Tag: Star Wars

Larry Correia on creating “offensive” characters

Larry Correia has a fantastic post up on the pitfalls of political correctness when writing fictional characters. He not only nails it on the head, he takes a nail that’s been twisted in three different directions and rams it into the wood with just a couple of well-placed taps. Seriously, if you’re interested in writing… Continue reading Larry Correia on creating “offensive” characters

Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer

I have a lot of thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer. But first, a little background. Growing up in the 90s, I was a huge Star Wars fan. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Star Wars was my life. I played X-Wing every day, I watched at least one of the original trilogy… Continue reading Thoughts on the new Star Wars trailer

Thoughts on sequels and the Desolation of Smaug

So last week I saw the new Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, and I really, really liked it … right up to the ending.  Why? BECAUSE IT RESOLVED NOTHING!!! Okay, sorry for the spoiler (though you probably should have guessed there would be spoilers in a post like this).  There’s going to be more… Continue reading Thoughts on sequels and the Desolation of Smaug

Trope Tuesday: Smart People Play Chess

Want a fast and easy way to show that your characters are smart?  Not bookish, necessarily, or nerdy, or even the designated smart guy in the five-man band, but intellectually adept no matter what else their role in the story?  Well, you could indicate that through inordinate loquaciousness, but too much of that tends to… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Smart People Play Chess

Y is for Yesteryear

They say that the golden age of science fiction is about twelve years old.  That’s definitely true for me. My first exposure to the genre was Star Wars: A New Hope.  I saw it when I was seven, right around the height of my dinosaur phase.  Everything about the movie completely blew me away, from… Continue reading Y is for Yesteryear

W is for Wagon Train to the Stars

When Gene Roddenberry pitched the original Star Trek series back in the 60s, Westerns were all the rage.  Consequently, he pitched his show as a “wagon train to the stars,” where a bunch of quirky characters on an awesome starship travel from adventure town to interstellar adventure town, exploring and pioneering the final frontier. Sound… Continue reading W is for Wagon Train to the Stars

V is for Vast

If you don’t know anything else about the universe, you should know this: it’s big.  Really, really, REALLY big. How big, you ask?  Well, for starters, take a look at Earth in the picture above.  Can you see it?  It’s the pale blue dot in the beam of starlight on the right side of the… Continue reading V is for Vast

R is for Rebel

Just as sprawling interstellar empires are a staple of space opera, so are the plucky rebels that fight against them.  From Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, Firefly to FTL, there’s no shortage of characters in science fiction trying to stick it to the man. I’m not sure how it is in other cultures, but in… Continue reading R is for Rebel