Oliver Campbell's Blog, page 2

The Arc

Arc: the continuous portion of a circle

Character arc isn’t just about change. It’s about having to come back and face who you were, and see that you no longer fit inside that old life. It’s not a 180°, it’s a 360°.

When you read “how to write” advice, everyone will tell you to imagine the worst thing possible happening to your character and then put them through it. Boom. Character developed. Truth is, you’re only halfway there. Your character has just experienced their “transformative event”...

My Kind of Genre

We had a talk last night about genres, and Oliver has this really cool theory about how you can guess a person’s favorite by certain facts about their life. It was hilarious and fun (and a topic for another post). Thinking I was slick, I asked him to tell me MY favorite genre.

I want to go to there…

“Adventure,” he says, without skipping a beat. “Because you’re not into taking risks.”

Grumpface. He’s totally right, of course, even though I really wanted to argue. I am notoriously risk averse. I’...

Happy, Grateful New Year (a personal post)

I don’t talk about my life a whole lot, but I can’t properly start this new year without unburdening a debt I owe- a debt of gratitude. My last year was all set to be a disaster. There’s no other way I can describe it. Everything aligned to put my life in the toilet. Lucky for me, I know the right people.

(Last names are omitted as most of my friends are modest sillybutts who will act shy and weird about this.You still know who you are.)

Jayme: If you ever call in all the favors I owe you, I wi...

You Like Rabbit in the Road? Okay, Show Me.

So, Rabbit in the Road. It’s been out for over a year now. Over 25,000 downloads on Amazon, great reviews and many happy customers. Do you think that Rabbit in the Road deserves a bigger audience? If so, then I’d like to ask you to prove it.

One of the things that has been expressed to me over and over again is, “How come you don’t have a publisher?” Simple. It’s because I believe that in today’s day and age, a publisher is no longer necessary to reach the audience. We now have the tools, and...

It’s Done

(the authors, a year ago, still up to their necks in the book)

Some time four years ago, Oliver told me we were going to write a story. He had an ending in mind, a beautiful ending. He had the idea of a couple of fascinating characters in a place like nothing I’d ever experienced.

At first, I felt like it was a fun little diversion. It kept me from getting crabby about not creating, and it kept us talking constantly about the story and what was coming next. It gave me something to hope for.

Then...

Meet Sadah from The Twisted World

The following is a sample from the first part of our soon to be released fantasy novel series,The Twisted World.

The Aframi are from Afram, also known as the Dark Continent in the world of Su Nobieta. The world of Su Nobieta is interesting because it bears not one, but five moons that orbit it. Because of this strange phenomenon, Afram happens to be positioned in just the right place to where it is cloaked in almost perpetual darkness year round, save for a small seasonal window. Normally the...

Meet A “Twist” from The Twisted World

The following is a sample from the first part of our soon to be released fantasy novel series, The Twisted World.

Twists are… strange things. Some are beautiful, some are peculiar, and others are flat out dangerous. They are localized phenomenon that can appear without warning practically anywhere, and usually cannot be seen, touched, or smelled.

Typically, the only way to detect a twist is to see what kind of effect it has on the local environment, and carefully marking its location to warn ot...

Rabbit in the Road Anniversary Freebie Giveaway: The Customer Is Not Always Right, But Is Most Important

You get a Rabbit and you get a Rabbit and WE ALL GET RABBITS! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!*
*Oprah totally did not read this book, does not endorse it, and probably has no clue what it is. But photoshop hilarity is fun.

This weekend is the 1 year anniversary ofRabbit in the Roadbeing released (specifically, October the 14th)! Because of that, I thought it would make good sense for us to come out of our hidey-holes and talk and do some fun stuff! I decided that the best c...

An Anniversary Missed and Surgery

Hey folks, Mr. Oliver here. It’s been a while, so I thought I would get you caught up to speed.

So it appears that our 1 year anniversary of running this blog was last month. Whoops! Super exciting, but we missed it for a good reason.

If you didn’t know already, way back in January during a routine dental visit it was revealed to me that I had an unknown mass lurking inside of my sinuses. The past 9 months have been, for lack of a better description, emotional hell.

Combine that with moving all...

Interpretation

The interesting thing about this image is that many people believe that it spins to the left. Others are adamant that it spins to the right. The truth of the matter is, the image in fact spins both directions. There is not enough information presented to determine beyond a shadow of a doubt that the woman depicted is spinning in one direction. If you simply relax your eyes and imagine that she is spinning in the opposite direction of what you are currently interpreting it, she WILL spin in th...