Tag: Writing
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To Write In the World, But Not Of It
When seeking entertainment, people have two contradictory drives: they want novelty, and they also want familiarity. Today, the scale is tipped heavily towards familiarity. Hollywood churns out endless sequels, reboots, remakes, and IPs set in the same universe. Japanese publishers pump out manga and light novels with endless volumes, and release everything from anime adaptations…
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Three Storytellers, Two Listeners, One Story
In his essay ‘The Counterfactual Dialectic’ in Pulp on Pulp, Misha Burnett discusses the use of dialectic to determine what is said to the reader, how it is said, and what the reader will take away from it. I loved the concept so much, I used it for my own work Diary of A Bomoh—with…
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Draw From A Deeper Well
“This is just like [Brand X]!” This is the most common sentence in modern fiction. It is also the most annoying sentence in modern fiction. Every time I encounter it in a story, I always roll my eyes, shake my head, and ignore the sentence. And usually the following paragraph too. Every reference to contemporary…
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GameLit: Not Just Written Games
Gamelit / LitRPG is one of the hottest literary genres on the market. It attempts to replicate the gaming experience in written form, taking the tropes of role-playing games and reproducing them on the page. As a reader and a gamer, the genre ought to be in my alley. And yet… it is the opposite.…
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The Based Fall Book Sale!
Hans G Schantz is back with his seasonal book sale! For the Fall 2022 edition, he’s put together a humongous list of free and discounted books. There are so many books, he had to split them into no less than four separate pages! A number of luminaries grace this season’s sale, including: Declan Finn, John…
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LORD OF BEASTS is available for preorder!
When beasts swarm the Central Plains, the city-state of Yudu issues a call for aid. Martial cultivators from across Xiazhou descend on Yudu, chasing dreams of wealth and glory. Among them is Li Ming and his fellow biaohang from Dayong. Shattered by recent losses, Dayong needs to rebuild their reputation, earn much-needed revenue and expand…