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In Which I Recognize How Shallow I Am
In case you didn’t know, Nefertiti Overdrive: Ancient Egyptian Wuxia didn’t fund. That’s unfortunate, but I’ve had the last week to just kind of relax (not totally, seems there is always work around...
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Excessive Vengeance
In the fiction on which I am working – it needs a name, doesn’t it? Let’s call it Pandora Excess for now, both it and the RPG of the same working title will need name changes, but it’s fine for now – I...
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The Fantastical in the Fantasy
Here I am, with a new idea and almost 2,000 words into a new story and I come to the realization that it’s not really a fantasy story. I’ve always considered fantasy stories as not just stories that...
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The Lure of Crime
My present video game addiction is Grand Theft Auto IV. I am not a fan of the cop-killing, which is integral to missions required to move the plot forward, but have come to grips with it. I really like...
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Outlining and Inspiration
I’ve spoken about my writing process before and I am a planner. I need to outline my stories and novels or else they just keep drifting along, trying to find an ending, but instead always finding...
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Character Letter Writing
Back in the day, I used to listen to a writing podcast put out by Michael Stackpole called the Secrets. It was really good. The site is still up, but I don’t think any of the episodes remain available....
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Unconscious Inspiration
Sometimes, you find inspiration in another work and you don’t even try to hide it: my story “Farewell, Something Lovely” is a rip-off of the Raymond Chandler novel Farewell, My Lovely. I’m okay with...
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Write What You Read
Everyone has heard “write what you know.” How people define “know” is, of course, variable, but it is fair enough advice on the face of it – if you don’t know about sub-hunting in WWII, don’t write...
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Description Comes Later
I am the first to admit that I am not good with description. My first drafts are often like scripts with dialogue and character action but very little setting description. In the past, I’ve struggled...
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You Aren’t Special . . . Yet
If you are planning to sell your writing, you need to remember that you are not a special snowflake. I know you’ve heard that a lot, but it’s important to understand it. It’s important to understand...
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Medieval Urbanity
Looking back through Sword’s Edge, there are a lot of articles that might still be of interest. While I am not writing fiction or creating much these days – between my actual job, my Master’s program,...
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Korean Culture Lesson
Back in 2008, I ran a one-shot called “Beast of Namgakksan,” which was set in Korea during the Japanese invasion of the 16th century, known as the Imjin War. A very important part of Korean culture and...
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Perfecting Your Craft
I’ve done a lot of fiction writing, and have even had people pay me to publish some of it. I’ve also completed a few novels, but I’ve never published any. That said, I have opinions. I know – shocking!...
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Finish Writing Your Novels
The last post was only the beginning of my opinions/advice on novel writing. Here’s the second part. Advice to Aspiring Novelists 2: Finish Writing Novels Originally published 9 Jul 2009. I’m back with...
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Status Quo? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Status Quo!
Please be warned, this is kind of a political rant – not about current politics – that is long and tedious. Basically, in my games, I ignore the political status quo in fantasy and historical games...
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Chanbara and Wuxia and Podcasts, Oh My!
This is a rumination based on an interchange with the podcast Jianghu Hustle. The podcast is a consideration of wuxia and adjacent cinema in regards to RPGs. I love it because the hosts are really...
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Bushido or Bushidon’t
In the last post I made a comment about how the bushido code wasn’t actually used by the samurai when they were warriors. This is the post where I actually back that up to the best of my ability. While...
View ArticleDissing the Sea Peoples
I listened to a podcast on the Sea Peoples, because that’s something I do. And now you must all suffer! In case you were looking for context, it’s here. Even though Sagas of the Sea Peoples won’t be...
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