Just Another Week in Suburbia: The Passive Casper
The best stories feature characters who take journeys. And that doesn’t necessarily mean geographical journeys, but intellectual, emotional, and spiritual journeys. The simplest example is Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. While he does take a physical journey, it’s all about how his adventure shapes him, and who he becomes: he goes from a meek Hobbit to a bold, courageous leader – a Hobbit who would dare banter with a dragon and betray a friend to broker peace. I’d written other stories where characters took physical journeys, and their change is a byproduct of their experiences. But now I was interested primarily in focusing on the character’s growth. Part of this…
Just Another Week in Suburbia: The Inception
I thought I’d look a little at the creative process behind my books. Back in 2012, with several unpublished manuscripts behind me, I decided to write a novel that would be THE ONE, as in the one that sold. Not that I could make that determination. Arts are so subjective that you’re always at the whim of taste. But I decided that up to that point, my writing had been … too safe. In any of the arts, you’re often working through a filter, worried what people will think of your work. It’s not the anonymous reader that’s a concern. It’s the people you know – friends, and family. What…