Monday, March 28, 2016

Book inspired video games

I've recently been watching a lot of YouTube videos about Silent Hill (the video game, not the movie), and how it was influenced by Western horror writers like Stephan King. I'm such a huge nerd that things like that interest me, and it made me want to play the game. Sadly I do not own the game so I wasn't able to. I may consider doing a series online that is devoted to games inspired by or based on books, since I have a capture card and I'm not doing that much with it. I want to find a use for it other than selling it. I see a potential to make great content with it.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Weekend Review: Izombie season 1

I was so excited when I learned that the guy who created Veronica Mars (Rob Thomas) was making a zombie show. I remember making another post reviewing the trailer for the show, and with that being said, I thought that I would get to watch the show a lot sooner than I did, but it just so happened to come on during the time my ex boyfriend used to come home from work with a need to be fed. I thought that I would have time sometime after the first season to watch it on netflix, but that didn't happen until now. The show does remind me of Veronica Mars in many ways, a blonde who solves crimes. Even some of the clothing choices the characters make remind me of Veronica Mars. I always found myself wanting to raid Veronica Mars's closet, and now I want to raid Liv's. I do think Veronica Mars is the darker of the two shows, where Izombie still has some lightness to it. Izombie seems more upbeat and fun to watch, despite it being a murder of the week type show. After each episode of Izombie I found myself wishing for the next and I was disappointed after I'd watched them all. The only character that I don't like is Major. He just seems bland and boring, the kind of guy a girl like with goals like Liv's would have been attracted to, but it seems like the chemistry between the pair doesn't exist.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Writing interesting characters

Sunday I was watching the Walking Dead, like I always do, and I realized that none of the characters are really "good guys". That doesn't mean that they are "bad guys" either, it just means that they aren't written the way superheroes are. They want to protect their own, and sometimes that comes at the cost of someone else. The characters have all gone through a lot to get to the point where they are now. The characters have grown and changed over the course of the show. They each have their own personalities and interests. The characters are interesting, if they weren't people wouldn't tune in each week to see what would happen on the walking dead. The characters in the walking dead are the type of characters that I would love to write about. Characters that people care about, that people would go out of their way to read about or watch on tv. Characters that people cheer for, even if they aren't the good guys.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Changes

I feel part of writing a successful novel is to have the characters go through changes. To be able to write about changes you have to go through them yourself. Right now I'm going through a lot of changes. Like I said in a past post, my last relationship taught me a lot about life, myself, and what I'm actually looking for. I don't want to dwell on that relationship any longer, but it did make me start changing myself for the better. In many ways that relationship changed me for the worst. Before I started dating him I was very into foreign movies and learning about different cultures, something he was not into. I also really liked video games, but I felt that I couldn't play them with him because he always felt that he had to be the best (he would also rage quit Halo). I always felt the point of playing a game was to enjoy it. I didn't care about winning or beating the game. I just wanted to play something fun. I wanted to have fun with him as well, but I was afraid he wouldn't be happy if I wasn't good at the game. I sat out playing the latest Batman game because of it. I also didn't go back and do all the missions that I wanted on Dead Rising because of it. I also stopped going to school and the gym while with him, things that I should never have done. I'm doing those things again, and rediscovering who I am and learning new things about myself. I'm trying to change in good ways this time, and I'm learning a lot about change and myself along the way.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Why having a back up plan is important

Writing professionally has been my dream for as long as I can remember. While I know writing is what I want to do, and what I aim to do, I also know that I may not sell a single book. I, like everyone else with a dream, need to go after that dream while also working on a back up plan. I want to be able to support myself, even if I can't do it as a writer. I will also be happy writing even if I can't support myself. I will always write, even if it's just for me. In reality, most writers don't make enough to support themselves. It takes a lot of hard work to get your books out there and get reviews and sales. I'm truly happy for the people who have gone after their dream and do make enough to support themselves and are able to write full time, but that is not the average person.