Stephen R. Burns's Blog, page 5
December 1, 2015
What's the Bechdel Test?
I wasn't actually aware of this site, or this test, until a few years ago. It's changed the way I not watch film, but the way I write and how I draw my female characters, though, as i mentioned earlier today, I still get it wrong sometimes.
Take a listen. (It's only 80 seconds long.)
The rules are so simple, and yet so many movies fail them, especially blockbuster films. (Lord of the Rings should get a pass, seeing as how it actually enhances and creates new roles for a couple of the female cha...
Take a listen. (It's only 80 seconds long.)
The rules are so simple, and yet so many movies fail them, especially blockbuster films. (Lord of the Rings should get a pass, seeing as how it actually enhances and creates new roles for a couple of the female cha...
I'm Sorry, Did I Offend You?
As we enter the silly season, my twitter and Facebook feeds are filled with people who are "offended" for one reason or another. This happens every year, of course. And every year, common sense thinking people have to deal with the faux-outrage about "the war on Christmas" and putting "Christ" back in Christmas, as if saying "Happy Holidays" is somehow offensive. This year, we had a new twist when a private company (Starbucks) decided to use red cups instead, hell, I'm not sure, putting a nat...
November 28, 2015
The Power of Fear
No one understands the power of fear better than a novelist. No one. We use it like a mathematician uses a calculator. It is part of our DNA, part of what create, if only because we understand it to be one of the most powerful forces within humanity.
Some would suggest that love is more powerful, and certainly, all novelists try to show that love is indeed powerful and redemptive and is the better choice. But nothing replaces fear.
Nothing.
A character motivated by fear will do anything, and the...
November 25, 2015
Why Refugees?
Note: An apology to my Facebook friends. This was originally a Fbook post, but as this is a somewhat different audience, and due to the number of emails and questions I receive regarding this issue, I decided to post it here. Don't worry, i'll have something new in the next few days!
NO REFUGEES!
Look, I get that allowing "suddenly" thousands of people into the country might be a bit frightening, particularly when they come from the Middle East, which, we are told, is a breeding ground for terr...
NO REFUGEES!
Look, I get that allowing "suddenly" thousands of people into the country might be a bit frightening, particularly when they come from the Middle East, which, we are told, is a breeding ground for terr...
November 24, 2015
Twenty Years to Learn This
As a writer, I'm always interested in watching people and observing human behaviour. Which makes sense, because that's essentially what writers do. We observe and comment on what we see. But this is difficult to do that when you know everyone around you. Sure, you can observe some things, but intimacy erases separation, and separation is necessary for art.As a result, when I'm feeling a bit burnt out, I stay away from my favourite cafes or bookstores where I'm known and go to a mall or a big...
November 23, 2015
Book Recommendations/ Newsletter/ Other News
I've nearly finished my first Authour's Newsletter, which I will send out at the end of this week. When I was putting the newsletter together, there were a number of things that I originally thought I would include (like a column on sports news, maybe a political corner, etc...) but in the end, what I really wanted was to create something for you, the reader. Something short and interactive.
Now, this may change in the future, but for now, the newsletter will be divided into three sections.
BOO...
November 11, 2015
Poppies: What People Have Forgotten
My great-uncle flew in World War II. When the war ended, my dad, who was born in 1941, did what most young boys would do. He asked his uncle to tell him stories about the war. But my great-uncle refused to say anything about the war except for this one story.
He was on a mission, and found himself adrift from the other fighter planes. A German plane saw him and swept in for the attack, but as my uncle prepared to fire, something made him pull his hand off the trigger. The German plane didn't f...
November 10, 2015
Apologies
My apologies, my friends.
I have not been blogging as regularly thanks to NaNoWriMo. I'm in the midst of completing a first draft that requires 2000-2500 words a day, which leaves me gassed for anything else. I should be done Storms, my current novel, in the next week. Once it is done, I'll be blogging regularly again!
Cheers,
Steve
I have not been blogging as regularly thanks to NaNoWriMo. I'm in the midst of completing a first draft that requires 2000-2500 words a day, which leaves me gassed for anything else. I should be done Storms, my current novel, in the next week. Once it is done, I'll be blogging regularly again!
Cheers,
Steve
November 6, 2015
Another Horrible Mistake by the NFL
Most people don't remember this, but in 1976, when the first Rocky was released, the most popular sport in the world was boxing. It commanded monstrous ratings in both television and radio, and its leading figure, Muhammad Ali, was the most recognized and popular athlete in the world. Forty years later, movie buffs still rave about Rocky, but boxing has long since been relegated to the sidelines. Deaths. Concussions. Stars reduced to shadows of themselves due to the nature of the sport. For m...
November 5, 2015
Find Your Voice
The National Novel Writing Month is an organization (website) dedicated to presenting writers with a monthly challenge, once a year, to complete fifty thousand words in thirty days, or roughly seventeen hundred words a day. It's fair to say that this site changed my life. No doubt about it.Although I've been writing fiction for the better part of twenty years, and despite having read (and loved) Stephen King's book, On Writing, where he admonished writers for not producing more...
