Bad Blogging Habits

Hello Lovelies,

First and foremost, let me say thank you regarding your commentary on the 'Book Reviews?' post. It actually proved a great deal more insightful than I was expecting and helped me solidify how I felt a little bit more. In short, this is not and will not be a 'review' site, however I will probably throw snippets in here and there regarding stuff I read that really grabs me in one direction or another. It's kind of why I did the initial two and, I think, I the reason I'll turn to in the future.

Now, to get serious, this bit is not going to be me providing you a list of what to do and what not to do. Unless of course you think REALLY hard about what I'm saying and discern your own list. In that case, it's not my fault. It's yours.

Weirdo.

Instead, I wanted to address a few things that I've personally noticed I've done wrong as time has gone on that I've tried to react to. I've found that putting my own faults on display not only helps other writers who might run into the same pitfalls, but it's also wonderfully humbling to put up a mirror to my own failures.

To start: I had a very bad concept as to what I wanted this site to be when I started. When I started, and let's be honest here, I began with the concept of generating foot traffic. Nothing more. I wouldn't go so far as saying 'I wanted to create ClickBait', but I had this idealized image in my head of somehow creating a site where I just had ad revenue rolling in. While embarrassing to admit, it didn't take me long to recognize the fault in that belief. Instead, I found new meaning in the ability to share my writing (for better or worse) with others.

The next problem I've run into isn't necessarily regarding writing itself as much as it is personal life. In short, as many have said, life sucks. There are many, many things that consistently make demands on your time. Some are normal, like work. Some are not, like health. Some are bad, like exhaustion or writer's block, and some are good, like a surprise party or vacation. There's lot of demands on your time and accepting that is the best way to get around it.

This brings me nicely to the next point, proper scheduling and forethought. I can't count how many times I've tried to 'make a writing schedule' only to find myself canceling it or just staring at a blank page for an hour because nothing comes to mind. Instead, what I've only recently discovered, is the usage of Scheduling your writing. This can be something as simple as using the 'schedule' button in blogger, but is can also be as simple as saving your work to post later. I can only imagine how much more I might have made if I had let myself write when I had the inspiration to. If I had let myself create when I had the time versus when I stuck myself to a 'specific schedule'.

Learn from my mistake, kids: write when you want and build up a buffer. It'll help you proceed.

Last, but certainly not least, is my terrible incapability of interacting with the blogging community. While it's a nice belief that writing will make others come to you just through the usage of tags and such, the truth is that you have to network. You have to give and take, eb and flow; interact with other writers present within your community and on blogger.

I. Am. Terrible. About. This.

Building into the original problem of not having enough time to ever do anything I want to do, this is one that can't be scheduled as much and more needs to become a regular thing. Reach out to your fellow bloggers. See what they're saying. Respond to their comments. Talk with them. Originally, I would always build this into my blog posts (checking what everyone was doing), but I'm realizing it's a lot cleaner and easier to just check things here and there. This is doubly intensified when I have scheduled content because, whenever that item hits, I'm not thinking about checking other blogs...I'm likely at work or the gym or making dinner.

So, if we were making the list, here are the points: Recognize why you're blogging (because you're likely not going to get rich doing it). Recognize your own limitations in life and capability. Schedule posts based on what and when you want to write versus holding yourself to a standard. And interact with people.

Sound good? Good.

With that said, I hope you all are doing well and will join us again on Monday.

- RB

Looking at it from Both Sides

"Ha ha ha!" laughed the villain. "My recipe calls for only the finest baby unicorn penguins! Even though eating one will literally cause thirty atomic bombs to go off around the world, I must sate my hunger!"

Sound familiar? How about this?

"It's truly incredible." said the side character in awe. "Now that you've thrown off the shackles of eating any kind of meat, you are clearly the best of us all. Our one true God has granted you the ability to smite all of the redneck gun owners who would do nothing but overthrow society with the desire to eat all that they see because clearly they have no morals or wills of their own outside of an insatiable desire for blood!"

How about this?

Honestly, I hope not. Because if it does you very well might be reading some serious garbage.

Now, before I receive another angry e-mail claiming I am supporting some weird nuclear-penguin eating agenda, let me just say this: this was the first random example of a terrible villain and hero that came to mind. Overly psychotic, blood-thirsty monster and exemplary, pure, perfect, holy hero who could never harm another soul. With that said, do you see the problem with these examples?

In short: these characters aren't even black and white. They're at best white or black in their design. That said: let's talk characters!

What makes a good hero AND villain really interesting is their relatability. While you might be inclined to make a villain truly monstrous or a hero a shining beacon of light, I would discourage you from such writing tropes. They're rarely done right and doing so makes them confusingly evil or unattainably good. Instead, look at it from both sides. Why is the hero good? Why is the villain evil? Where did they really come from that makes them who they are?

While I'm pretty sure I've used this line before, it's still one of my favorites and is definitely worth repeating.

 "No one thinks that they're the bad guy."

With that said, consider that from the perspective of the villain. Most real people aren't going to actively make choices that are just outright evil. Example given, eating the one, lone unicorn penguin AND destroying the world via nukes linked to said unicorn penguin seems a liiiiiiiiiiittle out of realistic trains of thought for any given individual. Instead, consider the choices that got them there. Consider where they are coming from but also where are they going. There's a reason antagonists are called antagonists versus fucking-evil-bad-guys. It's because they are working opposite to protagonists. And that doesn't mean evil...just opposed.

But hey, let's apply that same logic to the heroes. Surely you've heard the 'misunderstood villain' shtick before, but what about the fact that the hero doesn't think they're the bad guy either! They're not the bad guy. Right? Riiiiight? There's no way that this guy whose a shit driver and cuts people off in traffic is bad. Or the guy who doesn't tip is bad. How about that hero who kind of hates black people. He's the good guy right? Well...he's the protagonist. And just as the villain isn't necessarily evil, the hero isn't necessarily good.

In fact, they're all just human.

Unless they're aliens.

Then fuck those guys, am I right?

PS: Sorry to all of my alien readers. I love you and couldn't help myself.

So going forward, I would encourage you to consider your heroes and villains both not as tropes, i.e. good and bad, but as people. People working towards opposite ends in opposing ways. People with goals that they want to fulfill for some reason or another. The thief who needs money. The fighter whose been misled. The princess with an addiction. The man with a mission. None of these are necessarily good or bad...it's just how you use them.

Xenophobia - Chapter 3

    The next while was spent reviewing information that Darrian already knew but most of the counsel members had only briefly covered. The old judge went over the hellish conditions of the planet. Of the energy storms and contaminated water and poisonous atmosphere. He listened with a renewed sense of nervousness when they revealed that more oddities had been found including a recurring tendency towards cyclones.
    Little did he know, the best was yet to come.
    "And so that brings us to the so-called, 'Humans' that inhabit this planet." the old judge said.
    "I still don't know how anything can live there." one of Tulgucks muttered.
    "That's a great question." The old judge retorted. "Which brings us to surprising fact number one. They seem to have a heightened ability towards survival and regeneration."
    "Come again?"
    "Them, and many species on the planet, seem to have an incredible ability to heal and survive extreme injury. So much so that an entire facet of their 'medical' sciences rely upon it."
    "Even in our short observances of the planet, we've seen a multitude of species, not even limited to these 'humans', survive injuries that are too graphic to even consider. Creatures have had their limbs torn asunder. They've been impaled, gored, ripped, shredded, crushed, and more...yet many can simply get back up and heal these injuries."
    An eerie silence fell over the table. How could something lose an appendage and just keep on living? Darrian suddenly found himself thinking about a monster story his parents had told him when he was younger about a horrible insectoid creature from 'Planet P' that could lose a limb and still be 86% effective.
    "That's...horrible." Darrian finally said.
    "And you said some of their medicines are based on this very idea?"
    "Indeed." continued the judge. "This species is so confident in their ability to regenerate from damage that they have an entire 'medical' specialty that they refer to as 'Surgery'."
    "What's surgery?" asked the massive Jigger near the back of the table.
    "Put bluntly, it's a form of 'medicine' where humans cut into themselves with sharp instruments and actively manipulate their own internal organs."
    "WHAT?!"
    Darrian could hear someone get sick off to his right and flee the table. He didn't look. His eyes were glued to the robotic form of the judge.
    "You heard me." he said with just a hint of mocking. "Rather than developing a medicine to combat certain ailments, they'd rather stick their hands into the entrails of another and riggle them around a bit. Strangely enough, it seems to work. Many of these creatures recuperate without issue."
    "R-r-recuperate?" Stammered the Cadrax across from Darrian. "AFTER being cut up and played with?"
    "That is correct."
    "With regenerative abilities like this, these creatures must live for generations." Darrian said thoughtfully and doing all he could to force the image of someone rooting around inside him from his mind.
    "Actually, that brings us nicely to the next point I was going to bring up. They're incredibly short lived."
    "Not surprising with how their medicine works." Uu'lassna grumbled.
    This merited a good chuckle around the table but Darrian couldn't help to notice that it sounded strained. No one in the Consortium would be resting easy tonight with thoughts of these monsters floating about.
    "Perhaps." The old judge said with a nod. "But I believe it has more to do with the fact that they are naturally a short lived species."
    "How short are we talking?"
    "One twentieth to one tenth of a rotation. The oldest we heard of was barely over a tenth."
    "A tenth? These things are damned insects!" scoffed a Yool.
    The Cadrax, still looking sick, replied. "Right. Right... We could probably just wait for them to die out on their own."
    "I don't think that will happen." denied the judge.
    "Why not?" the Jigger asked from the back.
    "Because their short life spans are to their benefit. Not their fault."
    "What could be the benefit of a short life span? You have no time to accomplish anything." Darrian retorted more out of confusion than anything else.
    "You're right. Yet they do. Review of our archives show that this species has risen from the dirt to a semi-space faring species in a maybe a dozen rotations."
    Whatever merriment there was again slipped away. It normally took at least a dozen rotations to make any scientific discoveries of merit. How any species could literally come into existence to being on the brink of deep space travel within that same period seemed impossible.
    "On top of that, they use their short lives to their advantage when it comes to disease. What's it matter if one drops off early if another can be born with immunity at the same time? The parent might die just in time for the child to live. Disease simply can't stick to them. They're not unlike bacteria themselves. They simply adapt too fast to be conquered. There have been several instances where massive populations were decimated only to be reborn immune and healthy within a twentieth of a rotation."
    The thought of the insects from 'Planet P' drifted into his thoughts once again. If anything ever matched such a description, he thought these 'humans' didn't seem too far off.
    "So, these things are ridiculously short lived, have incredible regeneration abilities, and live on an all together hostile planet." stated the Yool. "I think I need to ask the question that's on all of our minds: Are they a hostile species? Are they a threat?"
    The old judge stared long and hard at the Yool. Darrian didn't think a robot could look scared, but something about his expression said it all.

===

Next Chapter
Previous Chapter
Start at the Beginning

===

Xenophobia - Chapter 2

    Darrian couldn't believe the number of people before him. He couldn't think of anytime he'd ever seen so many different souls in the counsel chambers, particularly of so many different species from around the galaxy.
    While the initial discussion about the "humans" and their planet had surprised him, it was how the Galactic Consortium responded that made him realize something was truly amiss. At any given time, the Consortium could take as long as one tenth solar cycles to arrange and host a hearing regarding a new space faring species. This new one was arranged within five rotations.
    Now, standing at the precipice of the room, he felt himself go numb with shock by the size of the turnout with such little warning.
    He could see ambassadors for the Gorderians and Tulguks already waiting at the counsel tables while a massive Jigger was doing what he could to get settled. A small group of Urreaneans and Kaeel were floating several feet off the ground, discussing something in the back corner of the room. The old judge and several other Merrinians were trying to help a gaggle of Yool, Bivvie, and Cadrax to their own seats. And those were just the species Darrian could readily recognize.
    "Alright, alright!" the judge called angrily, his robotic voicebox amplifying tenfold over the rabble. "Let's get this meeting underway. I know we're missing some people but we've waited long enough."
    The next fifteen minutes was a barely contained riot of activity as everyone did what they could to get to their assigned seats. Darrian was jostled several times before he could get settled and even got accidentally slimed by a passing Yool.
    "We're here to discuss the potential of quarantine for planet AV32784 along with reports of a species that might be acquiring space faring technology kno..."
    "EXCUSE ME!" yelled a creature at the far end of the table. Darrian didn't recognize the species but he thought it might but an Olgan?
    Ambassador Uu'lassna of Planet Olanta 23 has the floor spoke a robotic voice that Darrian had never heard in the regular counsel meetings.
    "Yes, Uu'lassna?" asked the judge, looking quite displeased to be interrupted.
    "We seem to have a mismatch in data. You're claiming that this species is developing space faring technologies, yet they don't seem like they're capable of flipping a switch."
    A confused babble of discussion and questions broke out around the table.
    "I'm not sure I understand Uu'lassna. Our Merrinian analyst team has clearly identified space faring technologies." the judge said, looking perplexed.
    Uu'lassna tapped a few buttons on the console nearest to him and the holographic imager gave birth to an image of scales and feathers and claws and teeth. A massive beast not greatly dissimilar to a carnivorous lizard species in the Ijulen system, but drastically larger and more terrifying looking. It stood on two legs and was in the process of tearing apart another scaled creature limb from limb in a horrific display of savage violence.
    "These images were captured just after you sent out the announcement about this planet. These beasts might look terrifying, but I doubt they can fly."
    The judge said nothing initially but instead responded with a secondary image of his own. This time of a primitive looking urban area made of stone and metal with mechanized transports zipping about on roadways. A number of bipedal creatures, strangely smooth and weak looking, lacking any obvious natural decoration or defenses, meandered about the sides of the roads.
    "These were also captured during that time period." the judge said with annoyance. "Now tell me, what kind of imaging technology was utilized?"
    "Lightcore telescopic lenses, of course." Uu'lassna said with a colorful photochromatic display under his mouth. Not readily knowing the species, Darrian could only presume this was some kind of show of pride.
    A number of the other ambassadors trying to contain their snickers.
    "Ambassador. Your planet is 67,000 light cycle from AV32784. While LTL scopes might be useful for something relatively nearby your planet, you are viewing images that are 67,000 cycles old! Even worse, the solar rotation is drastically intensified for that planet, so the images in question are something in the range of 67,000,000 rotations old!"
    The judge was clearly livid at being interrupted, particularly with such an impudent mistake. The other ambassadors couldn't contain themselves any longer and began to openly laugh. Uu'lassna sunk back and turned several shades of blue.
    "Now, before I continue, does anyone else have anymore terrible lizards that they want to show us or can we get back to the topic at hand?"
    Darrian resisted the urge to request more pictures.
    "Good." he growled out. "Let's begin..."

===

Next Chapter
Previous Chapter
Start at the Beginning

===

For the Sake of Comdy - Open Book Discussion

Hello Lovelies,

Today I wanted to take a moment to talk about Comedy.

Anyone whose read my work for more than a few days can pick up on a very obvious theme. I tend to like the dark. I like horror and suspense and things that go bump in the night. I'm most comfortable when my characters have their hearts racing or when there's some kind of drama going on. Overall, the comfort zone for my writing is just in the serious and spooky.

That said, easily my weakest link in my writing has to do with comedy. Sure, it's easy to throw in snark and sass; hell, I have plenty of life experience to pull from on that one. When it comes to  experience, I've dealt with enough roguish devils with a sideways smile and a sharp tongue to make me want to beat them all to death with a lute. Yet, I don't have anything to draw upon for making a character legitimately funny.

With that said, I've been starting to look around. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link afterall and, while I can certainly keep my head in the dark and broody forever, I'd like to be a bit more well-rounded as an author. I've been reading pieces about writing comedy to little effect so far. I've been considering sitting down and trying to really watch and break down comedy movies and books to identify what makes funny...well...funny.

But here is where you come in. Obviously I can research all the livelong day (and have been), but it's always much more enjoyable to engage in a dialogue and build off the of the knowledge and the experience of all of the wonderful readers that we have. We have plenty of talented and amazing writers in our readers, so I wanted to ask for today's Open Book Discussion:

Do any of you have issues writing comedy? Yes? No? Likewise, what has helped you improve?

Looking Ahead - Journal/DBTC

First and foremost, allow me to apologize. I know that we had no post yesterday and today isn't any new fictional content. Unfortunately, yesterday just proved that life happens and by the time I was able to even get near my computer, I ended up deciding that bed was the better option. The end result was no post and no research. How sad.

That said though, I was discussing the upcoming holiday with my wife, the beautiful and talented Fabulosaurus and she told me that she was considering doing "InkTober". If you don't know what this is, it's when some artists dedicate themselves to doing a new piece of art every day. Well, I'm already trying to do that ANYWAY, but this got me thinking to last year when I did "SpookyTober". If you weren't around, "Spookytober" is dedicated to writing nothing but spooky stuff for the entire month of October.

I'm thinking I might do that again.

As a whole, it added to the fun of the upcoming holiday. It was silly but a blast and really helped dedicate me as a writer. I had to focus my talents to one specific area versus letting them wander. Plus, at the end of the day, I really do love doing spooky and creepy stuff. So, I'm thinking that might be in the works come the beginning of October.

Anyone want to join us?

Inspirations - Open Book Discussions

Ever since I've started to try and rededicate myself to writing and creating, one of the major problems that I run into is having something to write ABOUT.

At a glance, it's very daunting to think "I'm going to try and produce SOMETHING everyday". You wonder if you will have the ability. If you're going to produce anything worthwhile. You stress whether or not you can even keep yourself going to do it more than a few weeks. 

I can say that one benefit I've given myself to ease my concerns is giving myself a day off on Friday so that I might have a bit more of a set schedule with a day I can rely on. Aside from that, providing myself the "Open Book Discussions" as well as the "Don't Break the Chain" posts gives me a way to break up my thinking so that I'm not dead set on HAVING to produce a constant flow of narrative every day.

Of course, the ironic part is that the more I fall into the habit, the less daunting it seems. In fact, I'm starting to experience something I haven't for a long time. Inspiration. Not twinges of desire to create, but a real, solid hunger to write based on something I see or hear.

Kaleo - Way Down We Go

Here's a great example:

Way Down We Go was a song I heard on the radio that got my blood flowing. The song is amorphous enough that I don't doubt many people might here different things, but the feel for it for me was "Bogs". Maybe it's because of growing up in the Southern United States, but the song makes me think of twisting, overgrown water ways and dark, moonlit swamps with hoodoo witches in the mist. It makes me think of longing and loss and night and monsters hidden in the deep places of the waters and woods.

To that point, it's got me currently beating around SOMETHING inspired by it. Not sure if it's a short story or a flash fiction or what, but you should see something come of it soon.

That brings us nicely to the whole point of the Open Book Discussion:

What are some things that really inspire or have inspired you to create?

It really could be anything. Maybe it's a song (as seen above), or a movie, a book, something someone said, something you saw...really anything! What out there has or does set your soul aflame and make you want to create something new? I'd absolutely love to know!

Sorry about the wait

First and foremost, allow me to apologize. I'm well aware that I have been neglecting the site for several months now. I won't go into the finer details of what's been going on but know that it's been a number of things including major illness, financial issues, and a combination of both career and family changes. Please note that this isn't a matter of pity but simply a thinly veiled excuse for my absence despite my best efforts (see January's failed attempt to return).

Unfortunately, due to everything, I simply wasn't writing or producing anything. That said, I hope to start working my way back into regular writing and production (if the fates allow). I don't want to make any false promises regarding daily production, however shooting for at least once a week to start doesn't sound too bad.

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the above post (currently untitled), an excerpt from the new work that I've started. I hope you enjoy.

- RB

Writing Inspiration - 01.28.16

Write a story where Humans are considered the invading

aliens of another planet and not the other way around.

Words of Encouragement

Hey all.

No story today, but rather just a few words of encouragement for my fellow writers or anyone who wants to BE a writer and just can't quite get the courage up.

Remember, not everything boils down to how many words you get on a page or how many hours your spend tapping away at a keyboard. Part of writing, a large part actually, is allowing your brain to process and consider. Something a lot of people run into is they'll run into Writer's Block and then stall to a complete stop because they don't know what to do and they feel worthless for not writing. A cycle begins where you can't think of what to write and you hate yourself for not writing, you then feel worse and can't think of what to do next and the process starts itself all over again.

I just want to say "It's ok to relax sometimes."

A lot of people now a-days are powered by the Protestant Work Ethic whether they realize it or not. Since birth, through school and work, people have it ingrained that if they aren't PRODUCING then their time has been meaningless. This is powered by that old manufacturing mindset that time spent doing anything but making A THING is wasted.

However, for writer's, you have to be able to take time to create. Words are nothing without meaning and, if you don't have something meaningful to work from than you're, at best, free-writing.

So please...let yourself think. Let yourself relax. Let your mind wander to your thoughts and your passions. Let it twist upon your perversions and your secrets. Enjoy everything that you have available to you no matter your background and let everything you hear and see and smell and touch and taste inspire you. Just let yourself BE.

If you feel the need to write, than write! But if you are beating yourself up because you open up a blank word document and simply stare at a flashing icon, just remember that's it's ok to let yourself be.

You are a writer. Now let yourself write however you need to.


P.S. This applies to ALL of you artist type people. So all of you drawers and painters and game designers and anyone else who just needs to take a minute to breath so your mind can do what it does best: it’s ok to take a minute for yourself. You’re all amazing.

Writing Inspiration - 10.06.15

"You couldn't help but think the Smiths' new Scarecrow 

was a little creepy. That was why you noticed that it was 

missing on your walk back home..."

Writing Inspiration - 09.29.15

"Consider a world where all childbirth and reproduction

is licensed and approved by the government and

tell the store of a group of aspiring parents."

 

Writing Inspiration - 09.26.15 - Picture

Look at this photo and consider how or why this forest looks the way it does.

You are welcome to delve into fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or more.

Write a story or at least a detailed explanation for usage in a story creation.

 

Writing Inspiration - 09.22.15

"A demon has suddenly begun to

follow you around town...Why?"