R.K. MacPherson's Blog
September 26, 2019
The Real Reason Kyle Katarn is an Outcast
So, a brilliant Star Wars game, Jedi Knight II – Jedi Outcast, was rereleased this week, bringing it to PlayStation 4 (Yay!) and other platforms. Featuring Kyle Katarn, the original game was well-received, giving players a great experience at lightsabering people and/or occasionally Force choking them.
[image error]Image: Raven Softwareio9 published an article yesterday saying we need more Kyle Katarns, which is absolutely true. Kyle is a great protagonist, but James Whitbrook, the author, completely mis...
June 17, 2019
The Lunar Gateway is a Mistake
NASA recently announced plans to construct the Lunar Gateway, which is to serve as a temporary base for operations on the moon and Mars. It’s part of a comprehensive initiative, if you take NASA at its word. It’s even got some spiffy images to back it up.
[image error]Image: NASAHere’s the thing. The Lunar Gateway makes almost no sense for mission purposes. Mandating a scientific outpost over the moon in order to study it (and Mars, for some reason) offers no real benefits compared to an actu...
June 12, 2019
The Hidden Threat
At the end of Erebus, Dash and the other characters are in a completely foreign situation. Their world will never, can never, be the same. In one sense, they’re not unlike pioneers exploring a new frontier, and that metaphor will work for awhile, but refugee would be more apt.
Book 2 sees the characters enduring life aboard their ships,...
June 10, 2019
The Necessity of Diversity
Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Annihilation…what do they have in common?
The answer is simple. When I saw these films, I lost count of how many people said it was so great to see something of themselves represented in a film.
Something that I, as a cishet dude, have almost never had to utter in my life.
[image error]The future is NOT going to be all white. Austin DistelNot that I haven’t been the Tolkien white dude in some places. My first middle school had a white minorit...
June 7, 2019
5 Ways to Write Stronger Characters
Stories revolve around characters. No matter the setting, if the reader can’t get interested in the people in the story, they’re not going to invested in your tale. I have five ways to make your characters come to life.
A great name – Names really make characters for me. In general, I try to choose names that have some meaning and give some clue to their background. Find a name that sounds great when you say it as well as looks terrific on the pa...June 4, 2019
The Truth About Publishing
Whether you’re an indie author or a writer with a shiny book deal, the truth is that publishing takes a great deal of work. The biggest difference is a publisher does most of the work for their authors (covers, design, layout, etc.) where as an indie author gets to do all of that too!
Fun times!
As I showed you last week, Erebus is coming along nicely. I actually submitted the Kindle version for publication and am working on the paperback version.
Still working. I’m still working on the paper...
August 18, 2014
STORE CLOSED – Moved to new location!
As you can see from the date of my previous post, Raven’s Nest doesn’t get a lot of action. This is partly because writing is not nearly as action-packed as one might suspect, but it’s also becauseTabinin.netis where the bulk of my blogging takes place these days.
So, I’m consolidating. Effective immediately, my writing blog and my adventure blog will be one and the same.
I’ll hope you’ll follow along and I really hope you enjoy reading my books.
June 23, 2014
Four Ways To Avoid The Trope Of The ‘Strong Female Character’
As someone whose lead is a female character, who I find rather strong, I’m always on the lookout for tropes to avoid–or subvert.
Excellent post. Read it!
Originally posted on The Z-Axis:
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the role of women in literature and film from an article called “We’re Losing All Our Strong Female Characters To Trinity Syndrome”. Published last week by Tasha Robinson, the article primarily argues that screenwriters are providing cop-out “strong female...
June 16, 2014
Killing and Storytelling
This post is not about telling stories about how this dude ended up dead in your walk-in freezer. Leave me out of that. You going to jail, so just accept it.
No, this post is about when killing feels necessary, when it isn’t, and what separates the two.
To illustrate this, I’m going to invite my good friend Adam Jensen. He’s an ex-SWAT commander-turned-private security dude fromDeus Ex: Human Revolution, a superb game from Ubisoft.After a terrible worker’s comp claim, Adam returns to work as a...
June 13, 2014
Writer Survey Results
Reaching readers is crucial to our business success (creative success might be another story). These results confirm most of my suspicions about marketing, though I would love to know what the sample size was.
Read on, writers. This is worth your time.
Originally posted on Linda Bloodworth:
A little while back I asked a bunch of questions and I finally compiled everything. I really enjoyed learning more about what people want and how they want to be catered to. Rather insightful...
