Category Archives: Thoughts and Analyses

The Everlasting Trope: The Chosen One

Disclaimer: “the chosen one” is not usually one of my favorite tropes, but I’m going to go through it because it really is one of the most iconic and enduring and–as per usual–it is thus for a variety of good reasons. The reasons it can be obnoxious are also quite valid. So, the good, the bad, and…the resonance. Except notContinue reading “The Everlasting Trope: The Chosen One”

Till We Have Faces: The Dividing Line

So, I’m halfway through my Till We Have Faces re-read, and I want to talk about how the book handles the supernatural, because it’s a tactic I implemented in my book almost without realizing it. In most fantasy books magic either exists or it doesn’t. Gods either exist or they don’t. Same for elves, orContinue reading “Till We Have Faces: The Dividing Line”

Getting my Comeuppance

This is a tale of how I was full of ire and frustration (about something pretty minor, I admit) and how I complained and complained, and then got my comeuppance, and have that memory seared in my brain. It helps remind me that maybe, just maybe, I should reserve judgement on a frustrating situation forContinue reading “Getting my Comeuppance”

A bit of Daily Life, and Lessons, and What-not

This morning I had to take our 105 Lb wolf to the vet to get his ear checked. I, of course, had the toddler in tow (he’s on the very early side of toddlerhood) who looks like he got in a fight with the cement porch steps, because he did–big clownish red scrape all over hisContinue reading “A bit of Daily Life, and Lessons, and What-not”

The Everlasting Trope: Star-Crossed Lovers, Friends, and Foes

I haven’t done one of these trope analyses in a while, and I was hesitant to get into this one because it’s got a lot more going on than I can really address here, but I’m going to give it a go. When I say “star-crossed” I’m applying it very broadly. This means any situationContinue reading “The Everlasting Trope: Star-Crossed Lovers, Friends, and Foes”

Language and Dialect

In my book, language and dialect are very important. Not in a Tolkien way–I did not invent languages for the purpose of the book–but in a contextual way. Language and dialect matter to the characters and influence actions in meaningful ways. They are a geography to be navigated–well or poorly, depending on the character–and theyContinue reading “Language and Dialect”

The Olympics

I was going to write about dialect (still will) but decided that a few thoughts on the Olympics would be more timely. The Olympics are so weird and cool. If you just say “Oh, it’s an international athletics competition,” it doesn’t fully capture the compelling strangeness that is the Olympics. For decades, almost the entireContinue reading “The Olympics”

Adventures and Consequence

So I wrote two weeks ago about viewing inconveniences as adventures and how that can be difficult even when the inconveniences are minor and very silly. I hold to this. But that’s not to say there aren’t consequences to “adventures”–either those of choice or those of inconvenience. The whole point of adventure is consequence. WhenContinue reading “Adventures and Consequence”

Adventures and Hardship

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.” -G.K. Chesterton I didn’t think much about this quote the first time I read it. I thought “well…yeah…I suppose that’s true” but I also rather thought the author was oversimplifying. There seems to be a real distinction between the inconvenient adventure of one’s tire busting on the road,Continue reading “Adventures and Hardship”