The Advantages of Steam

The Advantages of Steam — Blue Ink Alchemy

Summer is here. To celebrate, Steam is having a mind-blowingly brilliant sale. They're offering discounts on many of their packages - titles from publishers like Valve, Square Enix, Atari, Rockstar, etc. But it doesn't stop there. Every 24 hours or so, they slash the prices on a few titles. So while normally a game that may interest you may be a bit on the pricey side, if you can catch it during this sale you'll save a ton of cash. But why spend money on games at all? I mean, sure, you can pick up Torchlight for $5 and have Diablo-flavored fun with fresh graphics and an adorable animal sidekick while you're waiting for Diablo III to emerge from Blizzard, but why do it through Steam instead of GameStop, for example? I'm glad you asked.

W+M1

This has less to do with Steam specifically than it does with PC gaming in general, but for me, the control scheme of keyboard & mouse is superior than those for consoles. By this point, yes, I've gotten used to moving one thumb to push my digital avatar forward while the other thumb lets me look around. But when I return to a game like World of Warcraft and have more than a couple buttons at my disposal, the result is actually more immersive and has a great deal of potential for flexibility. Take Team Fortress 2, for example. On the X-box, one of your precious few controller buttons calls for a medic, another does a taunt. You can hook up a headset to use voice chat, but unless you want your team hearing what you're yelling at your spouse, you'll need to move your hand from the controller to flick the mute switch. With the keyboard attached to your PC, you have a lot more options for communication. Many more voice commands are available for your character, and if those aren't enough, the voice chat option operates with push-to-talk functionality, rather than being on all the time. And all of these are at the fingertips of one hand, while the other controls your viewpoint, combat commands (shootin', etc) and weapon selection. It just makes more sense to me, but then again, I'm a crotchety old man set in my ways.

What is this DLC you speak of?

Another big difference is that not every developer wants to nickel & dime people for DLC. To Valve, DLC is called 'updates'. None of the new maps, weapons or headgear available to players of Team Fortress 2 on the PC are accessible on the 360, because Valve doesn't charge money for them, and they aren't going to. Those games that do charge for DLC - Borderlands for instance - can do so via Steam if they choose, but it's not a requirement. This again points to Steam being a more flexible and open-ended engine for content delivery than, say, X-Box Live.

Community Service

It could just be a matter of perception, but based on my experience, the community around Steam seems more constructive and geared towards fun than that of X-Box Live. There's nothing wrong with a spirit of competition, but getting yelled at by twelve-year-olds who have nothing better to do than polish their console shooting techniques in preparation for the next Halo title isn't exactly my idea of a good time. You'll get the occasional loudmouthed loser on Steam, as well, but at least the admins of those servers can kick said loudmouths with a quick keyboard command. Good luck doing that with a console.

No Motion Controls

I think it's going to be a long, long time before we see anything like Garry's Mod hit consoles while developers are so hung up on things like motion controls and 3D. To me, gameplay innovation should about what can be done with the games themselves, not how one sees or controls them. Does nobody else remember the Virtual Boy? Am I the only one who thinks that adding extraneous peripherals to gaming consoles is a path leading to a dead end in development? I guess while everybody's flailing around their living rooms trying to find ways to make that fun and unembarrassed, I'll be playing with rag dolls in a physics engine. I've even had a couple of series ideas. Not comedy, though. Das Bo Schitt has that covered. So yes. When I'm not writing, watching movies with my wife or playing World of Warcraft with her, I'll be Steaming things up. Unless something exclusive to the consoles hits, like War for Cybertron. I mean, come on - from what I understand, somebody finally brought back what made the Transformers awesome in the first place.

---

Blue Ink Alchemy

The Advantages of Steam

The Advantages of Steam — Blue Ink Alchemy

Summer is here. To celebrate, Steam is having a mind-blowingly brilliant sale. They're offering discounts on many of their packages - titles from publishers like Valve, Square Enix, Atari, Rockstar, etc. But it doesn't stop there. Every 24 hours or so, they slash the prices on a few titles. So while normally a game that may interest you may be a bit on the pricey side, if you can catch it during this sale you'll save a ton of cash. But why spend money on games at all? I mean, sure, you can pick up Torchlight for $5 and have Diablo-flavored fun with fresh graphics and an adorable animal sidekick while you're waiting for Diablo III to emerge from Blizzard, but why do it through Steam instead of GameStop, for example? I'm glad you asked.

W+M1

This has less to do with Steam specifically than it does with PC gaming in general, but for me, the control scheme of keyboard & mouse is superior than those for consoles. By this point, yes, I've gotten used to moving one thumb to push my digital avatar forward while the other thumb lets me look around. But when I return to a game like World of Warcraft and have more than a couple buttons at my disposal, the result is actually more immersive and has a great deal of potential for flexibility. Take Team Fortress 2, for example. On the X-box, one of your precious few controller buttons calls for a medic, another does a taunt. You can hook up a headset to use voice chat, but unless you want your team hearing what you're yelling at your spouse, you'll need to move your hand from the controller to flick the mute switch. With the keyboard attached to your PC, you have a lot more options for communication. Many more voice commands are available for your character, and if those aren't enough, the voice chat option operates with push-to-talk functionality, rather than being on all the time. And all of these are at the fingertips of one hand, while the other controls your viewpoint, combat commands (shootin', etc) and weapon selection. It just makes more sense to me, but then again, I'm a crotchety old man set in my ways.

What is this DLC you speak of?

Another big difference is that not every developer wants to nickel & dime people for DLC. To Valve, DLC is called 'updates'. None of the new maps, weapons or headgear available to players of Team Fortress 2 on the PC are accessible on the 360, because Valve doesn't charge money for them, and they aren't going to. Those games that do charge for DLC - Borderlands for instance - can do so via Steam if they choose, but it's not a requirement. This again points to Steam being a more flexible and open-ended engine for content delivery than, say, X-Box Live.

No Motion Controls

I think it's going to be a long, long time before we see anything like Garry's Mod hit consoles while developers are so hung up on things like motion controls and 3D. To me, gameplay innovation should about what can be done with the games themselves, not how one sees or controls them. Does nobody else remember the Virtual Boy? Am I the only one who thinks that adding extraneous peripherals to gaming consoles is a path leading to a dead end in development? I guess while everybody's flailing around their living rooms trying to find ways to make that fun and unembarrassed, I'll be playing with rag dolls in a physics engine. I've even had a couple of series ideas. Not comedy, though. Das Bo Schitt has that covered. So yes. When I'm not writing, watching movies with my wife or playing World of Warcraft with her, I'll be Steaming things up. Unless something exclusive to the consoles hits, like War for Cybertron. I mean, come on - from what I understand, somebody finally brought back what made the Transformers awesome in the first place.

---

Blue Ink Alchemy

The Advantages of Steam

The Advantages of Steam — Blue Ink Alchemy

Summer is here. To celebrate, Steam is having a mind-blowingly brilliant sale. They're offering discounts on many of their packages - titles from publishers like Valve, Square Enix, Atari, Rockstar, etc. But it doesn't stop there. Every 24 hours or so, they slash the prices on a few titles. So while normally a game that may interest you may be a bit on the pricey side, if you can catch it during this sale you'll save a ton of cash. But why spend money on games at all? I mean, sure, you can pick up Torchlight for $5 and have Diablo-flavored fun with fresh graphics and an adorable animal sidekick while you're waiting for Diablo III to emerge from Blizzard, but why do it through Steam instead of GameStop, for example? I'm glad you asked.

W+M1

This has less to do with Steam specifically than it does with PC gaming in general, but for me, the control scheme of keyboard & mouse is superior than those for consoles. By this point, yes, I've gotten used to moving one thumb to push my digital avatar forward while the other thumb lets me look around. But when I return to a game like World of Warcraft and have more than a couple buttons at my disposal, the result is actually more immersive and has a great deal of potential for flexibility. Take Team Fortress 2, for example. On the X-box, one of your precious few controller buttons calls for a medic, another does a taunt. You can hook up a headset to use voice chat, but unless you want your team hearing what you're yelling at your spouse, you'll need to move your hand from the controller to flick the mute switch. With the keyboard attached to your PC, you have a lot more options for communication. Many more voice commands are available for your character, and if those aren't enough, the voice chat option operates with push-to-talk functionality, rather than being on all the time. And all of these are at the fingertips of one hand, while the other controls your viewpoint, combat commands (shootin', etc) and weapon selection. It just makes more sense to me, but then again, I'm a crotchety old man set in my ways.

What is this DLC you speak of?

Another big difference is that not every developer wants to nickel & dime people for DLC. To Valve, DLC is called 'updates'. None of the new maps, weapons or headgear available to players of Team Fortress 2 on the PC are accessible on the 360, because Valve doesn't charge money for them, and they aren't going to. Those games that do charge for DLC - Borderlands for instance - can do so via Steam if they choose, but it's not a requirement. This again points to Steam being a more flexible and open-ended engine for content delivery than, say, X-Box Live.

No Motion Controls

I think it's going to be a long, long time before we see anything like Garry's Mod hit consoles while developers are so hung up on things like motion controls and 3D. To me, gameplay innovation should about what can be done with the games themselves, not how one sees or controls them. Does nobody else remember the Virtual Boy? Am I the only one who thinks that adding extraneous peripherals to gaming consoles is a path leading to a dead end in development? I guess while everybody's flailing around their living rooms trying to find ways to make that fun and unembarrassed, I'll be playing with rag dolls in a physics engine. I've even had a couple of series ideas. Not comedy, though. Das Bo Schitt has that covered. So yes. When I'm not writing, watching movies with my wife or playing World of Warcraft with her, I'll be Steaming things up. Unless something exclusive to the consoles hits, like War for Cybertron. I mean, come on - from what I understand, somebody finally brought back what made the Transformers awesome in the first place.

---

Blue Ink Alchemy

Don't Fear the Critic

Don't Fear the Critic — Blue Ink Alchemy

This week's Escapist is talking about constructive criticism. Yahtzee himself chimed in on criticism on one point:

Criticism is a powerful force for good. Nothing ever improves without coming to terms with its flaws. Without critics telling us what's stupid and what isn't, we'd all be wearing boulders for hats and drinking down hot ebola soup for tea. - Zero Punctuation: Overlord 2

I could make all sort of analogies for criticism. There's the bonsai tree example, the fat on a steak visual, the sanding of a bat to remove its splinters for a nice clean hit; I could go on. But suffice it to say that the best criticism is one that sees what a work is going for and points out the flaws so that the crux of the work can be improved while things that don't work can be discarded. Declaring something to be absolute crap is a great way to appear critical and level up on the Internet, so that's what some critics will go for. This should not, however, deter the creative mind from letting criticism getting in the way of creating something. Even if said criticism is coming from that selfsame mind. Even if you're not looking at your art as a means of income, and it's just something you do for fun, critics shouldn't deter you from trying to create something if you've the mind to try it. However, some criticism is meant to be constructive, while other criticism becomes destructive very quickly. There's a world of difference between "This sketch needs work," and "Your art is horrible and will never improve." It comes down to a difference in mentality. Some people want to cultivate dreams in this world, to help bring a new vision to life. This requires a lot of effort, though, more than some people are willing to put into a creative endeavor, and it can be a scary thing. Like the man said, there will always be mediocrity out there, people who can't deal with the extra percentage of effort some put into what makes them passionate. That, I feel, is where a lot of destructive criticism comes from. But I could be wrong. Anyway, you can't be afraid to put your work out there. Good criticism will help your work get better, and bad criticism can pretty much be ignored. Just like there is such a thing as good & bad writing or good & bad film-making, there's good & bad criticism. Test everything, and hold on to the good.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Book Review: Lamb

Book Review: Lamb — Blue Ink Alchemy

The Gospels in most standard Bibles - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - talk a great deal about the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But there are about thirty years of his life missing from those narratives. A question asked by many (including myself) is: what happened during those thirty years? How did they help shape the Son of God's ministry? Christopher Moore, an author and humorist I'd rank with Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, attempts to answer that question with Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Levi bar Adelphus, who is called Biff, is raised from the dead by the archangel Raziel to write a new Gospel. Kept under house arrest - or rather hotel arrest, as they're staying at a Hyatt in St. Louis - until he finishes, Biff sets his mind on the task of recounting his journeys with his best friend, Yeshua bar Jehovah of Nazareth. Josh & Biff both work for Biff's father as boys, and take turns courting the irrepressible Mary of Magelina - Maggie, for short. When an angel appears to Josh and tells him he needs to find his destiny, the two embark on a journey across the continent in search of answers. In addition to making an attempt at shedding light on one of the most influential men in history, Lamb also takes a fascinating look at some of the other faiths and philosophies in the world, such as the teachings of Confucius, the tenants of Buddhism and some of Hinduism's darker sides. There are a pile of references to everything from the world being round to evolution, and a great deal of it is done with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I don't know if I've ever even heard of an elephant doing yoga before I read this book. This is a very funny book. If you're reading it in public, especially in a library or a study hall, you are very likely to disturb others. I lost track of the number of times I burst out laughing reading it. As I said, Christopher Moore's work is of a high caliber of satire and humor. This was my first time reading one of his books, and I know I'll be reading more after this. I also know I'll be reading Lamb again because, as a Christian, I'll admit I got a great deal out of it. I know there are people out there who consider any reference to Christ in literature outside of the Bible to be blasphemous or false or something like that. They might think that portraying Him in any way other than fearful reverence dilutes the power of His message. Christopher Moore proves thoroughly and completely that this is not the case. The notion is that a divine and omnipotent intelligence alien to our own responsible for the creation of the universe incarnated as a normal human child to experience the range and depth of the human experience without the bias of an omniscient point of view. Lamb shows the confusion, determination, delight and humanity of Joshua, treating him with respect throughout the work. His desire for understanding and compassion is balanced very well against Biff, who acts as a sarcastic and realist foil for the Messiah. It could be said that Biff shows us what it's really like to have a "personal relationship" with Christ, in that sometimes Biff gets smacked a bit hard, and sometimes Biff yells at Josh for one reason or another. It's a friendship, a very deep and human bond, and I think this review is going a bit more serious than I intended so here's a picture of a bunny. Apparently Josh liked bunnies. Anyway, Lamb is a great book, on many levels. It's funny, interesting, powerful and tender. It never disrespects its source material, has a lot of good research behind it and just tries to answer a few questions that might nag anybody who looks on the life of Christ with their brain engaged. Questions like "What was Jesus like as a young man?" and "What if Jesus knew kung fu?"

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Recommend Some Fantasy

Recommend Some Fantasy — Blue Ink Alchemy

So with Citizen in the Wilds now in the revision process, I thought it might behoove me to take a look at some other fantasy literature, maybe examine what works and what doesn't. Since most of what I'm doing involves the defiance of most fantasy conventions, I'm curious if anything I'm aiming at hasn't already been hit on the mark by another, more prominent writer. For example, floating cities aren't anything new. Look no further than Dalaran in World of Warcraft. However, I don't know how often the 'ruling power' in a given land has been one ruled by mages and defined by the use of magic - 'magocracy' is the term I've used previously. Everybody has elves in their stories, and most of the time they're dying out, but I'm curious as to how often they're shown as very upset at this state of affairs, rather than quietly accepting their fate and loading up on ships to sail into the West. That said, I own most of Tolkein's works, a full set of Narnia, and somewhere in this mess are my copies of A Wrinkle In Time, a collection of Conan stories and even Eragon. I've taken Tigana out of the library before and would do so again, mostly because I didn't finish it before returning it. What else would you recommend me to read, oh wise Internets?

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Blue Ink Alchemy

And So It Begins

And So It Begins — Blue Ink Alchemy

I spent a little extra time at the office last night printing out Citizen in the Wilds. Technically it's now in its second draft, as I rewrote the first three paragraphs before printing. I think the opening is a bit stronger, now. The plan is to do a little revising and editing on the first chapter or two today, and transcribe those change into a Google document tomorrow. If you want an invite, let me know. The more the merrier. In addition I'm looking to enter Blizzard's fiction contest. They want a short work of fiction between 2.5k and 7.5k words in length. I'm shooting for the middle, around 4500. It has to be set in the universes of Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo. In the interest of staying original, and veering away from self-insertion by channeling one of my Warcraft characters (which might actually be against the rules of the contest, to boot) I'll be writing a story set in Starcraft's worlds. Tentative title is The Haunting of Pridewater. Should make for an interesting sci-fi "war is hell" yarn. So that'll be my day, Internets. How's yours shaping up? How are folks doing at Origins? Anybody else excited for the US/Ghana match his afternoon?

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Departed

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Departed — Blue Ink Alchemy

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/departed.mp3] Among other things, The Departed hammers home the lesson of not judging a book by its cover. For a long time, I considered Leonardo DiCaprio an actor that got by on looks rather than talent. Mostly this was due to how unimpressed I was by the acting in general in Titanic. That happened in a period in his career that saw him in the midst of what the media called 'Leo-mania'. There's a reason his Wikipedia page doesn't even mention The Beach except in passing. However, Leo hooked up with some guy named Martin and they started making movies together. I mention this because The Departed is the first film in which I found myself liking Leo as an actor and got the impression that he was just as disenchanted with 'Leo-mania' as I was. Against the stone of Scorsese, DiCapro sharpened himself and has definitely gotten back his edge. The Departed, set in Boston, follows Leo as Billy Costigan, a very smart young man enrolled in the Police Academy with ties to organized crime, and Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan, a guy from South Boston groomed from a young age by Irish mobster Frank Costello to become a mole within the State Police. Billy is selected to go deep undercover, does time in jail and ends up joining Costello's crew. What emerges from this setup is a tense game of cat-and-mouse, or perhaps 'rat-against-rat', as each of these men move into and out of each other's lives in their disparate goals: Sullivan to further his career by any means necessary, and Costigan to bring Costello to justice. Look no further than The Departed to see a director using everything at his disposal in a judicious and brilliant way to bring a story to life. Martin Scorsese is one of the most successful and influential of the 'movie brats', a label he shares with Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg. He shares with his cinematic brethren a unique style and a penchant for focusing on what was once considered a 'low' form of cinema - crime drama. While his resume includes interesting but no less powerful departures from this, such as Cape Fear and The Aviator, but when most people think Scorsese, they think Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Casino and Gangs of New York. The Departed is classic Scorsese, steeped in his style and themes, even if it takes place in Boston instead of his usual New York.
"Feels like something's missing. Like the Empire State Building. Or a decent pizza joint." The city of Boston is almost a character in and of itself in this movie. The neighborhoods, ancestry and even accents come into play now and again. It's been tempting to do this review in a Bostonian accent, but I'd probably butcher it pretty horribly and I don't wanna antagonize Red Sox fans. Anyway, Scorsese captures the essence of a town that's unashamed of its heritage, proud of its people both good and bad, fully invested in being the best it can be and imbuing her people with that same energy, that same impetus. It's this energy that permeates The Departed and brings out the best in its cast. I mentioned Leo in the intro because, as I said, he's very likable in this movie. Many of his actions as one of Frank's guys are not very nice, but this is a man driven to do what he feels is necessary to get his job done. His dedication is admirable and the stress it places on him is telling. He's exceedingly, painfully human. So to is Matt Damon, and while his stiffness might be partially due to his acting in general, it could also be attributed to his character's discomfort around people in true authority and fear of being found out. One of the best decisions Scorsese made, however, was in letting Jack Nicholson off of his leash. As Frank Costello, Jack needs to portray a smart, charismatic and completely unpredictable man used to both the trappings and abuse of power. Scorsese let Nicholson improvise a lot of his scenes, to the point where even Leo didn't know what to expect of him. However, if you were to look up "scene-stealing" in the dictionary, don't be surprised if you see the face of Mark Wahlberg. Never has the phrase "jerk with a heart of gold" so accurately described a character as it does his Staff Sergeant Dignam. Verbally abusive, quick to anger and uninterested in making friends, Dignam is still every bit as dedicated to justice as Costigan and, if you follow his arc all the way through to the end of the film, shows his true colors as a man who forges deep bonds with those he works with in undercover policing. He looks up to Martin Sheen's Captain Queenan and sees Costigan as something of a protege, a fellow warrior in the trenches. He's not afraid to pull punches with Billy but he'll have the man's back one hundred and ten percent when anybody else even mentions coming close to him. Couple this complexity with authentic Bostonian bluster and charm as well as Wahlberg's own surprising screen presence and you have what Tropers would call an "Ensemble Darkhorse," a somewhat minor character who will run away with your total allegiance if you're not careful. All of these characters are woven into an excellently paced story. The Departed is a remake on a Hong Kong crime thriller called Internal Affairs, but as I mentioned, this film of Scorsese's becomes so steeped in Boston that it's likely a different animal entirely. I haven't seen Internal Affairs myself, but comparing the two would probably be an interesting exercise, and I'd have to watch this film again, gee darn. If there was any doubt in your mind that this is a superlative film, look at the accolades it's won. If nothing else, it finally won Scorsese an Academy Award as a director, along with itself winning for Best Picture of 2006, and earning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and writer William Monahan Oscars as well. Scorsese is quoted as saying that this film won after being nominated so many times, not because he deserved it after a lifetime of cinematic achievement, but because The Departed was "the first movie I've done with a plot."
Yes, that's Alec Baldwin in there. Did I mention this cast is excellent? In summary, The Departed is one of those rare films that delivers on every level possible. It may seem like a by-the-numbers crime drama at first to some, but with the richness of its characters, the invasive nature of the setting, the canny directing and taut writing, it quickly shows itself to stand on its own. There's a weight of realism to this story, no particular performance tears us away from being immersed in it and Scorsese's directing never breaks pace to keep us a part of it. If I were asked on the street to briefly deliver a recommendation for The Departed, I'd have to paraphrase Movie Bob once again: "You hafta ask?? It's Scorsese! Getcher ass on Netflix and get this movie!" Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Departed

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! The Departed — Blue Ink Alchemy

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/departed.mp3] Among other things, The Departed hammers home the lesson of not judging a book by its cover. For a long time, I considered Leonardo DiCaprio an actor that got by on looks rather than talent. Mostly this was due to how unimpressed I was by the acting in general in Titanic. That happened in a period in his career that saw him in the midst of what the media called 'Leo-mania'. There's a reason his Wikipedia page doesn't even mention The Beach except in passing. However, Leo hooked up with some guy named Martin and they started making movies together. I mention this because The Departed is the first film in which I found myself liking Leo as an actor and got the impression that he was just as disenchanted with 'Leo-mania' as I was. Against the stone of Scorsese, DiCapro sharpened himself and has definitely gotten back his edge. The Departed, set in Boston, follows Leo as Billy Costigan, a very smart young man enrolled in the Police Academy with ties to organized crime, and Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan, a guy from South Boston groomed from a young age by Irish mobster Frank Costello to become a mole within the State Police. Billy is selected to go deep undercover, does time in jail and ends up joining Costello's crew. What emerges from this setup is a tense game of cat-and-mouse, or perhaps 'rat-against-rat', as each of these men move into and out of each other's lives in their disparate goals: Sullivan to further his career by any means necessary, and Costigan to bring Costello to justice. Look no further than The Departed to see a director using everything at his disposal in a judicious and brilliant way to bring a story to life. Martin Scorsese is one of the most successful and influential of the 'movie brats', a label he shares with Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg. He shares with his cinematic brethren a unique style and a penchant for focusing on what was once considered a 'low' form of cinema - crime drama. While his resume includes interesting but no less powerful departures from this, such as Cape Fear and The Aviator, but when most people think Scorsese, they think Taxi Driver, GoodFellas, Casino and Gangs of New York. The Departed is classic Scorsese, steeped in his style and themes, even if it takes place in Boston instead of his usual New York.
"Feels like something's missing. Like the Empire State Building. Or a decent pizza joint." The city of Boston is almost a character in and of itself in this movie. The neighborhoods, ancestry and even accents come into play now and again. It's been tempting to do this review in a Bostonian accent, but I'd probably butcher it pretty horribly and I don't wanna antagonize Red Sox fans. Anyway, Scorsese captures the essence of a town that's unashamed of its heritage, proud of its people both good and bad, fully invested in being the best it can be and imbuing her people with that same energy, that same impetus. It's this energy that permeates The Departed and brings out the best in its cast. I mentioned Leo in the intro because, as I said, he's very likable in this movie. Many of his actions as one of Frank's guys are not very nice, but this is a man driven to do what he feels is necessary to get his job done. His dedication is admirable and the stress it places on him is telling. He's exceedingly, painfully human. So to is Matt Damon, and while his stiffness might be partially due to his acting in general, it could also be attributed to his character's discomfort around people in true authority and fear of being found out. One of the best decisions Scorsese made, however, was in letting Jack Nicholson off of his leash. As Frank Costello, Jack needs to portray a smart, charismatic and completely unpredictable man used to both the trappings and abuse of power. Scorsese let Nicholson improvise a lot of his scenes, to the point where even Leo didn't know what to expect of him. However, if you were to look up "scene-stealing" in the dictionary, don't be surprised if you see the face of Mark Wahlberg. Never has the phrase "jerk with a heart of gold" so accurately described a character as it does his Staff Sergeant Dignam. Verbally abusive, quick to anger and uninterested in making friends, Dignam is still every bit as dedicated to justice as Costigan and, if you follow his arc all the way through to the end of the film, shows his true colors as a man who forges deep bonds with those he works with in undercover policing. He looks up to Martin Sheen's Captain Queenan and sees Costigan as something of a protege, a fellow warrior in the trenches. He's not afraid to pull punches with Billy but he'll have the man's back one hundred and ten percent when anybody else even mentions coming close to him. Couple this complexity with authentic Bostonian bluster and charm as well as Wahlberg's own surprising screen presence and you have what Tropers would call an "Ensemble Darkhorse," a somewhat minor character who will run away with your total allegiance if you're not careful. All of these characters are woven into an excellently paced story. The Departed is a remake on a Hong Kong crime thriller called Internal Affairs, but as I mentioned, this film of Scorsese's becomes so steeped in Boston that it's likely a different animal entirely. I haven't seen Internal Affairs myself, but comparing the two would probably be an interesting exercise, and I'd have to watch this film again, gee darn. If there was any doubt in your mind that this is a superlative film, look at the accolades it's won. If nothing else, it finally won Scorsese an Academy Award as a director, along with itself winning for Best Picture of 2006, and earning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and writer William Monahan Oscars as well. Scorsese is quoted as saying that this film won after being nominated so many times, not because he deserved it after a lifetime of cinematic achievement, but because The Departed was "the first movie I've done with a plot."
Yes, that's Alec Baldwin in there. Did I mention this cast is excellent?The Departed is one of those rare films that delivers on every level possible. It may seem like a by-the-numbers crime drama at first to some, but with the richness of its characters, the invasive nature of the setting, the canny directing and taut writing, it quickly shows itself to stand on its own. There's a weight of realism to this story, no particular performance tears us away from being immersed in it and Scorsese's directing never breaks pace to keep us a part of it. If I were asked on the street to briefly deliver a recommendation for The Departed, I'd have to paraphrase Movie Bob once again: "You hafta ask?? It's Scorsese! Getcher ass on Netflix and get this movie!" Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Making Time To Write

Making Time To Write — Blue Ink Alchemy

I am in the unfortunate position of not getting paid to do what I love. I know, that doesn't make me special. A lot of people are passionate about things that are very different from what they do. I doubt that most people that work for, say, Bridgestone or Michelin are passionate about making tires. Your average folks get up in the morning, put on some clothing that allow them to conform to the expectations of peers and coworkers, and commence a commute to some sort of job during the day that pays the bills, keeping the family feed and the lights on. I'm glad to have people in my life who've broken this mold. They do what drives them, what fuels their imaginations and haunts their dreams. I know that sometimes the money that comes in from this lifestyle can be a bit more sporadic than the steady day job paycheck, and that bill collectors sometimes need to be dodged or placated. It might seem glamorous at first, but going for long periods of time with little to no income is no picnic. I've been there. I was unemployed for quite a long time not too long ago. And even now, with this steady job I hold, things easily become strained. The combination of my pay rate with the necessity of supporting what I support takes a toll. But before I degenerate into self-indulgent whining, let me get to my point. I need to make time to write. You might, as well, and here's why it's so important to do. Nobody else can write what you're going write. The original idea, the seed from which your work is going to grow, is all yours. You might look to write it yourself, it might become a collaborative work or you may feel the need to hire a ghost writer. But however you plan to do it, there's a big yawning gap between shaping the core of your idea and coming up with a finished product that's capable of being sold. One of the biggest components of that gap is time, and to get across it you need to take time away from other things. I say, when you get right down to it, sometimes you have to shut the world away. Disconnect the phone. Unplug the television. Turn off the Internet. Yes, believe it or not, you can turn off the Internet! Tweets, blogs, memes and streams will still be there when you're done. Set goals for yourself, be it to write a few hundred words or a few thousand. Then, stick to those goals. Sometimes I have trouble with this, myself, so I'll be struggling right along with you. If you have any other tips on how to make the most of the time you try to set aside to write, please let me know. Because as much as guys like to project a "lone wolf" image, I know that until I reach that point where I can roll out of bed, amble over to the home office and flip on the espresso machine, I'm going to need all the help I can get.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Be Awesome Now - Not Later, Now

Be Awesome Now - Not Later, Now — Blue Ink Alchemy

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is all about being awesome. The mix of rocking music, video game mentality and an unbridled love for both those cultures gives the graphic series and the upcoming film a lot of appeal. Since it's visual media in both cases, the writing isn't just concerned with being awesome, it's got to be awesome in as few words as possible. "Brevity is the soul of wit." "Pity the reader." "Don't waste my time." Especially when it comes to things like comics and movies, the more story you can tell in fewer words, the more awesome the story will be overall. This applies to novels, as well, though. You need to grab a hold of your reader and tell them they're in for an awesome time. Chuck goes into detail about this, and it's been driven home for me as I've examined the opening of Citizen in the Wilds in preparation for what I hope will be a rapid but thorough revision. There's things about it I can already think of that need to be changed, and moments that I will try to preserve. But all of that's for naught if I can't hook the reader right away. The problem with my opening paragraph is that it's too wordy. Like the aforementioned visual media, in the case this opening, the writing needs to be succinct and punchy. I got some feedback on the first sentence in the aforementioned Terrible Minds post, and I'm taking it to heart as I re-examine that opening paragraph. A novel is a long form of fiction. There's lots of room in there for character development, world building, and the building of tension and complication ramping up to the climax. You're not limited by word count. However, if you don't hook your reader in the first 100 words, the rest of the 100,000 might as well be "watermelon" over and over again. It doesn't matter if the later chapters in a book are awesome. When a reader picks up the book and opens up to Chapter 1, it needs to be awesome now. If nothing else, watching LOST from the beginning has been a help. Good openings, good character development, etc. My wife is watching them for the first time. I'm studying them for clues on how to make my opening hook one that grabs a reader by the soft tissue of the cheek and doesn't let go for the twenty chapters that follow. If I can do that, the rest of this revision will be a snap. And it will be awesome.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Game Review: Maschine Zeit

Game Review: Maschine Zeit — Blue Ink Alchemy

Welcome to post #300. THIS! IS! ALCHEMY! *boots Edward Cullen into a bottomless pit* I've written previously about a little game called Maschine Zeit. It's about time I did up an official review of it, in the spirit of promoting it, and if I were to sum it up it one word, it'd be "atmospheric." In any form of horror-based narrative, any situation where we're to be put on edge if not scared out of our minds, there needs to be the element of the unknown. We fear what we don't understand, and we can't understand what we don't know, or can't predict. Basically, effective horror uses the unexpected and springs it on us, whether it creeps across the floor inexorably with stringy hair across its eyes or latches onto us for a mouthful of brain as we round a corner. If we see it coming, it's not scary. Maschine Zeit gets that. Boy, does this game ever get that. The year is 2110. The Machine Age has begun. Humanity is, for all intents and purposes, on its way out. A series of events have put the bulk of the population back on their heels, trying to get their bearings. A population control method, moving people to giant space platforms tethered to the Earth, has not worked as planned. Among the other disasters, gamma radiation bathed the stations and killed most of the people there. This ray burst had two other side effects now coming to the attention of the curious, the adventurous and the insane on the planet below. One, the radiation has changed some of the metal on the stations and given it almost supernatural properties. And two, rumors abound that the radiation has caused the stations to be haunted with strange bio-mechanical beings that were once human. This is the story of Maschine Zeit, the game of ghost stories on space stations. A lot of tabletop games have one person laying down the tracks of the plot, while the players decide how quickly and with what sort of engine they'll proceed down those tracks. It's an effective method for telling collaborative stories, be that one person called a Dungeon Master or a Storyteller or what have you. In Maschine Zeit, the Director might have some plot ideas, but they are not in control of the story. More accurately, they have just as much control over the story as you would as a player. Its system supports ensemble work, a true collaboration of creative minds. No one character is more important than another, and the Director does not impose their ideas on the group. The way the game is designed, every character has a goal, and achieving that goal leads to a moment in the spotlight. Instead of the timing and circumstances of those moments being entirely up to the Director, the players take steps along the way in their journey through still, decaying sci-fi environments inspired by Pandorum or Dead Space. Not everything will go as planned, of course, but when thing are at their darkest and most terrifying, there's a chance, built into the game's narrative structure itself, that a player in that situation will seize control of it by saving a fellow player or destroying the monster-thing with an ingenious trap or uncovering some forbidden truth or getting that bit of magical metal to do exactly what they need it to do. Arriving at those moments, taking the reigns of the narrative and watching the dice fall into place as fate agrees to allow that moment happen, is the very essence of Maschine Zeit. It's not a game for everyone. It requires thinking on the spot and its subject matter and atmosphere are not for the faint of heart. But if you find yourself interested in this vision of our future, drawn to the mystery of the stations or just curious about how exactly the aforementioned moments work, check out Maschine Zeit. It's available today (6/22) on DriveThruStuff.com, bundled with an introductory adventure for a bargain price. You can do a hell of a lot worse if you want an experience that blends horror, science fiction, and tabletop gaming in a way that you will not soon forget.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

My Vampires Are, In Fact, Different

My Vampires Are, In Fact, Different — Blue Ink Alchemy

A lot of my anxiety from pushing forward with a series of Lighthouse stories comes from the fact that there's paranormal stuff out the wazoo out there. I mean, there's a part of me that's interested in getting a slice of that action, because apparently people suck it right up (insert vampire joke here), but I also know that a lot of the ground has been pretty trod. It's a part of the speculative fiction market littered with Robert Pattinson posters from J-14 or whatever magazine caters to his fangirls this week, and love notes to Anna Paquin from her fangirls. Then I remember something I thought was said by Marc Schuster, but consulting my notes I see it was spoken by Larry Kane, legendary Philadelphia newscaster and himself an aspiring novelist: "Don't believe that just because something has been written about that you can't write about it." ("They didn't necessarily do a good job," he added a few sentences later.) So yeah, plenty of stories out there involving vampires and werewolves and wizards and angels and demons and stuff. Some of them even involve paranormal investigators, like the B.P.R.D. or Fringe division. Okay, Fringe division is more about pseudo-science so close to the supernatural it might as well be the supernatural, but I'm going full supernatural instead of the Fringe route. I can't compete with Walter.
Seriously. Nothing I do will be this cool. But I'm trying to go at it from a new angle. I have some history and mechanics laid down. So I need to work on setting and characters, find ways to distinguish why they're different and why readers should care. I need to engineer the ways in which readers will be captivated by these folks, be they humans or otherwise, and might even fall in love. This will involve collecting my disparate attempts at putting this together and, well, putting it together. I'm still in the brainstorming stages. Please forgive my ramblings.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Whatever Happened To Lighthouse?

Whatever Happened To Lighthouse? — Blue Ink Alchemy

With the first draft of Citizen in the Wilds done, and gearing up to revise and post the first chapter in what is sure to be a twenty-part series of me getting my ass handed to me, I find myself thinking I've no reason to sit idle. I'll probably start putting ideas on the cork-board for Alchemist at Sea, Citizen's sequel, but I'd also like to drum up interest in my work. Marc Schuster had a great suggestion. Since this blog is about writing, and places for people to write, I should be willing to look at periodicals that post fiction, and post about them in turn. It allows those of you who take the time to read these drips and drabs to find places to possibly feature your fiction, and it gives those periodicals free publicity. Win/win, right? In contemplating these journal reviews, I found myself wondering what I'd shop around. I don't want to just get something I've already written re-printed. Akuma seems to have been something of a success in David Rupp's Blood from the Underground, and Polymancer Studios is holding onto the rights for Captain Pendragon. But whatever happened to Lighthouse? I've kicked around the idea of Morgan Everson, human stopgap between the world of the supernatural and the mortal population at large, being featured in short stories instead of a novel. I can drop all of the expository stuff about her and her dad, make the reveal of who and what characters are more gradual, and basically handle things more episodically. Constantine does it in comic books, The Dresden Files in novels (though Harry's a magician and Morgan's pretty much a Badass Normal) and, to an extent, True Blood in television. It's something I still have an interest in doing, and I want to keep writing even as Citizen in the Wilds gets itself vivisected. I really can't start on a sequel until the first novel's really finished, anyway. And who's going to publish a raw first draft or a bunch of incoherent bloody bits? I'm not going to sit on my hands and wait for the criticisms to filter in, either. The only way to write is to write, after all. Also, I've gotten my hands on the first two chapters of Witchslinger and, so far, Joe's proving to be what I said he'd be. More to come on that, as well.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Grandma's Boy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Grandma's Boy — Blue Ink Alchemy

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/grandmas.mp3] Here's some free advice for anyone looking to become a critic: be prepared to experience things you don't like. If you just write up reviews of things you like, you're a reviewer, not a critic. I know I've fallen into this trap, and I've touched on it before, in this very series, so I've been looking for an opportunity to encounter a film with which I'm unfamiliar but probably wouldn't be terribly interested in watching otherwise. When my co-worker insisted that we watch Grandma's Boy at our monthly Movie Night, and the film began as it meant to go on with stoner humor and jabs at gamer culture, I could feel myself smiling. Not at the humor, because there isn't much of that despite this being a comedy, no - I was smiling because I was watching an atrocious movie and I couldn't wait to tear it apart. Grandma's Boy, released in 2006, has absolutely nothing to do with the pioneering feature-length comedy of the same name released back in 1922. The older film was about a cowardly man who needed help from his grandmother to overcome his fears and win over the affections of a girl. The 2006 film follows Alex, a single 35-year-old video games tester, as he is thrown out of his apartment because his roommate blew all of the rent money on Filipino hookers. He eventually moves in with his grandmother (thus making him a grandma's boy, get it? Get it?), charms the female middle manager brought in to help get the video game in production ready for release, and participates in antics related to getting stoned, making fun of the company's resident genius programmer and getting his grandma and her girlfriends into Antiques Roadshow. If this sounds disjointed in the narrative broad strokes, wait until you see the end result. Let's get the praise out of the way so I can go into detail about what doesn't work in this deplorable movie. The two people whose efforts make this movie watchable are Doris Roberts, as Alex's grandma Lilly, and Linda Cardellini as Samantha, the middle management troubleshooter. Doris is a delight, one of the few members of the cast with real comedic experience, and her bits show a woman who loves her grandson and has learned to take everything in stride. Linda's Samantha isn't terribly well developed, but she's charming and also rolls well with the punches, on top of being the kind of middle manager anybody in a day job situation would be lucky to have. She's the kind of manager who knows well the sort of people she has working under her, and also is capable of interfacing with the superiors in the company on their level. She comes off as a true go-between interested in overall success, rather than being out for herself. I'd almost call her a positive female role-model, but given the sort of movie she's in, I guess I shouldn't be surprised when she gets just as high, drunk and wild as everybody else the audience is supposed to care about.
Having your manager look like this doesn't exactly hurt, either. On the other side of things, we have Allan Covert as our "hero". It's not that his character, Alex, is unlikable. His jabs tend to be mostly delivered in a good-natured way, since people do need to get along with him otherwise the audience won't buy him as a protagonist. No, what bugs me about Alex is that his motivations are more clouded than the room in his dealer's basement. When I think of good comedies, I think of people who are in a situation where they want to do something better or make something of themselves. Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles is dedicated to succeeding when the white men in power would have him fail. Marty McFly in Back to the Future wants to fix his past to make a better future, since he's kinda stuck there anyway. Jason Nesmith in Galaxy Quest is looking for something meaningful, a fresh start after riding his washed-up sci-fi television career just about as far as he can. Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam wants to support his fellow troops with the truth and great music, not the stuff his superiors consider "safe". In all of these situations, we have protagonists who are somewhat down on their luck, looking upwards and struggling to become more than they are. This doesn't have to fit every comedy for it to be successful, but at least Ferris Bueller and Jeff Lebowski have clear motivations. Ferris is having a great day off while helping his friends, and Jeff wants his rug back. It really tied the room together. Alex in Grandma's Boy feels like someone tried to cross Ferris Bueller with Jeff Lebowski but the experiment went horribly, horribly wrong. Ferris was a kid who had everything together, a sense of ambition and poise, and used his smarts and charm to show his friends a fantastic time. Lebowski's a stoner, an unmotivated deadbeat, but this plays into the events that occur in his story and remains consistent throughout. Alex waffles back and forth between being an ambitious smart guy and a pothead slacker with little to no warning. He's trying to be a video game programmer instead of just a tester one minute, and saying "fuck it" and getting baked the next. If the writers wanted to do something with these shifts in tone and make Alex out to be some kind of manic depressive who needed to get a hold of the aimless direction his life had taken, that probably would have worked. Instead we have things working out for him mostly due to contrivance. Real quality storytelling there, Allen.
"Yeah, these assholes actually gave me money to make a movie! Can you believe it?" Now, not all comedies should have meaning or messages or even necessarily need good characters. But if you're just going to be a movie about stoners or gamers or race relations or family matters, then in my opinion you should pick one and run with it. The Gamers got this, and was very funny to me as a result. This flick starts with some gamer humor and then meanders into stoner territory before it begins a rather annoying habit wandering back and forth. Waffling between spheres of humor like this just makes the whole thing shamble along like a Frankensteinian construction of Half-Baked and Hackers. Or, more to the point, it feels like Half-Baked bent Hackers over a railing and went to work on its nether regions with a variety of blunt and phallic objects. The most glaring thing for me when it comes to Grandma's Boy's shortcomings, however, is its sense of time. For one thing, the sense of comedic timing necessary to good humor seems absent for most of the jokes. They either go on for too long or are delivered so poorly that you're lucky to elicit a bit of a chuckle. And speaking of going on too long, moreso than the comedic timing problem, this movie might only be 96 minutes but the way it is shot, written and acted, it feels quite a bit longer. Good comedy knows not to overstay its welcome. Grandma's Boy is the sort of comedy that crashes on your couch for six months, doesn't pay you any rent or grocery money, and leaves the whole place smelling like pot.
At least Doris never failed to class up the joint. There are so many better comedies out there than Grandma's Boy. Any of the movies I've mentioned previously are much better investments of your time than this turd. The jerk programmer's neuroses are never fully explored or explained, existing instead so we can laugh at his weirdness and inability to interact with real people - though, in fairness, if I had his office setup I'd be tempted not to deal with my co-workers either. There's stuff that makes absolutely no sense, like Dante's obsession with exotic animals protecting his stash or what I like to call the Giant Space Party From Nowhere. And just when you think you couldn't be any more repulsed by the movie's failing attempts at humor that go on for way too long and ultimately aren't all hat funny, up pops David Spade to remind you he's still trying to be as funny as he was in Tommy Boy. Which he isn't. You might get a couple of laughs out of Grandma's Boy but ultimately it's the kind of sloppy, flaccid and almost mean-spirited comedy that Hollywood seems to think is what the slack-jawed popcorn-gobbling public wants to see. If nothing else, we see how humor in the style of Adam Sandler's movies turns out when Adam Sandler isn't directly involved. As much as some of his comedy falls flat from time to time, when we watch some of Sandler's roles we feel like he's got two things necessary to be a viable human being and a good humorist: a brain, and a heart. Grandma's Boy has neither. Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Epilogues

Epilogues — Blue Ink Alchemy

You remember Return of the King, don't you? How Frodo and Sam are laying there on Mount Doom when (SPOILER ALERT) the eagles, Tolkien's favorite deus ex machina, sweep down from the sky and carry them away to safety, and after Frodo wakes up to have Merry and Pippin jump into bed with him, the screen fades to black only to fade in again? Remember how that happened a couple of times, leaving you feeling like the movie had three or four endings? Those are epilogues. They're portions of the story at the end that, to some, may seem vestigial. Could the aforementioned film have ended without these additional bits of story? Probably. Would it have been improved? Absolutely not. Lord of the Rings, in prose or motion, is focused on its characters, and these epilogues expand even further on those characters, showing what becomes of some of them in the aftermath of this epic confrontation. While a good ending doesn't always include an epilogue, an epilogue should always be part of a good ending. Chuck gives great advice on endings which I won't repeat since he said it first & better, but a good epilogue that's part of a good ending should fit a lot of his criteria: it should be unexpected, satisfying, and leave the audience hungry for more. Basically when you hit the last line of the last numbered chapter, the feeling the reader should have is to want to keep turning pages, to see what happens next, how people respond to that line of dialog, etc. Turning the page to find it full of more delicious words instead of just mocking you by being blank is a great feeling for a reader, even if the epilogue begins with a little exposition of what happened after. An epilogue is, by and large, a wrap-up. It's an opportunity for the author to tie up a loose end or two, get the characters where they need to go after the action concludes, and capitalizes on the reader wanting more. "If there were more," one might say, "it'd go in this direction." You don't want to leave too many things dangling. That's sloppy and unprofessional work. You don't want to drag it out or leave too many things unresolved. If the reader is asking a couple of questions when they do reach that blank page after the words are done, that's good. The reader asking so many questions it frustrates the hell out of them isn't. That's my goal tonight and into tomorrow, as I pen the epilogue for Citizen in the Wilds. The plot's pretty much wrapped up, the world has been established and one of its continents explored. Now, without too much faffing about, I need to resolve the situation facing our heroes and show the conclusion of Asherian's arc. It will end where it began, but the young man's very different now than he was almost 100,000 words ago. He's going to keep growing, as I keep writing, and I hope his growth will be as interesting to read as it is to chronicle.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Make Ready Your Red Pens

Make Ready Your Red Pens — Blue Ink Alchemy

Citizen in the Wilds is swiftly reaching its conclusion. The word count you see to your right doesn't reflect the several hand-written pages I've yet to transcribe. I have one crucial scene to finish, an epilogue to craft and another scene to pen in order to sew this puppy up. But the bottom line is, I want to get a jump-start on the next step. That step is giving the manuscript a blindfold and a cigarette, standing it in front of a pock-marked brick wall, and handing you each a rifle. Yes, you. I need some assistance here, folks, as I don't trust myself entirely to catch my horrid but insidious misspellings, repair any split infinitives and hunt down my darlings. I want to make sure my narrative makes sense, my characters have depth, my themes carry meaning and the whole thing is about something. Sure, I care about this thing, but I don't feel it's right to expect anybody else to care unless they get a chance to look it over. Make sense? Now, this could just be my paper-thin veneer of confidence slipping to show just how insecure I am, especially when it comes to my writing. So be it. I try to be honest, and I'd be lying if I said I have a masterpiece on my hands. I think some things work smoothly and others may be a bit clunky. In the process of getting chapters ready for posting, I'll definitely revise a bit myself, checking word choice and possibly making some cuts. But I still might miss something. The possibility is there that something I think as fine or just ignore entirely could be a deal-breaker for an agent. And that frightens me. So I'd like to get other eyes and fingers on the thing. I've been debating the best way to do it without printing out multiple copies and killing the planet. Google Wave is still being super beta and occasionally vomiting horribly. Google Docs is more stable, but not everybody will want to go about it that way. And they might be uncomfortable with other people seeing their comments. Scrivener? Sorry, don't own a Mac. Rob Oaks is working on a Linux-based software solution quite similar to it, called LyX-Outline, and I plan on trying that out. Seeing if I can get people to collaborate that way. Let some folks have at the manuscript, kick the tires, jam the gearshift, see if the damn thing runs. Anybody out there want to get in on this? Get a sneak peek at the novel before it hits the streets, maybe play a role in bringing it to life? Also, any suggestions for collaborative revision, from other software I haven't found to reasons why it's a bad idea, are more than welcome.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

I Wanna Do Laser

I Wanna Do Laser — Blue Ink Alchemy

Courtesy Terribleminds, make with the clicky-clicky I was going to put this off until tomorrow. I was thinking of putting up my entry to Chuck's contest as late as possible. But I can't. I'm way too inspired, way too charged, to hold onto this that long. He set the word limit at 1000, so I guess my hope is to deliver twice the story in half the verbiage. That is to say: this is 500 words, and it's all about doing laser. And rocking your face. Enjoy.

The most amazing thing I've ever seen on stage is the Wendigos. These guys that write songs based on odd search engine terms, and not every song they do catches the imagination of an audience. Most of the people in the stadium that night were there for the headlining band, anyway. But as they launched into their last song, 'I Wanna Do Laser,' something started happening. It was like night and day. Just a minute before people were wondering what the hell 'Oatmeal Boat Canvas' was all about. But the pulsing groove of that final song, the utter unfettered desire to live life, zap through obstacles, fucking DO something, was infectious. It rolled through the crowd like a plague of awesomeness, a sick fetid cloud of the unbelievably cool. Chuck, the frontman, is rocking the mike. Thirty thousand people are getting into the groove of the song. After the first couple verses, the last two lines are grabbed by the audience who begin shouting it along with Chuck's singing. In the middle of the song's bridge, Chuck runs towards the back of the stage, towards the drum kit. His drummer, Larry, looks like he's facing down a charging rhino. Chuck very nearly kicks Larry in the head as his foot heads for the bass drum pedal. He starts pounding out the beat of the song, which is how the bridge in the studio recording goes into the last verse, but Chuck has a different energy. His eyes are wild. Sweat is flying off his beard. He brings the mike up and shouts. "My beard come so fat!" He raises his fists in the air. The response from the audience is immediate, loud and boisterous. I WANNA DO LASER! "My beard come so fat!" I WANNA DO LASER! "My beard come so fat!" I WANNA DO LASER! Over and over again. The rest of the band stops playing. It's just Chuck, pounding his foot down on that pedal and giving the prompts, communing with thirty thousand brand-new Wendigos fans. Larry and the others walk off stage. Finally, after a good two minutes of this orgy of joie de vivre, Chuck steps off of the pedal, and says it one more time. "MY BEARD COME SO FAAAAAAAAT!" I WANNAAAAAAAA DOOOOOOOO LAAAAAAAAAAASER! The arena explodes. People are screaming. Chuck walks out to the front of the stage, looking around. "Where'd everybody go?" Chuck looks off-stage. "You buncha pussies! Don't YOU wanna do laser?" He turns back to the audience, who are laughing, applauding, crying for an encore. "What about YOU? YOU STILL OUT THERE??" The voice of the crowd is like a wave. It washes over the stage and Chuck just stands there basking in it. He turns and looks to the band the Wendigos opened for. He's grinning like a madman, white teeth shining out of the sweat-soaked tangle of his beard. Steven Tyler turns to Joe Perry, looking like he just got kicked in the gut. "Shit. We gotta follow THAT?"

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Marc Schuster on Characters

Marc Schuster on Characters — Blue Ink Alchemy

This is Marc Schuster. He teaches English. He edits for Philadelphia Stories. He's also a writer and knows a thing or two about characters, especially since contemporary short stories (which he lectured about at this past weekend's Writer's Conference) are driven by characters, rather than plot. His full thoughts and lecture notes are available here, but allow me to offer a groundling's perspective.

"To put it bluntly, if we're going to publish your story, we need to fall in love with it."

The thing that links one good story to another, that makes a tale worthy of publication and the attention of others, are characters that stick with the audience. Characters shouldn't just be empty cypher upon whom the author or audience can project themselves (I'm lookin' at you, Bella Swan). They should have texture. They should have 'tells', those little ticks and nuances about them that help a reader identify them instantly, and also makes it possible to beat 'em at poker. On that subject, can you imagine playing poker with a character? Or going out to lunch with them? Meeting them in a park to feed the ducks, or having an argument at a train station about the economy? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, something's being done right with that character. Don't hold this back from your reader, either, if you're writing a character and have pictured any of the previous situations. As much as you might wish to 'pity' the reader, in Vonnegut's words, layering texture into your characters should surprise the reader, prompt them to read more, and help them fall in love with your characters.

"The character can't simply serve as a pawn in the larger game of the narrative."

We all like playing puppet-master as we write. Then again, maybe that's just me. I might be a little unfeeling or even sadistic when I inflict tragedy or pain upon my characters, but in doing so I don't intend to make that pain part of a ride on rails. I want my characters to react to getting hurt, to making a discovery, to being kissed. I might plot things out in a sketch, outline or diagram, but one thing I avoid plotting, if I can, is the reaction a character is going to have to an event. By letting the reaction flow out of the description of the complication, the character grows organically. My hope is that taking this tack helps my character become three-dimensional, an actual person, instead of just a cardboard cutout that looks nice depending on how they're described. This especially comes into play where a character's flaws are concerned. Provided you're concerned with character development, you'll want your characters to have things they need to overcome or desire to change about themselves. Our flaws make us human, and they'll do the same for your characters. Just like you should dare to surprise your audience with a character's texture, dare to write about something you or someone else would be afraid to reveal.

"Remember, the last thing you want any reader to think at any point in your story is, 'Who cares?'"

This was something I carried with me when I entered discussions of Citizen in the Wilds. I didn't want to focus overmuch on the fantasy setting. I felt my primary question, were I on the receiving end of my synopsis, should not be "what makes this fantasy book so cool I have to read it?", but rather "who are these people and why should I care?" I've shied away from descriptions, partially because it's just a first draft and all I want to do is get the plot down on paper, but also because of something Marc pointed out: Writing should advance the plot or develop the characters. Everything else is superfluous. Now, being that Acradea's a new world, more or less, fleshing out some concepts like how human magic works or what some of the creatures look, sound and smell like is going to be inevitable. But more often than not, I want to be either telling people more about the characters or moving them from one situation to the next. I've felt pangs of fear as I've written one conversation or another, afraid that the book might be becoming too 'talky' and not have enough action. But if I need more action, I can put it in. The conversations are important, because they involve the characters. If I lost track of a conversation's through-line I'll drop it. There's a reason the good Lord invented the Delete key. So yeah. This was good stuff. One of the highlights of the conference. Marc is a generous, smart and personable man, and I'm glad he was willing to share these lessons with us.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

On Speculative Fiction

On Speculative Fiction — Blue Ink Alchemy

At this past weekend's Philadelphia Writer's Conference, I described myself as primarily a writer of 'speculative fiction'. A few people asked me what I meant. There are some stereotypes that I think are assigned to areas of speculative fiction I'd like to dispel, and more depth in those stories when they're done well than some might give them credit for. So let's explore this a bit, shall we?

What Spec Fic Isn't

Speculative fiction is not its setting. Science fiction, for example, is not just about spaceships and ray guns. It's more about themes and methods of exploration regarding those themes than window dressing. The bits of speculative fiction that put it in those genres are the frosting on the cake, the chocolate around a Twix. There needs to be something under that frosting, inside that Twix, or it'll be insubstantial. It might be sweet and you might find some people who are willing to eat that frosting neat from the container, but most people will want something with a bit more to it. Joe McGee's Six Guns and Shadows is a good example of this. It's what I'd call a "paranormal Western." It's neither all about witches & warlocks, nor all about saloons and cowboys. It mixes those two and lays them on top of character exploration and theme. Now, it might be able to get by in some circles on the unique aesthetic alone, but without Lily having some depth and themes of self-acceptance and the preservation of tradition - which I assume is what he's working on with the Moonstone - it might as well be a Jonah Hex knock-off or something. But Joe's a smart guy and a cool cat. Witchslinger's going to kick ass.

What Spec Fic Is

In addition to being about something, having an emotional core as Chuck would say, speculative fiction lets a writer tackle issues, debates and controversies in a 'safe' environment. Heinlein wanted to discuss the romanticism of death and the dangerous allure of militarism, so he wrote Starship Troopers. H.G. Wells was concerned by an ever-widening gap between the elite and the working class, and penned The Time Machine. Jules Verne had ideas about exploration and politics that might have been a touch controversial for his time, and poured those notions into Captain Nemo when he created 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. J.R.R. Tolkien was worried that the lessons of the hard-fought wars that encompassed the world might be forgotten, and ensured they'd be preserved by writing The Lord of the Rings. C.S. Lewis re-imagined things he'd come to appreciate within The Chronicles of Narnia. I think I'm belaboring my point a bit, but the "speculative" part of speculative fiction doesn't just mean speculation on how things might be in the future or on another world or against a certain antagonist. They're also places allowing for speculation on human nature, politics, religion, sustainability, you name it. So, want to discuss the neo-conservative movement but afraid of Glenn Beck calling you a Nazi or Rush accusing you of hating freedom? Set the discussion in space. Now, settings do vary but fall into common groups - science fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal, etc. I'm willing to elaborate on those more, but the point I'm getting at is that they all share the desire of an author to try something new and interesting while exploring relevant themes in a 'safe' way. I'll discuss these things more at length in the future.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Flash Fiction: The Hunter

Flash Fiction: The Hunter — Blue Ink Alchemy

It's been a busy weekend, and I have a lot to write about, but it's going to take some time to recover and process. So while I do that, here's a bit of flash fiction that came out of this weekend. It's my first honest attempt at fiction this short. So, as I will say to those willing to join in revising my manuscript when it's finished (any day now), enjoy it but feel free to tear it to shreds. Tell me what works, what doesn't work, and how it could be better.

Hunting's a guy thing. I'm a guy. I know what's expected of guys, but it was hard for me to buy into parts of that expectation. Living in my own skin always been more important to me than loud, obfuscatory machismo. I never learned to swagger, never bothered acting tough. These two are macho men. Have they ever been told that they've broken their father's heart? I wonder this as I watch them approach the buck they've blasted with their shotguns, laughing and high-fiving. They smell of beer, like the stale stink of a dive bar. I'd had a bead on the stag when the buckshot tore it open. It moans, twitching in excruciating pain. The guy in the Confederate flag ballcap racks another round with a guffaw. They don't see my perch, halfway up this old oak. The rifle in my hands felt heavy yesterday. It's an old rifle, composed of wood and iron. It's a veteran of war, a liberator of nations. Now it's surprisingly light. Rage bubbles over in my stomach. I remind myself why I'm here. Even as they grab the mangled horns of the buck to drag it away, exchanging lewd banter that they might consider witty, I tell myself I'm here to hunt deer, not people like this, not these ignorant disrespectful men who are secretly very afraid of what they don't understand, that smash anything that fucks with their machismo. I'm not here for them. I promised my husband I'd bring venison home.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Brokeback Mountain

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Brokeback Mountain — Blue Ink Alchemy

[audio:http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/uploads/brokeback.mp3] Here's a fun fact you might not have known about me. I grew up in house full of women. It was my mother and my two sisters, and when I was a young boy my grandmother moved in with us as well. Being surrounded by women, it's probably no surprised I was exposed to more than my share of romance stories. A good romance is one that puts two individuals in a situation where a real and visceral connection is made, an emotional and physical attraction that's nearly addictive in its intoxication, and then makes thing interestng by putting obstacles between the individuals. On that level, friends, let me say that Brokeback Mountain works. The individuals just happen to be gay shepherds. That's shepherds, not cowboys. The year is 1963. Ennis Del Mar, a downtrodden and stoic ranch hand, finds a job herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain along with former rodeo rider Jack Twist. The two bond on the long nights up on the mountain and eventually fall in love. Their summer is cut short due to their boss seeing them together and they go their separate ways, Ennis marrying his long-time fiancée Alma while Jack tries to break back into rodeo, only to meet his future wife, Lureen. The men start their families but never manage to put their feelings for one another behind them, and meet after four years for a fishing trip that becomes the first of many. As much as Jack wants to build a life for them together, Ennis refuses, afraid of the potentially lethal backlash that could occur and claim both their lives. Over the years, it becomes clear that neither man is anywhere near happy in their daily lives, and the only thing that keeps them going is those trips together up to Brokeback. This is a story that is steeped in atmosphere. From the scenery to the aesthetic of cars and clothes, we not only see the passage of time, but we can feel it. The way in which the years roll by, while glossing over things in places which I'll address later, helps contribute to the film's atmospheric density. This is also helped by good writing of very human characters, which leads me to the acting.
Miss Hathaway is an actress I've yet to dislike in a role. All four lead actors in this film are absolutely stellar. Michelle Williams gives real emotion to her portrayal of the wife fully aware of her husband's true passions, and when we see her come to the full realization of her rejection, Williams shows us the depth of the wound without saying a word. Anne Hathaway, showing just how talented she is when she's not being a princess, is a woman who gradually moves more distant from both her husband and the person she was when they met and fell in love, a very real change that unfortunately comes over more people than it really should. Jake Gyllenhal inhabits Jake with electrifying passion while the late Heath Ledger's quiet intensity and silent angst power through the film. When these two are together, the chemistry is palpable and their awkwardness about the situation feels just as real as their feelings. Enough gushing, as Brokeback Mountain has a few issues and I wouldn't be able to call myself anything approaching a "critic" with a straight face if I didn't point them out. As much as these actors give their all, the movie moves at such a pace that we really don't experience a great deal of depth in them. Oh, they're developed and they don't feel as laughably two-dimensional as some others I could name, but there's a lot more that could have been done with them if this hadn't been a film. In other words, we're not in the shallow end of the pool but we're not swimming in the ocean, either. Brokeback Mountain probably could have surmounted this problem in the form of a novel, or an HBO mini-series. I doubt PBS would have touched the tent scene with a ten-foot pole. Insert pun about poles here, insert pun about inserting things here, we're walking, we're walking. (Sorry, Cleo, I love that joke). While I brought it up facetiously, I would like to point out some of the hypocracy that Brokeback Mountain alludes to in terms of the attitude towards homosexuals. Imagine, if you will, that gender roles were reversed in our world. Homosexuality is the norm, and people only couple with others of the same sex. Now, imagine you fall in love with someone of the opposite sex. The impulses, emotions and conventions that many people in this world take for granted are suddenly taboo, and you are under threat of death every single day because people can't wrap their minds around your "strangeness". That's the sort of world gay men and women live in every hour of every day. Now, some places are better than others, things are improving in terms of accepting these people as, well, people, but for every pride parade or happy common-law couple, there's someone living a lie because Bubba Ray is so eager to please Jaysus he keeps a hangin' rope in his shed next to the special belt he uses to beat his wife. And Bubba Ray's a stockbroker who lives in a suburb and goes to church every single Sunday in a $10,000 suit. But I digress. Brokeback Mountain is a film about passion. The vistas and scenery captured beautifully in this film are powerful, sensual images that are the perfect backdrop for people falling in love. You couldn't ask for a more evocative setting. The score perfectly fits the deep melancholy and quiet tragedy of this situation and the lifes of these people as they slowly but inevitably unravel. Director Ang Lee is able to balance the surrealness of some scenes with very real emotional power in others, driving home the fact that these are all human beings involved in this, and none of them are unholy abominations bent on undermining the sanctity of marriage or utterly destroying the individuality or another person. They make decisions, they try to be happy, they screw up and try to deal with the aftermath of their mistakes. There's a reason this film won three Oscars, in the areas I just mentioned. At the end of the day, Brokeback Mountain isn't telling us anything we haven't heard before. The power and beauty of it, however, is the unashamed way in which it approaches its subject matter and the unflinching way its point is driven home. More than being a rather extreme interpretation of the 'bromance' and a taut, well-acted if somewhat glossed-over tale of star-crossed lovers and rule-abiding rebels, Brokeback Mountain is a cautionary tale. It's one that's been out there for some time, but that doesn't stop it from being a damn good one. The lesson to be learned in this, dear reader, is this: Life is too short to be miserable, and if you are in a situation where you are mired in misery every day, where you are being forced to try and be someone you're not, get out. Get out while you're still alive. Josh Loomis can't always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it's unclear if this week's film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain... IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

The Almighty Bean

The Almighty Bean — Blue Ink Alchemy

(Coming to you from the Philadelphia Writer's Conference...) Maybe it's because I'm American, but I tend to associate coffee with books and literature. I know that it's traditional to discuss literature along with politics or other current events at tea time, but Americans are more drinkers of coffee than tea. I enjoy both, and in fact had a somewhat recent bout with relatively rampant anglophilia that had me drinking nothing [i]but[/i] tea, but when I rediscovered coffee I remembered why that was my morning start-up beverage of choice. I don't know who first had the brilliant idea to stick coffee shop kiosks and seating areas in bookstores, but now when I catch a whiff of good coffee, I want to grab a book and sit down with a drink dominated by the power of espresso. I want to compare notes with successful authors while stirring whipped cream into my drink. Even if reality crashes back into my wishes and reminds me of the seventeen things I need to do in eight hours on top of paying a few bills to keep the garbage guys coming and the Intertubes flowing, it's still a pleasant sensation, especially early in the morning. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds themselves thankful for the delicious aroma of the almighty bean. If you drink coffee, how's your favorite way to do it? Do you prefer paying extra for purchasing some from a coffee house, or have you taken the plunge and started making your own? Is your coffee pre-packaged and freeze-dried, or freshly-ground and classified as 'gourmet'? Let me know. Leave me, and coffee, a bit of love.

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Blue Ink Alchemy