With summer in full bloom I'm chained to my iPad typing away on the new adventures of Miles and Derrick. I'm really getting into Pool Party, the follow up to Time is Relative and even though I've planned out the entire story I am always amazed at where these characters can take you. With all of the writing and my duties at Comix Asylum (my pop culture website) I'm afraid that I may have to take some time away from the blog and will be coming back to it sporadically over the n

Katniss Everdeen, Sam Spade, Natasha Rostova, Arya Stark, Ethan Hunt and Peter Parker are just some of the names of iconic characters in the history of literature and pop culture. There are several methods to crafting character names and there really is no single way to go about it. Some authors use alliteration; others craft monikers that reflect a character's personality, while a few choose names that are completely nondescript. While there are authors that specialize in cr

One of the things that has fascinated me on my winding road as a writer is how much I don't know about the craft. Although I've spent decades consuming stories and almost as long making them in one form or another, I've only seriously gotten into the craft over the last couple of years. As with all things the more you do something the better (hopefully) you become but even if you have a kernel of talent, sometimes there's no substitute for some good old fashioned training. I'

So after completing the second chapter of the next Chronokari Alpha adventure this week, my mind flashed back to a vital writing tip that I picked up several years ago. The year was 2009 and I was attending the Kidscreen Summit in New York City. I had travelled to the Big Apple for the conference to learn a little bit about the animation business and what it would take to bring my ideas to broadcasters. During one of the seminars led by an industry vet and broadcasting execut

Superman has Kryptonite, James Bond has women, Green Lantern has the color yellow, Chronokari Alpha have...well they don't have a weakness yet but who knows maybe someday. Anyway one of the biggest fears a writer can have is getting writer's block. I must confess that I don't usually run across it but when I do one of my surefire ways of beating it is to go for a ride on the subway. Now it's not the most convenient thing to do if you don't live in the city or have mass transi

Never let an idea slip away. There are times when you sit in front of your computer screen or a piece of paper and all it does is stare blankly back at you. There are also times where you're nowhere near a computer or piece of paper and an idea pops into your head and you suddenly realize that you have no way of recording it before it dissolves into the creative ether again. That is why, much to my wife's chagrin, that I always have my BlackBerry close at hand. Good ideas can