L.G. Estrella's Blog, page 28

The Old Man (Flash Fiction Fridays #10)

Derrick’s sword was not even halfway out of its sheath when the old man’s voice cracked out like a whip.

“Are you sure?” the old man asked before his voice softened ever so slightly. “Are you really sure you want to draw that sword?”

Derrick found himself hesitating, but he could not understand why. There was nothing remarkable about the old man who sat alone at one of the tables in the otherwise busy tavern. His clothes were coated in the dust of travel, and he was not particularly tall or broa...

Characters As Puzzle Pieces

Characters are rarely perfect. They almost always have strengths and weaknesses. This is a good thing. Watching a character overcome challenges and grow is often one of the most enjoyable things about a story. But if you have a cast of characters, how do you decide what they should be good and bad at? How should you decide their strengths and weaknesses? One approach is to think of your characters as puzzle pieces.

If you’ve ever tried putting a puzzle together, you’ll know that the challenge is...

Climb (Flash Fiction Fridays #9)

Annihilation looked down at his niece. Young Death was even quieter than her father, and Death wasn’t exactly a chatter box. “You are a lot smaller than I thought you’d be. I don’t think your brother was this small when your parents first made him either.”

Young Death shrugged, and her star-like eyes narrowed in contemplation. She walked over to him and then grabbed onto his leg. After taking a moment to plan her route, she began to climb up his leg and then up his body. She took another moment ...

It’s Going To Be A Long Season…

Another game, another fourth quarter where we just couldn’t get it done.

Sigh.

It’s going to be a long, long season Spurs fans.

Getting those 26 wins for Pop is starting to look like a pipe dream.

Damn… I miss Timmy, Manu, and Tony.

I think I need to find a corner to sob in while I remember the good days.

But damn if that last inbounds play by the Spurs wasn’t hideous.

Seriously, though, as much as being a Spurs fan is rough at the moment, at least they’re in the NBA. My NRL team (North Sydney) ...

First Halloween (Flash Fiction Fridays #8)

Timmy breathed a sigh of relief. All Hallow’s Eve was approaching, so he and Sam had spent the past several days making sure that nothing was amiss beneath the castle. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any major issues. Oh, a few things had needed tweaking here and there, but nothing he and Sam couldn’t handle.

Of course, now that he’d dealt with one set of problems, he was confronted by another problem. In this case, it was his pint-sized apprentice. No five-year-old should be slaving so hard over ...

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween. Note that Flash Fiction Friday has been moved to Spooky Sunday for this week since Halloween is the perfect occasion for a snippet.

To celebrate the spooky season, Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf will be free on Amazon on October 31st and November 1st (PDT)!

If you haven’t already given it a try, this is your chance! If you know anyone who’s not sure if it’s something they’ll enjoy, give them a heads up!

Anger Management

Watching the San Antonio Spurs so far this season has given me anger management problems. I can’t believe how bad we are at the end of games. Every single game, we’ll be in it with a chance to win it and then just fall down at the end of the 4th quarter. Honestly, if we had a closer, we’d probably be at least 3-2, possibly even 4-1 or 5-0.

I know I’m spoiled from living through the Duncan era, but good grief are we awful at closing out games. I will probably have to stop watching the games live ...

I Miss Poetry

Once upon a time, poetry was a well-respect and popular format. Poets were celebrated, and it wasn’t at all unusual for people to know at least a few poems. However, times have changed. Hardly anyone reads poetry anymore, and if you approached the average person on the street, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone below the age of twenty who can name a poet born in the last two hundred years.

Probably the toughest challenge facing poets these days is that poetry just doesn’t make any mone...

Fishing (Flash Fiction Fridays #7)

Aria clutched onto the railing of the deck. “You just had to suggest this mission, didn’t you?”

Eric grimaced as another impact rocked the ship. Chunks of mangled wood flew through the air, and he scrambled for cover as one of the masts came crashing down. Frantic screams and what he was pretty sure were the raccoon equivalents of cursing filled the air. “In my defence, I think it was completely reasonable to think that a mission involving catching some fish would be relatively straightforward s...

Writers Write

If I had to name the single biggest mistake that aspiring writers make, it’s that they don’t write enough.

That might sound bizarre, but consider the following situation.

You want to be a bodybuilder. It’s been your dream for years. Naturally, you do some research. You investigate successful bodybuilders to learn what exercises they do and how they handle their diet and nutrition. You even go out and buy the latest, most effective training equipment you can afford. You leave no stone unturned be...