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Author Craft / Re: In all of Sci Fi who is you favorite villian and why?
« on: August 30, 2009, 09:55:21 PM »
Dukat was a pretty good one, very complex, very conflicted. Then screaming yellow bonkers. Loved that series.
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Author Craft / Re: In all of Sci Fi who is you favorite villian and why?
« on: August 30, 2009, 08:54:11 PM »
I'd have trouble picking just one. Deliciously malicious is fun, but complex and doing what he thinks is "right" both have their merits.
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Calendar Event Discussion / Re: Pittsburgh Comicon
« on: August 24, 2009, 04:16:13 PM »
I appreciate and share the enthusiasm of seeing JB in Pittsburgh Sooner rather than Later, but if he's already got a commitment, it's not a matter of choice or convincing. And if he's got the time scheduled as Jim Time, best let him have some of that undisturbed. I'm sure we'd be pretty cheesed off if we were planning on attending an event with him, but someone else talked him into hitting theirs. Best to stick with the "Proper Channels" so as not to pester the Revered Author.
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Author Craft / Re: Opinions requested
« on: August 13, 2009, 05:13:55 AM »
Don't stress yourself trying to fit a character who has become square into a round story. A number of authors I enjoy have ended up dropping their original protaganist and reserving him for a later different work, while cooking up a new character wo can work better with the story you're on.
Question or two. Do you come up with the story arc, then build the charcter to fit the story, or do you build and develop the character (in concept at least) and then sculpt a story around the character You Want?
Question or two. Do you come up with the story arc, then build the charcter to fit the story, or do you build and develop the character (in concept at least) and then sculpt a story around the character You Want?
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Author Craft / Re: weapon advice--writers or not...
« on: August 11, 2009, 03:38:00 AM »
A slight deflection, maybe, if owning mad super skills rubbed with luck. A scimitiar has lots of Lopping Power, with all the mass out there towards the end. Acts as one hell of a "force multiplier." Same reason a ghurka knife can lop heads that a longer sword of the same weight couldn't.
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Author Craft / Re: Feedback on a snippet from my new project?
« on: May 14, 2009, 10:37:35 PM »
I'm looking forward to reading more. The voice is well done, and I personally like the "coherant" sort of madness, much more difficult to write convincingly than the "blithering looney" variety. (Leprous purple twinkies in baby carriages stalking the narrator in the produce aisle being an example). One can understand the character and but still feel menaced as well as the mutual alienation.
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Site Suggestions & Support / Re: Text box jumping up & down in Internet Explorer 8
« on: May 09, 2009, 03:20:43 PM »
Clicking "Compatibility View" under "Tools" seems to have fixed it..
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Site Suggestions & Support / Text box jumping up & down in Internet Explorer 8
« on: May 09, 2009, 03:09:26 PM »
IE8 happened the last time I ran the window's update, and now I'm seeing the text box jump up and down after a certain amount of characters are typed. I've found references to this, the general theory is it's an IE8 bug and not phpBB issue. No fixes mentioned yet. Is anyone else experiencing this, and has anyone found a fix?
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DF Books / Re: Shirt Quotes: Buy Dresden Stuff!
« on: May 01, 2009, 05:23:44 AM »
Did anyone come up with a "Official God of Bowflex" shirt yet?
Really mess with minds, Mauve style girlie belly-t shirt should read "Your girlfriend wants me." That would cause a combination of dire whimpering and confused geek lust, particularly at cons.
Really mess with minds, Mauve style girlie belly-t shirt should read "Your girlfriend wants me." That would cause a combination of dire whimpering and confused geek lust, particularly at cons.
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Author Craft / Re: I need a "Rogue's Gallery"
« on: March 15, 2009, 12:21:00 AM »
The Yoko Oni's of ancient Japanese myth could come to life...oh, wait. It's been done....
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Author Craft / Re: Anyone have good tips on writing a Conspiracy Thriller?
« on: March 14, 2009, 11:26:53 PM »
Lol. There is that, isn't there? Of course, that's what makes a smart author a better read than a not-so-smart author.
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Author Craft / Re: Anyone have good tips on writing a Conspiracy Thriller?
« on: March 14, 2009, 09:01:34 PM »
Let me clarify that...I don't mean knowledge in a field smart, but cleverness smart, the general brain meat capability type of smart.
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Author Craft / Re: I need a "Rogue's Gallery"
« on: March 14, 2009, 08:42:10 PM »
Heh...if you could work J. Edgar Hoover in there, that would be a feat.
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Author Craft / Re: Anyone have good tips on writing a Conspiracy Thriller?
« on: March 14, 2009, 08:41:11 PM »
I think that's one of the hardest parts. An author just can't create a character who's smarter than they are. Might manage the illusion from time to time, but not a whole cast.
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Author Craft / Re: Anyone have good tips on writing a Conspiracy Thriller?
« on: March 14, 2009, 08:21:05 PM »
Don't Twist just to have a twist. Any twists, doublecrosses, etc, have to have some valid reason other than "Oh, shit! I need to have a clever twist!" Good guys gone bad, bad guys gone good, all have to have a compelling reason(s) which have been subtley worked into the story. For a character to believably change their stripes, it's got to be through development that is at least quietly mentioned, rather than a sudden "oh, snoggfarblers ate his first daughter 40 years ago. Didn't anybody but me know that until now?"
At all costs avoid "Hey, Anakin? Ya wanna be evil?" "ummnn..no." "C'mon, let's be evil. C'monnnnn." "Um...ok."
At all costs avoid "Hey, Anakin? Ya wanna be evil?" "ummnn..no." "C'mon, let's be evil. C'monnnnn." "Um...ok."