Colby R. Rice's Blog, page 15
May 17, 2017
How to Write That Sci-Fi Novel You Always Wanted To Write
Let’s get one thing straight; sci-fi books are totally badass. They get to explore a place and space that has never been explored because everything – every last little detail – is brewed in the dark recesses of your freaking awesome mind. There is just one Game Of Thrones sized wall to overcome, and that is writing a sci-fi novel ain’t easy.
So, here’s my advice:
1. Never Try To Write A Best-Seller
The reason being, you can’t. It is impossible. Best-sellers are not only subjective and unexpected, they are part of trends that come and go, so if you are trying to write a best-seller that is part of a current trend, well, sorry sweetheart, but you are already behind. Anyway, it’s like we said, no one knows what is going to be a success and every successful author has had to fight for their place.
2. Write The Book You Want To Stay Up All Night Reading
There is one really quick way to failing as a writer, and that is to write a book that you wouldn’t read. There is just no point in it. Writing is a craft that needs love, attention, intrigue and bloodthirsty lust; so only write the things you want to write and the things you want to read. If you don’t love it no one else will. Simple.
3. Sit Down And Start Typing
So many people want to write a book but they don’t want to put in the work. They want to have written a book. Maybe they will try for a bit, before realising how long and arduous the process of writing is. But sitting in a chair and tapping away persistently and determinedly is the only way you’ll ever get that best-seller written. Write, write and then write some more. We get better with every page we sculpt, remember that.
4. Cardboard Characters Will Always Suck
Sure, writing a cool world with loads of cool stuff is cool, but it isn’t enough. What makes a story is the characters, people or things that we can bond with and care about and relate to. They are the main source of awesomeness when it comes to being sympathetic in a sentence, the thing that will get hairs standing up and tears rolling down cheeks and, maybe, just maybe, fists punching the air. If people don’t care about your characters then they aren’t going to care about the cool world you have created.
5. Forget About Anything But Your Writing
If you want to have a best-selling book more than anything then you may find you’ll be disappointed. This is because it is impossible to control all the variables that it takes to achieve that success; the marketing, the timing, the agents and publishers, the media and the landscape. Instead, focus on just one thing; writing a book that is as good as you can get it. Write a book that you are totally proud of. A book that you want to read and that others will want to read to. Forget the best-seller thing, it is out of your control. Just up your chances by writing something amazing.
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May 9, 2017
Offworlder Update (5/9/17)
** A special lovey dovey update for my email subscribers! **
Hey Offworlders! Just checking in with an author update for you guys and a THANK YOU SO MUCH for being on my reader list! xoxoxo
And, as always, FREE BOOKS & SWAG with more giveaways! 
April 17, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (4/17/17): Writing, Surviving Grad School, and AMAZING GIVEAWAYS!!
I’ve just mostly been working on Hollow Point (for The Books of Ezekiel series) and designing the Sandman film. And, of course, surviving grad school (barely).
And, as always, FREE BOOKS & SWAG with more giveaways!
April 7, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (4/7/17): Q1 Achievements, Q2 Goals, and Q2 Kick-off!
This is the wrap up and run down of ALL of my creative achievements from Q1 2017 (Jan 1 – Mar 31). I go into detail and run on tangents in my video update, but here’s a bulleted list of things I knocked off my plate:
Q1 2017 CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS
* 3,770 Offworlders gained (aka readers to my subscriber list)
* 10 masterclasses finished
* 10 plays reviewed on the blog
* 8 signature courses finished
* 6 more covers for The Books of Ezekiel series commissioned
* 5 more covers for The Hitmen of Happily Ever After commissioned
* 5 video intros for Rebel Ragdoll Productions commissioned
* 4 creative opportunities applied for; 2 won and 2 pending!
* 3 logos commissioned (Rebel Ragdoll Productions, Rebel Ragdoll Press, and Chick Rogue Studios)
* 3 major giveaway cycles completed
* 3 film concepts created and added to Hustlin’ spreadsheet (Sandman 1, Sandman 2, and Surrogate)
* 2 new podcasts recorded and posted for The Bohemian Badass’ B-Badass Podcast
* 2 new software solutions learned (Zapier and Instafreebie)
* 1 new novel concept added to Hustlin’ spreadsheet (for Doe City Thriller series)
* 1 AMAZING opportunity in television (that I still can’t talk about) thrown into lap
* 1 live radio interview for iNKliNG completed!
* 1 yearly round up and wrap up for 2016 completed
* 1 2017 goal list for all creative business, personal life, and health created
* 1 complete filmmaking kit purchased: camera, lenses, bags, tripods, sound system, and lighting system
* 1 production calendar and timeline created for all three subsidiaries
* 1 theatre production wrapped for (Creeps), including actor’s packet, pre-show video essay, soundtrack, website, and post-show
* 1 poetic flash play co-written, co-curated, and co-directed (iNKliNG)
* 1 short film shot, wrapped, and in post-production (Home)
* 1 plotting template for The Bohemian Badass’ “Plot like a Badass” course polished up
* 1 course outlined for The Bohemian Badass’ “Creating Badass Characters” course created
* 1 new blog post written and posted for The Bohemian Badass Blog
* 1 email marketing system and sequence configured
* 1 horror film in progress (Sandman): worldbuilding, concept design, outlining script, planning budget, planning film concepts, blocking, themes, and cinematic look
* 1 directing & producing protocol created for Rebel Ragdoll Productions
* 1 book launch plan in progress
* 1 boxset author collaboration in progress!
* Worldbuilding, plotting, and character development for The Books of Ezekiel series
* Worldbuilding, plotting, and character development for The Hitmen of Happily Ever After series
* Worldbuilding, plotting, and character development for the ASYLUM series
* Participated in a multitude of cross-promotion activities with fellow authors
* Maintained the author blog and vlog at Colby R. Rice
* Worked on The Books of Ezekiel TV series
OTHER STUFF:
* Wrangling with the Grad School Beast: 3 classes, 1 production, and 1 TA-ship — still ongoing, but coming to a close
* Upped my self-care game
* Major progress for the little Queen: she loves her daycare, is weaned, and is now sleeping in her own bed. HALLELUJAH!
THINGS READ AND/OR STUDIED: 20 plays
TOTAL Q1 WORD COUNT: 16,116 words
PAGE COUNT (FOR PLAY I’M WORKING ON): 35 pages
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March 31, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (3/31/17): Final Q1 Updates!!
Been busy, busy, busy this semester, but my projects are coming along fantastically. Step by step, all will get done.
Look forward to my Q1 roundup, where I give a run-down of everything I’ve done, achieved, learned, finished, and failed at for the first three months of the year. PLUS, I’ll do a part II where I lay out my goals for Q2, so I can knock my goals out the park by this July!
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March 28, 2017
Play Review: Vietgone by Qui Nguyen
Vietgone by Qui NguyenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Qui Nguyen does it again, UGH!! I LOVED THIS PLAY!
Vietgone was so touching and poignant, and also simultaneously hilarious. And real. I really enjoyed reading it, and I’m pretty sure Qui is one of my favorite playwrights now. I LOVED the way he turns language on its head and subverts our understanding of “the outsider”, by allowing us to hear what Americans sound and look like in stereotypical translation. It was great hearing how I might sound speaking Vietnamese really poorly and to be caricaturized; it’s literally something we NEVER see in mass media, and I love Qui for that.
The rapping sequences also gave me LIFE.
I love how there is also an entire generational language happening here, which I LOVED. LOVED. Between Tong, Quang, Huong, and Nhan, we see them as fully-realized human beings living their lives in as much color and feeling and expression as possible. Then when we see the Playwright with Quang in the end (the Playwright being Quang’s son), we see Quang re-characterized from the Playwright’s perspective: as annoying, slightly out-of-touch, old-fashioned… everything we see immigrants characterized as on television, but not ever fully human. This juxtaposition of perspectives was so powerful to me; to realize that our parents lived lives that were just as real as our own is also super subversive in many ways.
The very real way that Qui expresses the horrors and losses experienced during war really resonated with me; my heart just broke at all the flashbacks and the very real ways in which these families were torn apart by the war. It really hurt too to see that Quang had to finally face the truth about not being able to go back to his family, and I felt both really tortured and uncomfortable with the not-knowing anything about his family’s fate. The only thing that gave even the slightest comfort about him not being able to go back was that his children never really knew him; so there wasn’t much of a loss for them there. But not knowing what happened to his wife, children, and family was pure torture. Same with Tong’s brother, Khue and Pham.
I guess we are supposed to get closure from the fact that Tong and Quang end up together, but there’s still a huge hole for me (in my heart) at the end of the play. I cried. At the same time, Qui does an amazing job of humanizing everyone, subverting stereotypes and expectations, and of giving everyone a deep and abiding motivation for who and how they are. Even Nhan, who doesn’t have much of a character arc, still serves a really important purpose to the overarching story. The themes about the American perspective on the Vietnam war hit home for me pretty hard, because Qui taps into a social consciousness that Americans (myself included) have never really interrogated; he brings some real talk to our armchair summary of the war, especially because we only talk about the Vietnam War as it pertained to the loss of American lives, glory, and legitimacy. But no one ever talks about what was really going on on the ground level, and Qui minces no words as he sets us completely straight.
There’s a lot going on here, and way more than I have time to parse out; there are SO many layers that are easier to discuss in person than on a written review. Sorry my thoughts are so all over the place, but WOOOOOW. This play really blew me away. So authentic, funny, grounding, and real. So SO good. Loved it.
Rock on, READ on,
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March 21, 2017
Play Review: Two Trains Running by August Wilson
Two Trains Running by August WilsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this play for my Playwriting class, so read this review with that in mind.
This play is so on point, and also just so damned delightfully BLACK. Definitely something to add to the “Stay Woke” syllabus, especially because, unfortunately, the social zeitgeist has not changed much, it seems. LOVE IT. I also felt as though I was sitting around a bunch of my uncles, listening to them talk about life, love, spirituality, and politics. But what I love the most about Wilson’s piece is that it is not only honest with a racially-divided society, but it’s also really honest with itself and with Black people about the state of Black people.
But what I love the most about Wilson’s piece is that it is not only honest with a racially-divided society, but it’s also really honest with itself and with Black people about the state of Black people.
The character I connected with the most, strangely enough, was Hambone. His function as the “soul of Black folk” was super powerful for me in the play. The very perseverance of getting what one is owed, because he worked for it and was swindled out of it, and trying to reconcile society’s debt to you is super powerful. At the same time, Wilson seems to also be making a counterargument via Hambone, that if you wait on another (even if he owes you) to give you your due, you’ll not only be waiting forever, but you may just collapse in on yourself. It’s surprisingly segregationist and nationalist in a sort of “reverse” way.
Loved this. OBVIOUSLY would love to produce this.
Rock on, READ on,
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March 20, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (3/20/17): Shot My First Short Film! + Other Updates
Had an AMAZING kick-ass spring break, where I did tons of awesome, creative, artsy stuff, including:
1. Shot my first short film, “Home”! (I was the Producer and the DP, lol!)
2. Worked my ass off on my next “Books of Ezekiel” novel, “Hollow Point”
3. Continued my work on my first horror feature, “Sandman”
4. Continued plotting, worldbuilding, character design,and series design for “The Hitmen of Happily Ever After” series
5. Resurrected The Bohemian Badass blog and podcast
6. Worked on an upcoming course from The Bohemian Badass, called “Plot like a Badass”
7. Rested, actually COOKED, and did some serious self-care
It was awesome, and it gave me a taste for the kind of life I actually want: making my own hours, having a flexible work life that I can adjust around my daughter, and of course, writing / filmmaking / creating ALL DAY LONG!
FOUR FREE GIVEAWAYS THIS MONTH!
1. FREE Kindle Fire HD Giveaway: http://jasonpaulricebooks.com/442-2/ (ENDS MARCH 25!!)
2. Women in Fiction Giveaway: https://www.ndjonesparanormalpleasure...
3. 300+ FREE Books in over 20 Genres: http://melanietomlin.com/tpr-freebies
4. The FREE “Start Reading Diverse” Book Giveaway: http://lcmawson.com/srdgiveaway/
5. JOIN THE VIP GIVEAWAY LIST: To get a VIP early peek at these giveaways before they’re announced publicly, join the giveaway VIP list here to get them delivered RIGHT to your inbox: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pa…
“PERSONAL CREATIVE UNIVERSITY” COURSES:
1. Black Money 102: How to Invest in Stocks (includes Intelligent Boss Moves course w/ Damon Dash): theblackbusinessschool.com/p/black-mo...
2. Tiffany the Budgetnista’s Live Richer Challenges: http://www.livericherchallenge.com/
3. James Patterson’s Masterclass on Writing: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/j...
4. Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass on Screenwriting: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/a.... Shonda Rhimes’ Masterclass on Writing for Television: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/s...
5. Werner Herzog’s Masterclass on Filmmaking: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/w.... Hans Zimmer’s Masterclass on Film Scoring: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/h...
6. Steve Martin’s Masterclass on Comedy: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/s...
7. Dustin Hoffman’s Masterclass on Acting: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/d...
8. Kevin Spacey’s Masterclass on Acting: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/k...
9. Dialogue & Subtext Course (Screenwriting U): https://dn143.infusionsoft.com/app/or...
10. Check out Hollywood Camera Work to Learn Directing, Visual Effects, and Blocking / Staging: http://hollywoodcamerawork.com
VIDEO NOTES:
00:21 I JUST HAD THE BEST CREATIVE SPRING BREAK EVER!
01:14 My Ideal Life as a Creative Professional, Novelist, Screenwriter, and Filmmaker
03:50 My Daily Schedule as an Independent Creative Entrepreneur
04:30 Creative Updates!!
05:15 Marketing for Independent Creatives + my Q2 “Loyal Reader” Giveaway!
07:23 Finishing Up the Black Money 102 Course + Tiffany the Budgetnista’s Live Richer Courses + Get Your Business Financial Health on Point!! + #BlackMoneyMatters
12:30 The Splitting of “The Iron Maiden” & The Birth of “Hollow Point” in The Books of Ezekiel Series
15:05 The Release Date of Hollow Point is JULY 3, 2017!
15:30 The Order of The Books of Ezekiel Books + Seasonal Arcs
18:20 WE SHOT OUR FIRST SHORT FILM!!!! AND I’m Working on My Black Women in Horror Documentary: What I Learned and Am Learning on Set as a Director, DP, Editor, Producer, and a VFX Editor-in-Training!
30:35 More Updates on My Writing Progress for All Other Projects
32:25 James Patterson’s Masterclass on Writing! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ASPIRING WRITERS (The chapters on outlining, writing suspense, building chapters, and collaboration are particularly interesting.)
38:53 Pacing Your Novel: The James Patterson Way (LOVE IT)
40:35 Writing Collaboration: The James Patterson Way (and Acknowledging the Strengths and Weaknesses You Bring to a Partnership)
43:43 Other Masterclasses to Take! Aaron Sorkin’s, Shonda Rhimes’, and Werner Herzog’s Masterclasses
44:23 Cover Reveal, Beta-Reader Recruitment, and Book Launch for HOLLOW POINT!
45:15 The Bohemian Badass: Upcoming Course on Plotting “Plot like a Badass”, The B-Badass Podcast, and Blog Updates (and Podcasts / Blogs to Come!)49:57 First Day Back at Grad School, the Plan for the Final 7 Weeks of It, and Dashing to the Finish of the Semester!
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March 7, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (3/7/17): Brief Creative Updates + March Giveaways
Dude! I swear I haven’t been away on purpose. I had an update on February 28, 2017, but for whatever reason, YouTube would NOT let me upload it! Technology is really messing with me, lol. Anyways, I made a shorter, more recent video on my updates, so here it is!
FOUR FREE GIVEAWAYS THIS MONTH!
1. FREE Kindle Fire HD Giveaway: http://jasonpaulricebooks.com/442-2/
2. Women in Fiction Giveaway: https://www.ndjonesparanormalpleasure...
3. 300+ FREE Books in over 20 genres: http://melanietomlin.com/tpr-freebies
4. The FREE “Start Reading Diverse” Book Giveaway: http://lcmawson.com/srdgiveaway/
5. JOIN THE VIP GIVEAWAY LIST: To get a VIP early peek at these giveaways before they’re announced publicly, join the giveaway VIP list here to get them delivered RIGHT to your inbox: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pa…
“PERSONAL CREATIVE UNIVERSITY” COURSES:
1. Check out Hollywood Camera Work to Learn Directing, Visual Effects, and Blocking / Staging: http://hollywoodcamerawork.com
2. Black Money 102: How to Invest in Stocks (includes Intelligent Boss Moves course w/ Damon Dash): theblackbusinessschool.com/p/black-mo...
3. Tiffany the Budgetnista’s Live Richer Challenges: http://www.livericherchallenge.com/
4. Dialogue & Subtext Course (Screenwriting U): https://dn143.infusionsoft.com/app/or...
VIDEO NOTES:
01:18 Novel Writing, Screenwriting, and Filmmaking Updates
03:32 Cool Career Opportunity Update
04:20 Grad School Updates
04:33 The Bohemian Badass Updates
06:04 Creative Plans for Spring Break
06:47 Final Stuff I Have to do for the CREEPS Production
07:42 “Black Women in Horror” Documentary / Video Essay I’m Working On!
10:39 Metaphor Maven Masterclass!
12:26 Producing and Directing My Own Theatre
14:09 Art vs. Theory, Eurocentric Theatre History vs. World Theatre History, and Exposure to Work Written by People of Color
16:49 FOUR Giveaways this Month!
18:58 Creative University & Course Updates
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February 17, 2017
Colby’s Creative Journal (2/17/17): THREE Giveaways and Getting Business Savvy as a Creative
After a brief hiatus, I’m back (FINALLY!!), and still committed to this badass creative journey I’m on. TONS of busy work happening this month as I’m desperately taming the psycho lion that is grad school and the personal challenges that come along with it. I’m nearly at the finish line of this semester’s mad dash, so bear with me.
