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The ramblings of a designer turned writer turned computer geek turned writer turned designer with way too much time on his hands.
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FFC #73 - Turning point

Posted May 29th, 2021 at 08:45 PM by TGRF
Updated May 30th, 2021 at 12:34 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #73

I spent a few minutes looking at the screen today, the realization washing over me that I might have just defeated my greatest writing nemesis.

Throughout my writing years, I've narrowed down my problems to a few consistent ones. Crunched intros are there, due to me trying to introduce everything at once. Undeveloped antagonists seem to be haunting my more recent stories for some reason. Stakes - an older nemesis - hems and haws on if it's still an issue. But the big one, the main thing I seem to always struggle with, is a double-header: squished content, and the inability to get a character to change.

These are two sides (plot and character) of the same coin: absent middles. On one side, you have the plot, going straight from the beginning of the story, to the midpoint, and then straight to the end. What happens in the middle? Unfortunately, the 3-act structure is a void there. It took me awhile to...
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TGRF's Reviews - The SYLO Chronicles

Posted May 25th, 2021 at 06:02 PM by TGRF
I read the SYLO books back in... I can't even remember when. A few years back. I hadn't read anything recently at the time, and possessed by a sudden urge to do so, I perused the fiction shelves of the local library, looking for likely titles. The one that I ended up checking out was SYLO, by D. J. MacHale, the first in a trilogy. Since reading all three books, I've had the desire to review them ever since.

Ratings:
5: Amazing, above flawless.
4: Flawless, but doesn't really stand out.
3: Might have some issues, but works fine.
2: Has some issues which might detract from the story.
1: Flawed, bring the story down noticeably.

Title: The SYLO Chronicles (SYLO, STORM, STRIKE)
Author: D.J.MacHale
My Rating: 4/5

Summary (no spoilers)
It's kind of hard to summarize the whole trilogy without spoiling it. That's because the last two books are based on the ending twist of the first. That twist...
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TGRF's Reviews - Mistborn (The Final Empire)

Posted May 23rd, 2021 at 07:29 PM by TGRF
Updated May 25th, 2021 at 05:27 PM by TGRF
I've decided to start another series of blogs, for the purpose of reviewing/critiquing stories (and possibly movies) I've read. I don't read as much as I should these days, but when I do finish up a good fiction book, I often feel like sharing my thoughts on it. So that's what this is for. There are no spoilers below, aside from some very general hints on the story structure used.

Ratings:
5: Amazing, above flawless.
4: Flawless, but doesn't really stand out.
3: Might have some issues, but works fine.
2: Has some issues which might detract from the story.
1: Flawed, bring the story down noticeably.

Title: Mistborn (The Final Empire)
Author: Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3.9/5 - a solid read.

I hadn't heard about Brandon Sanderson until recently, and upon hearing that he was known for writing 'clean' stories, I knew I had to check him out. I really don't want to read a ton of language or......
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FFC #72 - An update, and confrontations

Posted May 22nd, 2021 at 02:29 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #72

It's been a bit since my last update, and I haven't really been around much, so I wanted to let my readers know what's going on.

Not much has changed from my last FFC update. I still have some stories floating around, nothing is really taking off, and that's about it. This goes for my novels as well, to a lesser extent.

Over the last year, it's been becoming increasingly clear why this is happening. For the first five years of my writing, it was like I was unstoppable. My stories got better, I never had problems writing them like I do now, things just worked. My writing hasn't really felt that way since I wrote Red. I've detailed before that that's where everything seems to have fallen apart.

Over the last year or so, I've had to shift my thinking quite a bit. I've had to confront the fact that I need to get out and get a job and general experience like a normal person - something...
Posted in FFC
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FFC #71 - Subplots, and what's next

Posted May 1st, 2021 at 01:23 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #71

So after the somewhat dismal last FFC, I have some good news. After extensive discussion with TAF (thanks again for your input), I think I've nailed down the issue behind the absent middles in my stories, and how to fix them. All that remains now is to put my theories to the test.

Basically the solution comes down to adding subplots, so you can expect the next story to have several mini-stories going on throughout it in addition to the main plot. I have done this before with HiS, but I'll be approaching subplots from a different angle this time, so we'll see what happens.

That leaves one remaining question: what is the next story?

For a while now, I've had basically two stories sloshing around in my head. Interest wavers between them at random intervals, but neither can really seem to get off the ground. They are:
  • A sequel to Valkyrie, continuing the history of Valhalla. I've been
...
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