L.G. Estrella's Blog, page 54

Behind the Scenes: Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (Part 1)

A lot of people have asked about my writing process, so what I’d like to do in this series of posts is to talk a bit about how I went about writingTwo Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire. As you can imagine, there may be spoilers involved, so I suggest that you read the story before reading any of these posts. I would hate to spoil any of the surprises.

Let me start by going through the drafting process. When I write a story, I usually go through several drafts. The most important draft is...

The Dog

The dog had lived a long life.

He had belonged to an old man, and he had spent his days curled up on the old man’s lap while a fire crackled in the fireplace. The old man had been very kind, and there had been plenty of food. The dog’s fondest memories were of the old man talking about the life he’d lived and the things he’d done. The old man had been a soldier once, but all his fellows were long dead.

The old man had passed away while the dog was still only a puppy, and none of the old man’s...

Don’t Hate The Dictionary

Whenever I encounter a word that I’m not familiar with, my first instinct is to derive its meaning through the context in which it is used. This approach is perfectly serviceable from the perspective of a reader since, by and large, the gist of a word’s meaning can indeed be determined through context. However, from the perspective of a writer who might be interested in using that word in the future, this approach is often less than satisfactory.

Words possess a certain nuance, and merely gue...

Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire is now Available on Amazon!

The third part ofThe Unconventional Heroes Series is finally available on Amazon!Join Timmy, Katie, and the rest of the gang for morecrazy fun, riotous action, and magical adventure in Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire. When there’s a pardon up for grabs, you can bet that Timmy and the others aren’t going to let anyone stand in their way, even if they have to smash an army, sink a fleet, or go up against the most powerful empire in the world.

You can getTwo Necromancers, a Dragon, and...

What Kind Of Typos Do You Make?

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks proofreading something, and I’ve noticed that almost all of my typos are sound-based. In other words, even though I don’t say what I’m typing, the typos I make are usually the kind where I exchange one word for another word that sounds the same when spoken aloud.

For example:

‘Know’ instead of ‘no’ ‘Through’ instead of‘threw’

What about you guys? What sort of typos do you usually make?

My Suicide Squad Review

I’ll start off by getting the most important thing out of the way: I enjoyed the film.

It’s not a perfect film by any means, but I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, and the mood afterward in the cinemafrom the other people watching seemed to be very positive. I would certainly rate it as more enjoyable than Batman v Superman and Man of Steel.

Now, let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t.

If you’re expecting a highly sophisticated film structure, yo...

Suicide Squad

The first reviews for Suicide Squad are in, and it’s not entirely pleasant reading if you’re a Warner Bros executive. What really interests me, however, is the divergence betweenthe fan response and the critical response. To be sure, not all fans think the movie is great, but fans, as a whole, seem to regard the movie in a more positive light that the critics. I can recall a similar phenomenon for Batman v Superman.

As always, the real testwill be how the movie does at the box office. Regardl...

The Importance of First Principles in Debating

In debating, first principles are the bedrock upon which an argument rests. They are the assumptions that define not only the arguments of the opponent but also the sorts of evidence they will use to support those arguments. More than that, their first principles define how they view the subject matter itself.

An attack against the evidence used by the opponent to support their case can be deflected with sufficient verbal gymnastics. A badly structured argument can be disguised through skilfu...

How Long Should A Chapter Be?

One of the trickier decisions that writers face is deciding how long each chapter in a story should be. To be frank, chapter length is quite flexible. There are no ironclad rules. However, there several methods that seem to be more common than others:

Start a new chapter with each new point of view Start a new chapter with each new scene Start a chapter with each new major plot point Start a new chapter with each new story arc

One way of deciding how long each chapter should be is to simply...

Pokemon Go…

I live in an area that is close to four or five Pokestops. Recently, I’ve found a new hobby. No, it’s no Pokemon Go. It’s seeing if I can spot all the people playing Pokemon Go.

It’s actually quite fun.

Today, more than half the people I encountered near the Pokestops were playing Pokemon Go. It was kind of funny watching all of them try to act like they weren’t playing when, really, all of the people near them were also playing.

Voting in Australia is compulsory, but I do wonder if other cou...