Sneaking – Pink Panther Style!

This was too good not to share. Enjoy the show, readers – and if you have never heard of the Pink Panther before, be sure to look him up! And Now for Something Completely Different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTHeSVqjTXo

Old Friends, New Enemies

Those who think the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film needed some spicing up ought to take a look at this fantastic homage to the original Star Wars film, readers! FXItInPost's Sc 38 Reimagined Intercut with A New Hope 4K Release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V24PLzqRLg

Writerly Sound Bites, Number 7: Character Progression – How Broken Mentors and Mentors Who Aren’t Broken Deal with the Loss of What They Held Dear

Last week we established that a broken character can and often does maintain the traits he spent years developing even when he chooses to act contrary to his nature. When a man like Bowen from Dragonheart* becomes a dragonslayer, for example, he is doing so in an effort to atone for an error he made,…

Thoughts on Tactics: How History Affects Fiction and Makes It Believable

Not long ago, this author discovered the above picture, which discusses some fans’ thoughts on how the Fellowship of the Ring might have simply flown to Mordor to dispose of the One Ring rather than “take the long way around.” As the commenter explains, this would have been a bad idea narratively because the entire…

A Listening Ear – A Look Back at the Dialogue from Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II cutscenes and Light Side Ending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2DcbB2vZcc As has been said many times, this author is not much of a video gamer. Given how much time she must spend living, writing, reading, and handling the odd challenge, this is no surprise. There are only so many hours in a…

Review – Galen’s Way: A Starquest Novel of the 4th Age by Richard Paolinelli

Well! That was quite the ride, readers. I received this book as a free eARC in order to review it, and it was enormous fun. It felt like going to see a film you think you will recognize, only to find that there is a new movie on and you like it! From the blurb:…

The Aspirational Hero: What He Is, and How to Write Him

The Aspirational Hero is similar to, but not quite like, the Iconic Hero. Although the two resemble each other, mainly in what K.M. Weiland* refers to as the Flat Character Arc, they are not the same thing. They are, rather, two distinct archetypes that have largely gone out of fashion in the West. You are…

Fun with Star Wars

The Internet allows for some truly creative people to have fun cutting and rearranging various films and episodes. The examples below are just two of the most recent videos to catch this author’s eye. And before you ask, no, I am not trying to find AMVs that take liberties with the Star Wars* franchise. They…

The History Behind Star Wars’ Special Effects

Check out this article, which describes in loving detail how George Lucas created his bombshell blockbuster in 1977: The Real Aerial Battles That Inspired Star Wars Born one year before the end of World War II, George Lucas turned a boyhood fascination into a space epic. By Cory Graff AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 In…

Is Subverting the Audience’s Expectations the Best Way to Go?

Writers today are often told that they absolutely have to subvert audience expectations in order to tell a compelling story. Notably, those who insist that authors do this never give a truly compelling case for why this has to be done with every single tale they tell. Most disturbingly, these advisers never say just where…