Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson's Second Law A few years back, I wrote an essay on creating magic systems that I titled Sanderson’s First Law. It had to do with the nature of foreshadowing as it relates to solving problems with magic. In that essay, I implied that I had other “laws” for magic systems that I’d someday talk about. Well, that time has come, as I’ve finally distilled my thoughts for the second law into an explanation that will work. I’ll start, however, by noting that none of these “laws” are absolute. Nor am I the only one to talk about them. These work for me. The Law Sanderson’s Second Law can be written very simply. Limitations > Powers (Or, if you want to write it in clever electrical notation, you could say it this way: though that would probably drive a scientist crazy.) Let’s do some explaining here. If I were to ask you about Superman’s magic, you’d probably talk about his ability to fly, his super strength, the lasers he can shoot from his eyes. However, is this what makes Superman interesting? Struggle Tension
The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Your Writing Fears 0inShare by Ollin Morales Before you read this article, I would like you to try something: Move your eyes away from your computer screen and take a deep breath. Feel the air as it moves through your nostrils, down your throat, and feel it fill your diaphragm to the brim. As you do this, I want you to take in your surroundings. Notice the light as it flows through the window, acknowledge the noises you hear, the chatter of the people around you, the chairs and other objects that surround you. Do this exercise right now. You done? If you did it right, you should feel a little bit more at peace and relaxed. Most importantly, you should have felt that a certain, negative emotion was not present: fear. Now, before I go on about how to overcome your writing fears, you need to first understand how fear works. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” When Fear Was A Good Thing Fear actually serves a very important purpose in our human physiology. Dr. When Fear Became A Bad Thing You have felt that way?
60 Photoshop Actions for Photo Touch-Ups and Enhancements Get the FlatPix UI Kit for only $7 - Learn More or Buy Now In the past we have written on Photoshop actions for touchups related to photography enhancements. But it is common for designers to release their actions for free attribution on certain projects. And many of these newer releases are difficult to track down without scouring the Internet for links! Thus I have put together this collection of 55 fantastic new Adobe Photoshop actions for photo enthusiasts. Idiot Actions Faded Sunlight Nothing but Memories Retro Touch Polaroid Generator Cookie Dough Effect Kream Action Vintage II Cool Vintage Nature Summer & Winter Old Series Vintage Actions AFW’s Bluezy Swagger Jagger Color Action Caramel Haze Vintage Pack of 50 Actions Simple Vintage Pink Action Variety Pack Neon Vintage PS Actions Pack AFW’s Vintage Color Colors Five Vintage Pack Spring Mini Actions Vintage Breeze Colored Highlights Vintage Colours in Photoshop Actions Vintage Actions JJ’s Vintage Set Retro Actions Set Bright Vintage Action HDR Tools More PS Vintage
Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson's First Law Introduction I like magic systems. That’s probably evident to those of you who have read my work. A solid, interesting and innovative system of magic in a book is something that really appeals to me. True, characters are what make a story narratively powerful—but magic is a large part of what makes the fantasy genre distinctive. For a while now, I’ve been working on various theories regarding magic systems. I’d like to approach the concept of magic in several different essays, each detailing one of the ‘laws’ I’ve developed to explain what I think makes good magic systems. The Law Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic. When I applied to be on the programming of my very first Worldcon (following my sale of Elantris, but before the book was actually released) I saw that they were doing a “How does the magic work?” It my very first panel at the convention. “Well,” I said.
Iain M Banks: Science fiction is no place for dabblers Consider a publishing bash of some sort, probably in London. A respected but still-young-enough-to-be-promising author of literary fiction (that's the sort who tends to get reviewed in serious newspapers such as the Guardian, is generally published in both hardback and then B-format paperback and might even stand an outside chance of nabbing a Man Booker prize) approaches their agent – or editor; either is acceptable – all bright eyed and enthusiastic for reasons which go beyond a couple of glasses of wine or a recent good review and tells the agent/editor: "I've just had this great idea; I've got to write this!" The agent/editor immediately assumes a look of fascinated interest, while internally recalibrating his or her wariness threshold to "Caution: Incoming". The point is that science fiction is a dialogue, a process. However, let's be positive about this. It's certainly desirable.
10 Rare HTML Tags You Really Should Know - Nettuts+ Web developers these days are often expected to know and work in multiple languages. As a result, it's tricky to learn everything a language has to offer and easy to find yourself not utilizing the full potential of some more specialized but very useful tags. Unfortunately we haven't been tapping into the full potential of these more obscure HTML tags as of late. Here are ten of some of the most underused and misunderstood tags in HTML. 1. All of us will be familiar with the <blockquote> tag, but did you know about <blockquote>'s little brother <cite>? The <cite> tag is really useful for citing bibliographic and other site references. David Allen's breakthrough organization book Getting Things Done has taken the web by storm. 2. The <optgroup> tag is a great way to add a little definition between groups of options inside a select box. Live demo: This allows the select list to visually separate the movie listings. 3. The <acronym> tag is a way to define or further explain a group of words.
Cyberpunk Studies Great SF authors share their biggest writing setbacks — and how they triumphed Oblivion Oblivion box art Oblivion Collector's Edition box art Oblivion, the fourth game in the Elder Scrolls series, is set within the province of Cyrodiil, the heartland and Imperial capital of Tamriel. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition and Game of the Year Edition Deluxe are available to buy from Steam. Quest Information Quests — All the quests upon which you can embark, venturing forth into the unknownOfficial Add-Ons — List of all the official add-ons for Oblivion, including Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine Character Information Attributes — What are the basic stats? Gameplay Information World Information Creatures — A bestiary of all the good and bad creatures found in the gameFactions — Listing of all the guilds and factions you may joinMaps — Are you familiar with your whereabouts? Console Versions Xbox 360 — Information specific to the Xbox 360 version of the gamePlaystation 3 — Information specific to the PS3 version of the game Tech Support Patches Tweaking Mods Modding
Horror Movie News, Reviews, and Interviews | The Blood Sprayer Don’t Write What You Know - Magazine Why fiction’s narrative and emotional integrity will always transcend the literal truth Every Wednesday, I teach an introductory fiction workshop at Harvard University, and on the first day of class I pass out a bullet-pointed list of things the students should try hard to avoid. Don’t start a story with an alarm clock going off. The idea panics them for two reasons. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit I’ve been accused of writing what I know on a good many occasions. The facts are these: I was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, the part of the country where most every word of fiction I’ve published takes place. Instead of thinking of my experiences as structures I wanted to erect in fiction, I started conceiving of them as the scaffolding that would be torn down once the work was complete. I don’t know the origin of the “write what you know” logic. Stories aren’t about things. Stories aren’t about actions. Here is happening-truth, I was once a soldier.
The 100 Most Popular Photoshop Tutorials 2008 Under Articles Sometimes, you may find it difficult to look for some of the highest quality photoshop tutorials using search engines. As most of time, almost all tutorials would label themselves to be good, high quality or even the best photoshop tutorial you can find. When searching through all these tutorials, your time is wasted. In order to save your time, Photoshop Lady has been spending almost a whole year to search for the best photoshop tutorials for you. Under Photoshop Tutorial, Text Effect In this tutorial It will show you how to create a sort of grunge poster. In this tutorial we’ll be creating a smokey night effect on text to give it an eerie supernatural sort of feel. In this tutorial, the type-effects shows how to create the above image. Under Abstract Effect, Photoshop Tutorial In this Photoshop tutorial, it will let you learn how to take a single photograph and turn it into a collage of polaroids, with each polaroid containing a small section of the overall image.
Ecrire une saga d'Héroïc Fantasy Naturellement, il vous faudra un peu d’investissement personnel. Je présume que vous disposez déjà d’un ordinateur, puisque vous lisez cette chronique. De même, j’imagine que vous avez à votre disposition un traitement de texte (avec correcteur orthographique incorporé) et quelques après-midi libres. L’hiver approche, il n’y a rien sur TF1... Vous avez toutes les cartes en main ! Première chose, le titre : Il doit être choisi avec circonspection, mais peut n’avoir aucun rapport avec le sujet qui sera traité dans votre saga (encore que ça peut aider). Il y a quelques critères à respecter. Un exemple. Chronique des Morts Evocatrices : un titre évocateur donc, qui associe de façon incongrue un adjectif au terme porteur d’impact qui en constitue l’élément quasi « réglementaire ». Or donc, un sous-titre, pour le premier tome. « Chroniques des Morts Evocatrices : Le prince perdu de la lande noire. » « Je suis le ténébreux, le veuf, l’inconsolé, le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie. Voilà.