K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 66
July 2, 2015
Go Play Gran Text Auto
I’m not much of a gamer these days. Between editing Red Litten World, working on finishing up my new manuscript, and starting the research and planning phase for book four of The Bell Forging Cycle, I don’t have very much time. It’s probably no surprise that I love short play games. They’re the perfect gaming fix while I commute on the train or find myself in a waiting room.
Yesterday, a good friend of mine, Kevin Mangan, released his first iOS game: Gran Text Auto. I absolutely love it. You play as a sassy octogenarian emoji named Gran. Your goal is to do your best answering text messages while trying to dodge obstacles at the same time. Sounds simple enough but it’s much harder than it seems. So often as I am trying to respond to one of the game’s many characters I find myself over-correcting and ending up in a horrific crash.
While the gameplay is challenging and fun and provides that right balance that leaves you craving for another go around what really sold me was the writing. The dialog, provided in the form of text messages, is witty and sharp. The jokes are layered sometimes subtle but always hilarious. Another friend of mine recently posted that he often gets in wrecks because he’s laughing at the texts. I know those feelings. Oh boy, do I know those feelings.
If you’re looking for a fun game to play for the upcoming weekend, give Gran Text Auto a shot. It’s perfectly polished. The music is incredible. The voice acting is spot on. The gameplay is addicting. Also, it’s FREE (supported by ads, which you can turn off for only 99¢). It’s a great mobile game with a tremendous sense of humor and very much worth your time.
Download Gran Text Auto →
Follow Gran on Twitter →
Follow Gran on Facebook →
So far my high score is 24. Can you beat me?
Filed under: Recommendations Tagged: games, gran text auto, ios, kevin mangan, mobile games
July 1, 2015
Red Litten World Swag Is Starting To Arrive
Pretty excited about these new 1″ buttons…
Filed under: Red Litten World, swag Tagged: Buttons, ced's, the bell forging cycle
#Kaijuly Is Here
Who doesn’t love kaijū? From Godzilla to King Kong, giant monsters are a mainstay within science fiction and fantasy. Literature has its share of famous giants. We have the shai-hulud in Dune, the avanc in The Scar, and even to the balrog in Lord of the Rings. There’s something incredibly engaging about enormous creatures.
by
Matt Nelson
Well, last year, some of my more artistic friends decided to celebrate these giant creatures and have taken to Tumblr for an event they call #Kaijuly. It’s a celebration in art of all things giant monster! Each day artists post new and original pieces starring creatures from film, movies, books, television, and myth. It’s a lot of fun. I’d highly recommend checking it out and if you’re the artistic type… perhaps participate yourself?
by
Josh Montreuil
(Josh also illustrated
Godzilla
above.)Hit the links below and check out the fun:
#Kaijuly Hashtag On Tumblr →
#Kaijuly Tumblr Board →
#Kaijuly Hashtag on Twitter →
Joining in the #Kaijuly fun? Why not link some of your own work in the comments? I’m sure all of the readers of this blog would love to see your work!
Filed under: Art Tagged: art, avanc, balrog, godzilla, Josh Montreuil, Kaijuly, kaijū, king kong, matt nelson, monsters, shai-hulud, Tumblr, twitter
June 30, 2015
Camp NaNoWriMo Kicks Off Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the beginning of the summer session of National Novel Writing Month: Camp NaNoWriMo! If you’re new to writing or just want to try out the lifestyle, I highly encourage you to attempt a NaNoWriMo at least once. It’s a fascinating experience. It’ll help you discover your creative process and understand how you work as a writer.
Since the kickoff is tomorrow, I figured it’d be helpful to share some of my previous NaNoWriMo posts with everyone. Hopefully, you can glean something useful from my advice.
NaNoWriMo Is Here
I offer a few simple steps to getting your writing project complete, from spending time researching, to actully writing those 1700 words a day, to getting involved in the NaNoWriMo community.
NaNoWriMo Cometh – Four Early Tips To Enhance Your Novel Writing
While most of these require some preparation ahead of time, I find that these four tips are very helpful in aiding any author. I have four every single one of these critical to my own success.
and when you’re done…
NaNoWriMo Is Over, Now What?
Save this one until August 1st. I break down some thoughts on where you can take that freshly finished manuscript.
Oh, since you’re starting out, do yourself a favor and watch this video. It’s still the best (and most encouraging) little videos for anyone starting something new. (It’s also a bit NSFW, so consider yourself warned.)
Good luck campers! Have fun, we’ll all be here on the other side ready and excited to read your finished masterpieces.
Filed under: writing Tagged: advice, camp nanowrimo, encouragement, NaNoWriMo, publishing, research, ze frank
June 26, 2015
Nothing Foolproof
“If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.”
I cannot tell you how many people I know who talk and talk and talk about writing, and then spend their days picking away at excuses why they cannot write. They don’t have the right tools. They don’t have enough time. The weather isn’t right. They ran out of coffee. The excuses are endless. The trick, as Atwood says so eloquently, is recognizing that it’ll never be the right time. You just do and you keep doing until you’re done.
Filed under: Quotes Tagged: advice, encouragement, excuses, margaret atwood, process, routine, writing
June 25, 2015
There Will Be No Friday Link Pack Tomorrow
Wanted to make a quick post letting you know that there won’t be a Friday Link Pack tomorrow. [Sad trombone.] I’m the best man at a friend’s wedding and will be away from the internet. I do have a great quote queued for tomorrow, but no time to gather the links for a proper Pack. If you’re looking for some links for your Friday, why not check out some of these previous Link Packs:
Friday Link Pack 02/13/15
Hemingway trolls, the importance of editing, a problem no writer likes talking about, the ten scariest Lovecraftian monsters, Jurassic mammoth, and more.
Featured Lovecraft Story: Discarded Draft Of The Shadow over Innsmouth
Friday Link Pack 09/19/2014
Some great links here. Confronting Lovecraft’s racism, working with beta readers, old maps online, the work of Sergey Kolesov, every tree in the United States, and famous paintings of Jacob wrestling with the angel, ranked by how much their actions resemble slow-dancing.
Featured Lovecraft Story: The Mound
Friday Link Pack 01/17/14
Kids reading digitally, twenty-two reasons why commas are so important, the onion reviews the Desolation of Smaug, Austin Parkhill paints “Ringle”, the Seattle Archipelago, the evolution of the scuba mask.
Featured Lovecraft Story: The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast
Filed under: Link Pack, News Tagged: lovecraft, sad trombone, the mound, The Shadow Over Innsmouth
June 24, 2015
Mad Max: Fury Road And The Art Of Worldbuilding
Note: The following will contain shiny and chrome spoilers for Mad Max: Fury Road. Consider yourself warned.
Show don’t tell. Show don’t tell. Show don’t tell. As writers, we’ve been given this advice time and time again. And it’s good advice, and one that we should all take to heart. Lately, I have been working on a series of blog posts focusing on my theories and strategies around worldbuilding. However, after seeing George Miller’s incredible Mad Max: Fury Road not once, but twice in theaters (a rarity for me) I wanted to jump ahead of my series. I think the movie serves as an excellent example of how any storyteller can properly worldbuild.
So often I see new writers struggle with their worldbuilding. Both epic fantasy and hard sci-fi suffers from this problem, but it can happen in any genre. It’s easy for us to want to explain every detail. We know the backstories for our characters, we understand how our world works, we know the religions, the species, the cultures, the cities, the weather patterns, and so much more about our worlds. It’s exciting and fun and so often we choose the dullest way to explain that: exposition. It’s hard not to fall into the trap. We want to share all this with the reader. We’re excited about it! But instead of focusing on plot, characters, and the story, we spend significantly more time on exposition talking about the world and less time on telling a good story and let the world reveal itself naturally. This is what Fury Road does perfectly and why I think it’s such a wonderful example.
Now, we should established this is an action movie so it’s fast paced and intense. But it’s also bizarre and fantastic and seems almost dreamlike in its strangeness. But it works, and it’s believable, despite its absurdity. And it works because of the way Miller handles the worldbuilding. Unlike most modern action movies, Fury Road doesn’t slow itself down to explain every nuanced detail to the viewer. It doesn’t speak down to the audience. No character goes into long speeches about how things got this way. Instead, with a few short scenes the wasteland gets established as a place. We understand who Max is (a survivor with a haunted past) what his goals and motivations are (to survive) and how he has ended up in the predicament he is in (captured by Immortun Joe and his War Boys). Along the way, we are introduced to the citadel, and the civilization that has been built up around it. And this is all before the title card appears.
Miller continues this style throughout the rest of the film. So much is revealed, and Miller spends more time showing, and never slows down to tell and explain every detail. Everyone reacts as if all the strangeness is just perfectly normal, and it works. It was refreshing. In the first part of the movie, before we even get to the chase scenes the viewer is presented with a vignette of short scenes that allow us to understand the motives of the War Boys, their cult of V8, how they behave with one another, and even their social structure. In other films, we’d get voice overs explaining how everything works or we’d have several scenes of slow dialog that spells it all out. However, Miller doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time. He recognizes that the viewer is smart, and presents it all as plot and moves on.
This is the subtle art of worldbuilding at some of its finest and writers should take note. By the time Furiosa flees with the War Rig, and before we are introduced to the Wives we have all the information we need on the setting. We understand the world, it feels alive, lived in, and deeply rich in culture and history. It allows us to understand why Furiosa is doing what she does, and why the Wives want to flee Immortun Joe. Even the characters are revealed through their actions. Each of the Wives is a unique person with different and varied personalities. Without being told we figure out which one of them is the leader, the dreamer, the heart, and so on.
When I sat out to write The Stars Were Right, I made a decision early on that everything would be revealed from Wal’s perspective. He would tell what he knew as he came across it, and only so much as to keep things interesting. It would be done conversationally. As if you were walking through a new place with a friend. After all, Wal doesn’t know everything, just as we, inhabitants in our world don’t know everything. We only know what is interesting to us. What Wal does reveal is enough for the reader to sort out for themselves, and it also leaves a mystery which keeps a world engaging. Wal’s belief in the world around him translates into belief for the reader and even in an unfamiliar world like the Territories can feel alive and real.
Readers are explorers. Whenever any of us set out to read we want to explore the world you have built whether it is a high fantasy empire, a savage wasteland, a quirky small town, even a small family farm. Revealing that world to us naturally, and using the world to move the plot along is the perfect way to keep a reader engaged and the best way to build that world. This is the best takeaway we can get from Fury Road. Keep the worldbuilding simple and subtle, let the characters live in it as we live in our own world, don’t bog people down in exposition. It doesn’t matter how strange or over the top your setting is, follow a similar pattern and like Fury Road, it’ll just work.
Filed under: Worldbuilding, writing Tagged: conworlding, george miller, mad max: fury road, Writing Process
June 19, 2015
Friday Link Pack 06/19/2015
Rising from its slumber Friday awakens. That means it’s time for the Friday Link Pack! The post where I share a few links I’ve found over the last few days. Some of these I mention on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…
WRITING:
What Price An E-book?
Epic fantasy author Mark Lawrence (The Broken Empire series and the new Red Queen’s War series) breaks down the cost of an e-book. I like seeing reminders of this, and it’s cool to see Mark break it down for everyone.
14 Classic Novels Rewritten With Clickbait Titles
If there is one thing Buzzfeed knows it’s clickbait. That said, this list of classic novels did make me chuckle. Animal Farm is my favorite.
The History Of English In 10 Minutes
A great little video from The Open University that does a pretty great job condensing the history and evolution of the English language. The animation that accompanies it is pretty cute as well.
A Reminder That Creators Need To Understand Their Contracts
Hire a contract attorney or work with an agent you trust, just be sure you understand everything written down in your contracts. It’s important.
ART:
6×6 International Group Exhibition
Melbourne’s Auguste Clown gallery is hosting a fantastic exhibit of 6″x6″ pieces from a variety of incredible pop-surrealism artists. (Including Kari-Lise, who is my incredibly talented wife and partner.) Very much worth checking out.
Emily Blincoe’s Arrangements
Subtle changes in gradient and spectrum, neatly organized objects in size, but often with a twist. A lot of fun.
Sam Wolfe Connelly Studio Visit
If you have followed my blog for any length of time you’ll recognize Sam Wolfe Connelly’s name, I’ve even featured him in a previous Link Pack. It’s always fun to see a behind the scenes glimpse into his process. Supersonic takes us on a small journey into Connelly’s New York studio.
RANDOM:
Dear Librarian: New York Public Library’s Quirkiest Inquiries
A cache of cards recovered from the New York Public library’s archive is being published online, revealing the many roles the librarian was expected to play in the days before the internet, from lawyer, doula, to an ethnographer.
Laser Tag At The Edge Of The World
How cool is this? I would have probably exploded if something like this had existed when I was fourteen.
The Heroes We Deserve
Here’s a cool story. African pouched rats are taught to identify landmines, receiving treats for their efforts. The rats are small enough they don’t set off the mines and it allows for the mines recovery and disposal. They’re also darn cute. [Thanks to Sky for sharing this.]
A thoughtful article on the current disparity of Unicode, especially when it comes to second-class languages.
WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:
List Of Animals With Fraudulent Diplomas
“Animals have been submitted as applicants to suspected diploma mills and, on occasion, admitted and granted a degree, as reported in news and magazines. Animals are often used as a device to clearly demonstrate the lax standards of awarding institutions. In one case, a cat’s degree helped lead to a successful fraud prosecution against the institution which issued it.”
H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:
The Last Test
A rewrite of Adolphe de Castro’s story of the same name, The Last Test, is also the first introduction of the Outer God, Shub-Niggurath, “The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young”.
GIF OF THE WEEK:
Filed under: Link Pack Tagged: 6x6, auguste clown, classics, contracts, ebooks, Emily Blincoe, english, fraudulent diplomas, h.p. lovecraft, kari-lise alexander, landmines, laser tag, sam wolfe connelly, sass, tintin, unicode
June 17, 2015
Congratulations To Sharon E.
Congratulations to Sharon E. the winner of my Red Litten World Cover Reveal Giveaway! Sharon was one of over two-thousand entries and she will receive signed copies of both The Stars Were Right and Old Broken Road, a Bell Caravans patch, a bunch of assorted swag, and a $50 Amazon gift card. Not bad, eh?
Thanks to everyone for participating and tweeting and posting comments and spreading the word. It was nice to see so much excitement surrounding the reveal. I’m really glad everyone liked the cover so much. Jon and I both worked hard on it, and it’s always a pleasure to get such a warm reception.
If you’re interesting in picking up copies of the other books in The Bell Forging Cycle just hit any of the links below. Ebook copies of The Stars Were Right are usually selling for below $2.99 these days and I’ve seen copies of Old Broken Road as low as $4.75.
The Stars Were Right
Paperbacks:
• Amazon • Barnes & Noble • My Store •
Ebooks:
• Kindle • Kobo • iBooks • Nook • GooglePlay • My Store •
Old Broken Road
Paperbacks:
• Amazon • Barnes & Noble • My Store •
Ebooks:
• Kindle • Kobo • iBooks • Nook • GooglePlay • My Store •
Filed under: Contests, Red Litten World, The Bell Forging Cycle Tagged: bell caravan patch, books, cover reveal, Giveaway, reading, roader pack, Swag, winner
June 15, 2015
The Most Valuable Trait
“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
Filed under: Quotes Tagged: encouragement, octavia e. butler, persistence, writing
