Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 30
January 31, 2019
Writing the Platinum Trophy Way — Going through ALL the Stages of Writing
I finished my first short story of 2019! YAY! Here’s hoping: 1) I finish many more and 2) the time I use to write creatively doesn’t come back and bite me in terms of my schoolwork. 
January 29, 2019
Ant-Man and Wasp Mini-Review (No Spoilers)
Image Source: http://time.com/5327169/ant-man-and-the-wasp-review/
I liked the movie, though not as much as the original Ant-Man movie. I thought the movie was entertaining and interesting. It had some action (most of it was back-loaded, however) that was really good and fun, but the beginning of the movie can be a bit of a slog to get through–especially, if you’re not a Marvel movie aficionado.
Character Over Action
So this movie is one of the reasons why I like “plot” over “character” because they (the filmmakers) take too long in setting up the various characters, their current backstories, and motivations before really getting to the heart of the story. While I enjoyed this, it made the first half of the movie seem more like a typical Hollywood “rom-com,” than a true Marvel movie. While there are “rom-com” (rometic comedy) elements in the original Ant-Man, they were expertly balanced with the heist elements and the discovery of the character’s “powers.” Here, everything seems unbalanced, and character/jokes/”rom-com” elements dominate until the “plot” kicks in gear about half way through.
A Ghost of a Chance
I liked the villain in this one (“Ghost”) and I liked the actor playing her role. I just think that Ghost’s backstory needed work–it never really clear as to why she had to do what she needed in order to survive (vague here to avoid spoilers). There’s an element of Star Trek like “jargon” in the explanation that seemed to serve the plot (to make her the villain) rather than her character (she has to do this thing or else). The filmmakers present it this way in dialogue (that her character has to act this way to survive and has become a “monster” because of it), but it still felt as the motivation was a bit of “hand-waving” on the filmmakers’ part to justify her actions in the beginning of the movie. Had the motivation been better and had the action started sooner, I think I might have liked it more.
Ghost’s motivations aren’t the only things that don’t make sense. There are several scenes, played for jokes, that seem out of place in the overall plot–the “school” scene, in particular, is one of those scenes. Yes, its cute in a mildly amusing way, but does the movie really have time to digress in that way? For me, not really, and it could have been cut (or included as an “extra scene” for an “extended cut” of the movie.
Overall Grade: B-
This one could have been outstanding, but slow pacing and a confusing villain motivation really hampered my enjoyment for this one. I still like it, but it is on the lower end of the spectrum of Marvel movies for me. One thing that kept it from being a C is one of the “stingers” at end of the movie was really well done! That alone bumped it up into the above average category for me.
January 28, 2019
Revision: “Rocket-Man”
So, I may have mentioned this once, but I’m revising one of my old stories that I submitted for a while, but then decided that it needed a lot of work. I’m now going back and trying to put that work in on the story. I finished section 1 (of 3) last week, and I finished section 2 (of 3) yesterday. The old short story was called “Rocket-Man,” but I’ve changed the story’s title to (currently) “Starlight, Starbright.” I’m not sure if this is too cliche’, but for now it is just something to title my work. I’ll talk about it more if I (hopefully) finish it next week.
Rocket-Man, Version 1.0
Rocket-Man is a story about a man in “rocket-pack” who ventures into space to stop a group from terrorizing Earth from space. It was originally inspired by the song “Rocket Man” by Elton John, but was also written (in its original state before the first before the first Iron Man movie was released). I submitted it approximately 10 times or so, but none of the markets were really “hot” on it. Most of the markets really liked the AI companion that I included in the suit, but didn’t really seemed to like the main character or the actual plot itself.
Rocket-Man, Version 2.0
So the revision is just a “re-seeing” of the story with different eyes. I’m currently two thirds done with the revision (2 sections of 3 are done). I’m rewriting it after finally discovering the major character that I want to explore in the story. The first draft was all about plot and description with an “antagonist” shoe-horned in to give conflict (in this case, Iron Man -like combat). In this revision, I’ve got a character who has a definite history–former ex-con turned law enforcement–and a definite antagonist (with whom he has history from while incarcerated) who has taken over a space-based platform. The conflict feels more organic and more realistic than before.
Rocket-Man, Version 3.0
I had planned to let it lie fallow for a couple of weeks and then revisit it again for one last major pass (I think this will still be my plan), but at the end of the week there is a deadline for submitting to a market that matches my style of stories, so I’m probably going to submit it early. I realize that the story probably won’t be as good as I hope to make it with “version 3.0” (going in and really dramatizing as much as possible), but as I still intend to do this at a later date, hopefully that will lessen the sting of the rejection letter just a little.
Well, that’s all I have time for today. See you all again soon!
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
January 18, 2019
What’s on My Bookshelf? Dawn of War (1 & 2)
Sorry this blog is a little late–I debated whether or not to write this entry now, or wait until later, but I thought I’d get it out of the way as I’ve been wanting to write it for over a week now. I have two games that want to quickly mention as being on my bookshelf and why I like them.
Now, I have a confession to make: even though I bought them and have them registered on Steam, I’ve actually not played them. I know, shocking right? Me, not play a game? Have pigs begun to fly? Well, hear me out. I bought the games fully expecting to get a new computer by now, but then I started down the path of graduate student and all my money went away (there are other games that I have that are in this same boat–American Truck Simulator, I’m looking at you–but I’ll cover those at a later date).
Why Dawn of War (& what is it, anyway?)
Dawn of War is a real-time strategy game that is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (aka Warhammer 40K). This is a grim universe in which humans in powered armor that in enhances there physical abilities, explore space and destroy the enemies of the Empire and its Emperor. You can find out more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000. Essentially, its humans in Iron Man like armor blasting enemies away with various futuristic weapons–my kind of setting.
Why did I choose the game? Because I’m a sucker for Real Time Strategy (RTS) games and I really like the universe. There are two Warhammer universes–the 40K universe which is science fiction and then they have a fantasy one, just called Warhammer, and that’s the one I really enjoy. If there had been a RTS in the fantasy universe–there is now, I think, but not when these came out–I would have bought those instead.
Real Time Strategy
I think I said it before, but I love Real Time Strategy games (RTS’s for short). They are like being an armchair general commanding one’s armies and implementing tactics and strategies to defeat the foes in the game. I love building units, mixing different cohorts to maximize my forces’ capabilities, and using real military tactics such as flanking in real-time.
What I don’t love about the genre (& the reason why I don’t often purchase games in it) is its focus on resource gathering. Games like early WarCraft and StarCraft (the two most popular and influential game series in the genre) focus heavily on the gathering and harvesting of resources, turning many games into a click heavy race to see who can gather the most resources the fastest in order to field one’s armies the quickest. I HATE that! I prefer a more tactical game that minimizes resources to focus on units, tactics, and strategy. My favorite games of the genre, Kohan and Kohan II (I’ll talk about these later) were specifically designed to minimize the focus on resources to focus more attention on combat.
While I’ve not been able to dig into the Dawn of War games, I remember buying them because of that reason–hopefully, I was right. Like Jak: The Last Frontier, I’m going to watch a playthrough of it since it seems like I’m not going to get a new computer anytime soon to actually play these games.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
January 17, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home Teaser Trailer
A quick note: If you have not seen Infinity War (Avengers) then the trailer itself is safe to view without spoilers, but I would not advise looking at any YouTube comments (or social media comments in general about the movie) as they are likely to be spoiler-heavy.
A couple of days ago, Sony/Marvel released the new trailer for the newest Spider-Man movie that they’ve titled Spider-Man: Far From Home. I really liked the trailer. I’ve seen it multiple times and I just wanted to give a quick impression of the movie.
Mysterious Mysterio
So the featured villain is no surprise to longtime Spider-Man readers, but may not be recognizable to the general public. Mysterio is a villain who was frequently used in the Rogue’s gallery (I think I have two appearances for him in the 40-50 issues that I have of the Amazing Spider-Man run. He is a master of illusions and while we can’t tell it from this trailer, we do see him in his full costumed glory (as he’s fighting some sort of water-foe). There is speculation (on-line) as to whom this watery foe could be (another foe from the Rogue’s gallery), but I’m going to leave that alone in case the speculation is wrong. When showing Mysterio they highlight the actor playing him first by leaving off his helmet. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Mysterio and I’m not sure quite yet how I feel about that–it seems to continue the trend of “named” actors playing villains as Michael Keaton played The Vulture in the first Spider-Man movie. While that’s great to get fans of the actor to go, I’m hoping that he doesn’t overshadow the actual hero of the movie, Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
Fun Web-Swinging Action
What the trailer shows, however, is a sense of fun and action that I may really enjoy. While they are still doing the “high school” thing with Peter and his friends going on a school trip, they are (wisely) moving them out of the school environment, which (to me) is the most uninteresting part in the Spider-Man mythos. Having it outside of school gives the story a chance to move beyond the conventional “high school” angst stories that usually occur in a high school setting. The trailer hints at a much bigger and broader story and I’m intrigued.
Am I intrigued enough to see this one in the theaters? Well, I’m not sure. I like it, but if it isn’t on Imax 3D or if the timing doesn’t work out, then I’ll probably see this one at home a little later (on a holiday–the same way I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp over the Christmas break). Right now, it’s probably too early to know, but it does look like another Sony/Marvel collaboration and this should be another model for the way other studios could collaborate on various properties to share the costs & burdens of production while producing something something meaningful and awesome for their audiences.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
January 16, 2019
Using Games to Finish Stories
So, this is one of those video game posts that do from time to time. Some times I do them while playing the game, some times I do them to point out the glitches, some times I do them to point out broader practices in the video game industry, and some times I do them just because they are fun or rewarding or have some sort of meaningful accomplishment for me.
For me, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands falls into this latter category.
A Year of Wildlands
The game is one that I’ve been playing for about a year–I got it for Christmas 2017. I’ve played it pretty much every weekend for a year. I wanted it for a while and I asked for it. It was a good story, but I didn’t think that I would finish it, but it turns out that after assidously playing it for a year, I finished it in late Oct./early November. I’ll do a Mini-Review for it soon, but today I just wanted to talk about the power of making an accomplishment.
Today, I finally “got back on the horse” and wrote part 1 (of 3) of a Revision to an older project entitled, “Rocket-Man.” I’ve submitted that story several times, but it has never been sold. I went back and reworked the character and the situation.
The Key to Writing (for me) is the Key to Gaming
So, today I just tried to do what I did when I played Wildlands. I found a day to try to write. Today I have class, but I have time after the class where I can simply sit down and draft. That’s what I’m doing. I have 3 projects currently on the hopper (4 if you count the graphic novel), but my goal is to completely finish one project by writing them in 3 stages (beginning, middle, and end) and then moving on to the next one. However, I’m going to do this on a weekly basis. I know I should probably be using this time to read (& I hope using it in this way doesn’t come back to bite me in March), but I really feel useless if I don’t write. A writer writes and by putting 2-3 hours on a project (with music) and without distractions (such as video game systems, tv, and the like), I’m able to be as productive on my stories as I am when I game. Hopefully, in a year’s time, my diligence will pay off (as it did with Wildlands and I’ll be able to share successes with you in this blog.
One More Thing . . .
I was going to close the blog out, but happened to click on an email that I receive monthly from Playstation that tracks my gaming time and number of gaming “trophies” (accomplishments in games) for the month and for December, I logged 43 hours of online gameplay and earned 19 trophies. Now this is well above my average of 4-5 hours on a Saturday afternoon/evening for about 20 hours a month, but just think of all the projects that I could write if I devoted the time that I do for gaming, or more importantly, what I could accomplish in my school related endeavors with the same amount of time. I used to do that for reading–now I just need to get there for school work and writing.
The only problem I see is that somewhere in there, I’ve got to find time for sleeping. 
January 15, 2019
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Redux
During one of the orientation sessions, one of the other students happened to be talking about Star Wars and both Solo and The Last Jedi happened to come up. Now, I’ve not seen Solo (although it is on Netflix and I fully intend to watch it in the near future. One of the students thought that The Last Jedi was the best of the Star Wars films because it was by Rian Johnson and that it was “as close to an art-house Star Wars film that we were likely to get.”
I argued that the movie ignored the characterization in Return of the Jedi specifically where Luke is in danger of becoming the Emperor’s puppet when he cuts off Vader’s hand and comes very close to striking down Vader in cold-blooded anger/hatred. While we both didn’t change each other’s mind, we could see each other’s points without delving into the worst part of fandom–the endless bickering.
Main-line Star Wars
So, for me, I’m less inclined for things like experimentation and trying new things in the “main-line” Star Wars stories–the numbered stories. For those stories, I want awesome plot and action, great characterization and character moments, and new and inventive world-building. I really want to see some of the best that Star Wars has to offer in these “main-line” Star Wars movies, and I think that here is not the place for experimentation. You have a “prototype”/”blue-print” of what works in the original trilogy. While I won’t say, ‘just do that,” as it gives filmmakers the lazy way out, it would be awesome to have the original characters act consistent to their previous characterization and bring in the new characters and their quirks into the mix while slowly phasing out the old. The form is there, but it requires solid execution, which didn’t happen in The Last Jedi in my opinion.
Anthology Stories for Experimentation
In my mind, the best place for experimentation on the order of what Johnson did would have been better served for the “anthology” movies like Solo or Rogue One. As a director on one of these stories, I feel that Johnson’s more “art-house” aesthetic, as noted by the other grad student, would have been more appropriate and I would have had more inclination to give Mr. Johnston the benefit of the doubt on his interpretation of the Star Wars universe. The other grad student said unequivocally that he was “good on not ever seeing Solo again after having seen it once.” Now imagine what different viewpoint a more independent filmmaker like Johnson could have delivered for Solo. There have been many aspersions cast Kathleen Kennedy’s way as the new guiding light for the Star Wars franchise after Lucas sold it to Disney, but this is where, again in my opinion, I think everything went awry. She should have “saved” a more avant garde director like Johnson for the anthology projects rather than the “main-line” ones. Looper was a critical darling and made waves as “serious” Sci-Fi, but is totally anathema to the “main-line” Star Wars series. It would be like asking Ridley Scott to direct a Star Wars film because of Alien and/or Bladerunner. Great sci-fi for both films, but totally different in terms of tone, content, and form.
For me, Johnson’s tone was completely off and his content wasn’t what I was hoping for even if he is an artistically and visually striking filmmaker while working with the form of Sci-Fi.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
January 14, 2019
Writing: Sprints and Marathons
So, in many writing manuals over the year, I’ve heard/read that writing short-stories is akin to sprinting while writing novels is akin to running a marathon. I never really paid much attention to it until I started really reading the feedback to some of my recent submissions. Now, to be honest, I love reading novels and have been since my earliest days. There is something about Tolkien’s formulation of the “secondary world,” an imaginary world where I can lose myself, that simply appeals to me as a reader, writer, and a human being.
Sprinting for the (Short-Story) Win
So, the feedback on my stories is that they usually start interesting, but veer off into, let’s face it, “boring-town.” Why? Because, after the initial hot start, I want to then engross myself into the world and the action and the description, but not necessarily the characters. In effect, I’m treating the short story form like a novel.
A short story is different. Poe, the creator of the form, argued that a short story is something that can be read in one sitting. It doesn’t have the time to be detailed, lush, and description heavy. It is a sprint from start to finish that should leave the reader (& writer) breathless with wonder, characterization, and emotion. This is what my goal will be this year–to work on getting my short-stories to resemble the best sprinters ever.
Marathoning the Long Way Round
I’ve long wanted to write a novel, but every time I’ve tried to do so, I’ve found one block after another. However, after completing a game that I’ve played pretty much every weekend for an entire year, I see how a novel can be written. I requires diligence and hard work, but I have those in spades (not being braggadocios), but I need to simply find something that I’m interested in and apply the necessary discipline to see it through even when it seems like I’m not making progress. There were time in March/April/May of last year when I thought I’d never see the game through to completion as it seemed too long and too arduous to complete, but here I am, in January 2019, having completely finished the game and earned the maximum reward for it (a Platinum Trophy for those PS4 gamers out there), so I know it can be done–now I just have to do it and that’s my goal.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
January 11, 2019
Quick Hit: Orientation
So, this is a “quick hit” post. Sorry for not posting, but I’m currently in orientation for both the English Department and the Writing Center at MTSU right now. I wish that I had the ability to multitask and write at the same time, but unfortunately, I always give 100% of my focus to whatever it is I’m doing.
Generally speaking, I should try to let my readers know ahead of time that I’m not going to get a blog post done, I’m going to work on that, but for now, here ‘s a small entry to let you know that I’m still alive.
January 8, 2019
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
So, a quick note: yesterday’s blog post directly relates to my desire to simplify my life. It was a “quick hit” post, meaning that I didn’t have time to write a formal, longer post, but still wanted to get a post done for the day and out there, so when I’ve run out of time, I’ll use either the “quick hit” format, or the “potpourri” format to quickly write a entry if at all possible. That should both simplify my life and allow me more consistency with my entries. And now . . . back to the regularly scheduled posts.
Last year, especially in regards to school, I managed to complicate so many things about my life, from the courses that I took as well as the design philosophies of my own course. 2019 is all about simplification.
Weekly Goals
I’m okay at weekly goals. I generally have a sense of what I need to accomplish week-to-week and order my days accordingly. I’m not really awesome with Daily Goals, as sometimes I only achieve one or two, while making up for them earlier or later in the week. Generally speaking, I know what I have to do in a given week and I use the days of that week to get it done–again, how much gets done simply depends on my mood/time, but generally speaking, I accomplish weekly goals, even if I don’t always accomplish my daily goals. I’m using this to help generate rough drafts, character sketches, and pre-planning materials as well as submitting finished materials to markets.
Monthly Goals
This is (usually) where I shine. My mind is “pre-programmed” to think in “chunks” of months. From Pre-K until graduating High School, my uncle took me to the public library for books, every month. I say every month because the loan period at that time was 28 days, with one 28 day extension period (now it is only 3 weeks, with 100 renewal periods which doesn’t work for me and I don’t check out nearly as many books). My allowance was also monthly and I had to calculate my wants and desires to the monthly schedule my parents set forth. My brain is literally “hard-wired” to think in months as I have always had to decide what books I was going to read/buy in a monthly calendar, allocating enough time to finish them, or making them last depending on whether I was renting them from the library or buying them with my (limited) supply of money. I’m using these to finish stories (2nd and 3rd drafts), and draft longer works, like scenes in my Graphic Novel.
Yearly Goals
So, I’m only okay at yearly goals. Usually, these are too far out to plan for as I don’t know how much time I’m going to have available. It is easy to say in January that I will have a novel/screenplay finished in December, but there’s no way of knowing what will happen in the intervening months. So, rather than trying to focusing writing tasks around yearly goals which I’ve done is some fashion or form since the late 90s/early 2000s and been disappointed every time, I’m going to keep my writing goals nebulous. I hope to finish the Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel this year, but if I don’t, I’m not going to be disappointed and I’m certainly not going to give a time-frame. The first 3 months of the year, I know I need to be a reading, reading, reading, to prepare for a major test in the middle of March, so I’m not going to stress if very little in the way of writing happens during Jan-March. Something has to give, so there’s no need putting additional stress on myself by saying I need to write 3 scenes a week for 52 weeks or else. It isn’t going to happen, not with that very important test looming in the near future. Same with the nebulous screenplay and novel that I’d like to write. If it happens great, if not, no pressure. I do have two school related things that need to happen this year (one of them the test that I mentioned), and I’m going to put all my efforts towards those and if I happen to accomplish any of the writing ones as well then hey, bully for me!
So, finishing up, I’m really working on simplifying my life (esp. my writing life, but in other areas as well) to see if I can become a more productive writer and human being in 2019. Wish me luck!
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
Current Work-in-Progress: The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story – 2nd Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Project Star (Sci-Fi Short-Story -1st Draft)Current Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows (Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – Script, Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32)
