L.G. Estrella's Blog, page 16

Who Would Win?

Who would win in an epic confrontation involving:

Ninja RatsKung Fu CatsDinosaur WizardsMad Scientist Hamsters

I should point out that all four of these groups are likely to make an appearance at some point in my stories. The ninja rats have already made their appearance of course, and I’ve already written (or am writing) stories that involve Kung Fu Cats, Dinosaur Wizards, and Mad Scientist Hamsters.

Spoiler alert: The Dinosaur Wizards belong to an alternate version of Earth in which Sauri...

Writing Conditions

I occasionally get asked about what sort of writing conditions I have. That is, what sort of conditions do I write in?

I’ll start off by saying that I do not write in a giant mansion, sitting atop bags of money. I’ve done okay for myself writing, but I’m far from rich. However, one can hope. Movie studios… if you’re listening, I’m totally open for a movie deal.

In all seriousness, I think that every writer has conditions that suit them best when it comes writing. Some like listening to music whi...

Extra Opinion (Flash Fiction Fridays #37)

Simon dragged himself out of the portal and then rolled over onto his back as it snapped shut behind him with a faint hiss. The familiar white ceiling of the portal chamber greeted him.

“Congratulations, meat bag. You’re still alive. Somehow.”

If Simon had the energy – and if Advisor had a physical body – he would have lashed out. Or maybe not. If Advisor got her own body, she would probably get some kind of invincible robot body that could kick his ass in about fifty billion different ways.

“Yo...

Work Resuming

Well, it’s back to work on Two Necromancers, a Fortress, and a Titan.

I had a productive break too. I managed to get two complete drafts done on that other project I was working on. One last draft, and it should be done. Naturally, proofreading and the like will also be required, but I think one more draft should be enough on the writing side. Those two drafts added up to maybe 120,000 words, so I’m quite happy with the rate of progress there.

This will be the second major draft of Two Necromanc...

Another Labyrinth (Flash Fiction #36)

Jonathan groaned and got to his feet. “That dragon could have at least warned us about the drop…” He trailed off as he realised that he was alone. “Um… hello? Please, don’t tell me we all got separated.”

Alas, it did look as though they’d all been separated. On the upside, he didn’t seemed to be in any immediate danger. He was on a dirt trail in the middle of a forest, but nothing was trying to kill him. Then again, this was a forest. There were probably bears and wolves and, knowing the dragon,...

A Welcome Surprise

As some of you probably know, I regularly trained in martial arts for around twenty years before a slew of injuries made that difficult to continue. I even helped out as an instructor regularly. In fact, on more than one occasion, I was asked to take over the majority of teaching duties while the head instructor was away for a couple of weeks.

One of the reasons the head instructor asked me to handle those duties while he was away was because he and I had known each other for basically all of...

Unconventional Answers and Humour

There are lots of ways to add humour to a story, but one of my personal favourites is through the use of unconventional answers to common situations.

Let’s take fantasy fiction.

One of the most common scenarios is the old ‘dragon kidnaps a princess’ schtick. What usually happens is that the hero goes off, finds some magical sword, kills the dragon, saves the princess, and then marries her. How can we add humour to this situation? Well, we can change the situation, so the hero needs to use a more...

What Kind of Build is This?

If there was a game…

Okay, guys, hear me out. I just started playing The Unconventional Heroes Series RPG, and Timmy’s build just makes no sense to me.

I mean… first of all, he’s a Grand Necromancer. That’s cool. Out of the two playable characters in the first section of the game, he’s clearly the more powerful. Obviously, Katie’s just a kid, so she’s way lower level, but Timmy’s build still doesn’t make any sense.

What kind of necromancer has such a bizarre skill point distribution?

Not only h...

Yes!

Yes! The San Antonio Spurs have the #1 pick!

Things I Might Have Been

I’ve been asked on more than one occasion about what career I would have pursued if I wasn’t a writer. The answer to that really depends on when exactly you asked me.

Growing up, I had strong interests in science and medicine. In fact, I strongly considered going into medicine during university. Instead, I decided to go into the sciences, particularly physics and chemistry. In a great display of consistency (/sarcasm) I ended up finding myself more interested in areas like business, economics, a...