Ages ago, I spoke to a friend about "endgames." He blinked. "What do you mean? Like, when you can play the credit roll during a video game?" "No. It's just a term of mine, used for an ending that's really . . . like, well done." I don't remember how he replied or how the... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: The Everything’s Great Threshold
I started watching Parks and Recreation recently. As a man who's genuinely terrible at keeping up with television, I've had this show on my Netflix list for as long as I've had Netflix. Parks and Rec follows a familiar curve. Season 1 wasn't great, very obviously lifting its joke climate from The Office. In season 2, the show finds its... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: The Term “Mary Sue”
So, the trailer for The Last Jedi is out, and it doesn't look like it follows Empire's plot, which is super exciting for me. I'm eager see more of Finn and Rey . . . and I'm also just ready for a Star Wars movie I like. My reasons for disliking Rogue One could easily be a post on their... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: The Ethnic Rival
I've watched three things recently. Doctor Strange, John Wick: Chapter 2, and Iron Fist. And all three of those things . . . featured an Ethnic Rival. Now, I don't want to spend too much time talking about this. Maybe because I'm tired of talking about race after 2016, the year when I discovered that some of my friends... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: A Fantasy Loophole–Earth-Modern Words That’d Make Great Names, If Only We Could Use Them
I think a lot about fantasy meta. Maybe too much. I'm not sure. Although I do know that, when sitting in a car with another writer recently, I dipped into my obnoxious fantasy meta-speak and almost completely killed the conversation. "Well, it's the same way that we as humans write human-centric stories without realizing. And... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: Fantasy Side Character Names
So, last Friday, a friend wrote to commend me for my recent spree of posts. In particular, he mentioned last week's Let's Talk About, saying it actually helped him, because he was considering writing some fantasy but was afraid he'd unwittingly use a few genre tropes. So, with that in mind--and because I love writing about fantasy's pitfalls--I... Continue Reading →
Let’s Talk About: Cursing in a Fantasy World
I think about cursing a lot. Actually, you can cut that down to, "I curse a lot." I'm not exactly proud of it, but I've come to accept cursing (and let's say "swearing" from here on out, or else things'll get confusing; we are talking about fantasy, with its actual curses after all). Whether you like... Continue Reading →
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