Note: I promised last week a discussion of techniques in developing characters, however were I to append such a discourse to the material I have posted below I would turn this blog post into a small novel. Therefore, I shall touch upon the subject briefly, but leave an in-depth discussion for a later post.

Last week we scratched the surface on the subject of characters in stories—why, from an audience's standpoint, they are essential to any tale. But from the writer's standpoint, there is much more to be said on the subject, and what there is to say is far more interesting.

A number of films have come out recently that have had varying degrees of visual excellence, but have skimped on storytelling. Some of these movies I was inclined to like, such as the animated feature 9 and James Cameron’s Avatar, while others, such as J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek, have earned my distaste. All of these movies go wrong in the story department at some point, and much of it has to do with their use and development of their characters.

Since I'm making some substantial progress on some of my projects, I thought I'd enumerate what I'm working on for the benefit of any interested parties.

I've started attending a writing group. Well, there's only two people in it, including myself, but that's a start. It is very nice to have someplace to garner constructive criticism on my work. So far it's been working out well. I am sensitive to criticism but as of yet it has actually increased my confidence in my writing as well as showing me ways to improve it. Of that I am very glad. Finally I can start revising enough of my stories that maybe one, just one, will be published.

Right now I'm writing up some treatments for the first few issues of Legacy Ascending, and I've got to say, if working on Legacy Ascending were my job, I'd be the happiest man on Earth.

Lately I've been browsing the writers' bulletin board on Craigslist. It is a veritable land of bad poetry and crappy critiquing. Even if a poem is cliche or "bad" in some sense, it is not appropriate to immediately dismiss it as bilge with your rubber stamp. Rather, a critic should seek to demonstrate how the poem does not work, why the themes do not appear genuine, and most importantly, instruct the acolyte in the process of making poetry.

This is a non-poet's musings on poetry.

Nychthemeron. The word of the day was Nychthemeron.

Nychthemeron: noun. A complete cycle of day and night. A word that seems so well defined, but whose solidity is an illusion. On what planet is this day and night taking place? How long is that day and night? Some planets are so snared by the gravity of their star that one face is always in the sun while the other is always in shadow. There is no cycle of day and night there, no rising and setting of the solar disk to herald the next great round. There you can touch eternity.

There is a point in my imaginings where I can think no more. My mind goes blank as if flooded by sap and I feel almost as if I may faint. I have come to call this going thoughtblind.

I've been doing a little thinking, or been meaning to do a little thinking, on what sort of things I want to talk about on Runicfire. I get the idea I already know what I want, it's just taking a while for the words to catch up.