In honor of my friend Chris' birthday today and the mariachi drinking game we used to play in our youth, I came up with a drinking game for my favorite band, the Old 97's. I should probably note that this game is meant to be played SIPPING on a drink rather than taking shots. Because if you took shots, you would flat out die. How to Play Put together a playlist of your favorite Old 97's songs and then put it on shuffle/ random. Take a swig when: You get some sweet, sweet banj

For our first actual foray into Screenplay Techniques Adapted for the Novel, we’re going to look at screenplay structure. And we’re going to look at it a lot. Like for the next two installments after this as well. Because it’s really important. And yes, I can actually hear your eyes roll through the ether of the internet when I invoke the specter of structure. Why? Because it’s boring. Like paint-drying boring. There’s no way around this. And although the smirking nerd in me

[Compiled and translated from mid-Bancel by Malorie White] Long ago when glass was still new, King Uetas ruled the land of Che. But Uetas was forlorn, for he only had one daughter, Morien, who was a Weaver. So, as old age overtook him, Uetas forsook his wife and took a servant to bed. And the servant bore him a son, who he named Holyas. And as Holyas grew, Uetas took great joy in him. But Morien became jealous of her brother and called out to Sol for aid. But it was not Sol w

A very interesting article by Angelica Jade Bastién today in the Atlantic on why “Hollywood Has Ruined Method Acting.” Using Jared Leto’s performance in Suicide Squad, she makes the point that method acting has taken on a masculine slant for the actors, and not so much actresses, to prove their commitment to their craft through suffering. As a screenwriter, I have often wondered about the importance given to actors and actresses in film/ TV. True they are the face of the prod

As I sit down to write this, I can hear my old high school teacher (old as in I had several after her, not in that she herself was old) saying “always start with a broad general statement and then move on to your thesis sentence.” But since I am incapable of coming up with a clever BGS, I’m just going to use the previous sentence and inelegantly barrel right into my thesis sentence: There are numerous skills and techniques from the field of screenwriting that can be applied

Previous Stories in this cycle: Sol and His Chosen. [From the Biba Sacara, Book 1, Chapter 2.] And it came to pass that the Children of Sol multiplied across the face of Ayr, daughters and sons born unto them each according to type. And the Children of Sol became numerous, living together in peace in one great tribe that covered the land. But then evil came to Ayr. The spirit Waer was made of Black Breath and had long despised Sol and the great things He had wrought. So she f