I did a similar post several years ago, but due to the fact that I have no had more experience creating non-human characters and species, and thus have a more streamline process, I figured it was worth doing a follow-up. (Quick note: there shouldn’t be any spoilers here for either A Greater Duty or A Looming Shadow.)Continue reading “Creating a Non-Human Species From the Character Up”
Tag Archives: A Greater Duty
Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test
I was recently made aware of this excellent post over at SuperversiveSF by Nate Winchester (thanks to Rawle Nyanzi for bringing it to my attention.) In the article, Nate addresses the “current year” issue of “representation” in fiction, that being where people on the Left, primarily SJWs, make the “diversity” of a film’s cast aContinue reading “Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test”
Excuses, Excuses
So it seems that “mega-author” John Scalzi is having trouble getting writing in–because of President Trump, and recent bad weather (which did not directly impact where he lives.) Author Brian Niemeier already commented on this development far better than I can, and his post triggered Scalzi so much that he publicly called out Brian (andContinue reading “Excuses, Excuses”
Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid
Now that I’ve hopefully made the case for writing non-human characters in the first place, we can move on to the actual creative process. And I figured best to get the negative parts of it out of the way first, hence pitfalls. I will preface this by saying that while the pitfalls I will discussContinue reading “Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid”
A Call to Arms
In my last post, I brought up the culture war, and some of the reasons why people on the Right essentially ceded the creative fields to the left, and hasn’t supported ideological allies who come under attack by the leftist mobs. fortunately, however, there has been resistance to the creeping cancer recently. We had #GamerGateContinue reading “A Call to Arms”
Phasma: Star Wars Shows it Doesn’t Know How to Explore its Characters or What Fans Want
I have a few quick thoughts, stemming from the recent release of Phasma, a standalone book detailing the backstory of the iconic Star Wars character Captain Phasma–oh wait, no, she was just an over-hyped character that did nothing in the movie and was put in the movie to sell toys and as a means to push aContinue reading “Phasma: Star Wars Shows it Doesn’t Know How to Explore its Characters or What Fans Want”
Writing Non-Human Characters Part 1: Why Do It?
More than four years ago, I wrote a fairly popular post on writing non-human characters, which I think shows that I am far from the only writer interested in writing such characters. I think now is as good a time as any to revisit the topic and expand on it. Also, to be clear, forContinue reading “Writing Non-Human Characters Part 1: Why Do It?”
Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome
The question, “Why do you write [insert genre, type of story]?” is one that writers can be certain someone will as at one point or another. So, I think I’ll get the jump on that question, or at least on one of my answers, as I also write fantasy, and plan to write historical fantasyContinue reading “Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome”
Pulp Speed
For those who missed it, yesterday there was a great episode of Brian Niemeier’s Geek Gab: On the Books. In this week’s episode, he spoke with author Lucas Flint, on the topic of pulp speed. What is pulp speed, you might ask? Put simply, according to prolific writer Dean Wesley Smith, it is more ofContinue reading “Pulp Speed”
PulpFail
Brian Niemeier recently put up an excellent post on his website, in which he discusses the reasons pulp historian and author of Appendix N, Jeffro Johnson, gave for why Rogue One: A Star Wars Story failed to meet the pulp tone and standards of the original trilogy. Many of these issues are similar to the ones I hadContinue reading “PulpFail”
Writing, Ascendant 