A Free Gift for Some of my Awesome Fans!

This year I thought I’d celebrate the holiday season by giving away signed copies of my books to

four lucky fans. All you need to enter this free drawing is a Goodreads account. Just follow the links below, log in or create your account, and enter for your chance to win one of two signed copies of either Lost Under Two Moons or The Beast Hunter. Both giveaways end December 20th, so be sure to enter before then!

Lost Under Two Moons Giveaway

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/116557-lost-under-two-moons

The Beast Hunter Giveaway

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/116558-the-beast-hunter

Good luck to you all and God bless. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!

Lindsay

Game Story Review - Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

I thought I’d try something a little different this week and review the storyline of a game that I have played all the way through multiple times. Keep in mind that this review will be focusing on elements of storytelling such as character development and plot structure, rather than gameplay elements or gamer hints. Today I’ll be talking about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, an action shooter and the first game in the Uncharted series from developer Naughty Dog Studios.

Premise

Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter and lovable scoundrel, is following in the footsteps of his ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, to try to find the legendary El Dorado. He follows the trail to a former Spanish colony on an island in the southern Atlantic only to find it swarming with modern-day pirates and a centuries-old curse that could threaten the entire world if he can’t stop it. 

Review

The Uncharted series has always been ambitious in its storytelling. The developers have said that their inspiration came from the pulp adventure movies of the early 20th century, the same type of movies that inspired the Indiana Jones character and series. What’s different about Nathan Drake is that he is cast as a sort of exceptional everyman, a likable guy who does amazing things but never loses his relatability. Drake is funny without being snarky, heroic without being an action figure. As I played Nathan Drake, I found myself drawn to his crooked smile and emotional honesty in a way that almost never happens for me in video games.

The rest of the cast is equally well developed. Drake’s friend and mentor, Sully, feels more like your fun uncle than the stereotypical wise old advisor. The story’s love interest, Elena, also feels realistic, with equal parts plucky courage and empathetic vulnerability. Even the villains, who don’t get very much screen time, are interesting and fun in a James Bond Villain kind of way, alternating between witty banter and cat-and-mouse sadism.

The development of the plot is a fine balance of gameplay elements that alternate the player between third-person shooting, platforming, puzzles, and cut-scenes. All of these elements play a role in developing the story, and the game never feels like it’s filling up time or padding the experience. Of course, as in nearly all games, the player is required to have a greater suspension of disbelief than would be required for a novel or most movies, but fans of this type of game should expect and appreciate the epic firefights and elaborate puzzles as a part of the overall experience.

It should be noted that this game’s story is very linear, with no player control over the plot or character decisions. The style can best be described as an interactive thematic experience, with the player taking over for anything involving action or problem solving, and leaving the sequence of events to the developers. While this may be a turnoff to gamers who prefer a branching storyline with multiple endings, I preferred the single, well-crafted plot with its balanced pacing, character development, and foreshadowing.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is a game that pulls the gamer in with a well-crafted Conflict/Resolution Pattern and engaging characters as opposed to reality-blurring gamer input. I would recommend this game to anyone who has ever watched a summer blockbuster and wanted to play along with the movie, rather than change it to suit their own style. For me, as a lover of great stories that are well-told, this game is one of my all-time favorites.


Leave a comment below to let me know if you enjoyed this review and if you’d like to see more game-related content in the future.

Looking Back On My First Rejection

As I was going through some old

files in my Lost Under Two Moons folder, I found an interesting little document that I had completely forgotten about. This was written in 2009 after the first writers conference I ever went to, when I brought what I thought was a completed novel to pitch to agents and editors. While the lessons that I learned at that time were harsh, I am grateful to say that they definitely helped me to develop both as a writer and as a writing professional.

I wanted to share this document for two reasons. First, I thought it might be interesting for fans of Lost Under Two Moons to see some of the issues I was struggling with in the revision process and what I ultimately decided would be the novel’s theme. Second, I wanted to share this intimate look into what it was like for me to receive my first formal rejection, and how I used it to make my book better. I hope this is as inspirational to you as it was to me, finding it five years later.

Note: The working title of Lost Under Two Moons at this time was Other World: Survival.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

The Voice of Other World: Survival

At the 2009 PNWA conference I received some criticism on my pitch and plot for my book. Some of it was easily answered, but two statements were of particular concern because I had no ready answer. These were made by [an agent] during my scheduled sit-down appointment with him. First, he asked why the main character Richard was constantly moving from one place to another. He said that it sounded unrealistic to him and that I seemed to be merely trying to show off different parts of the world without a good explanation of why Richard goes to each place. [The agent’s] other statement was that Other World seemed much too similar to Earth, and that it looked like I had only made a minimal departure from the known world to create the new universe for the story.

It’s taken me some time to put into words my answers to these concerns, and I wanted to write them down to solidify them in my own mind. Concerning Other World’s similarity to Earth, I admit that I’m capable of doing better, and I've been correcting a lot of things. But there needs to be a certain degree of similarity to Earth, otherwise Richard would have never survived past the first week. If he couldn't find any point of reference, if he couldn't recognize anything for what it was, he wouldn't be able to live and learn.

As for Richard’s nomadic lifestyle, I had to take a step back and look at the story as a whole to formulate an answer for this question. Despite relative comfort for as much as a couple weeks at a time, the majority of Richard’s time on Other World is spent desperately trying to survive. He is constantly moving because Other World is too hostile a place for him to be able to stay in one place and survive comfortably. His nomadic lifestyle is necessary because the world is an active antagonist in his life, and his constant traveling is his best chance for trying, and ultimately failing, to find a place that is secure and safe for him to live.

Thinking along this vein helped me to better understand the Voice of the story. Richard’s ordeal is not about a man successfully conquering his environment as in other famous survival tales such as Robinson Crusoe or The Swiss Family Robinson. Here, Richard is constantly struggling, and while survival never becomes easier, he learns and grows through the ordeal. The Voice could be summed up very well in the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the courage to change what I can, the patience to endure what I cannot change, and the wisdom to tell the difference between the two.”

5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Writing Space

Recently, I noticed that my writing 

sessions had slowly become less productive and fun. After some serious consideration on the issue, I decided to try making some minor changes to my writing routine. With just a few easy adjustments to my writing location and set-up, I was able to double my normal output in a single session. Even better, I found myself looking forward to writing again, something I hadn't felt in over a month. 

For this week’s blog feature, I thought I’d share some ideas of ways that you too can alter your writing environment to help you feel relaxed, upbeat, and motivated to write.

1. Adjust the Brightness of Your Screen

Eye strain is a common problem for anyone who spends a lot of time working at a computer each day, and if you’re like me and you like to write late at night, your eyes are already feeling fatigued by the time you pull up that manuscript file. Turning down the brightness level of your screen can reduce squinting and minor headaches. You can even adjust the color of your document’s background to a pale pastel or a natural shade of blue or green to give you some visual variety from the dreaded white space.

2. Rearrange Your Desk

If you write at a desk, consider switching the positions of things like your stapler, whiteout, and “World’s Greatest Writer” mug full of pencils. Making slight changes to your physical surroundings can help break feelings of monotony and stimulate the creative mind. Just be sure that you don’t get distracted from your writing by focusing on big, expensive changes to your décor.

3. Try Using an Air Freshener or Aromatic Candle

Our sense of smell is often overlooked as one of our weakest senses, but we shouldn't underestimate the power of a particular fragrance to affect our mood and attitude. Try experimenting with a variety of scents to see what relaxes your mind while stimulating your imagination. If you choose to use an aromatic candle, try only using it when you’re about to write and adding a slight ritualistic element to each of your writing sessions.

4. Create Some Mood Lighting

I find that I often feel more relaxed and eager to write when the lights in the room are low. There’s something almost mystical about taking my mind to another world while the real world fades away into darkness around me. Try to find a light level that allows you to see clearly while temporarily masking possible distractions. Be sure to adjust the brightness of your computer screen accordingly to avoid aggravated eye strain.

5. Use Sound-Canceling Headphones

If you’re like me and you like to listen to music while you write, try using headphones that block outside noises as you work. Like lowering the lights, this can reduce possible distractions while refocusing your attention on your craft. Just be careful to select music that both relaxes and stimulates your mind without becoming a distraction.



I hope that these five ideas are helpful to all you writers out there. Leave a comment below if any of them improve your writing routine, or if you have another idea that you’d like to share that’s helped get you in the mood to write.