Ethnic Cultures in a Distant Future of Life Among The Stars
Consider the universe and a time far from now. Consider the Earth is nothing more than a legend like Atlantis, Mu, Eden, the Tower of Babel, and other lost civilizations that we can find little to no trace of—if they ever truly existed. Now consider mankind has populated alien worlds and started civilization again. What would these people be like? In the modern world, we define ourselves by our ethnicity. This can be seen on every content in various degrees, but let us look at the United States for a moment. We do not just have Americans. We have African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Arab-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Native Americans, Latino-Ameri

Discovering Character Secrets
Sit down across the restaurant table from a blind date or someone you met online. After the first awkward moments of introduction and the pleasant small talk is exchanged, the hardest part of the date begins: learning who the person you are sitting across from really is. Anyone who has gone on any date will recognize this process. The creation of characters is the same mental game of friendly chess. Some writers consider it to be a method on interview and interrogation of the character to learn what they are like. Characters, like real people, have their secrets. We begin designing them and the story when we think we know who they are. Yet, I have often found that character

The Driving Forces of the Plotlines to Come
The plotting proceeds with The Guardians and are on track so far to start the dictation draft to start November 1. As I start working on the characters I am learning that this book will likely be the start to a series. The story lines for The Guardians is being organically created from the characters and the theme. While the Guardians will explore loyalty, honor, duty, and exploitation of people, and slavery it’s main focus is on a single ethical question: “What is one man’s life worth?” It is from that question that will drive the story along its course. Have you ever sat back and asked yourself what your life is worth? Many people do, though the que

Universe Creation
To borrow from a famous science fiction television show: “And so it begins . . . .” I have begun working on the plot line and the creation of the universe that “The Guardians” lives in. Strangely enough, as I begin to create civilizations, it is the human civilization that I am having the most concern about. The story set far in the future. Earth is a distant memory of man…almost like Eden or Atlantis may be to modern man. When I first started to name the human characters, I found myself naming them not too different from modern day people. This is not a bad thing, but it raised a question to my muse. Would cultural naming in the future be like toda

Accidental Research Helps Solve the Plotting Problem
After almost a month, people may wonder what happened. The short, unranting, calm response is that my laptop broke and I didn’t have the plot printed out. This experience has taught me to do two things. One is to buy a secondary laptop. The other is to learn to write using Sydney Sheldon’s method—dictate. First, I actually bought a netbook and it is turning into my primary “laptop” writing tool. The digital recorder has become my primary writing tool. I wasn’t certain that I could “write” using it. Mostly, I hate my own voice. I have learned that the method does work for me. As you may have noticed in the previous blogs, I have