What A Coincidence!

Your main character is walking down the street.  “Hey,” he says to himself, “this walking business is tiring and inefficient.  I really need to get to the villain’s secret headquarters, and this sign says it’s still three miles away.  I wish I had a taxi.”

A taxi pulls up beside him and the driver leans out.  ”You called, sir?  Your phone must have pocket-dialed, and I heard you ask for a taxi. I was only a few feet behind you, so I figured I’d help out.  There will be no charge, sir– my last passenger overpaid me, and I feel generous.”

What is this?  It’s a coincidence, of course!  How does one pocket-dial a taxi just when one is about to ask for a taxi?  How does one even know a taxi driver’s number?  How are taxi drivers polite?

And how does all that happen by accident? Read the full post »

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by Liam, Head Phil on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 17, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/what-a-coincidence/

The Books I’m Not Reading

There are books I’ve read.  There are books I’m reading.  There are books I have yet to read.

And then there are the books I’ve begun but never finished.  They stare at me accusingly from where they lie next to the ever-growing pile of completed books, never moving, just collecting dust.  I’ve renewed them as many times as possible, but soon the librarians will hunt me down with squeaky book carts and date-due slips.  What, exactly, am I not reading?  And why?  Let’s begin.

Larklight, by Philip Reeve

Read the full post »

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by Liam, Head Phil on May 15, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 15, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/the-books-im-not-reading/

Changing Characters… Again

I like reading about thieves.  I enjoy all their faults: their conceit, their disregard for personal property, and their general dishonesty.  Though there are other things that make me like such characters– perhaps they do have honor among thieves, or are willing to help those poorer than they, or their attitude toward life– I believe that their potential for change makes me love them more than anything else.  I don’t see what they are, but what they could become.

Or not.  It depends: are you in a philosophical mood?

But one thing that always is true for thieves is their plots.  They never fail to embark on great journeys and quests that turn their characters around.

I’ve posted about character development before– how you must outweigh the bad with the good that comes later– but that had more to do with character development on a whim than character development through the plot. Read the full post »

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by Liam, Head Phil on May 14, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 14, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/changing-characters-again/

The Flaming Sonic Boom (TCWT)

This post came upon me like an eager puppy with a jet pack– not unpleasant, but it arrived a bit too quickly.  The prompt for this month’s TCWT blog chain is this:

“What are some of the coolest/weirdest/funniest/most disturbing things you’ve researched for a story?”

To be honest, I don’t remember.  I often forget the results of my searches just after closing the browser, prompting a second search that may just stick in my head long enough for me to write about it.  But the wonderful thing about Google Chrome, run by that bunch of evil spies, is that it saves every single part of your history. Read the full post »

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by Liam, Head Phil on May 13, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 13, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/the-flaming-sonic-boom-tcwt/

I Can’t Hear You!

Can you hear what I’m thinking?

I doubt it.  Even if you could, your brain would be steaming right now, trying to process the double time paradox I was just concocting.  (Even I don’t try to process those.)  So if you could hear what I was thinking, you’re probably dead right now.

Now can anyone hear what I’m thinking?

You can hypothesize, you can deduce, or you can try for a telepathic connection, but chances are you can’t hear the thoughts of other people.

In a fictional narrative, authors frequently write in the viewpoint character’s thoughts.  It’s a luxury prose writers have, to tell the audience exactly what’s running through the character’s head.  Unfortunately, it can often be too much to know what the character is thinking, especially since it often runs afoul of the “show, don’t tell” advice everyone gives.  I posted recently about a character’s imagination and the importance of writing that into a narrative, but not all thoughts are the greatest. Read the full post »

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by Liam, Head Phil on May 11, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 11, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/i-cant-hear-you/

An Amazing Podcast

Today, author Matt Myklusch published a podcast containing five tips on writing that don’t include “Believe in yourself.”  Since I gave him this challenge myself and since he mentions me, I thought you would like to listen to it as well.

Writing Advice: Part 1 | The Other Side of the Story Podcast.

I know I just posted a short post full of links, but this one is too awesome to ignore.  It’s only fifteen minutes.  Go listen.

35 Comments
by Liam, Head Phil on May 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 10, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/2976/

Here’s My Stop!

Dustfinger, from Inkheart, is very complicated.  The Book Chewers just published a guest post about him that I wrote, so you can read all about him there.  The main discovery I made in that post, however, was that his goals don’t agree with the protagonist’s goals– nor do they disagree.  This makes him a strange character.

Look, for instance, at the epic fantasy Team of Awesome.  The old guy who wants the prophecies fulfilled and the world set to rights.  The young hotshot who wants to spit in the face of Lord Maleficent.  (He might be a traitor eventually.)  The girl who really just exists for the romance plot line, but Lord Maleficent killed her father.  And the protagonist, the Chosen One, born to fulfill a prophecy spoken ages ago by an old blind soothsayer.

What do they want?  The old guy wants the world better again.  The hotshot wants glory.  The girl wants revenge.  The protagonist might want anything, but it’s always associated with Lord Maleficent dying.

Lord Maleficent probably wants to live. Read the full post »

54 Comments
by Liam, Head Phil on May 9, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 9, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/heres-my-stop/

A Couple Links

Firstly, several lovely bloggers pitched in to create some pretty weird Liam, Head Phil fanfiction over on Miss Vixen’s blog.  Check that out, even if they didn’t get my nose right.  Some of the excellent contributions were from Charley R, Engie (nevillegirl), Robyn Hoode, La Stranezza, Miriam, and Miss Vixen herself.  There are more, and several of them are quite funny.

Secondly, I’ve agreed to guest post for The Book Chewers.  May is Inkheart month for them, and my post about the universally beloved Dustfinger will be appearing in time.  Watch for that.  In addition, since the Book Chewers are more about reading than writing, I’ll soon produce something in line with that, focusing on the writerly side instead.  Watch for both of those.

I have recently become aware of a rather… interesting part of internet entertainment: comic space operas!  Schlock Mercenary is basically about an amorphous mass who goes around the universe blowing stuff up.  It’s a very interesting production, and it isn’t difficult to jump into the middle.  (If you don’t want to do that, you can go back and read the first thirteen years.)

So that’s that!  Go wild.

59 Comments
by Liam, Head Phil on May 5, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 5, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/a-couple-links/

Here I Come To Save The Day!

Deus ex machina is Latin for “God from the machine”.  It’s a literary term for when all hope seems lost and KABLAMMO! everything is saved.

That has to be the only paragraph in history with both a Latin phrase and “kablammo” referring to the same thing.  Let’s see how much more awesome this post can get.

A Deus ex machina is a contrived way to let the author keep his characters alive.  Consider, for instance, the eagles from the Lord of the Rings.  Thirteen dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit are at the top of the same tree as wolves and goblins prowl the land below and a fire licks up from the trees around.  Well, it looks like Bilbo’s done for this time.  Nope!  The eagles are coming! Read the full post »

110 Comments
by Liam, Head Phil on May 4, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on May 4, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/here-i-come-to-save-the-day/

Don’t Pick Noses

Some people have noses.

Some don’t.

You can’t hold it against someone that their face was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that they were born with a defect (or reborn, as the case may be).  Several people without noses have scintillating personalities and are lovely friends to have along on a picnic.

But some choose to be morose about their noseless state.  They neglect themselves, letting their skins turn colors or deteriorate altogether, taking different, more frightening forms as the whim takes them.

You would not want them along on a picnic. Read the full post »

140 Comments
by Liam, Head Phil on April 29, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Liam, Head Phil on April 29, 2013

http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/dont-pick-noses/

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