Author: Kat

I have been writing stories since first grade. Speculative genres are my passion, although high fantasy and classic science fiction hold special favor. In my freshman year of college, I was introduced to anime, manga, and cosplay, and enjoy going to geek and anime conventions like (Re)Generation Who and Katsucon. I have a B.A. in English from Penn State and works as a public library assistant and freelance editor. From October 2012 to October 2013, I was a content contributor to Geek La Femme. I've also written several articles for the comic book e-newsletter Scoop. My various amateur talents include sketching, swimming, sword-fighting, and playing the ocarina. I post new entries on The Cat’s Cradle and upload a new chapter of fan fiction on alternating Mondays (unless otherwise stated on Twitter). I currently live and work in Pennsylvania with two brothers and six felines.

The Avengers: A Tribute

I’m currently glowing with the aftermath of my fourth viewing of Marvel’s The Avengers. Until about two months ago, the movie was on the periphery of my radar. Now I have gone to see it in theaters every weekend this May, from the cool, buzzing anticipation of opening night to the heat-soaked afternoon of my Memorial Day weekend. And I have enjoyed every second of it!

Before I continue, I must post a disclaimer: I know nothing about American comics. Everything I am aware of has come from the recent slew of Marvel movies. Those are the only versions I know. I’m sure that some comic book fans out there are just waiting to pounce on my ignorance as I bubble over with fangirl enthusiasm, so I’m gonna take a leaf out of Captain America’s book and say: “Son, just don’t.” If you enjoyed the movie as much as I did, great! High five! Keep reading and know you are not alone! If you just want to point out all the discrepancies or ways that it failed as a comic book adaptation, as a film, or both, please don’t. You can keep reading if you want, but please froth at the mouth quietly.

THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

So, now that that’s been taken care of, on to the question that I’m sure some of the people I know in real life have been asking:

“Why do you love The Avengers so much?”

Continue reading “The Avengers: A Tribute” →

Losing Faith

How do you restore faith once it’s been lost?

I don’t know about you, but I’m a writer who is full of self-doubt that only gets worse the older I get. Rather cynical for a girl of 24, but there it is.

I’ve known for almost two decades that I was going to be a writer. I’ve always known that I would have to be in a creative or artistic field; my brain isn’t suited for business or anything that deals with a lot of people. (Oddly enough, I can handle being a librarian, mostly because I love books so much. But that’s about the only “normal” job I can hold and not go crazy or totally mess up.) Writing is really my only talent. I know this. And yet, I still have doubts about becoming a successful writer.

When I was younger, I really didn’t have plan about how I was going to become a published author…but I didn’t feel I needed one. I knew what I could do, what I wanted to do, and all I had to do was do it. I didn’t have any doubts about my eventual success. And yet, now I believe that it’s highly unlikely that I will ever achieve publication of any kind. I don’t even know if I’m capable of finishing anything anymore. For at least six months, that thought has paralyzed me. My depression was in full swing and only getting worse. I’d managed to stem the tide with anime, but that wasn’t enough anymore. I was losing my writing, my faith in writing, and I didn’t know how to stop it.

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Prolific Penmasters

It’s ironic that the three writers I look up to the most are also some of the most prolific. Mercedes Lackey has dozens upon dozens of novels. Many are collaborations, but many are not, and even collaborating takes a great deal of time and effort. Oddly enough, she started off as a writer of fanfiction and was a protegée of Marion Zimmer Bradley, one of the mistresses of sci-fi and fantasy. J. Michael Straczynski writes for 10 hours a day, every day, except on his birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s. He says, “If I don’t have an assignment, I’ll write a short story, I’ll write a spec script, I’ll write a novel. I just enjoy the hell out of it.” Out of the 110 episodes comprising Babylon 5, he wrote the scripts for 92 of them, plus all of the movies. Joss Whedon has created several cult classic television shows with some of the most unique and memorable mythologies and characters. He worked on Buffy, Angel, and Firefly as writer and director during the 2002-2003 television season, and said that he only feels his best when he’s writing:

“You know, I always get cranky when I’m not writing,” Joss admits. “I’ll be mad and I don’t know why. I just feel like I’m angry with everybody and I hate everything and life is a sham. Then I’ll realize I haven’t written anything. And rewriting doesn’t count. It has to be an original script” (Havens, 158).

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Everlasting Pulp

These are the reasons I love to read and still love the older, archaic pulp fiction stories…and my primary motivations for reading at all. After watching Marvel’s The Avengers this weekend, and seeing all of the comic book characters coming to life on the silver screen recently, I thought this passage from the end of Richard A. Lupoff’s interesting book was rather apt:

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Mystery Box

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Yeah, sorry guys, I’ve got nothing this week. My brain is not in a cooperative writing mood. I was toying with the idea of writing an entry about the wonders of the Mystery genre since I have been watching and reading a lot of detective stories lately. I’m into the fourth season of Castle and I just started Sherlock, a BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s super sleuth that brings Sherlock and Watson into the present day. I’ll admit, I was rather leery of this “modernization” because it usually fails terribly. But somehow…this works. It’s a modern Sherlock Holmes that doesn’t lose the quirky awesomeness of the original, even adapting the original stories such as A Study in Scarlet in a modern fashion. And it works. I’m not sure how, but the level of detail and planning it must have taken is astounding. Benedict Cumberbatch is a wonderful Sherlock Holmes and I really like Martin Freeman as John Watson. The dynamics and chemistry between those two are amazing.

So. Yeah. Mystery. It’s good. Hard genre to pull off well. Go watch Sherlock. And Castle. Lots of Castle. And Nathan Fillion. Yum.

Writer Shout-Out: Chuck Wendig of ”Terrible Minds”

I’m afraid that I don’t have much to say this week, mostly because I just finished the third season of Castle and I’m frothing at the mouth trying to get access to the fourth season. (No, I do not have regular TV and no, I am not willing to wait a week for each episode to air. Not when we have the Interwebz, bitches!) *ahem* At any rate, I did want to share a delightfully foul-mouthed writers’ blog known as “Terrible Minds” by Chuck Wendig, Penmonkey Extraordinaire.

My writing group spent this past Sunday discussing two of Mr. Wendig’s articles, 25 Things Writers Should Start Doing and 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right Fucking Now). If you don’t mind cursing and some interesting but anatomically impossible metaphors, then I highly recommend reading some of the articles of “Terrible Minds.” He treats the material in an irreverent manner that is hilarious to read, but the subjects and suggestions are quite viable. I don’t agree with everything he says in each article, but it’s still worth taking a look and is fun to read, for both newbies and professionals.

Some examples, in addition to the ones above, to give you a taste of this juicy goodness, are as follows. Hope you enjoy!

A Long Look At “Show, Don’t Tell”

25 Reasons I Hate Your Main Character

How To Be A Full-Time Writer: A “25 Things You Should Know” Investigative Report

25 Lies Writers Tell (And Start To Believe)

Ten Things You Should Know About Writing Screenplays

25 Things You Should Know About Creativity

Give the Men Some Love

I was going to write a more serious entry this week, but decided against it. I have been at the epicenter of some of my favorite shows in the past few days, so that’s where my mind has been. Since I believe in following my literary impulses, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite male characters. (I will avoid spoilers as much as I can.)

GALEN
Actor: Peter Woodward
Series: Babylon 5: Crusade

Wizard, British, wry sense of humor, and black leather coats…what more could a girl ask for? Galen is a techno-mage, part of an eclectic order that uses an ancient advanced technology to simulate the effects of magic…and is pretty odd and mysterious even by the standards of that order. He’s highly independent and powerful as well as irritating to other characters in Crusade because he “shows up when he’s least wanted and most needed,” not to mention having a habit of withholding information. I love Galen’s wry, often cynical sense of humor, his crisp, precise way of speaking, and his eyes are some of the most expressive I’ve ever seen. He’s also one of my favorite character-types, what I call “the Tortured Soul.” Characters of this type have hidden histories, often tragic, that slowly comes to light over the course of the series. Galen is one of those who tries to be completely self-sufficient, but his efforts only highlight his isolation and loneliness. Which only makes me want to give him a hug. ^_^

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A Body In Motion

I’m sure that many of you have picked up at least one book about how to be a writer. Or perhaps you’ve read books or blogs that focus on the tricks of the trade employed by your favorite writer. Maybe you haven’t. But if you have, and looked at several, there are two suggestions or “tricks” that almost every author recommends:

1) Write every day.

2) Exercise.

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Book and Movie Review: ”Guns, Germs, & Steel”

I’ll admit that I haven’t actually read the book this time. (But I do own a copy.) I did watch National Geographic’s video version that has the author, Jared Diamond, as its host covering the same material that was in the book…so I think that counts. The book, and movie, is entitled Guns, Germs, & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and takes an in-depth look at why there are haves and have-nots in the world. Why did European societies rise to such great technological heights while African societies, for the most part, remain under-privileged? It is not because one race is inherently superior to another…every derivation of human has its share of the talented and the talent-less, the smart and the stupid, the weak and the strong…so what caused some societies to develop rapidly while others did not? As a writer, this is a fascinating and complex question to be answered and does a lot to advance one’s world-building.

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Musings on Music

I have a mug that says, “God gave us music so we might sing without words.” I’m not especially religious, but I do find music to be highly influential on my moods and inspirational for my writing. I like creating soundtracks for my stories, seeking out songs that fit or explain characters or spark scenes. Whenever I listen to music, if I hear a song that starts making me think of a scene or character, or just gives a certain mood to a story, I jot it down to add to that story’s playlist.

Some writers use music a lot for their writing. My friend Foxglove Zayuri is like that. She has massive playlists full of songs that inspire her characters and stories. Music is very important to her writing process. I’m not quite as intense; my playlists only have a dozen or so songs for each story. Some songs may really feel like they match a character perfectly, like “Under the Rose” by HiM matches Scion Argent from The Mariner Sequence. Others don’t seem to match up in as straightforward a fashion. For example, I recently heard the theme from the British TV show Wycliffe by Nigel Hess, and that immediately made me think about Astral Rain. I don’t really know why, but as soon as I heard it, images started pouring through my mind. It really doesn’t matter how many songs you use, as long as they aren’t forced and inspire you. After all, chances are no one except you will hear that soundtrack you compiled.

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