I grew up reading comic books where the villain was often evil and wanted to take over the country/world/solar system/galaxy. Pick whichever level of villain, but the evil characteristic was often the same. That negative bias for the antagonist creeps into my writing more often than I would like to admit. Usually when it does, the villain is pretty two-dimensional. Trying to add additional depth often fails because, at his or her core is a being that wrings his/her hands and has a laugh reminiscent of MWAHAHAHA! So, just as an exercise, I decided to try and create a character who is a normal, flawed person like you and me. He is friendly, intelligent and well-educated. He doesn’t have warts […]
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Poison Drip
I hit a milestone in my edits of Mik Murdoch: The Power Within, yesterday. I am now 1/3 finished my first round of revisions. I still like the book, but I have concerns. Yes, that’s right, I’m uncertain whether the book will live up to the first one. When I mentioned my concerns a week or so ago, it was pointed out to me that most authors go through exactly the same thing. The term used to describe the phenomenon was, Poison Drip. I will be honest, I haven’t heard that one before. I can guess at what it means though. Writers seem to have, as part of their imagination, the ability to be overly critical of their own writing. […]
Read moreSecond Book Angst
I’m busy revising Mik Murdoch: The Power Within for my publisher. After a bit of a shaky start, I think I’m hitting my stride…I think. The problem is, when I wrote this book, I knew it needed more of a continuous storyline than the previous one. The previous book, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero is very much an origin story. It is comprised of many little mini-stories that follow a larger plot. This one is more of a big-picture story that has mini-stories in it. I wrote the second book the way I did because I think it needs it. But, when I was writing it, I was concerned that the people who liked the first one would like it less […]
Read moreFun and Creativity
I have always liked to create things. When I was young(er?) I would make things out of wood and paper and whatever else I had at hand. I’ve also always written stories. Granted, most of my stories were childish and not terribly good, but I was able to write them and feel good about what I’d put on the page. That is even more true now, although I put the added pressure on myself of wanting the stories to be publishable. And, in the case of Mik Murdoch: The Power Within, I want the book to be equal to or better than the first one in the series. It has meant writing, rewriting, editing, revising and stressing about the book. […]
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