J.B. Sommerset

(Image credit: JBSommerset Copy write 2024) I was surprised when I first heard about this movie and how good it was. I am a big Godzilla fan, I love watching that monster tear a city down while he battles some ridiculous creature with super weird powers. However, lets face it, no one watches Godzilla movies for the plots and character development. Same with other Kaiju   films such as " Pacific Rim ", and " Cloverfield ". We watch them to see giant freak'n monsters have at one another while destroying everything in their path. Which is why I was surprised to see a lot of people saying that " Godzilla Minus One " was no ordinary Godzilla flick. That is was in fact a masterpiece. I did some research and found out that not only was this movie critically acclaimed, it has a 98% on rotten tomatoes, it's been nominated for several awards, and it's budget was only 15 million dollars. The budget is pretty standard for Godzilla movies. But the rest, ju

I moved back to the woods recently. I come from the woods, somewhere way out there, in Idaho. As a kid I spent most of my time among the trees and the wildlife. Then as I grew up I decided there was more to life than that. For some stupid reason, I moved to the village, then to the town, and then to the city. There was nothing in any of those places for me.  Now that I have aged, and I am a lot older, and a little bit wiser, I realize that it’s not about the state you are in, the place you reside. It’s about the state of mind you are in. I was never in a healthy state of mind in the city. All around me was unhealthy noise. It got old as I got old.  That being said, living in the woods comes with it's own set of challenges. It can be lonely, it can be too quiet at times, there is isolation here, and isolation is not always easy to bare. One must have the tools to deal with it. Loneliness is also a very trying experience, but it helps you to recognize the value of a visit, the import

Wow, it's been too long my friends! On the upside, my house is almost done! Yeah, moving back to the woods. In the meantime, and to keep all of you read-a-holics occupied, here is the bi-weekly audio book... er books. Its a collection of short stories and literature from one of my favorite authors Phillip K. Dick . One of the most prolific and underrated science fiction writers ever. Hope you enjoy this one, you salivating read-a-vors.  Cheers!

One of my more recent posts was a picture I ran through an A.I. filter to modify its color and style. I liked the result so much that I decided to keep it and post it here on the site. I mentioned I would post more on how A.I. affects the world of creators and how I feel about transitioning into a world where A.I. will be everywhere. Today is that day, or one of them, because I am sure the future will bring so much more to the debate. Although we really haven't created real  A.I. yet, we are closer every day, and that brings me a little bit of concern. I find myself arguing about where the world is going. As far as A.I. is concerned, all of us seem to embrace it no matter how many warnings there are. No matter how many times we see The Terminator  or IRobot.   This is a difficult subject to tackle. On one side of the coin, there is a better life for all of us. A.I. means better health, self-driving cars, more security, etc- a world of more possibilities. On the other side of that s

Every once in a while I get all nostalgic, nostalgic like a drunk historian under hypnosis. I start reminiscing about my life and how things have gone, thinking about the things that would be different had I made some different choices. Inevitably this leads me down the rabbit hole of old stories and movies.  I was in one such mood last night, a driftless melancholy, a stillness if you will. Usually, when I am in such moods I tell stories that start off with "back in my day", but last night there was no one to spin a yarn for. It was just me and my lonesome, so I did the next best thing- turned on the TV and found a movie that meant something to me. In this case, that movie was a classic from "back in the day", that day was a day in 1985.  You guessed it...  Back to the future .  I watched it, I loved it, then I went to bed missing the old days. But it got me thinking, why was Back to the Future such a good movie? What made it stand out in the eighties, and why does

As writers, I hope all of us also read. Reading is the foundation of writing, at least for most authors, and it's important to recognize crap from cream. Sometimes other writers make us feel small with their skill and prowess. Some, not so much, sometimes we are revolted by the works of other writers. Sometimes we have to put a book down because it made us throw up in our mouths a little.  As a writer, I can safely say that nothing turns off my reading boner like poorly thought-out stories. Especially ones where the plot holes are big enough to fly a plane through. Sometimes, it seems the writer didn't try. Some of the telltale signs of lazy writers are lousy character development, hideous syntax, poor descriptions, weak development of themes and continuity, super thick plot armor, or MacGuffins. All of which are reasons to put a book down and forget about it. And god, do I hate me some MacGuffins- the sure sign that a person is a lazy writer. That being said, there is one mist

I've talked about this several times before, I've posted videos about it, and almost every time I come across an article or a video about it, I think about it all the time. You guessed it, I am going to rail on getting to know the seven major plots .  I simultaneously hate and love them. I hate them because I am an anti-establishment kind of guy. But I also love them because they help me structure my stories. So I do what most quasi-philosophical types do- keep my enemies closer than my friends and get to know them well. Use them like the tools they are. It is not that there are only seven major plots; I just wish there were more. And before you say anything, I've looked and looked for some magical eighth plot line, I haven't found one yet, and I doubt I will. I will not rehash them here in this article because I have been over them several times. What I am going to do is use this as a reminder to all of you. Rather than lament that there are only seven, let's try a

As a younger man I really fought it, that is, liking Stephen King's work. I resisted his work for a minute. It was just too damn trendy. It took me a while to figure out that sometimes something is trendy because it really is good. As I have stated before, from the descriptions on the dust jackets, a good deal of his work shouldn't be good. Case in point, a summation of " It ": Pan-dimensional spider beast returns to dear to eat fear." It just doesn't sound as good as it is. I had some catching up to do when I finally succumbed and started reading his work, then I learned what made him special. I have been over that before, and I will touch on it again at some point.  Anyway, I dug out some more advice from him. I was letting the almighty algorithm pick my videos, and this one popped up. I thought I would share it with all of you. Hope you all find it worthwhile.  Cheers!

Like many of you out there, you might have been interested in writing early in life but just never had the time to commit or get started on that novel. Well my friends, wine isn't good until it's aged. Some of the best stories are the ones that have matured, and only time ages a things in the right direction.  My writing career parallels this. I wrote my first novel when I was a teenager. I never did anything with that book, I just let it sit. Thank god! In retrospect, it was crap. The premise was great, the story was and still is original as far as I know, and the character development was also good. However, I didn't know how to write back then. I could loosely call it a "daytime television fan fiction" and that's giving the shite it's credit.  Any value was, to say the least, theoretical. It's still hiding in my desk in shame like a hunchback in the attic, hidden away, an abomination. I am so glad I made the decision to hold on to it. I think that k

Just a quick post, I was going through some of my old work and found a piece I thought deserved a little more credit. This was a picture I was working on that was supposed to have a second part, like a comic book pane. I never got around to the second half, I think I might work on that in in the near future. Anyways, here it is, enjoy.  Cheers!

I might have posted this one before, but I feel it deserves a re-post if I have. We all have origin stories when it comes to how we became writers; that place, time, or situation in which we decided, and then became writers. It's important to know where we came from because that will always shape where we are going.  One of my favorite stories about how a person became a writer is Paul Auster's story and his journey. Incidentally, he is also a really good storyteller and for anyone who hasn't read his world, I recommend them. Enjoy! Cheers, and keep on creating!

This one is not only for the writers out there, but also the spoken word junkies, the coffeeshop screenwriters, and even some of the songwriters out there. Karl Iglesias is a writer, teacher, and storyteller, and he has some valuable insight into why storytelling is so important, what its purpose is, and how to build a story that really moves people. I thought I would share it with all of you because I feel that what he has to say is important, especially what he has to say about the purpose of your story. Enjoy! Cheers, and keep on creating!

Last week I posted some tips that I found useful when I first started writing. These tips were simple. In one of the tips, I mentioned to "keep cranking the shit and diamonds crank until you start to find diamonds". This might have been taken the wrong way, and I also said I would explain. In that section, I thanked " Struthless ". Struthless is one of my favorite creators on Youtube. He makes animations, tells stories, and gives some good advice. Some of that advice he wrote down in his book: " Your head is a houseboat. " Which, if you are interested, you can get on amazon.  Struthless is where I first heard about the "shit and diamonds machine". Originally it was in reference to what is known as impostor syndrome , but I feel it applies elsewhere too, which is why I co-opted it. I thought I would let him tell you in his own words what it means.   Cheers!

I am back again with some tips, and as always I give them in threes.  This week, because it's been a long time since I last posted some tips for the upcoming writer I am going back to the basics. As always I will break them down and also emphasize why they are important.  1) Starting at the beginning, one of the best tips I ever received was this; writing is a practice . If you want to make a living at writing, you have to turn it into a study and a practice. Like so many other things in life, unless you are some sort of autistic savant, you need to practice to get good at something. A musician usually practices, an artist creates ten steaming piles of shit before they squeeze out something someone wants to look at. A home builder doesn't build a mansion first, they build a little bang-shack on the outskirts of town. It's the adage of Shit and diamonds  ( Thanks Struthless ); the more you turn the crank the higher your chance of finding a diamond in that shit you keep churn

Sometimes it's hard to see the other side of the story, especially when there is critique involved. Especially when someone is attacking our "magnum opus", that thing we slaved away half our days to create. it's even worse when they are a legitimate and bonafide professional- such as an editor.  We slowly watch them tear it to pieces nodding and taking it like it doesn't bother us. However, on the inside we are slowly planning their demise and thinking of ways to get ahold of a nondescript and untraceable poison and also some lime salt- we all know a couple of places where no one would find them, right?  But we don't do that, we take the next couple of days to eat and digest what they served. We stew and then we either look at our work and drink a couple bottles of jack then shred that hideous thing from the attic, or we embrace the fact that our perfect little child isn't what we thought it was- we start the process of revision.  If you are the kind of pe

( Photo credit to Cottonbro of Pixel ) Any good writer should know where their story is going, what it's about, where it will end and how the characters will end. This will give the writer some direction when creating the work, the flow, and the characters. We do this using themes, the plot, and the character arcs. First, let's define them and explain why they are essential. A theme is the subject matter that permeates the story, the atmosphere, and the ambiance. It can also be reoccurring ideas or situations that illustrate an integral part of the story. Case in point, a story about good versus evil and the conflict between them, I might say "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." If someone wanted a story about justice, I might say "Crime and Punishment." The theme defines and is defined by the author's message. The theme describes the subjects that the author wants to explore. The plot is the vehicle the theme rides inside. The plot is the series of events that re

I have always said that a talent that is never used, never released to the world, and never seen is a wasted talent. It's a truth that we all need to make a living, at least for most of us, and as much as we would like to sit around in coffee shops writing and drawing, there are still bills to be paid. In other words, we simply cannot take the time off to write the next great novel.  We all hope, we wish, and we dream, that we will write a book or screenplay that the world will recognize, and then proceed to throw some money at us. At the very least, enough to get us out of the 9-5 lifestyle.  The hard part is making sure the right people see it and then proceed to buy it. For most of us, that is the dream- to work at what we love and not have to stress about bills in the meantime.  A friend of mine emailed me a video, he always thinks that I need to better market my work and always has good advice. This little gem is from " Gary Goldstein ", and it has some good advice a

Sometimes we (as writers or readers) notice the antagonists in a story more than we notice the protagonists. There is something delicious about a good piece of evil, a bad guy that meets our standards better than the rest. This is true throughout many of the greatest stories in history, from Lago to Tyler Durdon . In many cases, we know the bad guy better, because he or she is human and flawed. We identify with them more, and that makes for compelling storytelling. If we dig deep enough we will usually find a part of ourselves in the best of bad guys- and that is truly scary and also exhilarating.    Cheers, and keep on creating! 

Richard Walter here has a realistic, and some would say sobering, look at the craft. I want to share his words with all of you because sometimes us dreams need to put our feet on the ground.  Cheers, and keep on creating! 

One of the hardest parts about writing a book, or creating great art or music is getting discouraged with the work.  Most of us start with a great idea, that is, "in short"- meaning we have the summary, and the "meat" of the story needs to be added to make it into a full-length novel. Ninety-Nine percent of us don't have the whole idea in our heads when we sit down to let the work possess us.  Instead, most of us channel the demons inside to make our work complete. We fight with the monsters. We ride the winds and light the fires. We try and keep up with the waves of struggle and capture the emotions in our words or paintbrush strokes. We cut our flesh and insert ourselves into what we create. And as the process unfolds, it slowly murders us with its purpose, so we build it up.  Consequently, it breaks us and weighs us down, yet we struggle to lift it with our very souls even if it drowns us.  As we push, the pressure builds and builds until we explode, are spen