An established villain–with all the sinister character and crimes to prove it–begins the story in darkness, and ends it having inched towards the light. On the face of it, this trope really is that straightforward. And I might have thought that, of all tropes, it has the most universal appeal. But I have learned thatContinue reading “The Everlasting Trope: Redemption Arc”
Category Archives: Thoughts and Analyses
The Thing About Tropes is…
They only tell you what a thing might be, not what it is. I simultaneously love thinking through tropes, but hate using them as a guide. I understand why people like to do trope lists for books–a bullet-point format of why you might enjoy a given novel–but we all know that this merely skims theContinue reading “The Thing About Tropes is…”
The Double-Edged Sword of Fantasy
I love the fantasy genre. I write in the fantasy genre. You have so much room–as either a reader or a writer–to breathe, to explore, to wonder and wander. To experience joy or grief or hope or conviction and walk away enchanted, thrilled, and sated. Whether you love cool magic systems, strange cultures, epic battles,Continue reading “The Double-Edged Sword of Fantasy”
Reviews are for Readers
Stating the obvious, I know, but as a recent newcomer to things like booktube and bookstagram, it turns out that it’s not as obvious as you would have thought! The way some reviewers feel the need to add 57 caveats and apologies to explain why they gave a book 3 stars. Why? WHY??? When didContinue reading “Reviews are for Readers”
It Gets Easier. But Also, It Doesn’t
On Saturday I drove out of the dry and windy desert, through fog and rain-soaked mountains, to a city of angels by the ocean. All this, so that I could do a Jiu Jitsu competition. I sign up for these things many months ahead of time, when I am still coming down from the highContinue reading “It Gets Easier. But Also, It Doesn’t”
The Lucky Number Slevin Effect
There is this movie that, despite some highly inappropriate scenes and incredibly dark themes, I truly love. It’s a dark humor mystery movie where a hapless fellow and a bubbly neighbor find themselves caught in the crossfire of two different mobs. It is also something quite different than that. But I won’t tell you what,Continue reading “The Lucky Number Slevin Effect”
A Moment of Sharp Hypocrisy
So we had a few (minor) hiccups in the book upload process, the first of which my husband labored some hours to fix, the last of which was swiftly resolved and approved. But when that one small image was the wrong color on the eproof, and I saw we would have to revise the uploadContinue reading “A Moment of Sharp Hypocrisy”
A Discipline
My thoughts are scattershot right now, puncturing here, glancing off there, not really going anywhere. Not collected or concentrated enough to have proper depth. But, as we all know, writing is far more about discipline than inspiration, so here I am writing a blog post in the manner that one must fold laundry or doContinue reading “A Discipline”
Facing the Dragons and their Hoards
After years of largely avoiding his caverns, I finally decided to face the dragon of social media. I confess, I did it for his supposed treasures. There are riches of recognition and opportunity to be had, so they say, if you let the creature breath down your neck and encircle you and enchant you asContinue reading “Facing the Dragons and their Hoards”
So Here’s How This Goes
Self-publishing, it’s all the rage! Do your own thing! Get your book out there! Defy the masters of traditional publishing who say what books can and cannot be published! Right? Well, not exactly. I think there are some major pitfalls to hopping on the self-publishing train, which have very little to do with the steepContinue reading “So Here’s How This Goes”
J. L. Odom 