I’d like to take a moment and welcome you to “First We Dream”, focused on all things creativity and imagination related.

But who’s in charge? Where’s this content coming from? If you’d like to get a better idea of who I am, please visit the “About the Author” link at the bottom of the page! (Just hide your mirrors- I think my picture shows up! We don’t want them breaking!)

Let me give you a quick run down of some of the content you’ll encounter here…

“Corners of the Mind” is the place to go for featured articles related to the overall themes within the site, but which deserve a bit more attention than being part of a subcategory.  Consider these articles the “main” content of the site, designed to spark (civil) conversation about the topic!

“Dreamcraft” is your source for many of the entertainment topics you’re used to dealing with: Television, Film, Books, Gaming and the Internet.  These topics are a great representative sample of where we get our fix for all things creative and/or imaginative.   You will notice that there are countless topics that could be included here, but to provide the best content, I should speak from some level of expertise- and I do have expertise in these areas.  For instance, for this very reason I have excluded photography at this time- I have just entered this very imaginative hobby, but drastically lack any knowledge to discuss it in an appropriate fashion (other than exciting blogs on “How to Remove Your Lens Cap!)  However, if I stumble upon a topic I’m not covering that fits, it may pop up and surprise you!

Eagle-eyed observers will notice one obvious category that is omitted:  Music.  An overwhelming area of creativity and imagination, the reason I have omitted this as a full category is a personal one:  I get everything I need out of music by listening to one musical artist (Prince).  Therefore, rather than have a “Prince Fan Club” section that would appeal to his large fan base, is still too niche to be part of the category choices.  That said I will occassionally discuss music (almost guaranteed in regards to Prince) as the music field is simply one of the most powerful examples of creativity.  When discussing a topic that doesn’t fit an existing category, they will be found either in “Corners” as a featured post, or within “Dreamcraft”, excluding any particular subcategory, depending on the intent of the post.

“Wordcraft” is the last category, and is devoted to one of the most obsessed over, maddening, world-consuming, favored creative hobbies and careers around:  Creative writing.  Within this section are two subcategories: “Word Wisdom”, where I will discuss creative writing techniques, tips and tricks, and links to resources, and “Jaym’s Creations”, where I will swallow my fear of judgment and put forth my (hopefully not cringe-worthy) writing efforts… ideally not to be mercilessly torn to shreds for their errors, but instead to serve as an example of another writer’s work in all its flawed and beautiful glory- to serve as inspiration for other writers to get their work on paper (or in pixels) and share with others! If I receive enough interest from other writers over time, I may provide a third sub-category within Wordcraft for other artists to showcase their work.  Keep an eye open!

(Go to the next page below by clicking on the page numbers!)

It sucks.

What, you ask? Supposedly, every entertainment product that is released nowadays. Mind you, this is far from my own opinion- rather, this attitude seems to seep throughout our entire culture in today’s world. And this attitude is growing stronger by the day.

I can’t truly recall the last entertainment product- movie, TV show, computer game, video game or any other imaginable creative production- where I’ve heard a vast majority of consumers shower the new release with overwhelming praise. Even “The Dark Knight” started an online war of words. Obviously, you’re always going to have to ignore the 0.01 % that deliberately take the opposite side of every issue as some form of attention whoring. But setting that aside, ultimately there should be something out there that everyone agrees is great, right?

Does this just come down to personal preference? Is it that what is great to one person is terrible to another, and therefore a consensus within society is not feasible? Will there always be a large group of people standing outside the theatre after a movie saying, “That was boring. That director doesn’t know what he’s doing. They should have taken out the car chase scene and put in more of the monkey. I easily could have done it better.”

To some degree that is the case. People will always differ on entertainment, as it is art, and art is subjective. However, I submit that there is a growing trend, particularly in the younger generations- mostly the 30-and-under crowd, with exceptions (there are always exceptions)- who are adopting an attitude only best described as” jaded”.

As I roam the internet, I find source upon source of people making jaw-droppingly vicious attacks on creators of our entertainment. And yet, at the core of these arguments is nothing whatsoever but personal opinions! There are no valid facts provided to back up the reasoning of the attacks or why the entertainment products being attacked “suck” so much.

And guess what? There’s a simple reason there are no facts.

Pretend you’ve landed in an airport and are disembarking from a plane. Have you ever heard anyone on the way out verbally berating the pilot for how he flew the plane? Not complaining about a bumpy ride, or bad flight attendant service, but that he should have gone up to 30,000 feet for the first hour, then changed direction to catch the jet stream? Or, consider this: you’re in the hospital, and you pass by a group of patients standing around yelling at a brain surgeon. How could he have made that incision the way he did? Why didn’t he use a different approach to his tumor removal method? Or perhaps complaining about his choice of stitching when closing up the incision at the end of surgery?

It sounds ridiculous, no? Of course it does! Yet- have you ever heard someone tell you exactly how your local professional basketball team’s coach should have handled the substitutions for the last game? What trades absolutely must be made for the team to make the playoffs? How the team’s all-star player isn’t trying anymore, and should just drive to the hoop each time down the court, which will guarantee victory every game? Of course you’ve seen this- repeatedly, and in regards to countless topics.

Last November, I participated in my first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which I strongly encourage all creative writers to participate in.  The following is the prologue for my winning effort (50,000+ words in ~23 days).

Please note it has only been through two revisions, and therefore full of clumsy sentences, placeholder names, bad grammar and all the other fun challenges we face as creative writers.  Please be aware that I am aware of these flaws in the work, which has many, many more revisions to go through! (So no need to flood the comments with revision commentary, thanks!)

I would hope I should not have to point out this work is copyrighted and not to be redistributed or published anywhere under pain of torture in… the comfy chair!  Seriously.  No words to leave this site.  Thanks!

**Advance note: “Great Warrior” / “GW” is a placeholder for a future concept/name**

__________

First Death

Book One of the Final Death Series

Prologue

(*Revision 2*)

A row of figures pierced the dark as they hurried along their gloomy path. A rickety wooden shelf mounted on one of the windowless walls held a few mismatched candles, their feeble amount of light hardly penetrating the surrounding darkness.  Their calm, steady light instantly protested the interruption with a furious dance of chaotic flames, the group’s passage making enough of a sudden breeze to extinguish one.  The lack of visibility as they forged ahead made winding through the dark corridors frustrating, the insufficient candlelight quickly consumed by the oppressive darkness of the environs they traversed. Gasping and grunting accompanied the sound of men panting with exertion from the excess of various bags, boxes and backpacks they all carried.  The scraping of boots upon the dusty concrete floor kicked up clouds of dust and dirt, causing an occasional suppressed cough or sneeze.

The men slowed to an exhausted stop at the end of a murky passage no different than the others they had travelled barring one important detail:  An enormous metal door, roughly twelve feet in height, barred the way forward.  Out of place in this dark maze of corridors, the reinforced door was an imposing barricade.  Its singular purpose screamed at visitors:  Keep out!  Its pristine surface indicated that purpose had never been tested.

Despite their winded state, no one set their load down. The man in front stepped forward and kicked the door’s base with the steel toe of his boot, causing a metallic reverberation screaming like a banshee into the dark void of the hallways behind.

“Quiet! Think you could manage to make more noise, Sky?” hissed one of the others, nervously, his eyes darting between him and the black void behind the group. “Did you hear that? I’m sure I heard something behind us! They’re following us, I’m telling you!”

“Relax, Web.  They’ve never found us here, and they aren’t going to find us now.  I guarantee it.” He gave a confident nod in Web’s direction that went unnoticed in the dark.  A deep snort was heard from one of the others, causing Sky’s temper to flare. Just as he began to defend his boast, the relative silence of the corridor was shattered with the harsh sound of metal grating against metal emanating from the massive door.  The sound caused Sky to wince, the hairs on his skin standing in protest to the noise.  Instantly, his wounded pride was suppressed- never forgotten- and he refocused on their purpose for being here.

Admit it.

You love writing, and as a writer, you have always been dreaming of the day your glorious novel breaks all the bestseller records and rests upon the shelves of every bookstore in the world.

Right? Of course. Very few writers don’t (at least at some point) have a “secret” dream to write the next great New York Times bestseller.

So what’s stopping you?

Probably the same thing that stops everyone: A level of overwhelming confusion, writer’s block and general apprehension concerning how to actually start the writing process without messing everything up!

I have a wonderful solution for you: This November, write your novel. No, I didn’t say start writing your novel. I said write your novel. The whole thing. Before the end of November.

Madness? Indeed. And tens of thousands of people sign up (for free) to do such a thing. Willingly, I might add! The event is known as “National Novel Writing Month” (NaNoWriMo) and allows the aspiring writer to abandon all good practices, all concerns and focus on one and only one thing: writing!

As Chris Baty, the creator of NaNoWriMo states, the goal isn’t to write a perfect masterpiece under such an insane deadline, but rather to aim for something that would not “make someone vomit”.

Such a humorous approach to the writing process is part of the great appeal of NaNoWriMo, and communities form all around the nation for writing support, many meeting in person at local coffee shops or bookstores to help each other stay on pace.

If you’re interested in jumping in to the process, you’ll want to visit the NaNoWriMo website and sign up- this is your home page for keeping track of if you “win” or not- you’re aiming for a word count of 50,000! (Winners get a shiny badge and bragging rights, not to mention a finished (or semi-finished) novel… something most did not have prior to starting!)

Visit the homepage at:  National Novel Writing Month

Another recommendation if you decide to participate- the corresponding book for NaNoWriMo, “No Plot? No Problem!” by founder Chris Baty. This book should be available in the writing section of your local bookstore or your favorite online store.  No Plot? No Problem! on Amazon

So, why put it off any longer? Set aside some time this fall and write that book you’ve always wanted to write!  Just remember… no starting early- that’s cheating!

There are a large number of actresses in the world, all vying for a limited number of roles… but it is a real shame when great talent is being bypassed while other less interesting talents are landing coveted leading roles.

Here’s a “Dream Five ” list (in no particular order)… you may know a few or all of ‘em! Don’t agree? Have one in YOUR top five? Share your list in the comments!

To build the suspense, each actress will be given her own page… go to the next one below!

If you’re a gamer, you’ve heard and used this phrase countless times. Even when it first became widespread in its usage, jokes flew with its lack of brevity. You know the name… “MMORPG”: “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game”.

That name has to be changed.

Why? Certainly some will agree it’s a pain to say, but you can just call it an “MMO” instead, right? Unfortunately, that doesn’t reach the crux of the matter… it’s inaccurate. My first question to you is: Name one massively multiplayer game that is not online.

I’ll wait while you rack your brain. Football isn’t massively multiplayer. Golf isn’t. Baseball? No. A marathon isn’t a game. There is no game which exists offline that has thousands upon thousands of simultaneous players!

We’ve just started, and we’ve already found that part of the title isn’t necessary!

• First change to the genre name: The O’s gotta go.

So, we’ve whittled “MMO” down to “MM”. What about the “MM” portion of the title? What defines “Massively Multiplayer”? Thousands upon thousands of players all within the same game universe able to freely interact in game at the same time.

Some games that are often considered massively multiplayer fall short due to design and gameplay considerations. Let’s examine Guild Wars. Great game! Fun times. A solid title to own for most gamers. Guild. Wars. Is. Not. Massively. Multiplayer.

What? Everyone says it’s an MMO! That is nothing more than a case of people being stubborn when presented with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The actual developers of Guild Wars have themselves proclaimed it not to be an “MMORPG”, but instead call it a “CORPG”: “Competitive Online Role Playing Game”. I refer to it as an “OCG”- “Online Computer Game”, like Diablo 2, for instance.

Still, when you are discussing a game with the proper design to allow simultaneous mass-gaming, “Massively Multiplayer”, or “MM” works well enough to describe the genre.