All posts by Greg

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About Greg

Writer. Translator. Geek.

Downer Endings: The Novel’s Answer to the Hollywood Ending!

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I’ve been jamming tons of text into my eyeballs lately, flash fiction and short stories, novels and craft blogs.

I also told you how I really feel when I wrote Things I’m Sick of Reading About in September. In it, I railed against stories that lack a proper ending. TL;DR If you misuse authorial power so blatantly, this is you:

“My writing bores me. You finish the story, peon!”

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in real stories; stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. Stories that leave the audience satisfied, rather than befuddled, upon reaching the end. When someone writes a story with no end, I wonder, did they have a purpose in writing at all, or did they just want to waste my reading time? In 100% of apprentice writers, 99% of journeyman writers, and 95% of masters, the inconclusive ending flops.

So I stand unapologetically pro-ending.

Next question! Given that an ending must exist (assuming you buy my unconvincing and ill-backed opinion), what kind of ending shall we have? Continue reading Downer Endings: The Novel’s Answer to the Hollywood Ending! →

Ode to The Dirty

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A patchwork bayou landscape, cypress and pine dressed in spanish moss, that sepulchral lace, slid past our plane as we approached the airport. The alabaster smokestacks of big pharma up The River glow orange from the work-lights. As the swamp climbed to meet us, a sense of comfort and consternation both descended upon me. Oh Louisiana, I’ve missed you, but I could never live you. Continue reading Ode to The Dirty →

What’s Your Beef With Contractions?

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A question for fellow writers. What do you have against contractions?

Now I won’t say contractions are amazing, but I’ve just noticed a conspicuous absence as I read some writers. Especially in marking up other people’s writing, I often can’t get more substantive because against the evidence of a hundred million English speakers, hundreds of whom’re competent, your first person narrator’s just apoplectic about apostrophes. Pay close heed next time you’re interacting with your fellow meatsacks, be mindful of your partner’s nuance. How often do we use contractions? Every time we can unless we’re explicitly choosing not to. Continue reading What’s Your Beef With Contractions? →

What I’m Watching: Wreck-It Ralph

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So, yesterday I went to see this movie. It’s great. You should go see it before I complain about it. If  you’re spoiler-sensitive, don’t “Read More” just yet. This entry will wait.

This movie won’t.

Continue reading What I’m Watching: Wreck-It Ralph →

What I’m Reading: The Tomorrow Project

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I picked up The Tomorrow Project: Bestselling Authors Describe Daily Life In The Future at Norwescon in 2011. Given my forty book backlog (which I’m decreasing, at least until my December B&N/Half-Priced Books trip), my reading latency shouldn’t be shocking.

Continue reading What I’m Reading: The Tomorrow Project →

What I’m Reading: The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

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At the beginning of October, I picked up the first nine of the 10-volume Chronicles of Amber series at Half-Priced books, mainly because my Dresden group also runs an Amber game, and the idea of roleplaying a nigh-godlike figure always appeals to me.

I cannot laud Nine Princes in Amber highly enough. It’s a masterpiece. Zelazny’s prose dances across the page, never slow or boring, the dialogue sparkles and the characters all deep and intertwined. The story’s great, seeming a natural extension of the characters’ desire, the way it should be. It’s quite clear why this book was a Hugo and Nebula award winner. I’m already looking on my calendar for when I’ll have time to reread it.

Continue reading What I’m Reading: The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny →

5 Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Designing Your Author Site

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Before creating http://www.gregoryblake.net, I browsed over a hundred author sites and blogs, seeking inspiration, insight, the perfect electric razor, and a list of Don’ts. Below, five things that make for an open-and-closed website, coming from a self-proclaimed Devourer of Fiction and bona fide website tester. Continue reading 5 Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Designing Your Author Site →

Why Writers’ Associations Matter

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Today, I renewed my membership in the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association after it lapsed some time several months ago.

I’d let it expire for a few reasons, among them the fact that I hadn’t made more than two meetings that year. That, and I pinch pennies like I actually have a reason to, which I really don’t. Continue reading Why Writers’ Associations Matter →

Impossible Things

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Last week Thursday, I chatted briefly with a coworker about my experiences working in C#.

My day job requires that I program on occasion, and so I do. My coworker wants to learn how to code, and so I’m teaching.

You’d think I’d be a terrible teacher. My code’s functional, but inelegant. My relationship to programming and math are the same as my view towards water. Definitely has purpose, but no desire to be drowned in it. I don’t enjoy the act of programming, like I enjoy the act of writing. I just enjoy the result. Hence, I’ll never be elevated to programming black belt.

When I told my coworker this, he responded, “What do you mean? You’re coding right now. What more’s there to it?” Continue reading Impossible Things →