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dystopia

On Dystopias And How To Survive One Without Losing Your Humanity

A few days ago, I wrote the post below on Facebook, talking about the importance of education in teaching people how to think, rather than what to think. I won’t repeat it all here, you can click below to read it. But I do want to build on the idea, following a different conversation I had with someone more recently. The Mind is a Dangerous Thing to Lose Picture this… Humanity has developed technologies that can do everything a human can do, and do it better. Unlimited storage space remembers every thought, idea, and concept we have ever come up with. Sophisticated computing machines can solve complex problems and equations in seconds. Artificial brains can answer existential questions simply, and illustrate… Read More »On Dystopias And How To Survive One Without Losing Your Humanity

Seemed Relevant…

I have this book called Wolfen. It was released in 2014, and ever since, readers have been asking me to write a sequel. I guess it’s one of those stories that resonates. I get that. And I have been wracking my brain about it for over a decade now. It’s not about writing more. It’s about writing more in a way that won’t cheapen or undermine the original story. There is a book 2 in my head. It’s dark, heavy, traumatizing in some parts. It’s the first story I ever started writing for which I knew right away I would need a very clear trigger warning in the intro. The story is half-written already. And it’s been stuck in that… Read More »Seemed Relevant…

Character Development: Aiden and The Break of Chapter 26

Have you ever been asked to do a character analysis in English class as a student? I don’t remember much from the ones I did, but I do enjoy the concept. Obviously, not every character ever written is worthy of the bother, but every once in a while you get one you could spend hours on the couch with (in psychoanalysis…). You think you know them, but the more you look, the deeper you see. Part of why I love reading, re-reading, and writing is that all three allow you to revisit a certain situation, a certain place and time, a certain sentence spoken, and look beneath the surface in a way you can’t do in real life. Nuance and subtlety are the most irresistible lure for any hardcore bookworm. Yes, we enjoy action and passion, and witty dialogue, but what really keeps us coming back isn’t the obvious, it’s the things you have to dig for, think about, and chew on.

Why would you do that to a person??

WolfenNot too long ago, I was confronted with a reader’s question that gave me pause. The question was about Aiden from Wolfen and a certain thing that happens to him about halfway through the book. My answer was going to be simple and to the point: it was a test for him and another character, and their arcs hinged upon how they responded to it. But I paused because as I was typing this answer out, my mind veered off to a place I hadn’t gone before, even while writing this book, and it completely changed what I wanted to say. That place was Aiden’s past.

“Why would you do that to a person?” they asked.

Here’s my answer:

Read More »Character Development: Aiden and The Break of Chapter 26