Published:
May 14th, 2010
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Categories:
Writing
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When it comes to writing, there is one thing that I have always loved to do. I have always loved to create the history of the world, of the characters. I suppose that the RPG fan in me coming out. Whenever I play a character, the history of the character, whether relevant to the game play or not, is essential for me to be able to play. In fact, I will often play even computer games and narrate, in my head or otherwise, to myself the thoughts and feelings, and history of the computer avatar I’m using.
I’ve always been thankful for that gift. Being able to write the history is almost as important as being able to write the story itself. Even if you never tell anyone else the history of a world they’re going to be getting a glimpse of, it’s allows the writer to keep the common things in mind.
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Published:
May 13th, 2010
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Categories:
Life, Writing
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It’s amazing how often I’ve had the conversation with people regarding money of monthly versus yearly. The fact is, we see a big number and we get intimidated, but a small number is okay. It’s actually amazing how few people stop about how it all adds up in the end. I mean, picture that you have a coffee habit of $5 a day, and you might think that’s not all that bad. However, if I tell you to do the math and you realize that this amounts to $1,825 a year, it suddenly dawns on you. For that couple of cups a coffee you buy a day, saved up, you could go on a cruise.
It’s what I hear from my clients sometimes. Read More »
Published:
May 10th, 2010
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Categories:
Writing
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Sometimes I take my sons to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls. It’s a beautiful, crowded yet peaceful place with thousands of jewels fluttering through the air all around you. They love it and I love it. I like taking my camera and seeing just how many varieties I can capture in still while we’re there.
I remember this one time I sought this one particular type of butterfly that had the most gorgeous blue colouring.
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Published:
May 7th, 2010
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Categories:
Writing
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Rain and thunder and storms. I’ve watched them all my life. When I moved as a child to a house surrounded by the fields of local farms, I could sit up in my room at night and watch the storms raging without the city’s short horizon blocking my view. Even ‘small’ storms seemed epic without buildings and streetlamps to hide them.
Beyond the inspiration of watching them, storms at night cleared the night air. No matter how humid the day was, or how humid the next day might be, a storm meant that the night air would be clear and crisp. The scents on the air were intoxicating, and the lightning seemed to power my creative juices.
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Published:
May 5th, 2010
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Categories:
Writing
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Today’s blog was stolen by Harry Potter.
No, truly!
Back on Friday with a discussion on world building!
Published:
May 3rd, 2010
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Categories:
Life
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The basis of writing the most endearing characters is to draw the audience into that character in a sense of shared universal experience. I find myself very conscious of this when I’m watching something or reading something. Still, I sometimes am surprised at the depth of feeling a medium will have for me. On such occasions, I like to try and dig into my childhood (and perhaps my present) to find where the root of the empathy lies.
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Published:
April 30th, 2010
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Categories:
Life
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A walk through my neighbour is a walk through converging paradigms. It’s a neighbourhood that started during the end of WWII, and continued being built into the 1960s. The architectural styles change, from house to house, telling the stories of the owners and different times just in detail alone. However, that’s not the only conflicting story to be told.
I’m not trying to sound old or wise, nor cliché or trite, when I say that my town has changed. The whole world has “moved on” since I was my sons’ age. I’m not simply talking of technology, either. With a memory as clear as mine for how far back it goes, It amazes me some of the things I used to be able to do as a child that I can never imagine my son will share.
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Published:
December 16th, 2009
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Categories:
Writing
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I’ve always been a spiritual person. I meditate daily; about life and the Universe, which I ultimately worship. Writing, however, is its own type of meditation, where time and place make little sense. I remember being able to start a particular album or movie and sit and write, not paying attention to any of my other senses. When it got very good, I could write twenty or thirty pages worth of writing in a few hours.
I was lost in my own mind, in my hall of windows, if you will, and simply streaming out of my fingertips what I had been seeing within them. Read More »
Published:
December 15th, 2009
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Categories:
Writing
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Writing evil characters has always been a passion of mine. In my not-so-humble opinion, the most boring enemies are the ones that are portrayed as evil for no other reason than to be evil. There is no urgency or sense of purpose with an enemy that is essentially just doing things for no discernible reason. I also don’t consider mental illness, in and of itself, a valid reason for doing anything, and I get frustrated with stories built around someone doing something because of whatever chemical balance they might have. It is unimaginative.
Everyone has a motivation for what they do. The only difference between a “good guy” and a “bad guy” is what side of that motivation “line” they fall on. Read More »
Published:
December 14th, 2009
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Categories:
Writing
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“Fire your creativity” or “fire your imagination” or any other use of “fire” always strikes me as deliciously ironic in its accuracy. My muse has always been as far for me. Fire breathes, eats, procreates, thinks, kills, fights for survival; in so many ways, it seems to be alive. It’s a classical element for a reason, after all. However, I am also very much a creature of fire, so I find it equally the “source” of the brilliance of writing and the destruction of it. Fire is the best metaphor I have to writing.
In the “camp site” of our lives, the nights get dark and lonely, and our ancient, primal souls yearn for fire. Read More »