Category Archives: Writing

So What Color is the Morality?

Gray. Or black-and-white. It’s all so simple, right? Well, of course not. It turns out that discussing the complexities of how morality is depicted in fantasy is itself a very complex endeavor! The subject is wildly muddled and I’m going to tell you how I accidentally confirmed this somewhat obvious fact. Confirmed it to theContinue reading “So What Color is the Morality?”

And then what happened?

Honestly, I don’t know. Watch, wait, and work, I guess. One week out from publication and trying to hold this process with open hands. With self-publishing you kinda know going into that it’s going to be an uphill battle. You’ll have an initial surge from friends and family, but then when that tapers off youContinue reading “And then what happened?”

Publication Day! A Book about Exiles, Languages, and War

So today, as I post this, my book is now published! I’ll spare you the long saga–and it is quite long–of how this book came to be, how I wrote it, and all the hills and valleys between then and now. It’s a good story, actually, but not for today. Today, I’m just going toContinue reading “Publication Day! A Book about Exiles, Languages, and War”

The Je Ne Se Quois and what I DO know.

It is often easier to take note of the things I don’t like about a book than to understand what constituent elements come together to form something I do like. This is why people’s rants on goodreads are often longer than their raves. This is partly because good writing–good storytelling–is rather seamless. And since youContinue reading “The Je Ne Se Quois and what I DO know.”

The Everlasting Trope: Redemption Arc

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”

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”

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”