If you’ve never seen the movie Legend, you should check it out. Even though now-a-day its old 1985 graphics is somewhat outdated in comparison to the modern movies that most movie goers are accustomed to, but somehow its eighties graphics are still fresh in a time of CGI computer graphics. In its own way, it was just as incredible as Star Wars was for its innovative depiction of The Lord of Darkness and overall fantasy vibe. I’ve attached my all-time favorite scene from the movie. The massive horns and cloven hooves of the red devil stepping through the surface of the mirror in the clip touches something deep and primitive in my soul, even now when I watch the scene it still freaking rocks.

To say that the movie hasn’t influenced some of the creatures in The Last Paladin Series would be a lie. Truthfully my “nerdism” goes much deeper than that. Throw in Barsoom and the Princess of Mars Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs to present and you’d have a much better understanding of the depth of my love for Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I use Edgar Rice Burroughs in particular because it still amazes me that a story written in 1917 could have influenced modern Sci-fi and Fantasy and is still good enough of a story that they chose to make a movie from the book in 2013. Once again, this was a Sci-Fi story written in 1917! If you never took the time to see the movie, it’s definitely worth the time and the books are quite enjoyable. Not to mention, Burroughs’ writing has directly and indirectly influenced many generations of writers since 1917 to present. Unfortunately, the movie got a bad write-up and I think many people didn’t end up checking it out, which is too bad. The film was quite enjoyable, no matter if it altered the original storyline and kept itself PG13, but unfortunately that goes without saying since Walt Disney Pictures produced the film. Otherwise there would have been a lot, I mean a “FREAKING LOT”, of nudity. I’ve attached the trailer below for those of you who haven’t seen it. Too bad it wasn’t truly depicted as Burroughs wrote it. Even more amazing, is J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Lord of the Rings that was written in 1954, which is in the top ten of the largest modern grossing film series to date, not to mention its influence on pulp fiction in general and Fantasy around the world and across multiple generations. Really, Dungeon and Dragons and the whole Fantasy MMO concept might have never developed into the incredible detailed worlds that we know of today.        

Another interesting movie I finally tracked down late night by accident was Fire and Ice. One of those 80’s cartoon movies that inspired a generations of movies that came out around the time, such as: Heavy Metal movie, The Lord of the Ring cartoon movie series, The Secret of Nimh, Dark Crystal  and Wizard. Huge contributors to Generation X’s mind set and the blooming of computerized gaming. Darkwolf is one of the main heroes of the film, which is part of one of the nomenclature I like to use for my characters online: aka Darkstar, Darkstorm, Darknova … If you’ve ever tried to create your own Darkxxx name, you know how hard it is to find a combo not already used. Every once in a while I watch the old anime and cartoon movies. I was actually pleasantly surprised with Fire and Ice. Another film I threw on the list is one of my all time favorites, Wizard. The movie is a story about the battle of good vs evil and elves/fairies against mutants/demons. It has some great artwork and some shockingly sorrowful scenes and some sexy ass fairies. It’s dated, but it kind of has that classic Heavy Metal following.     

 Anyway, last Friday I had to cut my blog off quickly, because the weekend was starting and it’s hard for me to get any writing time in once the weekend starts. I was mainly finished except for discussing the dividing line between too much detail of a particular topic in a story and not enough. Being aware of what movies have taught people to expect and knowing the reality is a tough balance. A good example of this was the movie “Final Countdown”. The actual book was awesome. Martin Caidin’s book is well balanced between military terms and information and the flow of story. Unfortunately, the director of the movie turned the film into a commercial for the Navy’s toys, which just ruined the film. I mean you can only watch planes taking off and landing for so long before you’re just like “Shoot me now!”

I had expected to get some great writing time in this week, but Richard, a buddy of mine I met from reviewing Flight, got me into a couple books. The newest Demon Accords and an Immortal Series. I ended up reading three books in three days. The good news is that the stories were great, but the bad news is that I’m still recovering from eye burnout and sleep deprivation. Thanks Richard! So back to writing on Monday, unless I can sneak a little in over the weekend. 

From my previous time serving in the Army overseas during Desert Storm and my current “day job” working overseas, I’ve had experience, one way or another, with many of the different Military Branches of the United States Armed Forces. Between “my own experiences” and watching movies like American Sniper, The Hurt Locker, G.I. Jane, Navy Seals, Lone Survivor or Strike Back, I tend to have a pretty good idea of how military units operate and communicate, which for writing is a good and bad thing.

A work colleague of mine is a retired Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel. A cool guy, if he likes you and, besides having some of the most interesting stories I’ve ever heard, the man is one of those people who you wouldn’t take a second look at walking down the street in civvies, but he could kill you fifty different ways in the blink of an eye. Yea, pretty kick ass. Anyway, he has a lot of ex-special forces friends who try to write books about their experiences. While the stories are extremely accurate and realistic, most of these Special Forces writers’ books simply do not sell.

My buddy and I have discussed this point a lot since I’ve written Flight and one of the things we constantly come back to about this odd phenomenon is that many of these writers do not have an “entertaining story” and/or a “feel good” message to their writing. Both of which are important for sales. A good example of this is “Starship Troopers” from Robert H. Heinlein, one of the few Science Fiction books that is considered “required reading” on the United States Marine Corps Reading List.

Another common mistake I think many writers make is not being careful when they know too much about a topic they are writing about. When you know too much of any one field it is easy to start going into details that most readers are just not interested in hearing and before you know it your story dragging out into monotony. A good example of this might be an entertaining book on a hacker. Do I want to read pages and pages of code while I’m reading the story or get the gist of what the lead character was doing. Another example would be a story on a Tanker’s experience in War. Do I want to know all of the details only true Tanker on an M1A1 would know about? Would that knowledge add to the story I’m reading or my enjoyment?

This is something I am trying to be aware of in my own story. Destiny has some huge battle scenes I’m working on with modern day units. Dealing with all of the military units makes me want to keep the details as accurate as possible, but there has to be a point where I either allow some things to not be 100% accurate to keep the story moving and fun, improve my story to fit as much accuracy in or possibly turn out a boring climatic scene. I’m choosing to allow some things to not be 100% accurate to fit my story, but I am struggling to keep the units as realistic as possible and still have a good story for my readers to enjoy.

Anyway, have a great weekend and catch everyone on the flip side.