Why a Writer?

I’m a writer.  At least, I want to be.

Did I always want to be a writer?  I’m not sure.  I remember watching Captain Caveman as a kid and seeing a couple of episodes that still hold up as crime plots in my grown up mind.  Even then, I thought it would be cool to steal, er, pay tribute through homage to, those plot ideas.  I was seven or so.  I remember watching Scooby Doo and working out ideas for the treasure where it was something totally unexpected.  Rather than a stash of Civil War gold, or a fortune in gems, why not some odd collectible item that would be cast aside by nearly anyone that found it?

I’m drifting a bit.

I look back to my life then, and I wanted to make stories.  I wanted to make them my way with characters doing what I wanted them to do.  But why?

I'm not Evil...

… I’m a writer.  At least I hope to be.

I often have ideas pop into my head that would make the average person cringe at the thought of them.  The opening credits to the TV show Castle feature the main character saying, “There are two types of people that sit around all day thinking of ways to kill people: psychopaths, and mystery writers.”  Personally, I’m not so sure it involves all that much sitting around and thinking to come up with the actual killing.  It’s the getting away with it that takes all the time.

When I say that the ideas pop into my head I mean it.  There are times that I’ll start talking to someone and form some elaborate demise as I’m talking, but have no idea where it’s going.  I’m thinking about five words ahead of what I’m saying, and when I finally get to the end, I get That Look.

Peeves and Common Errors

This is a list of things that I’ve seen in print, television, and film that are just wrong.  If you plan on giving any character you want to appear competent, good or bad, a firearm, make sure they don’t do anything on this list.