R.M. ArceJaeger's Blog, page 24

Building Your Antagonist: How to Create an Effective Enemy

Everyone loves a good bad guy. But what is it that makes them so deliciously evil? How do we write one that the audience can love to hate, or start out hating but then grow to love?

Step #1: Provide your character with a redeeming quality

The key to writing any antagonist is to make them approachable. This means that they must have some good, redeeming characteristic. Whether it's Darth Vader who has a soft spot for his son and ends up dying to save him, or Star Trek's Nero who destroys a...

The Write.Ncshall Scam

Yesterday I got this lovely comment in response to one of my posts:

We really need writers desperately. After checking out this site, we really want you on our staff. We pay out $35-$50 hourly. Our best people are pulling in over $90K a YEAR, composing part-time. Please swing by and see what we have to offer. http://write.ncsall.org

Seems like a good deal, right? My writing skills are obviously badly needed, and $90K a year is pretty good.

Yeah, right.

This is a scam that has been appearing in...

Costa Rica: Day 2 – Atirro

I closed my eyes but could still feel the taxi swerve across the jagged road, so I opened them again just in time to see the driver — busy talking with Mamá Tica in the front seat — veer into the other lane, nearly clipping a pedestrian runner and causing the oncoming car to veer into our lane to avoid hitting us. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept them that way until we reached our destination.

Atirro really is a small country town. The dirt and gravel roads are bordered by wide sugarcane...

Costa Rica: Day 2 – Turrialba

The streets of San José, Costa Rica were devoid of people as our commuter bus wended its way through the city. At first, I attributed the closed storefronts (shuttered with bars and metal gates, every one) to the early hour — 6:30 in the morning. Our driver informed us, however, that the city was usually crawling with people by this time, and that their absence had less to do with the hour than with the day — Holy Thursday. Holy Thursday occurs three days before Easter and marks the occasion ...

Costa Rica: Day 1 – San Francisco (USA)

I rarely sleep the night before a big flight. Usually the reason stems from a combination of last-minute packing, things I want to do before I leave (like finish watching Anne of Avonlea) and simple adrenaline. This night was no different. I went to bed around 4:30 am, and got up to leave around 6:00 a.m.

I'll fast forward through my three-hour long drive to the Bay Area, and focus on San Francisco. San Francisco is a city with a lot of history, and it presides over the Bay with what some...

Costa Rica: The Good, The Bad, The Pura Vida!

I just got back from a two week trip to Costa Rica — a country as lush in its beauty as in its culture. Or so it seems. But is it really as nice as it's purported to be? Is everything in Costa Rica really Pura Vida, or does Costa Rica need some more Pura in its Vida?

Journey with me and find out as over the next few days, I take you to the city of Turrialba, the town of Atirro, the river Pacuare and the national archaeological monument of Guayabo. Zipline with me through the the canopies of t...