(Part One) Think of the last really good novel you read. For me, I’m nearing the end of my third or fourth read-through of That Hideous Strength. Think about how different characters are introduced and described. It varies, does it
Describing characters seems really easy until you actually try to do it well. On the one hand, we can put the entire description (three paragraphs, each slightly under a page long) at the front, which would get everything on the
Do video games cause violence? That’s the sanitary form of the question; what everybody really means is, ‘Do video games kill kids?’ It’s hard to ask this question with a level head. Dead kids get everybody’s temper running hot. Indeed,
If you have brushed with YouTube media criticism recently, at least in more right-wing or culturally disaffected circles, you’ve inevitably encountered a certain complaint: ‘The women in these new movies just aren’t hot enough.’ It’s touted as a reason for
Swords are the iconic melee weapon, but they have rivals on the battlefield. On the medieval European battlefield, in fact, swords were made less and less effective by armor’s advances. Some heavier or stabbier swords still had viability against plate
Last week I ran through knife-v-unarmed and knive-v-knife combat, giving a basic overview of how those fights go. Like any fight with a knife, they’re close, fast, and always on the edge of death. These are also two of the
We’ve taken a good long look at why knives are so dangerous and where they’re dangerous; it’s time now to consider how characters can respond to a knife attack when they’re on the receiving end. Due to the vastness of
Knowing where to stab and slash is important. Today we’ll go over the various targets a knife wielder will go for, giving an overview of the attacks that target those areas and the expected effects of the wounds over the
Knives are easy for us to underestimate. They don’t have the range or thunder of a gun; they don’t have the reputation of a sword. When you’re writing, the knife can easily become a tool instead of a weapon for
As I showed last week, we are not bound to strict reproduction of Biblical symbolism. Nevertheless, we must not take that truth as carte blanche to ignore historical and Biblical uses of a symbol in our own use. We must