So you’ve written a novel and it’s been getting a lot of buzz and traction…congratulations! Writing a story that resonates with readers is a major accomplishment. Frequently, stories in the publishing world get adapted to film and/or TV series–so how can you turn your novel into a Hollywood IP (Intellectual Property)? First off, full disclosure …
Tomorrow, we carve pumpkins and go trick or treating, so for this month’s newsletter, I thought I’d share one of my favorite classic PlayStation horror survival games from 1999…Silent Hill. I got this one as a birthday present and spent many a night in front of the TV playing with all the lights off. It …
Video games have been around for almost 50 years now. From the early days of Space Invaders through todays MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online games), most of us, it’s fair to say, have grown up having played them, either in the arcades, or via home consoles. Having started from basic 8-bit graphics and evolving to today’s …
Thanks to movies like 1982’s Blade Runner and 1999’s The Matrix, it’s safe to say most of the world has heard of the Cyberpunk genre. But what is Cyberpunk, and how has our high-tech world re-defined it? Cyberpunk has its roots in film-noir and hard-boiled detective novels. Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of …
GONG HAY FAT CHOY! Growing up in Hawaii, Chinese New Year was celebrated a lot. I remember many Lion Dances in Chinatown close to downtown Honolulu and adjacent to Kalihi where I went to high school. So Happy Year of the Tiger! I thought for this month’s article, I’d dive into the science behind my …
If you’re a writer like me, you might have heard about “Save the Cat”. What is it? Before I explain, first I must share with you a picture of Clawde who was my cat I got a week before meeting my lovely wife Pamela, and then he became our cat till he passed in 2013. …
In my last two newsletters, I explored the protagonist and antagonist characters as they relate to fiction writing. This month, I wanted to talk about a third character, the impact (or influence) character. What is the impact character? There are many definitions and theories, but the one that I like to use is that the impact …
Last month, I gave a few tips on how to write a compelling protagonist. This month, I’d like to focus on your Antagonist, or villain. Having a great “bad guy” (or gal) is part of what makes a great story, whether Grendel in Beowulf, or Darth Vader! It has to be said that your antagonist …
In my opinion, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest movies of all time. The main reason for that is the well-defined and crafted lead character of Indiana Jones. Back when George Lucas & Steven Spielberg were creating the character, they had wanted him to be like James Bond, but in the …
Read more “WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT WRITING FROM INDIANA JONES: MAKE YOUR PROTAGONIST RELATABLE”
Pamela & I were recently interviewed by Andre Tucker on the S.T.A.R.net Studios podcast. We connected through LinkedIn. We spoke about our various projects, including our web series That Darn Girlfriend, the novel and comic adaptation for CYBER FIGHTER, and how we are moving forward with the film production. It’s always great getting to talk to different hosts from …