Adam Heine's Blog, page 26

"I now pronounce you Doctor and, well...Kaylee."

"Now kiss the gorram bride."







So what's your favorite Firefly episode? Mine's the one where this happened or, if we're being serious, "Objects in Space."



Sketch from Anthdrawlogy's weddings' week.



(Note: If you follow me in other places, you probably know something's going on with our family. I've decided to let the posts I've already scheduled continue as planned (largely because I don't have the time/inclination to change them), but if I'm slow or unresponsive with the comments, this i...

Which Prize Would You Like?

If I were to, say, run semi-regular contests around here, what sorts of prizes would you be most interested in, do you think?







poll by twiigs.com



For those suggesting their own prizes in the comments, remember this is for science; try to be mostly serious. Emmet, I'm looking at you.

Daddy, Where Do Crit Partners Come From?

I don't technically have a critique group. I don't meet with other writers on a regular basis, and the only person who sees my chapters as they come out is my wife. Part of that is there just aren't a lot of sci-fi/fantasy writers in Chiang Mai (though admittedly I haven't looked very hard, what with my abject terror of new things).



So I don't have a group, per se, but I do have critique partners -- those hardened souls committed to reading through the garbage I send them. I collect them the...

You Know That Fantasy Novel is Really the Author's D&D Game When...

(Remix)




It starts in a tavern.
There is one protagonist and his 3 or 4 friends, who are different from him in every way.
The protagonist is awesome, because every other character tells us so. He also seems the only one capable of making decisions.
Dark-skinned elves are always evil, and always dual-wielding.
The only limitation on magic is that wizards must sleep before they can cast more spells.
Character names contain apostrophes in unneces'sary and inexplicab'le pl'aces.

The villain i...

Books I Read: Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn

You may recall I talked about Open Minds last year, about a world where everyone can read minds, except for this one girl who discovers she can actually control them. Susan Quinn (crit partner, Author's Echo regular, and giver of the BEST gifts) is releasing the sequel today.



So if you liked Open Minds, go and get Closed Hearts. And if you haven't read the first one, you might as well go do that first. The world building alone is worth it (and I think there's some kissing or something, if yo...

Revision: How to Add a Whole New Character

So when Tricia asked me for revisions, one of the things she wanted (which I totally agreed with) required adding one or two new characters. I'd never actually done this before, and I was afraid the new characters would feel flat or tacked on. Here's what I did to avoid that:



1) Define the character. This is the novel that got me my agent, so the existing characters were pretty fleshed out. I wanted to make the new characters as deep as I could -- goals, motivations, even voice -- before I...

Because Batman is Awesome

(Reposted from Anthdrawlogy)

On the Ridiculous Idea that You Can Steal an Idea

Stop me when you know what famous book this is:

A young kid growing up in an oppressive family
situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children
with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training
facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by
teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally
talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized
extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who a...

An Open Love Letter to Joss Whedon

Dear Mr. Whedon,



Thank you, thank you for the Avengers movie. And thank you for doing everything right. There are so many ways this movie could've been screwed up, and you did none of them.



You could have unbalanced the cast. I mean, shoot, there were like seven heroes, five of whom have (or deserve) their own movies. By all normal screenplay calculations, the cast should have been unbalanced! Ironman should've stolen the show, or Thor should've been relegated to some kind of adviser role,...

Santa and the Siege of Barad-dûr

From Anthdrawlogy's Elves week. As far as I'm concerned there is only one kind of elf, though I'm more flexible with who their boss is.