chrisschallertideaengine

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Are You Okay with Losing?

I am. I’m okay with losing long hours of relaxation. I’m okay with losing time, time, time. I’m okay with losing the race to the top of the SEO charts. I’m okay with losing. It frees me to be a good steward of the craft. Maybe not a best-advertising super-seller. But at least a good storycrafter. And if I don’t make it all the way in this life, I’ll have all the next life to keep at…

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Reminder to Keep Writing

That’s it. Keep writing. Not everything you write has to be publishable. Sometimes you do nothing more than practice with an idea and see if anything grows of it. That’s fine. Not every repetition on the bench press is going to translate into a record-setting power lift. Keep practicing.

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How Writing Music Helps Me Write Stories

It’s like running backwards, really. I don’t mean running the whole race backwards. It’s a cross-country training thing. (also a little in football training, but let’s stick to XC for now). To refresh your muscles, to practice counter-movements, to balance muscular training on  your shins, thighs, everything, and to give your breathing a little break, you take some time in the middle of your…

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Nearing the One-Quarter Mark

I’m just about at where the story picks up. After this, things will move faster. Heck, with a day off, I could possibly get through most of the draft after this. Good thing, too. Setting up dominoes takes much longer than pushing them over. This draft revision has been all about making sure the story I want to tell- and the story I end up telling -is the same as the story I introduce. For me,…

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Reminder to Keep Writing

You can’t refine your craft if you never practice it. You also can’t refine your craft if you never look into other ways to craft. You can get pretty far on your own. I certainly have, and that’s not bragging. That’s reality. I’ve gone places without much guidance. But you get to a certain destination by following a road map, by improving your driving knowledge and competence, and by…

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Why Is It So Hard to Read?

In the first King Fu Panda movie, when the big villain is coming to town, Po (the titular panda) leaves the temple to return home and help his father (a goose) pack up the shop and escape. He walks in, and his father sees him, embraces him, tearful, worried, glad and distressed for his son who was chasing a life goal to learn kung fu and had been accepted into the temple which now drew the…

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Edition Addition?

Apparently it’s pretty common for writers to edit their pieces longer. Not everything is about reducing word count, though reducing word count is helpful. Trimming the story, tightening it, avoiding iteration, etc. But I’m running into a second draft issue where the characters actually need a few more words to establish themselves. The story needs a little more time to build. I need to add…

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Editing Tip: What an Info Dump Solves

Now, I know what you’ve heard. I’ve heard it, too. “Avoid info dumps at all costs!” Yeah, if I had time to do that, I’d be getting paid more to write than I am. See, I have a world to finish building before the plot hits. After the plot hits, any new world info is relegated to “deus ex machina” status in the mind of the reader. As though I had to add a rule “so the plot can happen.” But what…

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Self-Medicating...

I have to set stronger standards for my time off. And I will recommend that medicine is fine, but we are, by nature, awful at figuring out appropriate dosages. So try healing before you self-medicate. Take a walk instead of sitting on your phone. Talk with family instead of playing a video game. Drink the fresh air instead of alcohol. Games and some alone time and a little beer are fine…

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Practical Theology: God's Four Doors?

Thinking about the Bible, other church bodies, and some very good conversations I have had with Presbyterians and Baptists and Catholics over the last few months of moving pianos, I have come to a conclusion that will finally get me kicked out of church on charges of apostasy. Cool. Now, this is only a first-stop conclusion. I can be told off, as long as it is with clear Scripture and not…

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I don't have a fan base, but...

A guy at choir asked what kind of stuff I write. I told him mostly genre fiction, and I’m working on a book for publication late-June right now. And then he sounded interested. Welp. Now, a few friends and my family know I’m trying to get it out, too. But suddenly, more people know. And… That’s not really a fan base, but it’s enough to make me up my game. So my plan is, four short books per…

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Whew! Fresh Air and Clean Water!

Yeah, spring makes it a little easier to write. I think it’s that fresh air and clean water stuff. (deep sniff) Yeah. Keep yourselves healthy, friends. Brisk walks, gardening, woodwork, just get outside, do things with your hands. Oh, and eat less sugary stuff. I know I go on about how it helps super-hype the brain to do creative things, but it only does that if it’s a jolt, not a…

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DND 5e: Fixing Save Spells

Okay, one of my players had a great plan last session. Use Hold Person on an enemy to prevent a hostage situation. But the enemy passed it easily. And I felt bad about that. It’s a wasted spell slot. And that’s a SPELL slot! Warping reality takes effort, and a guy can just… Not be affected by it? That put me into Thinking Mode, and I finally simplified a fix for the issue. Fixing Effect Spells…

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How to Simplify

Okay, I’m running into an issue with my rewrite. It isn’t an unique issue, but I do have to tackle it every time I get into draft 2 of a book. I want to make the world make sense. That means that I can’t have just one “magic thing.” (pours a scotch) I don’t mean that  all of my stories have magic. No, I mean that if it’s something that makes the plot work, it has to belong in the world, even…

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Still writing...

I’m not running out of excuses to not write. I’m running out of time. See, now another guy is interested in my upcoming book, “The Heavy Breather,” an ancient horror story. And he knows it’s coming at the end of June. This is helpful. Now I’m more obligated to not slack off. Cheers!

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Practical Philosophy: Whose Toolbox Are We Using For This?

I am using broad statements, yes. I will explain later. Now, I’m not only observing this. I’m reading it. I’m in the literature, I’m reading the blogs, I’m watching the interviews. And this is what I’m seeing. When men have problems, they prefer to fix the problem.Find a new job.Move.Hit it gently with a 4.5 kg sledgehammer.Refill the glass. It isn’t that they don’t want to talk about it. They…

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Character Rework: Villeneuve's Chani in Dune 2

If you haven’t watched any of the movies, or read at least Dune and Dune: Messiah, sorry, you’ll miss a lot of context. Even in the original books, I didn’t care for Chani. She seemed, eh, too easy. She liked him at first sight, and one timeskip later, they’re married and she’s pregnant. She supports Paul Atreides from the get-go, after he does Jamis in during combat, of course.  She felt a…