It only seems right and fitting for me to talk about natural disasters right now, all things considered.  I’ll try to not be as harsh in my treatment of the subject matter as a certain televangelist as well, although I don’t think that is hard.  Especially since I won’t be talking about anything in particular, [...]

So, recent discussion all over the place—from bad word choices of senators to discussion of the meaning of Holmes and Avatar—have gotten me thinking about the concept of messages.  What is a story supposed to say?  What did the author want it to say, and what did the author end up saying?  They aren’t always [...]

Ya know, stress is one of those things that just annoys me.  Of course, I’d imagine that would make the personification of stress rather happy, but still.  It ranks right up there to me with regret on the annoyance scale though because, honestly, it doesn’t help a single thing, but it can come from so [...]

I realized early on that I like to write from the points of view of older characters. And not like “oh, this elf is ten bajillion years old but only looks 20” older.  I meant people with the mindset of between thirty and sixty (if not older).  Now, considering I started writing when I was [...]

Everyone loves the hero, or at least an author would hope so.  Yet, today’s writing has become sophisticated enough that a hero cannot just be a hero anymore.  If an author wants to write a traditional Robin Hood or Natty Bumppo, he or she will find that hero not very well received.  Just like the [...]