Dope KPC | Constructs

2010-08-31

It's hard to pull out of the creative mindset either during or at the conclusion of a project. That end feeling is of relief but also fear.

2010-08-30

Whenever I begin a new project, there's always this moment of uncertainty. Actually, that feeling comes eerily as I conclude the last.

2010-08-29

So with SSC2 officially and Criticality almost officially in the eBooks, it's time that I turned my attention to SSC3 and other projects.

2010-08-28

Those who've read SpaceStation Colt and saw that last status update might be astonished, but think back. I have the perfect character.. :)

2010-08-27

Much of my written work is R-rated, but I have a comic book which is PG, and I'm contemplating a third SSC spinoff for kids that is rated G.

2010-08-26

Shock value went out of the window when I became a role model. Knowing my audience and delivering the appropriate content is not pandering.

2010-08-25

From a business perspective, I never want to go out of my way to offend people, but creatively, I've started to cater to different tastes.

2010-08-24

won't just create something and not care about if it happens to offend or create something just to offend, but he cannot please everybody.

2010-08-23

Political correctness often has a negative connotation, but there is nothing wrong with civility in discourse - except the absence thereof.

2010-08-22

In my past, I've said/written all kinds of things. This current creative phase is not so much about toning that down as it is focusing it.

2010-08-21

As I've gotten older, my creative styles have also matured. I now know that the mighty pen can cause writers to get chopped up by swords.

2010-08-20

What this speaks toward is an almost humbling (if not so introspective) bout of honesty which I've used to help improve my creativity.

2010-08-19

Basically, in both art and life, I've found that I can speak faster than I write, write faster than I think, and think faster than I speak.

2010-08-18

The process is slow but thorough. It leads me to wonder about a possible correlation between that, speech, the written word, and thought.

2010-08-17

Usually, I'm fairly happy with the edits because my words better convey the meaning which was intended. But there's no denying the fatigue.

2010-08-16

settled on a hybrid method which included reading the text silently while speaking the dialogue aloud to solidify the flow and find errors.

2010-08-15

SSC2 offered ample chances to test out a few methods of editing, so I shook off the pain and went to work with my dictionary and thesaurus.

2010-08-14

always had an appreciation for the task of editing since having been saddled with the process, but he needed to better cement a technique.

2010-08-13

If ever there's a case against writing long novels, having to edit them and meet their impending deadlines are reasons enough to support it.

2010-08-12

It worked. I had SSC2 written with an opportunity to write SSC3, but my momentum was soon blunted when I sat down to edit those 740+ pages.

2010-08-11

Neither project suffered because one beget the other with the future dangled as an inaccessible carrot until the present was made right.

2010-08-10

Whatever works, right? The boost to my confidence at present came from the promise of the incredible storytelling potential for the future.

2010-08-09

Why that is happens to be irrelevant, so it's the resolution which is pertinent here. Those future ideas carried me over the finish line.

2010-08-08

Writer's block is normally blamed for gumming up creative works, but I've always had ideas. The confidence to move forward was what got me.

2010-08-07

Living for the future isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes that needed, creative boost plays a role in supplementing a faltering confidence.

2010-08-06

A momentary lapse at worst - a period of motivation at best, working for the future becomes a subtle inspiration which pushes me at present.

2010-08-05

It's where dreaming big meets planning ahead, but sometimes I forget that I need to wake up and execute on the projects which are before me.

2010-08-04

Wishful thinking. I have a habit of looking ahead to future projects before the current ones complete - a byproduct of interlinking series.

2010-08-03

So characters can go intra- and inter- imprint. I won't overuse this by any means. Picking my spots has always been key to timely writing.

2010-08-02

Two properties belong to the SpaceStation Colt Imprint. Two belong to the Dope KPC Imprint. One is free-floating and resides within both.

2010-08-01

Currently, I have five core, creative properties to use for crossovers. I often wonder what could be so dire to cause them all to team up.

2010-07-31

The trick is for the visitors to not overshadow the home characters unless some other purpose is at work, but the stakes do invariably rise.

2010-07-30

always admired the ability of characters to show up in other characters' stories and entirely different imprints altogether. He took notes.

2010-07-29

loved the idea of those gigantic creative universes because individual events carried a literary butterfly effect to all corners of them.

2010-07-28

Interweaving stories was a skill that I learned very early on as a child because I loved the idea of crossovers introduced to me by comics.

2010-07-27

Another thing it will allow me to do is to tell concise and credible stories from numerous different points of view - including antagonists.

2010-07-26

Now, a vessel exists to be able to expand the series and universe with minor characters who are more than capable of carrying major stories.

2010-07-25

This practice invariably increased readership as some are finicky - needing to sample work before committing the mental effort to follow it.

2010-07-24

Treating Criticality as a monthly serial kept the fans engaged during my writing of SSC2 since each, unedited chapter was offered for free.

2010-07-23

Very episodic in nature, the pacing of Criticality is swift, so I was able to take some liberties with content flow. It has its own appeal.

2010-07-22

If SpaceStation Colt is the literary work written like a movie, Criticality is the literary work written very much like a television series.

2010-07-21

Cameos to the respective series will be made - wouldn't have it any other way. That not only increases their stock but it's exciting too.

2010-07-20

No less epic, Criticality focused on the often overlooked civilian aspect whereas SpaceStation Colt detailed the core militaristic element.

2010-07-19

Criticality is really SpaceStation Colt 2.5 because it fits within SSC2 and SSC3, affects, and is affected by the overall series continuity.

2010-07-18

Creatively, I was at the top of my game and began shooting free throws with my left hand in deciding to write Criticality at the same time.

2010-07-17

In the zone from inspiration but unconscious from motivation, I pushed myself and fed off of the creative energies which SSC2 had generated.

2010-07-16

always despised the idea of having to wait (sometimes years) until larger projects were completed to tell stories that were on his mind now.

2010-07-15

Soon, that formula will branch out to other projects, but this time I'd be tackling Action novels with either Fantasy or Horror elements.

2010-07-14

At the core of what I'm writing are Action novels with Romance and Science Fiction elements - violent stories for sensitive intellectuals.

2010-07-13

Technology is one tool in the arsenal for telling a Science Fiction story, and I credit my reading/studying of Action novels for that tact.

2010-07-12

SSC wasn't lacking in any way, and it cracks me up that SpaceStation Colt wasn't even seen until the story was almost half over - by design.

2010-07-11

The other part that Science Fiction is more casually known for is its technology. I made sure to step this up in SSC2 and had fun doing so.

2010-07-10

The often missed part of Science Fiction is its vision which gets people to talk about difficult subjects. There's nothing geek about that.

2010-07-09

Also, I'm not writing propaganda, so my personal beliefs don't need to enter into it in a manner that skews the actual story's objectivity.

2010-07-08

If it did, I'd never have effective antagonists or conflict, and everybody would just sit around agreeing all day - not my idea of utopia.

2010-07-07

might not agree with the views of some characters, but this had nothing to do with his decision to write about those noteworthy viewpoints.

2010-07-06

Distancing myself from the politics of the characters' opinions always allowed me the ability to tell stories from multiple points of view.

2010-07-05

On responsibility, mine is not to preach but to present. Characters have opinions and audiences get to decide. It's like pure journalism.

2010-07-04

Numerous opportunities presented themselves during the writing of SSC2 for me to provide social commentary on a range of different topics.

2010-07-03

A line from my song, 'War of the Arts', best sums this all up: "After all, what's more powerful: Having the power to kill or not using it?"

2010-07-02

The wholesale use of death, written as a commodity, can desensitize an audience to its impact. My intent was not abundance but importance.

2010-07-01

could never kill a character off 'just because'. Death is a literary device that I use sparingly and think through thoroughly beforehand.

2010-06-30

From living life, I can tell that most deaths are often senseless, but there is absolutely nothing worse than a senselessly written death.

2010-06-29

Killing off characters is hard for me because those lives hold meaning. Their sacrifice in the story was a major contribution to the story.

2010-06-28

For those who hadn't survived, I never viewed nor treated their deaths as smears - ultimately reserving my right to resurrect them later on.

2010-06-27

always desired to delve more deeply into the few surviving characters from SSC and make a good portion of the remaining series about them.

2010-06-26

handpicked the returning characters from SSC as supporting protagonists because of either their hilarity, mystery, symbolism, or potential.

2010-06-25

SSC took place across all of three days, but SSC2 was going to span months, so this meant that the characters had a chance to put on a show.

2010-06-24

Extending out the endpoints gave me increased storytelling options. In essence, I had the opportunity and an obligation to slow SSC2 down.

2010-06-23

Not every book will be that long, but I was comfortable with the flow and pace. Being honest about this during planning saved time later.

2010-06-22

combined the original ideas of SSC2 and SSC3 together into a behemoth SSC2 where the whole wound up being greater than the sum of its parts.

2010-06-21

Barring editorial constraints, books should be as long as they need to be. SSC2's plot came up short where I first envisioned it ending.

2010-06-20

With experience, I could predict the length of my work (prior to having written any words) which helped me to gear up for what was in store.

2010-06-19

SSC2 demanded thoroughness of effort. It was the sequel to SSC and the closure to the Zero Universe books. The long length was essential.

2010-06-18

The fans also had me on the hook for the wait, but everybody else was sizing me up for talking trash across six months of status updates.

2010-06-17

Writing SSC2 wasn't necessarily worth the pain that preceded it, but the story was worth telling, and hard times inspired me to write it.

2010-06-16

SSC2 signified an end to growing pains because those labor pains, long associated with delivering my baby, had now become a labor of love.

2010-06-15

From the Depths of Death in the Midst of Chaos was written at a time when I needed something to root for, and the characters' plight was it.

2010-06-14

Quiet confidence was not about humility, modesty, bragging, or boasting. It was about my hunger as a no-name author to type the next word.

2010-06-13

Once that all settled down, I needed to get back into a creative mindset, so an attitude of quiet confidence in my style was called for.

2010-06-12

Many things prevented my moving forward with the SSC series from personal responsibility to contractual obligation to corporate work/life.

2010-06-11

So almost eleven years later, SSC was released causing nearly a twelve year gap between that and SSC2. It won't take that long for SSC3.

2010-06-10

Anyway, I never stopped collaborating with DJ VoiceCrack. I'm just writing a different kind of word to his increasingly treacherous beatz.

2010-06-09

The soundtracks were a nice consolation prize (in a big way) for my hesitance to create audiobooks - mainly a time prioritization decision.

2010-06-08

Books can be the equivalent of 'movies with unlimited budgets', so leveraging aspects of movie marketing and presentation was only natural.

2010-06-07

Cinematography in prose, novel soundtracks, and even book trailers are nothing new. It won't work every time, but when it does, it's great.

2010-06-06

'Epic Novels that Read like Movies' wasn't just a tagline. SpaceStation Colt is on some 2.39:1 type stuff with soundtracks to match.

2010-06-05

So while I'm off writing novels, my original claim to fame - my music is made to suffer, right? Never. Novels were made for soundtracks.

2010-06-04

This was the third, main thing that SSC was about, and it was laced with characters - some made up; some from real life; and many, a homage.

2010-06-03

would like to do first-person in the future, but with this many characters, he needed the decentralized focus of third-person omniscient.

2010-06-02

...which reminds me: From one author to the next, if you ever have trouble coming up with cool character names, check your spam filter. :)

2010-06-01

didn't want to be lulled into telling stories only from protagonists' narrow perspectives when he had a universe of diatribes to pull from.

2010-05-31

Normally, we are taught to create conflict that pushes the protagonist, but I, instead, chose to create conflict worthy of the protagonist.

2010-05-30

The enemies were the next big thing that SSC was about, and the key was to not overshadow the heroine, so I had to break another convention.

2010-05-29

The legitimacy of Marileva stems not just from being the prototypical strong female but a strong lead character who happens to be female.

2010-05-28

Multiple adversaries hounded Marileva mercilessly. She defined the abilities needed to resist that onslaught. Abilities didn't define her.

2010-05-27

To a savvy antagonist, overdependence on such things is an exploitable weakness, and those hounding Marileva were very much forward-looking.

2010-05-26

Once outward appearances are stripped away, true character remains, and I believe this outweighs special abilities or blatant posturing.

2010-05-25

had since removed the 'strong female character' typecasting from the website wanting to make the gender statement without literary cliché.

2010-05-24

Socially relevant, organically skilled, and cerebral - this iteration of Marileva made it clear from the outset that she was now the star.

2010-05-23

Marileva's character had grown during that iteration, but in the Epic Universe, she was destined to become a character with greater depth.

2010-05-22

With the story now refocused around Marileva, I was actually amazed that she was only a supporting character back in the Zero Universe.

2010-05-21

SSC was originally written before the 1998 winter break and, as mentioned before, twice extended around 1999 or 2000 for the Director's Cut.

2010-05-20

The Original Universe was the serve. The Zero Universe, the bump. The Epic Universe was the set and spike via SSC and SSC2 respectively.

2010-05-19

Hints from various characters might not have been clear at the time but were obvious in that some knew more than the writer was letting on.

2010-05-18

SSC was a bit of literary misdirection. Readers could tell something big had set this all up, and something even bigger was being set up.

2010-05-17

At the same time, I couldn't disrespect them by coming up with some weak angle of why SSC was never to have been considered a reboot/remake.

2010-05-16

The other thing to remember is the characters' contributions. I'd never allow the older ones to be replaced and thrown away into the trash.

2010-05-15

One need only look at the treatment I paid to the Original Universe in integrating that with the Zero Universe to understand my next moves.

2010-05-14

Not hardly. Who ever said that the Zero Universe just didn't exist anymore after the Epic Universe began? I, as the writer, never did. :)

2010-05-13

Upon closer inspection, SpaceStation Colt: Damnitio Exeum (2009) had all six of SpaceStation Colt (1989)'s chapters named in it. Hypocrisy?

2010-05-12

doesn't like continually redoing works because the original cannot grow, and the imitation should've been strong enough to stand on its own.

2010-05-11

Too many times, I chose to take the name and characters of something already existing when I should've created something new and amazing.

2010-05-10

Reenvisioning works is cool. I'm not knocking that in the slightest. Originality assumes more risk and, for me, greater personal reward.

2010-05-09

Filter out the rest who never put forth anything original from scratch, and I am among the elite. Creative types should have that attitude.

2010-05-08

Beta reader-approved, but I don't hinge on opinion. The fact that I completed the work puts me ahead of 99% of the rest who never start.

2010-05-07

For the first book of a series, and technically my first official publication ever, it was a starting point in every sense of those words.

2010-05-06

SSC did exactly what the first book of a trilogy or a series is supposed to do. It introduced the story. For me, that assist was critical.

2010-05-05

The beginning and end points I wanted did not make the resolution of many of the numerous conflicts I introduced possible within the covers.

2010-05-04

If not for creating a resource to comfort anxious fans craving an official supplement, the encyclopedia certainly helped me avert fatigue.

2010-05-03

With so many entries from less than two novels worth of material, it meant the universe was already comprehensive - soon to be overwhelming.

2010-05-02

As the universe expanded, the need to catalog SSC grew - if not to lend further credibility, then to internally keep the continuity tight.

2010-05-01

SSC was so much more and left readers wanting to know more about it, so I made an encyclopedia (180+ entries) to help address some of that.

2010-04-30

This in no way implied that there was something wrong with the story. There was no forcing it into a category because SSC created its own.

2010-04-29

It's hard to sum SSC up other than to say 'it's hard to sum SSC up'. Sometimes the elevator (pitch) can't reach the level of the story.

2010-04-28

did this in a manner that tells the story of a thoroughly fleshed out universe but brings the reader in right after it had started.

2010-04-27

In a trilogy, you can technically only do this once, so I wrote the story like that when it would have the most impact - at the beginning.

2010-04-26

Why should the reader get some sort of additional insight? There was no additional insight to be had (or deservedly given) at that point.

2010-04-25

Except, the characters experienced this adversity firsthand. Think about how it is when you go through life without all of the answers.

2010-04-24

would submit that it made the protagonists' responses that much more genuine because they were just about as freaked-out as the reader!

2010-04-23

It wasn't irresponsible writing, and I go back and forth on whether this was just me in my naïveté, but there was no denying the rawness.

2010-04-22

looks back on SSC and smiles because the protagonists had no idea of what was going on. So, neither did the readers - along for the ride.

2010-04-21

But everybody's story does that. In order to separate SSC from all the rest, it was necessary to write this from a heuristic point of view.

2010-04-20

The cover says, "A lesson in human nature the universe won't soon forget" implying the protagonists' response to adversity is pretty stark.

2010-04-19

So I've written extensively on what went into the mechanics of SpaceStation Colt: Damnitio Exeum, but what was the actual story about?

2010-04-18

Taking this concept espoused by the title of Damnitio Exeum plus extending it to the characters and storyline makes for dynamic literature.

2010-04-17

The song Lane Navachi by Lunascape is a prime example of this, and I applauded the concept as it affirmed much of what I believe creatively.

2010-04-16

But there are times when socially-accepted words don't fit, and you must deviate to capture the emotion of what you're trying to get across.

2010-04-15

loves words and might have become a philologist if he had it to do over again. Apparently, somebody was responsible for making this all up.

2010-04-14

In that, the naming of SSC was not considered a mistake, and I had over ten years to change it between college and now if I thought it was.

2010-04-13

Damnatio memoriae was the correct phrase, but its meaning did not fit the storyline of SSC. Damnitio Exeum was no less powerful a concept.

2010-04-12

is glad that we were both wrong back then because SpaceStation Colt: Damnitio Exeum possesses its own ring while standing of its own accord.

2010-04-11

Shame on me for not checking out the source, but my neighbor said that he was sure it was called Damnitio Exeum. It was good enough for me.

2010-04-10

Back to the neighbor, he was taking some Latin course and told me about a cool phrase where rulers were erased from existence and record.

2010-04-09

Ironically, they were both coming out at about the same time as well, so Insurrection wouldn't have worked, and I was hungry for ideas.

2010-04-08

SSC was slated to be SpaceStation Colt: Insurrection, but as the fates of groupthink would have it, Star Trek had a film by the same name.

2010-04-07

Naming SSC involved a priceless (repeatable) college story. My next-door, dorm room neighbor talked me out of the first title I had.

2010-04-06

SpaceStation Colt was already claimed because of the book I wrote in 1989, plus this SSC was different and better - requiring its own title.

2010-04-05

Having spent so much time creating an Action, Non-Science Fiction, and Ultra Violence story, SSC still needed a name worthy of the effort.

2010-04-04

isn't a fan of violence for the sake of violence, but Ultra Violence illustrated the seriousness of the situation via gruesome consequences.

2010-04-03

All of those hours spent watching Samurai Sunday movies were not lost on me, so great care was taken in the choreography of fight sequences.

2010-04-02

If seen during ECW or as a part of some video game, chances were that SSC would credibly reproduce the move with a believable realism.

2010-04-01

Without altering style, I brought the Director's Cut as was originally envisioned from my very own eyes. The Ultra Violence genre was born.

2010-03-31

Creativity provided a chance to be myself, so in that presentation, how could anything be wrong? We're not talking spelling errors here.

2010-03-30

It was creativity honed from scratch like a home cooked meal - not so easily wholesaled. Feedback was welcomed, but criticism was ignored.

2010-03-29

had often said, especially as of late, that all he really owned was a laptop and a fast car. His creativity belonged on the list as well.

2010-03-28

tends to be a private person, so this was a way of putting himself out there - in grand fashion. It should be added SSC is his life's work.

2010-03-27

In pseudo-biographical fashion, I'm forced to write introspectively so that my character is true to himself/myself without the favoritism.

2010-03-26

SSC is told in third-person, omniscient perspective; and nowhere did it say I couldn't write myself into the story without changing my name.

2010-03-25

The 'Non' part of Non-Science Fiction is a nod to the Choose Your Own Adventure second-person perspective with an interesting twist.

2010-03-24

The 'Science Fiction' part of Non-Science Fiction was covered at length earlier, but its nifty 'Non' component could use some explaining.

2010-03-23

Action, at its best, includes all parties at the top of their games. To the victor goes the distinction of being right as spoils of battle.

2010-03-22

Make no mistake that the heroes were just as hungry as the quote/unquote villains. This killer instinct was what blurred any differences.

2010-03-21

Similarly, the antihero didn't fit because those questionable tactics might have been called for - not childishly unleashed as acting out.

2010-03-20

had a hard time reconciling the villain who did what they did because they saw themselves as evil. He knew conflict was not so cut and dry.

2010-03-19

These days, black & white perspectives insult intelligence. There needs to be something more than twists, turns, and subsequent responses.

2010-03-18

At its basest, component level of telling an exciting good versus evil story, the Action genre requires shades of gray in order to shine.

2010-03-17

loved the styling in Action writing which had long become his preferred genre. Everything written since the age of three veered that way.

2010-03-16

While my peers were reading Encyclopedia Brown and Baby-sitter's Club, I was reading Don Pendleton's Executioner series for my book reports.

2010-03-15

By using Romance as an element, I didn't cheapen its impact by treating it as a genre. That's how I wrote it. How it's read is the debate.

2010-03-14

If the main character, Marileva, decided to take a novel off, I didn't want the entire premise of the series to be shattered in her absence.

2010-03-13

Perhaps I underestimated how strong the True Love angle actually was, but I was looking ahead to SSC4, SSC5, SSCx in coming up with genres.

2010-03-12

should take a step back. Action, Non-Science Fiction, and Ultra Violence were carefully chosen because of their associative literary depth.

2010-03-11

That about does it for the SSC novels' keywords. The genre is up next, and an open debate exists as to why Romance was not also included.

2010-03-10

For the proponents of each claiming to have the monopoly on True Love, I'd caution against arrogantly overlooking the merits of the other.

2010-03-09

would have to imagine this was not the first time that both had been depicted at the same time within the context of a single relationship.

2010-03-08

Wait..what?! He put vanilla and D/s in the same sentence with True Love?? The SSC trailer said 'greatest love story ever told', right? :)

2010-03-07

Describing True Love is no joke, so although I am a sucker for vanilla romance elements, mixing in D/s sensibilities really set SSC off.

2010-03-06

With no middle-entities between the interface of love and lower beings, that purity of unfiltered, untainted energy became True Love.

2010-03-05

And vice versa. Being an Ethereal might not be all it was cracked up to be, but at least the burden of 'Ethereals = love' was lifted.

2010-03-04

Removing the dominion of love from gods, hereinafter referred to as Ethereals, made possible the ascension of lower beings to their level.

2010-03-03

Love, not cheapened by the animalistic emotion of itself, could only exist if it displaced the sanctioning god as the most powerful force.

2010-03-02

Touchy subject, so before I go on - to each their own. Deciphering this was critical to the story for differentiation & 'so what' purposes.

2010-03-01

This leaves the final keyword(s): True Love Trilogy. I spent years pondering the question of whether love was even possible without lust.

2010-02-28

still remembers Roman and Marlena's wedding. That moment forever turned me into a hopeless romantic, so I needed to include the element.

2010-02-27

In fact, the main nurturer of the protagonists, SpaceStation Colt (the ship), will become as important a character as those she protects.

2010-02-26

The SSC's physical dimensions are fixed until the decision to retool, but a simple literary trick makes the internal compartments infinite.

2010-02-25

The SSC moves! I am pretty impressed with the technology and design. As interaction occurs, the ship becomes larger in a figurative sense.

2010-02-24

It's an important distinction, but at the risk of not making the title sound like anime, I chose not to include the 'mobile' part within it.

2010-02-23

Not quite as obvious, from the discussion thus far, is the keyword Mobile SpaceStations which differentiates SSC versus stationary types.

2010-02-22

Without ruining the story, other keywords included Alien Invasion, Interplanetary War, and Interstellar Conflict - all are fairly obvious.

2010-02-21

New and Original Science Fiction went without saying but rounded out SSC's Sci-Fi descriptions: Dark, Feminist, Hard, Modern, New, Original.

2010-02-20

felt it necessary to lighten the mood. After all, SSC wasn't slated to be a drama, but there was this new affinity for the word 'gritty'.

2010-02-19

likes how SSC manages to be self-aware without overly poking fun at itself - conscious of the irony but not giving in to juvenile slapstick.

2010-02-18

The story is evil, so from the characters to the scenarios they find or put each other in, a tinge of dark humor needed to be sprinkled in.

2010-02-17

Dark Science Fiction refers to the fact that SSC is an incredibly messed up story that is getting worse as far as the stakes are concerned.

2010-02-16

Because of the current climate of cultural differences, highlighting and playing off of contrasts between the sexes makes for a great story.

2010-02-15

Instances of grouped character generality allow for it, but that one alien race neither male nor female will be a fun challenge to describe.

2010-02-14

So yes, race plays a big part in SSC but at a much larger and less petty scale. I don't have the luxury of ignoring the sex of characters.

2010-02-13

That is the true power of books. If some little girl reads SSC and believes Marileva looks like her, who am I to dash that aspiration?

2010-02-12

has an idea of what race many of the characters are, but most of the times not - as it is ultimately irrelevant to the storytelling.

2010-02-11

When a hostile alien looks down upon Earth, they don't see black or white. Their weapons happen to be colorblind and only see "Human"..

2010-02-10

has to save the juicier tidbits of his ideology for the novels, but here we must briefly divert to the discussion on racism versus sexism.

2010-02-09

Now SSC is not man-hating feminism or feminism that clings to one issue while turning its back on sexism. It is of the fair-minded variety.

2010-02-08

Those who know of my activism and/or my philosophies can vouch for my credibility in being able to write powerful Feminist Science Fiction.

2010-02-07

It was either "Hard" or "Hardcore", and I felt that "Hardcore" was too long plus gave off an erotic connotation - not bad but misleading.

2010-02-06

My use of Hard Science Fiction as a descriptor will get me into trouble. Hard refers to "cussing" and "violence" not strict interpretation.

2010-02-05

believes the story was and will continue to be told intelligently with those elements inside of it. Nothing in SSC is used as a crutch.

2010-02-04

It is not, however, a dig against "blaster guns" and "space aliens". Some are ashamed, but we came from those roots as did smart phones..

2010-02-03

To me, Modern Science Fiction meant: not post-apocalyptic nor neo-technological. SSC envisions today's world with legitimate space travel.

2010-02-02

greatly acknowledges the big two and many others, but SSC needed to stand on its own. First, the setting's backdrop mirrored current times.

2010-02-01

Unlike Star Wars, SSC hinted at a much deeper premise such as the one espoused by the masterful narrative on race relations of Star Trek.

2010-01-31

The Star Wars that I saw on Beta was crafted in exactly the same way, and if anybody wants to debate that fact, I have the toys to prove it.

2010-01-30

will just come right out and say it: SSC was a wild ride with quick pacing and a ton of minor characters. That was the intent (!).

2010-01-29

The delicate balance between openness to implementing feedback and standing ground in favor of original intention is a tightrope's dance.

2010-01-28

scrapped many-a-story from fifty pages in, but to be expected to backtrack after completion and change major plot elements is a bit much.

2010-01-27

None of this is to say that feedback is at all unimportant, but feedback is like advice - some of it sound while the other costs you money..

2010-01-26

Spelling & grammar (even that is debatable) aside, the scholarly takeaway is that authors must do things the way they need them to be done.

2010-01-25

Such is the life, according to Robert Frost. And with chapters opening and closing in real life, I become that much stronger in prose.

2010-01-24

It's no easy task weathering a psychological barrage of Aikido meant to either get you to quit or feel guilty for not having done so.

2010-01-23

That's similar to stuttering or something else.. Writer's Block must be converted into a tool writers can use to block out distraction.

2010-01-22

omits reasons as to why because they would be listed as excuses. The underlying issue stems from a general lack of confidence to perform.

2010-01-21

talks big but still took over ten years to seriously start writing SSC2, so that is why he's the authority on the evils of perfectionism.

2010-01-20

Perfectionist = Obstructionist. Completion > Perfection. Perfection in Completion = Attitude.

2010-01-19

was never, is not, and refuses to become a perfectionist. If I missed something, I'd just get it right the next time around.

2010-01-18

The extended Chapter 2 and Epilogue of SSC were proof of that. Such simple edits dramatically refocused the entire story on its heroine.

2010-01-17

No matter the preparation, things rarely go exactly as planned. Thankfully, the writing process allows ample chances to adapt midstream.

2010-01-16

Additional specificity would've been deadly (read: head explodes), so I placed the onus on the characters to flesh out & navigate the Logic.

2010-01-15

Outline? Treatment? I'm not sure, but SSC had 180+ bullet points; SSC2 has 594 bullet points; and SSC3's release date is pushed back..

2010-01-14

doesn't draw, so he created a storyboard of words (called Novel Logic) which allowed him to keep the cinematic images straight in his head.

2010-01-13

Enter pacing. The tag "Epic Novels that Read Like Movies" cites the delicate balance between blowing stuff up and telling a complex story.

2010-01-12

Not all that different from you or me, part of the allure of these characters was in their mystery. The other part was in their timing.

2010-01-11

Perception's a corporate cop-out for not taking the time to get to know someone, so does greater pleasure lie in the journey or destination?

2010-01-10

took numerous creative liberties with character design - none more so than the choice of prolonged gratification over instant gratification.

2010-01-09

Both deadly and cerebral, Marileva possessed a killer instinct capable of saving the universe or destroying and remaking it in her image.

2010-01-08

These characters deserved that their story be told, so I was tasked with raising the bar. To do that, a strong female lead was called for.

2010-01-07

If it were, I wouldn't write this. The personal cost is very high. I do this for Marileva, in particular, and the characters, in general.

2010-01-06

had a lot of fun writing SSC. Anybody who knew anything about me that read it would smile, but the novel wasn't about me.

2010-01-05

From there, the True Love Trilogy was conceived. SSC introduced it. SSC2 turns it dark. SSC3 resolves conflict - or tries to at least.

2010-01-04

It was naïveté versus life experience: "If I had known then what (I think) I know now" -> translated directly to the literature.

2010-01-03

should rephrase that - prequel/reboot wouldn't have worked, here. The startling contrast between youth & adult writing should be preserved.

2010-01-02

Not a fan of prequels/reboots, I needed to devise a way to propel the current SSC iteration forward while honoring the last's continuity.

2010-01-01

SSC2 was as long as SSC, but the characters of the defunct predecessor series demanded closure then & there - unwilling to wait for SSC3.