Rick Cook Jr.'s Blog, page 3
April 21, 2016
Characters and the Necessity of Growth
One of the things that I struggle with as a writer is creating interesting characters that have all the hallmarks of a real person, but also can grow and change to create a satisfying character arc that feels natural to the story I’m telling. I imagine I’m not alone when I say that.
Some people like to be reductive about this and simply say “just write real people”, but the answer is never that simple. Real people don’t work in most fiction because fiction isn’t about real people. Fiction is...
April 19, 2016
The Wings Take Shape – Part Eleven
It’s Tuesday and you know by now that means it’s time for another entry in the serial novellaThe Wings Take Shape!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Previously on Wings, Captain Renee Mollen and her Winged Riders sought the village of Panagin’s Toll, Sadie the Skinchanger’s home. They found Sadie in a redwood den outside of town, much like the cadshee before her.
Jon, struggling against the Skinchanger form of Stalker and her ability to wrest control o...
April 17, 2016
Breaking the Author – Week Fifteen
It’s April 17th, 2016. Fifteen weeks have come and gone for 2016, so let’s talk about our progress!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
Finish Shapes 1 Editing and Self-Publish It Finish Writing Game Year 1 Editing and Release It For Free Finish Writing Game Year 2 Finish Shapes 2 Writing Plot Shapes 3 for Third Quarter Posting Write Four Short Stories Submit Three Short Stories Finish Gridfall Editing and Begin Submitting to Agents Maintain the blogSo a quick...
April 14, 2016
Description Description Description
It’s Thursday, and that means time to ramble.
What’s in a description? When you’re writing a scene, sometimes you want to get all the details down. What’s the room look like? What’s it smell like? Who’s in the room, and what do THEY look and smell like? What are they doing from second to second? Who simpers playfully and who remarks with anger? What are they wearing? Is it important to know what they’re wearing?
These are all examples of describing the backdrop of a scene or the characters in...
April 12, 2016
The Wings Take Shape – Part Ten
It’s Tuesday and the ongoing adventures of the Winged Riders continues with Part Ten!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Last time on The Wings Take Shape,the Skinchanger Jon struggled with the form known as Stalker, a cougar. When taking the form to protect his squad from a night raid, he lost control and Stalker killed their Scout, Thomas Irons. He managed to control Stalker long enough to flee, leaving the Winged Riders to be captured.
Captain Renee...
April 10, 2016
Breaking the Author – Week Fourteen
It’s April 10th, 2016. It’s time throw an update full of words at you!
My goals for Second Quarter of 2016 (April-June) are as follows:
Finish Shapes 1 Editing and Self-Publish It Finish Writing Game Year 1 Editing and Release It For Free Finish Writing Game Year 2 Finish Shapes 2 Writing Plot Shapes 3 for Third Quarter Posting Write Four Short Stories Submit Three Short Stories Finish Gridfall Editing and Begin Submitting to Agents Maintain the blogSo a quick rundown of what I accomplish...
April 7, 2016
Should You Limit Yourself to One Genre?
It’s Thursday here at Panning For Clouds and that means I’m gonna ramble on about something that’s been stuck in my head for a while, that is probably in some way related to writing, editing, or publishing.
You ready for this?
So as the article’s title suggests, there’s often this THING in the publishing world that you hear about. “We want to publish your detective novels, not your sci fi novels.” “You should only write fantasy because it’s the thing people like the most.” “We have no interes...
April 5, 2016
The Wings Take Shape – Part Nine
If you’ve been impatiently waiting to find out what happened to Jon, well, this is your Tuesday! It’s time for the next part of my serial novellaThe Wings Take Shape!
If you’re new to the story, head to Part One and start from the beginning!
Previously, the last known Winged Riders and free soldiers of an empire under siege were taken captive. Jon turned into a cougar using his Skinchanging ability, killed with reckless abandon, and fled into the night.
The other Winged Riders, under Captain...
April 3, 2016
Breaking the Author – Week Thirteen
It’s April 3rd, 2016. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, Let’s do that update thing I do!
My goals for the thirteenth week of the year were as follows:
Write Shapes 2 Part 9 Write Week 4 for Writing Game Year 2 Continue broad edits on Writing Game Year 1 Finish line edits on Shapes 1 * Maintain the blog Submit a short story Write a short storyDidn’t manage to submit or write a short story this week. Too much going on and I’m trying to focus in on that editing thing a bit more.
I wr...
March 31, 2016
Media Medley – March 2016
And now, for your entertainment pleasure, it’s time for the month-end media roundup!
Actually, we’re not doing that. It was kind of lacking in substance and it took a long amount of time to do without a lot of payoff.
So instead I’m going to break down my FAVORITE thing from each type of media I consumed over the month of March.
Let’s get to it!
MovieI didn’t watch a ton of movies during March (I rarely do these days, it seems), but I did see Batman v. Superman (it was garbage), I watched De...
