Working Beneath the Surface – Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Voyager, and the 1927 film Metropolis

Three of the most influential episodes to affect my writing that have stayed with me even though I may forget the exact details of each, are from two of my favorite franchises. These are Stargate SG-1’s* “Beneath the Surface” and Star Trek: Voyager’s* two-part installment titled “Workforce.” Both episodes are modeled on the 1927 German…

Review: White Ops by Declan Finn

Whew! Apologies for the delayed review, readers. It’s been a busy time and I had to read this work in between breaks. Yes, it’s been that type of busy behind the scenes here at A Song of Joy and I am ashamed to say it has prevented me from reading and reviewing the early copy…

Writerly Sound Bites, Number 8: Character Progression – How Characters Broken by Trauma Recover and Rebuild, Part 1

If we seem to be focusing on broken characters exclusively, future authors, the reason for that is a fair number of creative writing courses and a lot of advice ties back to the sound bite I criticized here at the start of this series: the need to give characters flaws. Too often the “flaws” modern…

Writerly Sound Bites, Number 5: Character Progression – Which Archetype Are You Using?

Last week we discussed “shock and awe” events in three popular serials. These events were supposedly meant for character development, but they only succeed in destroying said characters, along with the canon and continuity of the franchise. However, one has to wonder just why the actions forced on the characters mentioned in the previous post…

Thoughts on Trauma: How It Affects a Character’s Perceptions Before, During, and After Healing

Ruminating on Kryal’s fan fiction story, The Dragon-King’s Temple (described here, and available to read through this link here), a little while ago, something about the story struck and stuck with me. For those who have not read it, this fan fiction tale crosses Avatar: The Last Airbender* with Stargate SG-1* in an original episode…

Killing Characters, Part 3: The Case for the Death of the Main Antagonist

This article is the third in a three part series dealing with the demise of characters in fiction. Part One and Two may be read here and here. Thus far these posts have focused primarily on the deaths of heroic major and minor characters, with some attention paid to minor villains. The reason this author…

The Three Types of Heroine: A Closer Study of What Makes a Strong Female Protagonist, Part 1

This article is the first in a three part series dealing with the three types of female heroines available to writers. Readers, you may remember that in the comments below my article “How Do You Create Strong Female Leads,” I promised to revisit the premise of that post in the future. This was due to…

The Three Main Categories of Villainess

Misha Burnett made a comment on my article “How Do You Create Strong Female Leads?” where he suggested that an essay on Villainesses was in order. Specifically, he said, “Female villains who are schemers rather than fighters are somewhat more common, perhaps because it’s easier to write an unsympathetic manipulator than a sympathetic diplomat, but…