So as part of my effort to blog more often, I’ve decided to bring back the trope posts. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, perhaps you remember the Trope Tuesday series that I used to do. Those were mostly just a rehashing of each trope’s tvtropes page, with a bit of commentary at… Continue reading Playing with Tropes: Pragmatic Villainy
Tag: Star Wars
First Impressions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
This post is going to be spoiler-free, but if you haven’t already seen it and you don’t want it spoiled, you had better go on an internet blackout and get thee to a cinema because there is a lot that can be spoiled! First impressions: I liked it! I really liked it! It felt very true… Continue reading First Impressions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Larry Correia on creating “offensive” characters
Larry Correia has a fantastic post up on the pitfalls of political correctness when writing fictional characters. He not only nails it on the head, he takes a nail that’s been twisted in three different directions and rams it into the wood with just a couple of well-placed taps. Seriously, if you’re interested in writing… Continue reading Larry Correia on creating “offensive” characters
Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer
OMG, guys! The feels, THE FEELS! The new Star Wars trailer came out last week, and I have watched it at least half a dozen times every day since. It’s awesome. While I’m still ambivalent enough not to rush out and buy tickets right away, there are a number of things that I think look… Continue reading Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer
Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer
I have a lot of thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer. But first, a little background. Growing up in the 90s, I was a huge Star Wars fan. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Star Wars was my life. I played X-Wing every day, I watched at least one of the original trilogy… Continue reading Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer
Thoughts on sequels and the Desolation of Smaug
So last week I saw the new Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, and I really, really liked it … right up to the ending. Why? BECAUSE IT RESOLVED NOTHING!!! Okay, sorry for the spoiler (though you probably should have guessed there would be spoilers in a post like this). There’s going to be more… Continue reading Thoughts on sequels and the Desolation of Smaug
Trope Tuesday: Smart People Play Chess
Want a fast and easy way to show that your characters are smart? Not bookish, necessarily, or nerdy, or even the designated smart guy in the five-man band, but intellectually adept no matter what else their role in the story? Well, you could indicate that through inordinate loquaciousness, but too much of that tends to… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Smart People Play Chess
Y is for Yesteryear
They say that the golden age of science fiction is about twelve years old. That’s definitely true for me. My first exposure to the genre was Star Wars: A New Hope. I saw it when I was seven, right around the height of my dinosaur phase. Everything about the movie completely blew me away, from… Continue reading Y is for Yesteryear
W is for Wagon Train to the Stars
When Gene Roddenberry pitched the original Star Trek series back in the 60s, Westerns were all the rage. Consequently, he pitched his show as a “wagon train to the stars,” where a bunch of quirky characters on an awesome starship travel from adventure town to interstellar adventure town, exploring and pioneering the final frontier. Sound… Continue reading W is for Wagon Train to the Stars
V is for Vast
If you don’t know anything else about the universe, you should know this: it’s big. Really, really, REALLY big. How big, you ask? Well, for starters, take a look at Earth in the picture above. Can you see it? It’s the pale blue dot in the beam of starlight on the right side of the… Continue reading V is for Vast