+ advice, Book, Characters, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion
by Jim
My previous topic dealing with how I create characters got me thinking. How often have writers seen actors or other personalities and written their characters around them? Or even better, how many of us have ever thought about who we would like to see portray our main characters in a movie or TV show. I know I have… so for those of you who … Read More Character Portrayal
by Jim
Well… I guess being a fantasy writer, this was going to come up eventually. As someone who goes to comic con almost every year, I’m no stranger to seeing grown men carrying MLP stuff around, or perusing MLP artwork tables. Being someone who TRIES not to judge people, I assumed they were buying the items for their daughters and shrugged them off. However, over … Read More Societal Acceptance of Bronies???
by Jim
Hi Jim, I’m trying to come up with characters for my book. I was hoping you could maybe provide a little insight into how you came up with yours. I specifically liked Xaphine, could you use her as an example? Thanks, Rich. Hi Rich, General Xaphine seems to be a recurrent theme in character discussions… perhaps I should write her into another story. You … Read More Character Development
+ advice, Book, Comics, fantasy, literature, Uncategorized, Writing
by Jim
Hi Jim, I hope you don’t mind, but I saw your posts about asking a question and thought I’d shoot you an email. I saw from your other posts that you think using an alternate universe is poor story telling. I wanted to write a sequel to one of my books, but essentially it would be going back and exploring what would have happened … Read More Alternate Universe?
+ advice, Comics, fantasy, horror, literature, Opinion, Uncategorized, Writing
by Jim
I’ve been a huge horror movie fan for a while, but there is one thing that always irked me about a certain ongoing trend in them. I was going to ignore it until I noticed that it was happening in suspense/thriller novels as well. Here’s the deal, everyone has seen these movies. The story starts off with a group of people. These people are … Read More Schadenfreude is NOT Scary!
by Jim
Lady Mechanika is a creator-owned comic book series by Joe Benitez, inspired by the steampunk genre. “Steampunk” is all about re-imagining history, usually combining the elegance of the Victorian Era with more advanced science fiction technology. The tabloids dubbed her “Lady Mechanika“, the sole survivor of a mad scientist’s horrific experiments which left her with mechanical limbs. Having no memory of her captivity or her … Read More Lady Mechanika Review!
+ advice, art, Comic, Fairy Tale, fantasy, literature, Opinion, Uncategorized
by Jim
This is something that has been irking me for some time now. It’s a recurrent theme in most fantasy fiction, in stories, comics, and in movies. No matter what happens in a fantasy universe, there is always a way to bring a character back. No matter what. If the character is popular, there will always be an incantation, or special portal, or some sort … Read More No Permanent Death in Fantasy
by Jim
Okay… I’m going to try to put a stop to this, because my focus on movie writing lately has taken my blog WAY off topic, almost to the point of Hollywood Advocacy, and it needs to stop. So hopefully this will be the end of it. However, there were some things that I needed to get off of my chest about the effects of … Read More Why Does Preachy/Safe Book and Movie Writing Fail So Badly?
by Jim
So now it’s been announced that there will be a Beetlejuice 2, and thus there is now even more evidence, that Hollywood has lost it’s touch. I don’t know about this… I’ll wait and see on this one. However, I’ve had some time to reflect on many movies recently and I have reached one inescapable conclusion… I CAN’T STAND Tim Burton! Honestly, to me, he … Read More WTF… Tim Burton…
by Jim
Mary Kelly: Age: (Exact Age Unknown) Apprx. 153 Years Place of Birth: Ireland Power(s): Stealth, Inhuman Speed, Night vision Weapon: Any blade, though usually utilizes a Japanese Kodachi. History/Profile: Not much is known about Mary other than she had a fairly tough life. She doesn’t discuss her origins with anyone on the team. Only Mike knows the truth about her past. She is a … Read More Character Profiles: The Vengeance Doctrine
by Jim
This is something I’ve seen, not only in writing, but also movie-making, and comic books. It’s something I can say that I’m guilty of as well. What do I mean when I say we cater to the PC (Politically Correct) crowd? Well… honestly, we spend a lot of time concerned with the ethnicity of our characters, who get’s killed off and/or who gets center … Read More Why do we cater to Political Correctness in our Writing?
by Jim
This is going to contrast my normal formula of “Good Villain = Good Story.” It simply doesn’t add up here! I know a lot of people hate this character, but I think that has more to do with the story he’s apart of instead of the character himself. So let’s talk about Davy Jones. I know, as bad as the movie that introduced him was, … Read More Why Davey Jones is actually one of the best villains in modern cinema…
James Harringtons Creative Work 