which goes: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Which would be fine, except not everything is a nail and if you were to use a hammer on a screw you would cause damage to the wood. If that analogy lost you, I’m incredibly sorry because it got away from me pretty quickly. But if you did understand that analogy, then that’s probably the first step to understanding where I’m coming from on the topic.
Basically, I think this should be a simple thing: everyone deserves a chance to live their best lives. And, somehow, we keep finding ways to make that complicated…
Continue reading Equality
Alterpedia: Dwarves
In the Alters’ World (and the series of books found here), creatures of legend reveal themselves to the world. Born through genetic abnormalities, defects and mutations, the Alters have lived for centuries as outcasts of human society, hiding their true nature from the world while colorful stories have been written by many to describe what they’ve seen. How are these creatures different from what was described in the stories? What relationship do they have with humanity? Every entry of the Alterpedia will delve into a new creature from around the world. This week we cover:
Dwarves
Short, angry and hairy: Dwarves are the Norse version of Chibification, with all of the personality quirks of the Viking horde at a quarter of the terror.
Like cute little mascots they’ve represented hairy axe-wielding maniacs from the North for centuries. Given credit for fine craftsmanship and excellent skill in battle, besides from this the Dwarves are, today, primarily known for being the butt of many jokes and having a striking resemblance to certain team mascots.
So what do we really know about them?
Don’t Kill The Messenger: 4 Tips To Avoid Soap-boxing
As I said on Monday in a lengthy introduction: it’s impossible for an author to remove themselves completely from their own work. No matter what you do, you’re going to bleed into it and people are going to be able to see what you think and feel about subjects through how you portray them in the things you’ve written.
Sometimes it can be incredibly subtle, left up for interpretation throughout the ages. But for others it can be painfully obvious. At this point we reach a stage where someone does what we call “soap boxing” or, worse, the dreaded Mary Sue insertion. As much as you want people to know you through your writing, you also want to let them have their own experience and come to their own conclusions. A good writer will have a message and a theme in their work, a great writer will guide the reader into discovering it for themselves.
So how does someone stay true to themselves without overwhelming the work and bogging it down with their own personality?
Continue reading Don’t Kill The Messenger: 4 Tips To Avoid Soap-boxing
Church and State
A couple of years ago, I published a book. It was terrifying, especially in a niche genre as an independent. But then I was told I needed to take even more risks and talk about myself in public. I couldn’t just let my work speak for itself because that just isn’t how you sell books today.
For a while, I blogged about myself and my opinions on the world. But it always felt a little unrelated to what I was trying to sell. After all, since I wrote fiction, it felt difficult to talk about the real world and the fictional world in the same breath.
Over time I’ve realized you can’t separate the book from the author. My view, my experiences, and my opinions will always shape the world that I’ve created. I can limit and control that, but I can’t erase it.
So maybe it’s time I started talking about myself again. Continue reading Church and State
The Real Reason Shia LaBeouf Needs To Go Away
As many of you have found out in recent weeks and months, Shia LaBeouf is a prolific plagiarizer. It’s not just that he has stolen whole works, but, in fact, even takes quotes as his own in the midst of interviews. Even his attempts to tweet apologies for his plagiarism are stolen material. In fact, as far as I’m aware, the only thing Shia LaBeouf has ever done that is 100% original to himself is say his name.
And while I’m willing to forgive that… he has to go. Continue reading The Real Reason Shia LaBeouf Needs To Go Away
4 Tips For the Unmotivated Writer
One of the most frustrating parts of writing is having a project in mind but being unable to move forward on it. We run into that metaphorical wall and shut down before we can complete our thoughts. Some people are good at just taking a couple steps back and then vaulting that wall while the rest of us look on in jealousy. But for others, it becomes incredibly hard to face the inner turmoil of self-doubt and just general lack of motivation.
So how do you break down that wall?
The true cost of the season…
As this holiday season comes to a close and those of you who celebrate Boxing Day try to squeeze one last drop out of the holiday spirit of charity and generosity, I ask you now to think of the needy one more time…
Alterpedia: Elves
In the Alters’ World (and the series of books found here), creatures of legend reveal themselves to the world. Born through genetic abnormalities, defects and mutations, the Alters have lived for centuries as outcasts of human society, hiding their true nature from the world while colorful stories have been written by many to describe what they’ve seen. How are these creatures different from what was described in the stories? What relationship do they have with humanity? Every entry of the Alterpedia will delve into a new creature from around the world. This week we cover:
Elves
The woodland spirits of magic and mystery that have been depicted many ways over the years and rarely in a stable fashion. They’ve been everything from mischievous spirits to detached angelic beings. They’ve become the subjects of folklore, legend and movies adapted from books that didn’t really feature much of them.
So which is the true depiction? How do you separate the different depictions and sort them out? How far off was Tolkien? Let’s find out.
5 Character Types People Frequently Screw Up
After a couple weeks attempting to convince people to edit and finding out through reduced traffic that no one really wants to do it (could have told myself that one), I have decided it’s time to branch out towards more general writing once more. Reading the work of several aspiring and new writers, I’ve found that one of the big problems with a lot of writing today is how often people strive to meet certain criteria without understanding the criteria.
It’s a problem that haunts many. So today I’m going to tackle a set of character archetypes that it seems almost everyone stumbles on once or twice and try to decipher just why they fail.
Continue reading 5 Character Types People Frequently Screw Up