Author Archives: jdcburnhil
Everybody To Their Limits
It’s been rather a while since I updated here, and some of you may be wondering why. Well, I recently suffered a strain injury in an anterior tentacle in a painful location, and it rather turned my life upside down … Continue reading
Less Rules, More Tools – Scene and Summary
In my previous (warm, witty, unforgettable) blog post, I compared two models for analyzing narrative: the classic rising-stakes model taught in nearly every secondary school, and a more flexible system outlined by Robin D. Laws in Hamlet’s Hit Points. I … Continue reading
Oh, What a Noble Mind Has Here Failed Its SAN Check
When I was a much younger eldritch spawn human, I madly loved RPGs, or role-playing games (the kind played with others on a tabletop; the computer versions only came around much later.) The reigning king in that era was still … Continue reading
Engines revisited
I ran across an interesting post the other day on Patricia C. Wrede’s blog, particularly interesting for anyone who remembers my blog post on the engines of a story. Wrede’s post doesn’t use the term “engines,” of course, but if … Continue reading
Ordering in fiction: looking at Star Wars “Machete Order”
Unless you either: a) have never seen the Star Wars movies and want to avoid spoilers for when you do watch them, or; b) absolutely loathe the Star Wars movies and could not stand reading anything at all about them; then I … Continue reading
It’s All Greek To Me: A Review of The Initiation (1984)
(This review of The Initiation was written to participate in the Final Girl Film Club! Do yourself a solid; go to Stacie Ponder’s Final Girl blog and check out what she and other smart and funny posters have to say!) … Continue reading
Our Incubus is Different: A Review of Deadly Blessing (1981)
(This review of Deadly Blessing was written to participate in the Final Girl Film Club! Do yourself a solid; go to Stacie Ponder’s Final Girl blog and check out what she and other smart and funny posters have to say!) … Continue reading
Gentlewriters, start your engines
Recently, an e-book came to my attention under circumstances which hinted that it might, uh… not be written very well. I’m sorry to report that the hints weren’t mistaken, either. I don’t plan to name the book or its author, … Continue reading
Outlining, sizzle reel style
Today I conducted a solo walking/dining/shopping/relaxing expedition to a nearby metropolis, and reaped big rewards! Like, more than just a Monsters Crash the Pajama Party DVD with two pairs of 3-D glasses; I now have a somewhat rough but complete … Continue reading
New-cover Nightbird Descends published!
The 2nd edition of Nightbird Descends, with the new cover (and a couple of typo fixes!) has just been published over at Smashwords! In other news, I would have had a blog post up earlier, but I had a tool … Continue reading
JDC's Little Hill 