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Scarlet Rants: 10 Romance Cliches That Need to Go Away
I have no Idea why it's taken me so long to come up with this list. For a while I read romance novels as a hobby and something of a guilty pleasure. But, even on that level, I'm always floored by how obnoxiously common a lot of these tropes are until they've become cliches in and of themselves. Not only cliche, but downright harmful in a lot of ( Read more... ) -
My Top 5 Books of 2015
Wow, Law of Averageness, indeed. I’ve read (and finished) thirteen books last year (not including a couple of other books I didn't finish) and couldn't come up with more than five books I finished and actually liked. While it is more than the year before, it definitely feels kind of measly compared what I had in store. That said, last year's ( Read more... ) -
Scarlet Rants: Criticism vs. Bullying
Recently artist circles have been blowing up over an incident involving a 16 year old Tumblr artist called zamii070. The 16 year old tried to commit suicide after suffering constant harassment from cyber bullies on Tumblr. What is the catalyst for all this ire? Steven Universe fanart. Specifically the fact that she drew Rose Quartz (a giant, ( Read more... ) -
Writing Romantic Relationships: Part 2
As I said before there should be no one way to write a relationship. So the type of advice or insight into this issue really depends on the type of relationship you want to write. If you want a dysfunctional, unhealthy relationship, then all you have to do is stick to most big-name romance novel formulas. If you want a bland, shallow relationship ( Read more... ) -
How To Avoid Vacuum Characters
Last month I did a mini-spork on the Mary-Sue Litmus Test. I'd taken it on my Original Character Mageara who bounced between a score of 50 and a 34. My conclusion for that whole spork was that a lot of the questions were kind of moot or just too awkward to make a difference. A character getting a high score doesn't have to automatically end up a ( Read more... ) -
Scarlet's Advice on Writing Romantic Relationships
Romantic love is probably the simplest, most universally recognized emotion we know. Yet it's also the single most routinely botched aspect of pretty much any work of fiction. Whether a book or movie, an action, adventure story or a romance novel, it doesn't matter. The writers are bound to screw it up somehow. But, in fairness, romance and ( Read more... ) -
Mary Sue Test Spork
Recently I'd figure I'd have fun and take a Mary Sue Litmus test on one of my main characters from a comic book series I'm currently creating. I tried to answer the questions as honestly as I could and didn't hold back. What did this character score? A 50. Now that is well within the Kill-It-Dead catagory so you could imagine my surprise. Recently ( Read more... ) -
Scarlet Dreams VI
There was a gray, desolate place; everywhere there were these thick forests of twisted gray plant-like growth. Throughout the dream various figures emerged from this mangled web of growths; figures that gave the impression of feral tribe-like people with gray skin or even vampiric qualities. Either these were a wild people that dwelled within the ( Read more... ) -
Scarlet Dreams V
My dreams jump around a lot. A lot of this dream took place in what looked like my house.
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Scarlet Dreams IV
There was a building of sorts, a kind of center that reminded a lot of a roomy cafe/lounge with a register area and eveything. It was by a large window. At least two sets of columns stood around the area. To the left was a flight of stairs. I got the sense of was in a college building a couple of times, but also my own home. There was the feeling ( Read more... )