Tag: writing

Film

Blog 868: Close, But No Biscuit: Terminator Retrospective

Rao Dao Zao

The Terminator is the only film that uses time travel as a plot device that I respect. This is because there is no paradox: although Skynet tries to change the past, it inadvertently causes exactly the future it was so desperate to escape. This raises all sorts of horrible questions about free will, so I hope it’s not how the actual universe functions, but as a narrative structure I find it satisfying, even poetic, that all the time travel shenanigans simply create a self-sustaining loop.

All the other films throw that out the window. Chris and I argue they should not.

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Nondescript

Blog 800: Don’t Be Fooled By the Blogs That I Got

Rao Dao Zao

Eight hundred blog entries! My target is always about 1000 words per entry, so I’ve come even close to that average, that’s… a whole lotta words. I could have written a whole fantasy epic novel sequence instead! But writing novels takes a hell of a lot more effort than… organising your thoughts on a subject into a coherent and structured narrative… … Uh… shhhhhhhh!

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Game Development, Gaming

Blog 728: If I Wrote… C&C4: Tiberian Twilight

Rao Dao Zao

I was interested in C&C4: Tiberian Twilight, despite all the rumours of its horror. The core concept — trading standard base building and assault for a mobile super-vehicle — seemed quite interesting to me. For a man that favours the ultra-versatile solo operatives of RPGs and FPSes, the conceit had legs.

The game did not deliver anything of what I imagined; it is exactly as bad as everyone says. So instead of delving into that den of iniquity, let’s indulge instead in what it could have been, had somebody with dreams more like mine been at the helm…

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Film

Blog 669: If I Wrote… Pacific Rim 2

Rao Dao Zao

There is little justice in this world. While Cloverfield, a dreadful film (let alone monster movie), has a sequel almost ready to drop, the much-desired sequel to one of the finest action-adventure films of recent years continues to stumble along in development hell. 2018, maybe? Harrumph.

But if they won’t give me Pacific Rim 2, then I’ll just have to dream my own version.

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Nondescript

Blog 571: And Then I Go And Spoil It All…

Rao Dao Zao

… by doing something stupid like trying to write a novel in a month. Yeah!

It’s not going to end in tears, is it? Please, tell me it’s not going to end in tears. Ah, don’t worry, I know you can’t lie to me. It’s definitely going to end in tears.

November is National Novel Writing Month, apparently. Some people are going to be writing novels over the course of the month. For funzies. Totes.

http://nanowrimo.org/participants/rao-dao-zao

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Nondescript

Blog 564: Planning the Elusive Third Book

Rao Dao Zao

Did I mention I was writing a novel? Surely. I always forget to clarify, though — it’s actually a trilogy. Go hard or go home, and all that; RDZ never does things by half measures.

Creating the new super-refined plot outlines for When the Freedom Slips Away and This Wreckage has been mostly straightforward. To be fair, I have written three or four drafts of each over the years, so there is a lot of base material to draw from.

The difference with the cdoncluding third book, Shattered By Light, is that there has never even been one draft. It has always had an ending, and it briefly had an awkward beginning — but no middle, nothing remotely approaching a complete narrative. This is an issue that I am finally going to remedy.

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