It’s time to toss the dice ‘cause Winter is coming and I’m all out of bubblegum.  If it is one thing and author dreams about, it is coming up with a memorable catch phrase that isn’t corny.  But that last bit is the trick, see.  I could come up with ten million one-liners or “powerful [...]

I have this nagging sense that I’ve kibitz about this before, but a quick glance over my saved blogs (dear lord they are starting to pile up) say I haven’t, so here I go.  Authorial Fait: when the author makes something happen because they just wanted it to happen, not because it makes plot or [...]

Forewarning: Spoilers for Lost Season 2 here-in. I forgot to grouse about one movie idiom that I really dislike, and it happens in horror quite a bit, but it also happens all over the place.  That is the death of the romantic interest to propel plot and drama.  Now, I don’t hate it completely.  It [...]

So, I recently have had a small idolization affair with General Sherman.  Not that I am by any means actually endorsing the actions the man took or the political theory he exhorted of Hard War, no.  But, there is something almost romantic about him.  He is legend, if a dark one.  Almost a hundred and [...]

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 [...]