Raven Oak's Blog, page 60

Scrivener Saturday: A Case for Scapple

This week’s Scrivener Saturday: A Case for Scapple. In other words, why should you bother with pen and paper around?

While I could tell you a million and one things about Scrivener, Literature and Latte’s second program, Scapple, is something I’m still sinking my pen into. Unlike Scrivener, Scapple isn’t made for writing a novel–it’s meant for brainstorming and planning, for organizing your thoughts before you write.

Writers have been using mind-maps to brainstorm since their invention, so why...

U is for Uematsu

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

U is for Uematsu, Nobuo

Earlier in the A-Z Challenge, I wrote about my love of Final Fantasy, and how it’s depth of characters and worldbuilding helped encourage me as a writer. Today, I’m focusing on one particular part of that world–Nobuo Uematsu.

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese video game composer and certainly my favorite. He’s most known for scoring the Final Fantasy series. He’s also a serious rocker with his bands, The Black Mages and...

Flashback Friday: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

This week’s Flashback Friday: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

I’m happy to have fellow author, Jeff Martin, here for a guest post on how the book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, influenced him as a writer.

I was laying on my bed with my fingers curled around the crisp pages of a new book. New to me, at least, for the book,Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, had been out for a few years before I got my hands on it. I remember finding it at a local book store. It was like stu...

T is for Tabletop Games

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

T is for Tabletop Games

If you’ve been following this site regularly, today’s topic shouldn’t be much of a surprise at all as I write a weekly column reviewing tabletop games. I spend my weekend playing tabletop games with my husband and friends–that is, when I’m not console gaming.

Tabletop games are more than simple ways to pass the time. For me, they force me to think and strategize, to solve puzzles, and to genuinely have fun with fo...

Book Cover Throwback: Dragon Prince

This week’s Book Cover Throwback: Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn. Since I was already talking about this book in my discussion of re-reading, it seemed fitting to use it as this week’s Throwback Thursday.

DRAGON PRINCE (1988) Acrylic on Watercolor Board – 29″ x 19″ by Michael Whelan

What I Love about This Cover: The memories of reading this book for the first and 20th time as a teen. While I didn’t want children, I vowed to name a kid (or pet or something) Sioned because she was so badass in thi...

S is for Space Opera

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

S is for Space Opera

Space opera is a sci-fi sub-genre that people either love or hate. The movie, Jupiter Ascending is proof of that as critics and audiences either wanted the movie to die in a fire or be rescued from bad reviews by folks that understood the genre.

From grand space adventures like Guardians of the Galaxy to military themed plots in Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, space opera is a sub-genre I’ve enjoyed reading (and writin...

R is for Re-reading

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

R is for Re-reading

My to-read list is probably 300 books long at this point, and yet, one of my favorite hobbies is to pick up a well-worn book whose pages try to leap from the bindings, curl up in a comfy spot, and re-read a story I’ve enjoyed many times.

Because I’m a super-fast reader, I miss things. Re-reading a novel gives me the opportunity to pick up bits and pieces I missed on my first read through. Case in point, I’ve probably...

Q is for Quests

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

Q is for Quests

Life is comprised of quests–the search for who we are & where we’re going in the world, the search for companionship and connections, and the search for peace and comfort. For me, these quests are part of my life, along with the quest for equality, knowledge, and diversity.

Underneath it all, we’re the same, you and I.

The image above pretty much sums up my opinion on diversity and equality. I’ve made it a point in my life...

Monday Night Gaming: Terra Mystica

This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Terra Mystica.

Publisher: Zman Games

# of Players: 2-5

Best with: 3-4

1st Run Through Playing Time: 4 hours+

The box says it’s a 100 minute game, which is entirely true if you’ve played it before.

We first played this game at Pax Prime, but it was noisy and short on space, so we picked it back up again for a second run. Because it had been so long since we played it, it was like playing it on a first run all over again, complete with the 1.5 hours of setup and manua...

P is for Post-Apocalyptic

In today’s continuation of the A-Z Challenge, I give you:

P is for Post-Apocalyptic

I’ve always held a bizarre fascination with post-apocalyptic literature, video games, movies, and art. Give me an hour, and I’ll ramble at length about Alas, Babylon, Fallout 3, or disaster porn movies like The Day after Tomorrow.

Something about nature taking back what we’ve claimed for ourselves is beautiful, yet horrifying. The idea that we are creating our own destruction is an interesting topic to explore...