Turning on Pandora
Expecting Freddie or Ozzy
Maybe Tyler, Bowie, or Rose
Instead I hear my new additions
To my private station
Voiceless, yet beautiful
Reminding me of times long past
Mario and Metroid with a little Link
Symphony from Transylvania
Final Fantasy victory
Followed by Her death song
All the memories flood back
Stinging eyes with tears
I miss the time
To play these magic games
And escape into my mind
I turned on Pandora and it has been playing classic video game music for the last hour. I admit to getting teary-eyed with a few of them because I loved the stories. I didn’t play for the points or the glory. I played for the story and the characters. To this day, I remember the joy of playing Final Fantasy 9 and I try to use a video game to take my mind off fasting for Yom Kippur. My go to game used to be Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but I don’t know where my copy went. I found the soundtrack of it and if I keep typing I’ll simply keep going on about how much I love that game.
I actually have a collection of 100 video game haikus that I’m thinking of releasing in pairs or fives. They were going to be published in a collection, but my friend who helped write them lost his illustration muse. It’s one of those projects that it’s either both of us or it doesn’t happen.
One of the biggest tools for an author is the flashback. These can help reveal information about a character, place, or situation. For the few that don’t know what this is, you move the attention of the book from the current situation to an event of the past. For example, a character is being approached by something he or she is terrified of. They have an exposition of thought that explains the origin of this phobia. A flashback easier to do in past tense writing because it’s awkward and jarring in past tense.
Flashbacks are easy to abuse because, as the author, you know everything about the characters. An event might trigger a funny story from your protagonist’s childhood that you ‘NEED’ to include. The truth is that you don’t always need to include a flashback if it’s not entirely relevant to the plot. It helps with bringing more depth to a character, but you need a believable connection to current events. A character fighting a dragon shouldn’t suddenly flashback to a time when they burned their mouth of fresh pizza. Make flashbacks count and use them sparingly.
I can handle flashbacks if they are used with PTSD, dreaming, prologues, and don’t tear me out of the book. If a character is in the midst of a perilous battle, I don’t want to see a write up of their childhood in the middle. By the time I’m brought back to the action, I need to read the beginning of the fight to get back into it. I think a flashback should be a tool for explanation, but not at the cost of story flow. The phrase ‘location, location, location’ comes to mind here. Let me give you an example of horrific flashback use:
I was in college and a fellow freshman wanted to write a martial arts book. I agreed out of boredom and being too nice for my own damn good. He came to me with a list of actors and actresses to play the movie version. Bad sign, but I started writing the book with him and got to the end of Page 1. Suddenly, he yells ‘Flashback!’ and demands we put in a flashback to the character’s tragic motivational moment. Keep in mind that this was called for in mid-conversation with another character. Terrible and I stopped right there.
I like a flashback to seem natural in appearance as if one could believe a real person would think back to such things. So as an author, I don’t like to plan flashbacks and let them appear as I write.
What do you think of flashbacks?
For more on this topic visit Creative Writing with the Crimson League:
The title of your book is very important and it gets more difficult in a series. Do you pick a theme? Do you mention the title of the next book at the end of the previous book? Well, it does help proving you have more up your sleeve. So, you need to have an idea of the title if you want to go that route. I’m looking at the Legends of Windemere titles and wanting some feedback. These are going to be out of context, but I’m going for the sound of them. Please let me know what you think:
Beginning of a Hero
Prodigy of Rainbow Tower
Allure of the Gypsies
Family of the Tri-Rune
The Compass Key
Curse of the Dark Wind
Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue
Merchant of Nevra Coil
The Mercenary Prince
Clan of the Ice Tiger
Heart of Fire, Heart of Steel
The Spirit Well
Ritual of the Lost Lamb
Path of the Traitors
The Age of Heroes
The second issue is that I’m going to be doing a theme week. Kayla Matt, the artist who did the Beginning of a Hero drawings, has done more drawings. This time of the female characters, so I wanted to do a ‘Women of Windemere’ theme. Each day I will post one set of pictures and make a post that relates to this them. The problem is that I’ve already done interviews with the characters, which have fallen flat lately. I’ve also done poems. I don’t need to go character or Windemere specific. I’m just looking for ideas on what I can do for this type of theme. Maybe I’ve already expended it?
I apologize for the reblogs, but this has to be one of the greatest posts on types of reviews that I’ve ever read. Big difference between rating for review and rating for recommendation.
After reading quite a bit about GoodReads, both from the site itself and that which has been written about it, I have come to the conclusion that the current problems which have come to light are an outgrowth of a fatal flaw in the structure of the site itself, and unless that flaw is addressed, things are just going to get worse.
Much has been said about the behavior of both reviewers and authors, and there is certainly much to criticize regarding how the users of the site have chosen to escalate their conflicts. I, however, am more interested in the genesis of those conflicts.
I believe that the essential problem that GoodReads faces lies in the confusion between rating for review and rating for recommendation, and that the structure of the site encourages such confusion.
To take a counter-example, let’s look at Netflix–one of my favorite…
I’m psyched to announce that after many hours of messing around with formatting and design and whatnot, my short story The Coin Collectoris now available for FREE download from Smashwords! Click here to download it now!
Here’s the cover image again for your viewing delight:
And here’s an excerpt to get you irreparably hooked:
Pounding his fist against the dented metal door, Mr. Quimbly shouted, “Anyone in?”
“Just a moment, if you please,” a voice rumbled from inside.
After a few seconds, the door squeaked open of its own accord. A huge, gleaming claw attached to a scaly green appendage nearly the size of Mr. Quimbly’s entire body reached out toward him. Mr. Quimbly yelped, stumbling back and nearly dropping his file.
“Forgive my rudeness,” said the same deep voice, and the claw retracted back through the doorway. “I didn’t mean to startle you, little manling. Do come…
A little conversation from last week to explain this (some paraphrasing):
Charles- I have my gastroenterologist appointment next Thursday at 9:45 AM . . . Ionia has her cyberknife follow-up next Thursday. It’d be so funny if . . . nah . . . I wonder.
Text to Ionia- You have your follow up on the 22nd, right?
Ionia- Yes.
Charles- At 9:45 AM?
Ionia after a pause- How the bloody hell did you know that?
Charles- My gastroenterologist appointment is the 22nd at 9:45 AM. That’s strange.
Ionia- That’s really strange.
Charles- Should we make some WordPress fun out of this?
Ionia- Of course we should.
There you have it everyone! The secret of 9:45 is that Ionia and I had identical appointments completely by accident. We thought it was funny and decided to use it for some fun. Now for the updates:
Ionia’s follow up has been delayed a week, but this comedy still stands. Everyone continue holding the positive energy thoughts for her because it 1) makes her know we care and 2) makes her uncomfortable. Love you, bestie! *ducks barrage of squirrels*
Myself . . . myself. It’s spastic colon with extra spasms. I managed to give a good enough description to not have invasive tests and I’ll be on medication. Nothing major. I feel an attack come on, I pop a pill and relax to let it go away. I have a follow up in 2 months where we decide on if things improved or if new tests are needed. Key thing here is relaxing, which I will try very hard to do. Oddities of the visit:
I have amazingly perfect blood pressure for a guy that comes in as obese on the BMI. They were impressed.
The doctor pinned me as an author within minutes and I never mentioned it. It might be due to the flowery language and description I was using. I mean, I went into full details to the point where he was impressed. Seriously, I talked my way out of a colonoscopy, which should earn me a bloody medal.
There you have it. The mystery is solved and you know how people are doing. Stay tuned for a post later tonight with book titles and a question for a special posting theme of next week. Also, go give Ionia hugs on her blog.
