Posts Tagged ‘reflections’

One Week Till Graduation

Posted: May 3, 2015 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections
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It’s coming soon.

It’s coming.

Well actually at the time I started writing this post it’s six days, eighteen hours, and 18 minutes till graduation. But who’s counting?

Still, it’s amazing that this milestone in my life is coming so quickly. I’ve been looking forward to it for nearly a year, and by he time I turn around, it’s probably going to be here. I’ll see my whole family (and I mean my whole family, around ten or so people are showing up for this), I’ll walk down that aisle for my diploma, my mother will cry her eyes out and then be grateful that for mother’s day she’s got one kid graduated and three to go. There will be tears, photos, selfies galore. I’ll get my diploma and meet President Drake for the first and possibly only time. Afterwards there will be more photos and congratulations, I might have time to change my clothes, and then we’ll go out to dinner.

Oh, and alcohol. Pleeeenty of alcohol will be consumed. It’s graduation, it’s to be expected.

You know, I’m really going to miss Ohio State. So much happened here. I took so many fun classes, a few ones I wish I could do over or never took at all. I made great friends, some of whom I’ll stay friends with for life. I met so many great professors and learned so many awesome things from them. I published my first three books and wrote two or three more while I was here. I published some articles and short stories, started working for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. I went to Europe on a study abroad trip. I worked in a really wonderful office with really awesome people. I got my first apartment and started to really become an adult (paying bills, creating a credit history, etc.). And while I was here, I grew an audience of readers who enjoy my posts, love giving me feedback, and even read my books from time to time.

I think what I’m going to miss the most though, more than the excitement and surprises of learning something new each and every semester, is the challenge. Each and every year, and each and every semester, I’ve had new challenges to overcome, new obstacles to tackle and fight against. This has ranged from getting used to college, to getting used to semesters, living in my first apartment with a new friend, going abroad, doing a thesis, and a million other things. I like to think I met and beat challenge successfully.

Well, depending where I get my next job, there will definitely be new challenges to deal with, so that won’t be a problem. Hopefully I’ll know where I’m going soon (still working on my first job, but hopefully I’ll have more news soon). And you know what? As much as I love OSU, I feel it’s time to move on and see what’s next for me. I can’t remain as a student forever, and I don’t think I’d want to, even if I could and it cost me next to nothing. College is meant to be temporary anyway, so why stick around?

And I’m actually looking forward to getting away from a few things. Classes I hate, huge reading assignments, that sort of thing. Enough with that. And I’ll definitely be glad to see the last of those preachers on the Oval who keep telling us we have to become proper Christians (whatever that means) or we’ll go to hell. Honestly, I heard one of those guys claim the Girl Scouts are going to turn us into hedonists. I was like, “Whuuuuuuut?”

Well, I’ll make sure to post about graduation after it happens in one week. Or as a certain ghost I know likes to say:


Sorry, could not resist. You know, I once joked on Facebook that I’d married the ghost in that movie and that one post got so many likes and hilarious comments. And then some people thought it was true. Yeah, that was the awkward icing on the cake. Still, hilarious story. Might post about it some day.

Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone for sticking with me through all of my undergraduate career. I hope you guys continue to stick with me as I take on whatever comes next and as I continue to work on becoming the next big horror writer.

Until the next time, my Followers of Fear. Hope you’re not as busy as I am.

The Super Dilemma: Women, Race, and The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Posted: May 1, 2015 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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[Writer’s Note: The following post does contain some slight spoilers about the new Avengers movie, but it’s all very minor stuff, nothing that would ruin your viewing of the film if you plan to go and see it. Just wanted to let you know.]

So last night I went with a friend of mine to catch Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was fantastic, great action scenes, some really dark moments of character development, and plenty of that humor we’ve come to enjoy from the MCU films. If I were to give this film a rating, I’d probably put it between a 4 and a 5.

However, there were some things that bothered me, and I want to talk about them here. One of those things, as said by Maria Hill during that party (which we’ve known about for months, so it’s not a spoiler): “Where are all the women?” Yes indeed, where all the women? If you think about it, while there are plenty of women in these movies who hold their own against the men, the women are still underrepresented in the MCU. Black Widow has shown up in four films so far and set to appear in the next Captain America film, but a solo film isn’t even in the works (though a treatment apparently has been written) and she’s only got 24 action figures compared to over a hundred various Iron Man toys.

It’s even more sad when you consider how she’s such a great, well-rounded character who can be a great role model for girls, and Scarlett Joahnnson’s costars make fun of her and call the character “a slut” and “a whore”. Yeah, they did that. Women are so much more than their sexuality and gender, and yet these guys reduce a character to being sexually promiscuous just because she’s comfortable around a bunch of testosterone-high males. Seriously, half or more of the audiences of these films happen to be female, as I understand. At least half the people in the theater with me last night were women, and I don’t think they were there just for Captain America and Thor’s good looks. You’d think the people making these films would remember that more often before saying something so hurtful and wrong.

Seriously, where’s her time? Where’s her solo film?

 

Now, there is a Ms. Marvel film in the works, Agent Carter was a real hit when it came out as a TV miniseries earlier this year and AKA Jessica Jones is being made into a series on Netflix, but the Ms. Marvel film isn’t due out until late 2018, a full year after DC plans to release a Wonder Woman film. Really Marvel? You’ve been doing this for way longer than the other studios, and you’re going to let DC get a superheroine flick out before you? I’m ashamed. You could’ve at least put more priority on getting more female characters out there.

Another thing that gets my goat (and again, this won’t ruin your experience of the movie, so don’t bite my head off), is that while Nick Fury, James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine and Sam Wilson/Falcon make appearances, the latter two’s involvement in this film is minimal at best. War Machine shows up near the very end but ends up contributing very little. And Falcon is maybe in the film for a little over forty seconds, making me wonder why he was in the film at all if they weren’t going to really use him.

Really? Look, by 2050 minorities are going to be the majority in this country, and shows like Scandal or How To Get Away With Murder and movies like the Fast & Furious franchise are popular partially because of their extremely diverse casting. People like seeing characters like them that they can look up to in these stories, and these franchises and shows give that to so many people who have been shut out of the entertainment industry for years. Yet the most diverse casting so far in these films is the group from Guardians of the Galaxy. And I think with so many different non-white heroes in the Marvel universe, the filmmakers are making a big mistake by not trying to have more diverse casts in their movies.

Then again, there is room for hope. A Black Panther film is in the works with Chadwick Boseman as the character, there are rumors that the new Spider-Man might be black or Latino*, and hints from Age of Ultron that the next couple of movies will feature more diverse casts, which I can only say is a good thing. And with Marvel planning on putting out more of these films at least through 2028 as long as people are still willing to see them (my God, this franchise will never end!), so there’s still opportunity to make sure the women of the MCU get their chance in the spotlight as well.

They’ve got plenty of time, so I hope thy use that to put out a few films with more diverse casts.

 

We just have to hope that Kevin Feige and the folks producing these films take the hints their audiences are sending them.

What’s your take on this? Is it a big problem, or are critics taking this issue way too seriously?

Which character would you like to see given a solo film?

*I’m sorry, I’m going to take the end of this post to rant a little and blow some steam. I kind of liked the Marc Webb Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield. He was funny, they were clearly setting up a cinematic universe of their own, and I liked the characters very much. But Rise of Electro makes less than $750 million at the box office and what does Sony do? Cancel all immediate plans for a sequel and sell out to Marvel so that Spidey can join the Avengers! I mean really! Why even bother making the films in the first place? I just hope Spidey 3.0 is funny and engaging, otherwise one of my childhood heroes is going to be ruined for me.

Arguing For Equality: Gay Marriage Before the Supreme Court

Posted: April 29, 2015 in Politics and Leadership, Reflections, Social Activism
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Yesterday, arguments on four consolidated cases relating to same-sex marriage began in the Supreme Court. The cases mostly have to do with the legality and constitutionality of same-sex bans in certain states, and if states have to recognize same-sex marriages from out of state, that sort of thing. According to the New York Times article I just read, things went about as expected: the justices were divided along the traditional party lines, though Justice Kennedy seemed to show some sympathy towards the couples opposing the ban. Not a bad start, in my opinion. And considering how the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 and the recent tide of marriage victories in states across the country, LGBT advocates have good reason to be hopeful.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you already know that I am openly bisexual (if you’re new here and this is your first time hearing this, surprise!). I also have friends and family who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, as well as many different straight people. I’ve written an article about how the Bible could actually allow homosexuality rather than demonize it and I wrote a follow up article to that defending my beliefs. And from my perspective on this, these cases are about more than just marriage, though that’s a big part of it. It’s about making people feel equal to everyone else. It’s about acknowledging that LGBT are people, and deserve to be treated as people.

I first started realizing my sexual orientation during the fall semester of 2013, though I’d had inklings of it over the years. You know what the first emotion I felt was upon realizing I was bisexual? Fear. Because even though I knew so many LGBT people, that they and many others are accepted by the general populace, that the country is moving towards being more accepting and that by the time I had kids LGBT people will be fully-accepted members of society.

I was afraid. Because in many places, including places where the LGBT community is strong and loved, there are people who are scared to come out, that there are places where being out or suspected of being LGBT can get you ostracized or even killed, that there are plenty of people who hate me and the LGBT community because of our very existence, maybe even kill us in some cases.

And that scared me. Nobody wants to be hated, to be cursed to death for our existence, We all want to be accepted. But I had to accept myself and eventually I did. And then I came out, and I was loved and supported. But what about other people, those who can’t come out or be themselves because they’re afraid of how the people in their lives will treat them? Where they’re considered less than human, monsters masquerading and mistreating the human body? Why should they be unable to accept who they are?

Now I know that granting a marriage license won’t solve homophobia in America or worldwide overnight. But it’s a good start. Marriage is something that every kid knows about before they grasp the concept of death or where babies come from. It’s one of those things that’s made to be something magical, powerful, a bond that is not easily questioned or taken for granted without consequences. Imagine the good that can do if we as a nation extend that to everyone no matter their genetic predisposition (yes, it’s genetic, they’re finding more and more evidence of that every damn day, and no amount of praying is going to change that, just as no amount of praying is going to turn me into Vin Diesel) towards whom they’re attracted.

And extending marriage to same-sex couples isn’t going to cheapen marriage, or negatively impact heterosexual marriage, or hurt kids. All the research that says it will has been proven false or doesn’t actually exist. Clergy aren’t going to be forced to perform marriages they don’t believe in, because there is always going to be a clergyperson who does want to perform such a ceremony or there’s a courthouse where the marriage can be performed. And traditional marriage won’t be thrown out the window, because traditional marriage isn’t really a thing to begin with. Marriages used to be business deals between the heads of two households, with the creation of a new family as part of the deal. It was only during the late 17th and early 18th centuries that daughters had any say in their spouses, and only much later on that love became a major consideration in marriage arrangements. So marriage as we know it might only be 100 years old or so.

And believe it or not, there have been partnerships in this country between people of the same sex that were considered like marriage or as marriage. Several Native American tribes allowed for same-sex marriages (people attracted that way were considered special in the tribe) and after America was established there were same-sex marriages by their neighbors, including James Buchanan. Yeah, one of our Presidents. Prior to his time in the White House, Buchanan had a ten year partnership with a man named William Rufus King (later Vice President to Franklin Pierce) and in later years wrote to a member of the Roosevelt family about wooing several gentlemen without much success.

With all this, I think it’s important that the Supreme Court make a decision that reflects what I know is true: that just because someone is born a certain way doesn’t mean they are wrong or evil or they need to be changed. They just need to be given the same protections and opportunities as everyone else. In other words, they need to be treated like everyone else. And making that the law of the land with one of the most beautiful bonds one can create between two people is a good way to begin with that.

Thank you for reading.

My Actual Feelings About Dolls

Posted: April 28, 2015 in Living and Life, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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A while back, I wrote a post about how I was kind of scared of dolls, especially older dolls. Well, it’s been nearly three years since that post, and I’m not sure if that applies so much anymore. I mean yeah, I had a nightmare when I was a kid about a doll that was popular among girls at the time chasing me (great thing about having younger sisters, you know what’s popular among their age group when you spend time with them). And the Goosebumps books about the dummy freaked me out at the time. And anyone who saw the movie Annabelle probably had a healthy fear of human-shaped toys for girls for the next few days (I have a friend who’s been afraid ever since, much to my delight worry).

But am I afraid of dolls in general? Particularly the old ones, dummies, and bisque or porcelain dolls? If I was, I’m not so much anymore. It’d be fairer to say that I find myself fascinated with dolls. They show up in stories I write (good or evil, living or otherwise), they’re in the anime I’m watching these days, and as strange as this sounds, I’m thinking of buying one or two because of their association to said anime (though considering my job and financial status, I’ll probably hold off).

I think the fascination I have derives from where the fear comes from in others. Fear of dolls and other human-like objects, or automatonophobia, has several theorized causes. One of them says that when humans recognize other humans, we expect certain behaviors from them. When something looks human but doesn’t conform to those expected behaviors, we feel fear or repulsion. There’s also the idea that being exposed to negative ideas or portrayals of human-like objects (Chucky from Child’s Play or the Autons from Doctor Who), especially at a young age, can cause bad feelings towards them. And of course, the idea where something looks human but isn’t can scare people badly.

I think for me, instead of revulsion or fear, all those reasons cause me to want to know more. Especially about ones reputedly haunted (I found this article about the market for haunted dolls not too long ago, and I kind of wanted to get in on it, though I’m a little wary about having anything with haunted associations in my house). There’s something about something so small, and so seemingly human but not, and possibly containing some secret soul or knowledge that we can’t truly comprehend, that’s powerful. That’s pretty amazing to me. That’s freaking terrifying! And you know me and terrifying! We’re bosom buddies.

So don’t be surprised if I have a few stories come out that involve dolls of all sorts, that come alive or become the focus for a character’s psychosis. And maybe someday I might actually buy a doll or two, ones that have personal connotations to me or may even have a haunted reputation. You never know.

Anyone else feel that some of these dolls are watching you from the photo?

Anyone else think these things might be watching you from the photo?

What are your thoughts on dolls? Like or dislike? Why or why not?

Let me know, I love to hear your thoughts.

 

Oh, and on an unrelated note, yesterday I had my last class as an undergraduate student. And today I turned in my final essay, for both class and, unless I have to write essays for one of my finals, for my undergraduate career. Two finals next week, and then I’m done. Twelve days to graduation. The road is shortening. Hopefully there will be a job too afterwards. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear!

Review: “Thrice Burned” by Angela Misri

Posted: April 27, 2015 in Review, Writing
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Let me just say, it’s always a pleasure reading books by friends, especially because they’re usually really good. And this is no exception. Thrice Burned, the second book in Angela Misri’s Portia Adams Adventures series, has the young detective now living at 221B Baker Street taking on some twisty new cases, while at the same time adjusting to her growing social circle and trying to find the answers to her own deep and complex personal dilemmas.

As expected, the mysteries in this volume are hard to decipher and make you want to read late into the night just to find out the answers (I was able to make some guesses on one of the mysteries that turned out to be true, but that was about it). The resolutions are also fun to watch, and sometimes can be a little touching, usually coinciding with Portia finding something new about herself or making an important decision in her life. Praise should also go to the new characters of Annie Coleson, an energetic and free-spirited journalist, and Gavin Whitaker, an ambitious forensic pathologist with a mind to match Portia’s, who challenge our protagonist in so many fun ways.

And of course, there’s Portia. Honestly, I can see why so many readers identify with her. Her struggles feel more real than many YA heroines, most of whom have to deal with nothing bigger than which boy they like more. Portia Adams has to contend with so much in her life, including where she wants to go with her career, having to adjust to the presence of new people in her life who take her out of her comfort zone in so many ways, earning the respect of her peers in law enforcement, how to be an introvert when society doesn’t always allow for that, the travails of having a mind unlike anyone else’s, and so much more. It’s good to see such a well-rounded character, and I think the character of Portia is going to grow in popularity as more people find her and feel like they they’ve gone through what she’s going through at some point in their lives.

My one complaint would be that at times it feels like the story emphasizes Portia’s personal problems more than the mysteries she’s supposed to be solving, but then again this is technically a YA novel, and they’re supposed to be big on character development, so I can see why.

In any case, this is a great second installment to a series I can see going on for several books, and I can’t wait for March 2016, when the third book in the series comes out (okay, I can wait, but it’ll be agonizing). For great storytelling, characters you feel can come off the pages, and for mysteries that will leave you on the edge of your seat, I rate Thrice Burned a 4.3 out of 5. If you can, definitely check this series out, especially if you like yourself a good mystery.

For more on Portia Adams and her adventures, read my interview with the author, as well as my review of the first book Jewel of the Thames and the interview I had with Angela prior to that one’s release.

Considering Double Narrators

Posted: April 22, 2015 in Reflections, short story, Writing
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I’ve two short stories, one that has had two drafts already and another that I’m trying to get through the last act of. Both stories involve the supernatural, and both focus on two characters, a man and a girl (though in each story the relationship dynamic is quite different). As I’m thinking of the different things I could do with each story in order to improve it, one thing comes to mind for both of them and it’s really got me thinking about the possibilities.

One story is State Fair, which I’ve mentioned here before and is about fairgrounds haunted by ghosts. The other is called Streghe (that’s Italian for “Witches”) and is based off a witch mythology I learned about in my History of Witchcraft (that class is already pretty useful). At their current stages, both short stories are told mostly from the male character’s point of view. So I’m thinking to myself, one of the ways to improve them might be to tell part of the story from the female character’s point of view.

Two narrators in a single story isn’t unusual. I’ve read a couple of well-known short stories that were told in this manner, one of which immediately comes to mind is The Falls by George Saunders (boy, is that one a trip). And the Bartimaeus books, which I loved as a kid, often had two to four narrators, depending on which book you were reading. And most of my novels are told from multiple points of views (and people tend to like those). So I’m wondering why I haven’t tried that with my short stories. Heck, I’m wondering why I haven’t tried it with either of these short stories. I mean, State Fair‘s main character spends most of the story following a girl named Lizzy around the park, so why did I not get her POV on being followed around? And the events of Streghe happen as much as to my young female protagonist Sarah as it does to my nasty male antagonist Tom. Not sure why I’m saving her POV to the end.

Well, it’s something I’ll definitely try. Since I’m still working on the first draft of Streghe, I’ll see about getting Sarah’s POV in this thing, maybe heighten the mystery element of the story by including her. When I get around to another edit of State Fair, I’ll see where where I can put Lizzy’s point of view. It’d be interesting to see how she reacts to a ghost following her around.

But what do you guys think? Am I onto something? Do you use multiple narrators in your short stories? And if so, how does it usually work out for you? Let me know, I’d love to discuss.

Do These Characters Seem Real to You? Or Are They More Like Robots?

Posted: April 20, 2015 in Reflections, Writing
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The main fear of every fiction writer is whether or not they’re telling a good story, usually meaning they hope they have an interesting story or they’re telling it in the best way possible. After that those, there’s another fear that is just as important and just as scary: you fear your characters aren’t relatable, that they don’t feel real to the reader. The last thing any author wants to read in a review is that the characters seemed “artificial” or “their actions and words felt forced” or instead of seeming like real people, they were “more like robots.”

Unless all or most of your characters are actually robots, of course. Then those reviews might actually be compliments.

But in most other situations, you want to avoid getting these sort of reviews, and there are a number of ways to do that. One is to fill out a full character bio for each of your characters, even if you don’t plan on using everything on that bio in the story. I’m talking full educational history, childhood experiences and traumas, hobbies, likes and dislikes, dirty little secrets, all that good stuff. Having a full picture of your character can help you bring them to life. You can tell a lot about a person just by knowing the full story about them, and you can do the same by knowing everything about your characters, getting in their heads and figuring out everything from reactions to certain situations to their decision-making processes.

Some of these involve writing, which I think adds to the fun.

One of the best parts of some of these is you get to write them out. If you’re one of those types who write a certain amount of words a day, this may help fill it out on a bad day.

Another thing you can do, if you’re wondering if something your character says or does seems believable or not, is to do what I call split-mind writing. I forget where I got this (it might have been a Stephen King novel), but it’s a pretty interesting way to work out problems, if rather schizophrenic. What you do is take a piece of paper, and pretend to have a conversation with someone on that piece of paper. Basically it’s a game of question-and-answer where you bounce ideas off of the person you’re writing to, see if you can work out what’s bothering you about your character and find a solution through this process.

There’s also acting it out, which is as the name implies (and with the perfect partner, is as fun as it sounds). If you have someone to act it out with, fill the in on a scenario in the story and act it out. If you or your partner’s reactions and words are different than what you’d expect or thought might happen, examine why. There might be something in that difference that can help you in your work.

A fourth one, and one that I feel is always worth a try, is to look at your favorite characters in literature. Examine them and ask yourself why those characters feel so real to you, or what about these characters that you identified with. Often we’re inspired by these sort of characters and the stories they’re in. We want to write stories that are just as inspirational as those ones that inspired us. Going back and figuring out why can be very helpful with putting those same qualities into your stories.

And of course, there’s my favorite option: would I do that in the same situation? I find asking myself this sort of question of myself actually helps. Often our characters have a bit of ourselves in them (as they should, seeing as we created them). Asking if we would do the same thing as them, and then exploring the answer, may help you make these characters seem real. After all, if you consider yourself at least fifty-percent normal and your reactions too, then maybe those thoughts and reactions should apply to your characters as well.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of thinking and puzzling it out.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of thinking and puzzling it out.

While making characters seem real to your audience can seem daunting, it’s not impossible to do. We all start out having trouble making our characters seem real, but with time we improve, make them real not just to us, but to our readers. And part of that is just asking a question: why or why does this character not work? The answers you get can be the key to writing something–and maybe even someone–truly awesome.

Review: Unfriended

Posted: April 18, 2015 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Let me preface this review by pointing out that I usually enjoy the movies that Jason Blum and his company Blumhouse Productions put out. Sinister, Insidious and Insidious 2, The Conjuring and Annabelle. Those are freaky movies. Which is why I’m saddened to say that this latest venture does not live up to expectations. In fact, Unfriended is more a time waster than a terror coaster.

Unfriended follows Blaire Lily, played by Shelley Hennig of Teen Wolf fame and somehow playing a much blander character than the one she played in Ouija. And for most of that film she’s dead (see my review of that one here)! Anyway, the film is told by watching Blaire’s laptop’s desktop and the multitude of programs she’s got going at once. All of her friends and her boyfriend log in for a Skype call and are joined by a mysterious, faceless person who seems to be stalking them. The person claims to be Laura Barns, a friend of theirs who committed suicide a year previously after an embarrassing video of her was uploaded onto the Internet. Whoever it is, they threaten anyone who signs off, uploads embarrassing information about each person, and then kills them. As the number of friends wind down, we get closer to the heart of the mystery: who filmed and uploaded the video that started it all.

I kind of knew before I even saw the movie that it would be difficult to make an impressive film told entirely from a Mac desktop. If they’d kept the tension and terror going through the whole film, then it might not be a problem. However, there are several minutes where nothing happens, where Blaire is chatting on Facebook or through IMs or looking things up or where Laura is typing to the living. During those parts, the tension doesn’t just mellow out, it disappears. Even during a sequence where Laura is forcing her friends to admit they’ve said or done horrific things, it’s not scary. Tragic or sad, but not scary.

Even sadder is that I don’t get to know these characters enough to build any sympathy for these characters. They’re all pretty much stereotypes or archetypes and not much beyond that. Blaire’s the supposedly sweet and innocent virgin, a horror staple, her boyfriend’s the sweet, lovesick puppy teenager from next door. The others are a bitchy drama queen, an overly-entitled rich kid, a geeky hacker, and a blonde (yeah, she’s just a blonde. Nothing beyond that. As a blonde, I’m kind of insulted). Beyond all that, there’s not a thing to say about these people.

And Laura Barns? Don’t know what to make of her. Some say she was just a sweet girl with some family troubles that are briefly hinted at, others see her as an awful bitch. All we see is the villain manipulating them and their computers. I’d have loved to see a flashback of this girl, rather than just some videos and recollections.

That said, Unfriended does have its points. The film looks like it has been filmed in one continuous shot and any cuts in film (of which I’m sure there are) are so hard to catch it looks seamless. The characters do show how unstable teen relationships can be, how you can be a friend and still call someone a bitch at the same time. And there’s that underlying theme of bullying and cyberbullying throughout. They do that well.

Still, I wouldn’t waste money on Unfriended if I were you. Wait until it’s on DVD. It’s an interesting concept, not something previously done in film, but it might have been better told as a short story than as a movie. I’m giving it a 2.6 out of 5. I’m sad that they’re already considering a sequel to this movie, or maybe even a line of sequels. God, I hope they don’t waste the money making more of these! That cash could go to so many better things.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m–wait. What’s this chat box? I–Oh damn. Ghost on my computer. Gotta go, my Followers of Fear. I think I need an exorcist.

Rose: The Thesis Discussion

Posted: April 16, 2015 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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So today was the day. The day I’ve kind of been working towards since Fall Semester started back in August. My thesis discussion, where I would discuss with my advisor and one or two other people about the finished product of the novel I’ve been working on.

Well, finished product is a bit of a misnomer. But you get the idea.

Early this morning I met in my advisor Manny’s office for the big meeting. My second reader for the discussion was Maura, a teacher I’ve taken classes with, whose company I enjoy, and who is a huge sci-fi enthusiast (can you see why I asked her to join us?). For about an hour and a half we sat and discussed Rose, how I got the idea for it (actually in one of Maura’s classes), how it grew in my head and became the novel I wanted to write for my thesis, and how all that went (you know the process of that from my many posts on the subject). We also discussed changes I could make for the third draft (which I will do, in time) and what they liked and disliked about the story.

I won’t do a transcript of the entire hour and a half, but I will go over the salient points. As you probably already know, Rose is about a young woman brought back from the dead by a man claiming to be her boyfriend and begins to turn into a plant-like creature (when Manny told the subject of my thesis to some of his writing friends, they were rather impressed by the originality of the idea). It’s about forty-nine thousand words as of the second draft, and still needs some work.

Maura and Manny definitely enjoyed the symbolism and thematic elements of the story, as well as how Rose’s character developed over the course of the story. However, there were some things that could be changed. The first third of the book or so could stand to have quite a few things changed around, including the portrayal of Rose’s amnesia and how she first interacts with the antagonist, the man who brought her back. They also thought that how certain revelations of both characters could be spaced out a bit more evenly and maybe change how the antagonist’s dad is characterized or used. There were some other elements that they touched upon, but I can’t mention them here because they would reveal too much. In any case, they’ve got my brain churning in all the best ways and when they’ve emailed me their notes I’ll take down some notes of my own and put the story away for the third draft.

In between this draft and the next though, I plan to finish a couple of short stories and then dive right back into editing Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City. Yes, I know I’m overdo for that one and it might take a little while longer to get it ready, but I promise you, I’ll get it done as fast as I can. And after that…well, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll work on the third draft of Rose. Maybe I’ll have enough material to do that rewrite of Laura Horn I’ve been meaning to work on. Or I’ll work on some short stories and maybe an entirely new project. Anything’s possible.

You know, it’s been quite the crazy journey for this story. It’s gone through so many changes, more than most of the stories I’ve had the pleasure of writing. And it’s journey is not over yet. No, it’s just at rest, waiting for the next transformation, the next polish. And what a polish it will be when it happens. I think that when the third draft is done, even if it’s not the final draft, Rose will definitely be much closer to publication than it is now.

In the meantime, I’ve got a paper to research and a few other things to do, so I’m going to get on that. You have a great rest of your day, my Followers of Fear. I know I will.

Self-Pub Authors: Avoiding Copyright Infringement

Posted: April 15, 2015 in Journalism, Writing
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I just published my latest post on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. This one is “Hey, That’s My Idea!”: When Works of Fiction are so Similar You Want to Sue. It’s about what happens when you find a work that’s so similar to yours that you fear someone’s stolen your idea, infringed on your copyright. The post was inspired by a story I read this morning, how Joss Whedon–yes, that Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy and director of both Avengers movies–has been hit by a lawsuit by an author who claims Cabin in the Woods is taken directly from his own 2006 novel. It’s interesting, and I wanted to explore the issue a bit more deeply.

If you get the chance, please check out the article. And if you like what you read, please check out and subscribe to the blog. Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is written by authors, for authors, and to authors so that they can write, edit, market, and publish not only cost-efficiently, but produce the best work they can while they do it. It’s worth a read.

That’s all for now. I’ve got a lot to do, so I’m going to get it done. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear.

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