V is for Vacuous

"V" in its new incarnation, landed on Tuesday. It was warmly received by critics but I found it plodding and uninspired. Perhaps, what was most lacking was any sense of suspense. The writers seemed all too ready to give up some of the essential plot twists in the first episode, possibly because viewers of the original series already knew them. Still, it was amateurish at best. In a word... predictable. Without giving too much away about the episode, one of its major flaws was to give away the clandestine operatives of the "V" in the very first episode. Why would you tell the audience that without giving them the opportunity to puzzle it out for themselves? At the very least, the audience could be made aware of some of these potential  opportunities for surprise while they remained hidden from the main characters. Nice VFX but wholly uninspired and unoriginal.

Writers of the Future 4th Quarter 2009

I spent one month writing my first professional sf story. I entered it into L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future just in time for the last quarter of the contest, which ended on September 30th. Now the wait begins.

New Ideas or Variations on a Theme?

When coming up with a new idea for a story I often find that it is not so new at all. Take time travel for example. Time travel has been done to death, yet I feel I have stories that use it in a new way. There are certain aspects that haven't been done before. So, it really becomes a variation on a theme. Still, if I have something original to say using time travel as my vehicle, then it is just a matter of the strength of my writing that will make it exciting for the reader, even though they may have read many time travel tales before.


When it comes to editors and publishers I am not so sure that they can easily overcome their reluctance to read another story in that vein. I have some time travel stories just itching to come out, so we shall see.