Fick Suck: Blog

When I scan the list of nominees for the awards this year, one common element stands out among the authors I have read. I trust these authors to deliver comprehensive characters, a coherent plot, and a consistent attempt at best grammar and vocabulary practices. Without exception, all of the authors I have read on the list present with a love of storytelling and a genuine joy of reading.

One can honor by reserving judgement and respect the hours of effort, but trust must be earned. Any of them may provoke, cajole and even anger me, but I trust them.

Celebrate good writing, of course. Take the time to appreciate the effort as well, including those authors who have not been nominated. A lot of people on SOL have worked hard to earn our trust as readers. Thank you, guys, for filling many, many hours with enjoyable reads.

World building is an unusual combination of imagination and logic. The elements of a world have to fit together in a reasonable fashion that follow an unwritten code of coherence. If the coherence is not present, then the reader cannot enter the world construct.

I use world building for two reasons. First, I enjoy the challenge of pulling a new world together. "Dune" blew my teenage mind in a manner other, more adept, SF writers did not. This new world of Dune told an ancient earth myth with an embracing imagination that still effects my reading.

Second, a world untethered from our reality gives me the freedom to explore characters, ideas, and philosophy without the political ickiness (real word, I swear) that pervades American fiction and alas, non-fiction too. Successful world building makes the suspension of disbelief an easy task for a reader. The character speaks, not the coincidental politics that the uttered words invoke in our current anxious reality. World building is not escapism though, it's separating the wheat from the chaff. It is an opportunity to focus on "the heart of the matter."

Aden is a middle-aged wizard. You may emphasize "wizard" as I intended for presentation, but I emphasize "middle-aged" because, well, it's dogging me these days.

New story is posting and it will be 35 chapters. I expect to be posting on Tuesdays and Fridays. This story is posting here because I am walking away from Kindle. After watching "The Social Dilemma," I concluded that I was a naive participant in digital media. Amazon made exponentially more money on my efforts than I ever did or will. While they were taking a percentage of my sales as any publisher would, they were also harvesting my data and selling ads for everyone else's work to prospective readers. They had me over a barrel, three if not four times.

Besides, you folks have been awesome, offering thanks, praise, and real-time constructive critiques.The trolls have been few and far between.

Thank you for all of the kind responses; it is a joy to post a new story. A more important thank you to the couple of kind souls who took the time to give me their constructive criticism. Their insights have been valuable and immediately applicable to other writing projects. Let us see what the future brings.

I have a few storytelling biases. I prefer flawed characters. I believe that experiencing a protagonist's struggles illumines our own. The more we can relate to a character, the more immersion into the story is possible.
I have learned to shy away from superheroes. They are the high-fructose corn syrup of the fiction world, and I blame Marvel and DC.
Becoming a victim is not a choice. However, remaining in a mental state of victimization is a choice. Ignoring the flight or fight response is a deliberate choice.