Jamais Jochim
Bio
I'm the guy who knows every last fact about Spider-man and if I don't I'll track it down. I love bad movies, enjoy table-top gaming, and probably would drive you crazy if you weren't ready for it.
Stories (246)
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Building A Magic System, Part I
Magic is one of the biggest problems that a lot of writers deal with. The problem is that there seems to be a lot of moving parts to any decent magic system and it can be hard to figure out all of the parts. Worse, there needs to be some allowing for societal issues: If magic existed, how would it shape society as a whole? It would make ladies' night a whole lot more interesting if the girls could get together to summon demons and throw hexes, wouldn't it? Just imagine which sports would be popular if the athletes could cast spells or use magical equipment.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
How to Write a Short Horror Story
Writing a short story can be horrible enough by itself, but making it a horror short story adds all sorts of additional challenges. With most short stories, the writer can usually get in and out, sometimes just get away with making a point; with a horror story it needs to shock the person or at least unnerve them: The writer needs to build an atmosphere with as few words as possible, and this is one of the biggest problems facing horror writing. Fortunately, it's not that hard.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
Dealing With Heroes Without Villains
In far too many stories, the conflict too often comes down to the hero versus the villain. It's hit the point that stories where the opponent is anything but another entity have virtually disappeared; "conflict" is defined solely by who the hero defeats and all other sources of conflict seem to have disappeared, such as conflicts versus nature, or society, or even self. Even when the true opponent is decidedly non-physical and abstract, such as a hero facing a personal crisis, there is some sort of physical avatar of the problem.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
Each Scene is a Play
Writing scenes is one of the worst parts of writing. The scene is the building block of a story; the story is what happens when you string a number of them together. However, writing each individual scene can be difficult. The problem is breaking the scene down even further so that you can write it. Fortunately, this is not that hard to do.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
How to be a Scammer's Least Favorite Person
When it comes to self-publishing there are a wide variety of different scams and avoiding them can be difficult Complicating the issue is that there are a lot of people who figure that because there is a boom in self-publishing, they should cash in on the trend; this has led a lot of people who think their business management skills would be great for self-publishers as well as those who hope to parlay their experience into an actual business. This translates to having a lot of people who actively seek to separate self-publishers and their money, those who simply don't care, and those with the best intentions.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
The Nom de Plume and Its Issues
For some writers, there's the problem of whether or not to use a pen name. This decision should not be taken lightly given the possible ramifications on the person's writing career. While there are some good reasons for establishing and maintaining a nm de plume, writers need to seriously debate if they will use one or not, and then whether or not to drop it at some point.
By Jamais Jochim11 months ago in Writers
How to Build a Basic Business Plan
Another area writers tend to suck at is business. The problem is that the same mentality that makes a person a great writer often inhibits their ability at business: You have gotten so good at looking at things from a weird angle that you sometimes forget how to look at things more practically. In a weird way, this is not really a disadvantage when it comes to writing, especially as it allows you to quickly learn skills in order to use them in your writing as well as look at multiple perspectives at once.
By Jamais Jochim12 months ago in Writers
Getting Your Social Media Game Going
Part of everyone's marketing strategy should involve social media. I don't care if you're using Facebook, Twitter, what have you. The basic idea is that you need to join groups. And by joining these groups, you eventually get people to to follow and/or friend you; eventually, you'll end up creating a fan base of decent size. You need this fan base; it means that whenever you're trying to push updates, or advertise your merchandise, or basically just say, "Hey, I'm here!" you actually got somebody's attention.
By Jamais Jochim12 months ago in Writers
Copyright and Trademark Issues Simplified
]If you want to see a lot of bad advice, ask about copyright on a writing discussion board. It seems that everyone has that little kernel of wisdom that they need to unload whenever the topic of copyright is brought up.
By Jamais Jochim12 months ago in Writers
The Usual Marketing Problems
I'll probably run this into the ground, but artists suck at marketing. While you should definitely take a class or three in marketing, this means that you need to be aware that you are likely to commit some of the of the worst marketing mistakes known to man when you first start. It can only help to figure out what those mistakes are ahead of time so you can at least attempt to head them off at the pass. As these mistakes can cause the death of your project before you even begin, it is worth discussing them at the early stages of your project, preferably before your premier day.
By Jamais Jochim12 months ago in Writers
The Lines That Separate Homage, Parody, and Infringement
You do not want to get between a mama bear and her cubs. A mama bear will do whatever it takes to protect her cubs and it doesn't matter if the danger is perceived or otherwise. Some companies are the same when it comes to their intellectual properties: Even the slightest challenge is a reason to unleash the lawyers. While some companies are more casual letting others infringe on their rights, all companies will only let others do so much with their IPs.
By Jamais Jochim12 months ago in Writers
