Thoughts of a Mad Man

#857586

August 16, 2015 at 2:20pm

Allow me to introduce you to a strange young man named James, who, even as today, at the time read too many books and thought too much about the mind and the things in the world. Let me tell you a story about him, a bit of everyday witchcraft that he discovered. Walking to the store James spied a tree by the path, about three car-lengths away. He chose to do an experiment, and set his course straight toward the center of the tree. He planned to walk straight ahead, toward the tree - but he d... [Read more]

#857487

August 15, 2015 at 3:32pm

Humility. There are parts of it that I believe in, and others that I forsake. In particular, I tend toward the vices of humility. In particular I have often found myself eager to search for signs of wrongness and weakness in myself. I thought this would make me wiser and better. I let it get to the point that I could no longer tolerate any actual criticism for I was full-up from that which I had foolishly absorbed though it was meant for others. In turn, this has created a rift between me ... [Read more]

#857276

August 13, 2015 at 11:46am

Tears. My own. Ordinarily, as a man, this is a subject I would prefer not to talk about — even to know about. But a great insight has come to me recently. I have recently been reaching beyond my accustomed place in life. Progress has been stalled for years, and I have had no clue as to what held me back. I know that what I have put my attention to I have achieved - with varying levels of speed and success, but still. In these things, I have failed to hold my attention long enough to... [Read more]

#856911

August 9, 2015 at 9:48am

Whether writing, reading, or living, emotions affect us far more than one might imagine or wish. The difference between two essentially same emotional states can have tremendous impact. Some peoples use one word for sadness, anger, rage and depression: all the sense that a desire is being thwarted, I suppose. Yet, who can deny the tremendous difference between rage and determination - both urgent drives to action? Rage tends to destroy things and cause pain and suffering even when under rest... [Read more]

#847401

April 19, 2015 at 4:03pm

One of the people I was reviewing had a scene that had all kinds of latent conflict, falsely resolved conflict, and foreshadowed conflict, (Maybe that's one thing, but she did have a LOT of it) but NOTHING in the present moment. Just some people having a great therapy session. So I came up with a way to brainstorm things for a dull scene. Imagine that the character is reflecting on how well things went, let her rant about how things should go. Let her go on. Fill in the blan... [Read more]

#835421

December 5, 2014 at 11:32am

Hexmasters, magisters, witches and sorcerers? Oh, my. Some questions a writer must answer about a mage: How did he come into power? What does he feel about his power? How well does he want to understand his power? How does he use his power? How does his power affect him socially? World-building: How did he get the power? There are two classical kinds of magic: the native and the educated. In your world, you must decide if magic is something that a common person could l... [Read more]

#835321

March 15, 2015 at 12:40pm

Precept One: Our universe started out the same as my fantasy universe, and somebody had to work to change the rule. Precept two: The new rule stays the same until forced to change. Precept three: Changing natural laws requires great effort. The greater the change, the greater the effort. Therefore, greater changes require deeper motives. Now- Why use these precepts? They help us to select ideas that make sense, and suggest which ideas naturally fit with our favorites. Then they can be used to... [Read more]