Alex J. Brock

Alex’s writing advice and book recommendations

  • Love Live, a silly plot but one worth watching

    No pick or link today. Love Live is the title of multiple anime series about high school girls starting their own school idol groups along with the difficulties that come with that. It’s great fun, with solid character and interesting plots, specifically in terms of actually starting the clubs. Ultimately though, it’s a story about…

  • Apologies

    I wanted to post more, I really did, but I could not come up with any prose stories to talk about the plot of. I should have mentioned this, but I failed. I promise to do better in the future.

  • Unfinished Business’ plot, or why making a plot can be hard

    Unfinished Business, the story I’m working on now, started with a single question, as I said previously. “What would elves and dwarves in a modern setting look like?” The thing is, creating a setting was easy, creating Unfinished Business’ plot was a giant pain in the ass. Really, I only came up with it once…

  • How the plot of Raven: Priestess of Nocturne came to be

    Apologies for the delay. I got sidetracked on a writing side-project that may or may not see the light of day. It’s a very personal project that may or may not see publication. So now, we focus on how the plot of Raven: Priestess of Nocturne came to be. So, the plot for Raven: Priestess…

  • Plot: Not just a bunch of things that happen

    So now we get to the nuts and bolts: the plot of your story. There are a range of ways to look at plots, ranging from the core of your story to the method you use to simply keep your characters moving through the story with the real spotlight on them. Regardless, it is an…

  • Recommendation: Futari Escape

    Now for something a little different: A story where they talk about their inspiration for an in-universe work. For this, we’ll use the silly slice of life manga, Futari Escape. About Futari Escape Futari Escape is about two lazy bums living together. Known only as Senpai and Kohai, they try to escape reality on a…

  • Kitty corner 1

    When I have nothing else to post, I’ll post a picture of Cookie, my mackerel tabby. Because, c’mon, everyone loves cats. Cookie is one of those cats that absolutely loves her owner. She will curl up next to my chest at night, come running in purring when I wake up (and no I don’t feed…

  • Recommendation: I Don’t Know Which is Love

    Now we get to the non-prose recommendations. Things like TV shows, manga, comics, etc. The first recommendation is the Yuri series I Don’t Know Which Is Love.   About I Don’t Know Which Is Love As usual, I’m recommending this both because it ties into the theme of the month: coming up with an idea, and…

  • Literature Recommendation: Eve of Destruction

    Note that I try to target more obscure books for my literature recommendation section. After all, everyone’s heard of 1984, but how many people have heard of Eve of Destruction? Also, I am aware that I said I would pick something not LGBT focused, but I failed to come up with anything in prose that…

  • Opinion: A good writer is also a good reader

    I’ve always felt that to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader, as in someone who can read and take in a lot, especially in the genre you write in. You can and should still read for fun. However, while doing so, take notice of things that draw your attention in…

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