Christopher Stocking's Blog, page 18

Know Your Villain

I know the correct term is antagonist, but villain sounds much more dastardly.

I’m a little over 12,000 words into “Dirigible Air Brigade: Dreadnought” (I should be further, but I took a few days off for New Years), and I was struggling with it a little. The words just weren’t flowing. Even though I know where the story is supposed to end (although it may not end that way. If being a pantser has taught me anything, it’s that a story can take a complete turn at any given moment), but I was havi...

2013 Writing Goals

It would appear that the current trend is to inform the world of our writer goals for the new year, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon, even though the bandwagon is technically afallacy. Say what? Never mind. On to the goals!

(Goals are listed in the order I intend to finish them in, but are subject to change.)

1)Publish “London Darkness: War of the Devices.”

I’m just waiting on the updated cover design, then I have to do a final read through and everything should be just about set. I can’t...

I May Be Turning Into My Characters

An interesting, and probably one of the most fun, thing about being a writer is creating, and spending so much time with various characters. We birth them, give them names and personalities. We picture what they look like, but we don’t always describe it. Sometimes we let the reader decide what the character looks like based on how they act and speak.

I’ve found that, in come cases, I spend so much time with some of these characters that I almost begin to act and speak like them. I don’t act l...

Perception

The way in which we perceive

Can be as rocky as the seas

A friend to one is love to another

A friend to one is a brother to an Other

To define is to refine

To make yourself blind

To make it how you see

To fake it how you see

And in your own eyes

It’s easy to despise

To do it out of spite

It’s our only right

The things you hear

Are driven by fear

What’s left to be scared of?

When you can be killed by a dove

Now that it’s at the end

There were so many rules to bend

You took the bait

You succumbed to hate

My Name Is Chris Stocking And I’m An Introvert

Some of you may be thinking“you’re an introvert? So what?” Now, before I get into this, let me begin by saying that I’m certainly no expert on thepsychological research of introversion andextroversion. All I have is personal experience.

Firstly, what is an introvert?

According to Meriam-Webster:

:to turn inward or in upon itself: as

a:to concentrate or direct upon oneself

b:to produce psychologicalintroversion

Okay, but what does that mean? I can show you what it means to me by example.

As an introv...

Gifts Given To A Writer

The holidays are over, the gifts are given, and everyone is happy. Well, hopefully everyone is happy, anyway. I do believe I made out quite well this Christmas.

I’m a firm believer that books are one of the best gifts you can give a writer. Writers, such as myself, are starvings artists. So, sometimes money is a bit too tight to buy books. But this year my family really came through for me. I didn’t get a lot of books, but I got books Ireally wanted, which is so much better. In this case, qual...

Merry/Happy Christmas/Holidays!

(Feel free to read/say the title any way you please! )

It’s Christmas, and unfortunately I will be spending the first part of my day at the day job. The time and a half pay will be nice, though. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday, and I’m sincerely thankful and grateful for each and every one of you. This wouldn’t be possible without you. (Quite literally. No WordPress staff means no WordPress blogs!)

Dirigible Air Corps: Dreadnought

An exciting steampunk idea has jumped into my head, and I have to say I’m having a lot of fun with it. The basic premise of it is the life of Crewman Ezra Wilde on board the Dreadnought, a massive military dirigible. Now, the idea of this post isn’t to tell you about the story. It’s actually about how a simple sketch helped me.

This sketch, to be exact:

You’ll have to forgive me, drawing is not something I’mproficientat. AT ALL. However, this sketch really helped me to visualize what the Dreadn...

Dead Story

Here I am, walking through the cemetery. Or is it a graveyard? Does the terminology matter? Here I am, walking through the home of the dead. Six feet below me are the corpses. Six feet below me are the skeletons. Six feet below me are stories, no longer able to be told by them. They are forever locked in their empty skulls, the breath of these tales captured in the empty, withering lungs. Any number of these stories could be told in a different manner by any of the living, but would they be a...

Blog Of The Year 2012

My blog has been nominated for Blog Of The Year! How exciting! Vikki from The View Outside was wonderful enough to nominate me. Thanks so much, Vikki!

Check outThe Blog Of The Year Award Pagefor rules and info on how it all works.

My nominees are:

Steven Bell at Tales From Xira

Virgina at Poeta Officium

Katy at Storytelling Nomad

Vikki at The View Outside

And Julie at Word Flows

I’m sure there are many more who deserve it!

Thanks again, Vikki! And congratulations to all the winners out there!