I've been doing a lot of very specific whining about things that people like lately, so I thought we'd take a break and talk about something else. For now, anyway. I mean. I am reading Cloud Atlas and I have Problems with it, so that might crop up here soonish, but today we are going… Continue reading Hair Color is Not Character Development
Tag: writing
Great Artists Steal
Earlier this evening, I went to see a play at the Seattle Bathhouse Theater--a small community theater on Greenlake where tickets are by donation and the majority of the shows are put on by drama classes. This theater has a wonderful tradition of either commissioning plays to be written specifically for the acting troop in… Continue reading Great Artists Steal
Stories With No Conflict
There's a common saying in writing classes--one of the first you will ever hear--that goes like this: stories require conflict. If you don't have a conflict, you don't have a story. This is good advice most of the time, because characters who go through their whole story with nothing but smooth sailing are boring as… Continue reading Stories With No Conflict
The Purpose of Sex Scenes
It's time for an awkward conversation, guys, but I care about you and I want you to be educated on this important matter, so you're just going to have to suck it up. Let's talk about sex, baby. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things...oops,… Continue reading The Purpose of Sex Scenes
On Bad Sequels
Movie franchises get a lot of flak for capitalizing on a successful film with half-assed and gratuitous sequels. Of course, sequels invariably suck, usually because they have to both create and then solve a character flaw for a protagonist who already reached resolution at the end of the previous film. It's like taking "happily ever… Continue reading On Bad Sequels
M.M. Jordahl 