Past, present and future.

It's been a very long time since I've written anything here. There are two main reasons for this. One of which is that I became aware of the website "TvTropes." Since discovering it I've realized that it's done a great job of what I've tried to do here. There may be some cases where there are some Objectivist-specific may need discussed that would justify a blog like what this has been up until now, but not enough reason for me to continue doing this.

Secondly, I started this blog (and blogging in general) as a way of fighting off writers block. Shortly after I started this blog, my comic writing hit a very active period where I finished the first draft of the script for my first graphic novel (which is what I was stuck on to begin with). But I had tons of energy to apply to writing my script but I didn't really want to spare any (or at least as much) for blogging.

About a year later I'm at a point of writer's block again. My script needs some rewrites and I need to either get my art up to snuff or break down and find an artist, but I noticed I haven't been doing much writing for a while.

I still have Superhero Babylon where I try to regularly contribute. But even though we try to keep things open about what topics are fair game, there have been some topics there that it hasn't really felt right to go on about because of how things are set up over there.

Specifically I'm talking about Horror. I tend to focus on the more heroic aspects thereof when I do write about it, but sometimes it requires going into too much detail for a person who isn't already a fan or who has no intention of trying it out no matter how glowing of a review I write is willing to take.

When I started this blog with the title I chose someone kind of joked that it sounded like something that would focus on horror. Wasn't true at the time, but I think it will be now. So far I have one idea I'm ready to try out along those lines. I don't want to go into too much detail about what it is, but if all goes well I should be starting it soon.

I don't know how many people were following this back when I was writing regularly, but I figured it would be fair warning to let anyone who cared about this blog "Thanks, but I'm changing focus." I'm still going to remain as Objectivist as one can while writing about a genre of fiction that Rand herself by and large dismissed. If you're no longer interested in this, sorry to see you go. If you're new or old and willing to stay aboard welcome.

Introduction to Dissecting the Machine

Storytelling has really been my life. I started coming up with sets of characters and scenarios when I was very young and one of the big driving forces in my life has been the idea of doing this well and constantly learning to do it better. But the truth of the matter is that even if the drive comes naturally, the skill to use that drive does not.

At the end of the day I'm a "nuts and bolts" guy when it comes to aesthetics. I'll read a novel and compare it to the film adaptation to see where things were improved or worsened. I'll compare different adaptations of the same story. I watch different edits of the same film. I listen to director commentaries and watch deleted scenes and try to determine if they handled the tough decisions correctly.

I can watch a film or read a novel and see it like an engine and understand how moving different elements of the story or "pressure valves" can drastically affect the overall work. It can turn an unstoppable psychopath into a lovable loser who can't catch a break. It can turn a bold man who takes charge of his own life into a neurotic wreck who can't keep anything together.

Ultimately more so than any other form of art a story is a machine. The characters, setting, events and everything that goes into a story are little more than Gears, tools and pressure valves which make this machine run properly and perform the task it was built to do.

My goal here is to discuss the ideas behind how the machine itself works. To name, describe and discuss all the tools that make a good story and point out how they have been best applied in the past and can be applied in the future.