First Word

Well, I am not really a big mainstream TV watcher. I love movies. I watch the premium channels, and the only mainstream show that I will watch to its conclusion is House , which ends this year. I enjoyed my days spent with the cantankerous diagnostician. My fondest memories are when two fall seasons in a row, I visited my favorite aunt in New Hampshire and propped my laptop with DVDs of the show running on the bed late at night and watched episode after episode. I completely associated this series with those crisp New England fall evenings even though the majority of the time I actually watched it in my own bed in California. Now the summer HBO Sunday night show season is about to start, and I bet all of you fans out there know what I'm looking forward to now ... True Blood Season 5 . I've read some of the spoilers and expect to see a season loaded with some engaging story lines to keep me hooked. I also have spotted the trailers for the new show Girls in which I am marginally...

So, it seems the blog is now well over 2,000 page views per month. My audience has made their vote on my content with the most number of views. Apparently when I wax, wane or whine for that matter about anything that involves True Blood and everyone's actor and hot man du jour Alexander Skarsgard, the readers come running. I'm also tickled to see that California Girl Chronicles excerpts attract a nice draw, too. Well, it turns out that all men right now from Sweden seem to be piquing the female interest. A new poll ranked Sweden as the land of plenty o' hot men! I guess for the single ladies looking for the beautiful race, Sweden is it. I always thought Australia offered beautiful, chiseled-cheeked men a plenty. When I was "down under," I couldn't help but pick my jaw off the ground a few times. Even the bellhops looked like they belonged on the cover of GQ . It was hard not to stare! These guys were so rarely gorgeous, I found myself looking much like you w...

Time to give you my take on the evil-doers.  The purely evil, sociopathic villain can border on a cartoon character. You do not want to paint a black character with no heart or soul or motivation for his or her evil nature. A great villain is the one that is fully fleshed out, relatable and understandable. A one-dimensional villain is actually quite boring.  What you really want is to write a great antihero.  In fiction the antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character, in some regards, is conspicuously contradictory to the archetypal hero. In some cases, the antihero is the antithesis to the hero. Some people believe the antihero could be classified as the antagonist or villain. An antihero, however, is not a strict villain and typically elicits sympathy or admiration. The antihero is sometimes the character you love to hate and love at the same time. So here are my favorite antiheroes: Rev. Steve Newlin, True Blood -- I'm not sure we can find ...

If you are a fan of the HBO series True Blood (Season 5 is slated to begin June 24) then you should check out this site titled Love True Blood . From what I've been told by the site leaders and from what I've read, it's absolutely the best fan site written by fantastic writers who display their literary backgrounds with great ease and reveal all sorts of layers to this show one would never imagine. You think True Blood is all about "vampire porn" (as one friend called) then you are not really watching it from a storytelling point of view with all its metaphors, foreshadowing and juxtapositions. Read this fan site and you will have all the confidence that Alan Ball is NOT going to put Sookie and Bill back together. Not if you peel back the layers of the onion the way these literate fans have done. I've emphatically said that Eric and Sookie are soul lovers, and if you read this site and all the great information under the season redux you will notice how they...

If page views and reading interest are votes then it's safe to say that my First Word readers do not liking this whole "bromance" notion on the forthcoming Season 5 of True Blood . While Eric Northman's portrayer Alexander Skarsgard has been promoting his new movie Battleship , he's been perpetuating the "bromance" notion. I think he's probably messing with us a little and the storyline will likely center around the two southern vampires on the run from the Authority and forced to endure each other's company. I will say that if Alan Ball and company are paying any attention to the fans then they can't be completely oblivious to the fact that nobody wants to see an entire season without Eric and Sookie interaction. I also know the enthusiasm sorely lacks over the idea of putting Sookie together with Alcide, who some of the "bookies" think will blend the Quinn/Alcide characters. Now here is my spin as your writer in residence. Most ...

Some characters we love. We even love to hate certain villains. Some characters are murky, and we don't know if we're supposed to love them, hate them, or feel ambiguous toward them. I believe when you create emotionally ambiguous characters that the audience is left to ponder their feelings about him or her, you have actually created a masterpiece. Most people are not black and white -- they're not all good or bad but shades of gray. As a writer when you've created a character that has so many shades and depth, it's not surprising if his or relationship to the audience becomes unclear. Do realize, though, if you create a completely unlikeable character who is supposed to be the protagonist in your story, you run the risk of losing your audience's rooting value altogether. As a writer you walk a fine line here. So, I'm going to go over the characters I've either loved, hated or just didn't know how to feel about. Bill Compton in True Blood -- comp...

Some writers are great at descriptions. Some writers are great at character development. Some writers are great at dialogue. In screenwriting in particular it's all about the dialogue (yes, action counts, too); but did you know that some screenwriters' concepts and story are so good, the producers will buy it and then hire a dialogue doctor to fix the dialogue? Yes, there is a whole profession devoted to the art of "conversation". When I read novels, the number one mistake I see or weakness is lack of differentiation with the dialogue and the voice. All the characters talk the same. They say the same things in the same way. Worse yet, they say things that no one would say aloud. Here are some great tips on writing fabulous dialogue that resonates as authentic and believable with the reader. Demographics -- yes, background and demographics counts here. Where is your character(s) from? Do they have a dialect or accent? Always "infer" the accent. Do not miss...

Today is really a day to celebrate love. So, I thought it would be fun to post my favorite lovers from both page and screen. Here are my favorite lovers and why I love to love them. Eric Northman and Sookie Stackhouse -- yes, of course they are my favorite. They are the two lovers you long to see together in both the TV series and books. In both the books and series, the minute they lay eyes on each other, the sparks the fly. I think in the TV series they spend more time staring at each other with lust in their eyes (and there is a another phrase for that ... but I'll be polite, it's Valentine's Day). The natural chemistry between Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman) cannot be tamed. Even when Sookie is supposed to be with Bill Compton, we're still secretly wishing she would get on with Eric Northman already. The very first "real" kiss on the porch is electric in Season 4. When they finally kiss, my heart nearly jumped up ...