Steven Savage's Blog, page 9

Everything Everywhere All At Once: Unspoilable Lessons

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I want to do a review of Everything Everywhere All At Once, the science-fiction drama-comedy starring Michele Yeoh. I want to review it as not only is it worth reviewing, the movie has many lessons for writers and media creators. However, there’s a problem – I don’t want to spoil any of it.

There is nothing in the film I want to risk spoiling because even minor things add to the experience....

Steve’s Update 4/17/2022

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s my latest update. Things got a little behind because of a lot of chaos – schedule changes, exhaustion from my fourth shot (little nausea, but definitely some tired), etc.

The Way With Worlds series: “Misinformation, Disinformation, Propaganda, and Worldbuilding” has been edited after the above disruptions.  Now it’s just a matter of getting it out this week.  I’ve attached the cover...

The Transformation Conundrum

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Not a week goes by where there’s not some question of why a big company/author/etc. doesn’t do something innovative and transformative.  Usually, it’s Disney, at least as of late, but I’ve been seeing this question for years.

Why doesn’t this big company/important person who could genuinely engineer culture do so for good?

Sure we’ve seen some good, along with a lot of evil from media co...

Double Dragon The Movie: Inside Not Out

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I have never watched the entire Double Dragon film from 1994, the infamously bad video game “adaption,” until recently. I say adaption as the movie has nothing to do with the game – a game I remember playing in the arcades. Since the film is terrible, it probably makes the game look better.

Many things that make the film bad – the acting, the effects, the script. But one of the strangest th...

Steve’s Update 4/3/2022

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Note, I’m thinking of making these bi-weekly to coincide with the larger status in my newsletter. Really, not enough interesting happens between less than two weeks!

The Way With Worlds series: “Misinformation, Disinformation, Propaganda, and Worldbuilding” is going to be late due to my editor catching a cold (just a cold).  So no big deal there, expect it around mid-April.  It’s going to ...

Steve’s Book Roundup 4/2/2022

I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I post a roundup of them for interested parties!

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com! 

The core books of the series will help you get going:

Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your ...

What to Marvel at

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Marvel media (movies and TV) are something Serdar and I discuss a great deal because they influence modern culture and modern creators.  They’re unavoidable culturally, commercially, and in influence on the media being developed now.  Unfortunately, I think Marvel productions are leading people to the wrong conclusions.

Is this going to lead to me bashing the films?  No, because most Marvel...

Shock The Creator

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There are two areas of practice where I say, “if something doesn’t shock you, you’re not doing it right.”  One is spiritual practice, and the other is worldbuilding.  Today, I’ll focus on the latter, if only to save you from me discussing psychology and minutae of Taoist breathing exercises.

Every author brings themselves to their worldbuilding because there’s no one else to bring.  Even if...

Craft and Cash

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I’m all for people doing what they like as a job.  It’s usually not what they think, and it is a job, but it’s nice to see.  I even write about do-what-you like, and every now and then, I note that it’s not for everyone.

This is one of those times thanks to Serdar and a discussion on how education for creatives assumes the goal is “make money at it” way too often.  I realized there’s a para...

The Seventy/Thirty Question

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

There’s a book called DIY MFA which argues you don’t need an MFA to be a writer.  Instead one needs to a roadmap to developing skills, analyzing writing, and networking.  A lofty promise, but one I felt the book fulfilled, though some of it seemed very “standard” to me.

After some thought I realized of course some of the book seemed simple and standard – those were the parts I already knew....