For reasons I’m not quite sure of, the late, once great Mass Effect franchise has been on my mind lately. I’m not here to lament the decline and, essentially, the destruction of a great franchise and setting–the Mass Effect universe is second only to my own sci-fi universe in my list of fictional sci-fi universes in which IContinue reading “Writer’s Ramble: On the Reality of Fictional Characters”
Tag Archives: mass effect
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”
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”
It’s #SpaceOperaWeek, but Where are the Aliens?
So, Tor.com decided that this week is Space Opera Week (#SpaceOperaWeek on Twitter), though thus far it seems that I and a few other fellow members of the #PulpRevolution have been dominating the hashtag, though that may be unsurprising, as Tor is using contributors who aren’t fans of the genre. Jon Del Arroz, author ofContinue reading “It’s #SpaceOperaWeek, but Where are the Aliens?”
Introducing A Greater Duty, Part 2: What This Story Is, Plus a Discussion of Genre and Realism
Last we ended things with the little introduction to A Greater Duty, and before I get into talking about the book itself, I’ll include the back cover blurb/synopsis (which is subject to minor change) once more. (And as a note, the image accompanying this article is the color sketch of A Greater Duty‘s cover, not the final.)Continue reading “Introducing A Greater Duty, Part 2: What This Story Is, Plus a Discussion of Genre and Realism”
Writing Talk: Interplanetary Civilizations (Case Study: The Galactic Alliance) Part 2
In Part 1 of this short series of posts, I talked about the first part of Planetary Defense Command’s series of posts about galactic empires, or interplanetary civilizations in general, where he went into actual science to look at how densely populated a galaxy would theoretically be, and some of the ramifications of this, andContinue reading “Writing Talk: Interplanetary Civilizations (Case Study: The Galactic Alliance) Part 2”
Why the Story of Mass Effect is One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told, and What it Has to Offer Genre Writers (Part 2: The Geth)
Ah, the Geth. This topic was probably the one I was most looking forward to writing about, primarily because this is a fairly specific aspect of the game, but in my view it’s one of the best things about it, and adds so much to the great universe of Mass Effect. People often talk aboutContinue reading “Why the Story of Mass Effect is One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told, and What it Has to Offer Genre Writers (Part 2: The Geth)”
Why the Story of Mass Effect is One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told, and What it Has to Offer Genre Writers (Part 1)
For anyone who’s read some of my previous posts or followed me on Twitter will probably know that I’m a huge fan of the Mass Effect game series. I’ve played through each game nearly twice now, and I’ve spent more than 100 hours playing Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer mode. So yeah, I like the games.Continue reading “Why the Story of Mass Effect is One of the Greatest Stories Ever Told, and What it Has to Offer Genre Writers (Part 1)”
A Memory of Light and Payoff (no spoilers)
(Just as a note, there might be spoilers for Mass Effect 3, but there will be NO spoilers from A Memory of Light.) (I feel like I rambled a bit in this, but I think I got my point across, and I hope you find it useful.) In recent months, more than one series I loved haveContinue reading “A Memory of Light and Payoff (no spoilers)”
Writing, Ascendant 