Clay Sheldon

If you're brand new to anime and curious to see if it's for you, start with the classics. We're talking Cowboy Bebop (space western), Trigun (Apocalypse Western), Ranma (romantic kung-fu comedy) Full Metal Alchemist (Dark Fantasy Steampunk) and others.
That's a good benchmark to see if it's for you.

In my opinion, good isekai anime is often where the protagonist isn't given any advantages at all when they arrive, and have to start from square one learning how the world works and how not to die. If they do get some sort of advantage, it often has a serious drawback. Re: Zero is a decent example.

One of the big issues with a lot of Isekai anime (reincarnating in a fantasy world or whatever) is that they really lean into the power fantasy. They often get game-breaking superpowers without earning it and then just go around stomping anyone they don't like. It's boring and childish to be honest.

Just a quick tip to anyone trying out a new anime. Generally, if the title of your anime is a literal sentence, odds are it's not going to be very good. Sure there are exceptions, but if your title is 'I got reincarnated as X and now I travel and do revenge and stuff', that's not a good sign.

Horror in fiction is all about realizations. Sure, you could have the monster jump out and say 'boo'. Or you could not. What if the monster doesn't jump out and say 'boo'? Where is the monster? It could be anywhere. Also, did I forget to lock the front door? I don't remember leaving it open...

Decent horror will quicken your heart rate for a few minutes. Great horror will quicken your heart rate hours later when you're home alone with the lights off.

Writing is a lot like working out. The brain is a muscle and needs to be trained regularly to keep in shape. It can be pulled if you work too hard but can also weaken if you slack off too much. There's an important balance to hit somewhere in-between.

There's just going to be days as a writer where you are just exhausted, you aren't feeling the magic, but you know you have a deadline looming. Hitting your deadlines is important, but so is your health. Often agreeing with yourself to take one day off for R&R means you'll be more productive later.

Don't worry about the ending of your story while you're writing. Odds are, it's going to drastically change. Even if you have a very specific ending in mind, HOW you get there will change, and that can change the entire context of that final scene. So just write in the moment!

Stories are a lot like baking. You've got to gather and mix the right ingredients together and then you need to give them time to bake. If you rush your plot too quickly, you're just going to end up with a half-baked mess. Timing is everything.

Amount of urgency is a metric that should always be in the back of your mind when writing fiction. If your main characters are in a rush to save the world, then having them stop to casually chat over tea and crumpets is going to really confuse your readers. That will screw with your pacing a LOT.

When writing dialogue in your fiction, remember that you can also NOT say something. Not everything has to be an infodump. Not everyone has to say 'as you know'. They know. They don't need you telling them. Sometimes saying less and inferring more feels more natural to a reader. Within reason.

a pixel art of a girl with glasses and a backpack asking to announce an intent Alt: Pixel art of a girl with glasses and a backpack putting on glasses.

Been playing a lot of horror games that focus on investigating urban legends recently, which is a nice change of pace horror-wise. Urban Myth Dissolution Centre is what's currently top of my backlog and it's actually pretty good! Not perfect, but solid so far!

When starting a new writing project, it can be insanely easy to shoot for the moon and decide to do something you might not be ready for. It's often best to start small and work your way up to whatever that big project is. Don't bite off more than you can chew too early! That's burnout territory.

When writing fiction, train yourself to stay in the moment of a scene. Be present in the present. Don't worry too much about getting to your 'planned ending' because that can lead to you railroading the plot. Let the story take its natural course for a while and see where it leads.

Games you might not have played: Alpha Protocol

While not a masterpiece by any means, Alpha Protocol is an early attempt to make a Jason Bourne/24-esque Spy RPG with mixed results. But there are some interesting mechanics that you rarely see anywhere else in the spy genre these days. Worth a look.

a man sits at a desk in a dark room with a green light behind him Alt: a man sits at a desk in a dark room with a green light behind him

Games you might not have played: Alan Wake

Released back in 2010, the original Alan Wake is pinnacle Twin Peaks horror (which I'm realizing is also a really old reference). That is, strange stuff happening in a small town. Buckle up for some brain-bending weirdness and wacky characters.

There's no completely concrete rule about what makes a 'good' story. Just like there's no concrete rule about what makes a 'good' meal. Every meal is different, made from different ingredients prepared in unique ways. It's the combination of ideas and execution that matter to the quality.

Worldbuilding isn't about creating every single possible detail in your fictional world. It's about laying a strong foundation and then highlighting the fun and interesting stuff about that world. We likely don't need to know about the tax laws of your fantasy world, for example.

A good story often starts with a strong fundamental idea. That could be a unique setting or a fun character or an interesting theme, but it's often a good idea to flesh that idea out first so that you have a strong foundation to grow from. It's like gardening, you need the right seeds to start with.

If there's one addition to Silksong that I really like, it's the new side quest system. It gives me a reason to revisit areas and there's actually new content waiting for me. In hollow knight, once you got all the collectables, you could usually skip zones entirely.

Writing fiction is both extremely easy and extremely difficult. On the one hand, you can literally create anything you can think of. On the other hand, you have to actually write it down.

Oh for sure. Marketing is another story entirely. The more off-the-wall your story is, the less likely there's a tag out there to describe it. All the more important to master the description section of your book's bio. Like an elevator pitch to your potential readers.

While we often package up fiction into categories (fantasy, sci-fi, romcom, etc.) that doesn't mean you're limited to them. You can do a fusion, or create an entirely new category if you discover one. Exploration of ideas is how those categories came into existence in the first place. Explore!

You have something special to bring to your writing. Something only you have. What that is, I have no idea. Because everyone is different. But you have that special something you can put on the page that no one else can replicate. The hard part is finding it. That's where the hard work comes in.

And that's challenging for a whole bunch of unique reasons. Everyone ages differently and will pick up different quirks to their speech patterns. So often you'll need to map out how they've grown to better understand why they're speaking with new mannerisms or styles.

Same here. Some of the act 1 bosses can be really brutal. Fun, for sure, but I think they'd still be hard if they did 1 damage instead of 2 with every attack.

Good dialogue is extremely hard to write in fiction because of character voice. We tend to write dialogue in our own voice and words, which can lead to two characters acting and talking identical to each-other. You need to visualize entirely different speech patterns per character, which is hard!

The funny thing about Silksong is that it gives you all these fun nifty tools and special abilities to play with... but I often end up ignoring them during fights. When you have a split-second to make a decision, fiddling around with the controls to use a special item is a good way to get hit.

Making your main character extremely overpowered, beloved by all, and incapable of making mistakes might feel awesome in the moment, but that also means that your story likely doesn't have anywhere to go. Your character can't grow because they're already perfect, in the worst kind of way.