J.B. Sommerset

I have talked about this subject before, and it's critical to good story telling. I don't know how many more times I will bring this up, but I will... So just be prepared for it.  This topic is going to come back like the blood everyone thought they totally got cleaned up, but under luminal and black light? Yep, it's still there. It will come back like the drunk guy all of us in the car know we hit but aren't sure is dead. Or that stalker that sneaks back into our house after we got the restraining order. The one that sits quietly in the dark waiting to talk in a distant and mysterious tone... you get the idea. The technique I am speaking of is, of course, the " show don't tell " technique. The "TLDR" is simple, it is a narrative technique that assumes the audience aren't morons and also that they can figure things out for themselves. Things like subtext, language usage, foreshadowing, use of senses, thoughts, feelings, (ad nauseum) the get t...

"A Friend In Need" Art Credit: J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024  Done with Sketchbook on Android I must admit that I can be somewhat of a curmudgeon when trying new things, especially tech. It's hard, at my age, to adjust to new things unless they are undeniably useful. I have my favorites when it comes to the tools of my crafts and I like to keep those on a short list. My favorite will always be pen and paper for my art and my writing, there's something about the tactile sensation of using it that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And the smell of aged paper? -Shutter- I need a minute. If I am honest though, working on a computer has so many more advantages than working with pen and paper. From being able to revise on the fly, select, cut and paste, etc. All the advantages a computer provides are real time savers, especially if you are looking at the craft from a "big picture" point of view (see what I did there?).  I have my favorite software of course. Free is...

Yep, that's right, this is an actual tech review, kind of. It's really a retro-tech review. I do very few tech reviews and they are far between. Sometimes they are about software, and sometimes they are about hardware. Most of the time they are about super cool pens. This one happens to be about one of the most controversial pieces of tech in the internet-o-sphere: The dreaded Chromebook... Before you come at me with your pitchforks and torches, let me state my case. And in this case, this review should have been done 4 years ago, minimum. This is old tech, at least in the digital world, this review is your grandfather, yelling at you to "get of his lawn". I mean the product was from more than 5 years ago.  I have talked about chromebooks before, the goods, the bads, and the weirds. Before you guys put the noose over my head and kick the stump, I will reiterate that Chromebooks aren't for everyone. Mostly students, although I would have hated to have one of these ...

Since the invention of the digital format there has been an ongoing argument as to which is better, digital or analogue. Hardcore audiophiles will always argue that old vinyl will always be better than digital formats. Old school artists will always scoff at the digital facsimiles or photoshop drawings. And some writers look down on those who "first draft" on a computer, even though in this modern world most of us will have to type drafts for submission.  I am an old schooler and I see the value of first drafting with pen and paper, but thank god people don't have to read that drivel- I would be embarrassed. That being said, in a world of lazy A.I. driven art, music and writing, there is something very important to be said for original analogue.  The best contrast in this argument is Vinyl versus Digital. My wife and I recently bought some vinyl and a fairly descent record player. I instantly noticed how much better the sound was. I used to be a radio D.J. and I had forgo...

I moved back to the woods recently. I come from the woods, somewhere way out there, in Idaho. As a kid I spent most of my time among the trees and the wildlife. Then as I grew up I decided there was more to life than that. For some stupid reason, I moved to the village, then to the town, and then to the city. There was nothing in any of those places for me.  Now that I have aged, and I am a lot older, and a little bit wiser, I realize that it’s not about the state you are in, the place you reside. It’s about the state of mind you are in. I was never in a healthy state of mind in the city. All around me was unhealthy noise. It got old as I got old.  That being said, living in the woods comes with it's own set of challenges. It can be lonely, it can be too quiet at times, there is isolation here, and isolation is not always easy to bare. One must have the tools to deal with it. Loneliness is also a very trying experience, but it helps you to recognize the value of a visit, ...

Sometimes, it's important to remember that writing is about transmitting ideas and the audience receiving them. If we are writing an academic paper it is best to be technical with what we are saying and concise- to the point. If we are writing an instruction manual it is best to be orderly and descriptive. etc. If we are telling a story, we need to show the audience what the characters and events mean. The reader or the person listening to the story must go on a journey with the characters.  We need to show them, not tell them, telling them takes something away from the journey.  Sometimes in my YouTube wanderings and explorations, I find videos that I see as particularly useful for developing skills. I then sometimes post them so all of you don't have to spend 40 years in the desert looking for a home. I hope this one helps some of you develop your skills, enjoy! Cheers!

I decided to start a recurring post on my site called The Quote  of the Week . Here's how it will work: Every Friday I will post a quote. These quotes will be by me for the most part, if they aren't, I will do my best to credit the appropriate people. That might be hard given the state of accuracy on the internet. Since this is the first one, I will try to make it an eye-catcher, straight from my notebooks. This one eventually became one of the themes in my book " Midlife Mike ".         "Man-kind is the only creature that would ruin his happiness in his quest to find more happiness."   J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

I've talked about this several times before, I've posted videos about it, and almost every time I come across an article or a video about it, I think about it all the time. You guessed it, I am going to rail on getting to know the seven major plots .  I simultaneously hate and love them. I hate them because I am an anti-establishment kind of guy. But I also love them because they help me structure my stories. So I do what most quasi-philosophical types do- keep my enemies closer than my friends and get to know them well. Use them like the tools they are. It is not that there are only seven major plots; I just wish there were more. And before you say anything, I've looked and looked for some magical eighth plot line, I haven't found one yet, and I doubt I will. I will not rehash them here in this article because I have been over them several times. What I am going to do is use this as a reminder to all of you. Rather than lament that there are only seven, let's try a...

I have said this before, and I will most likely repeat it; the older I get, the more I appreciate the works of Stephen King . Not so much his early works but his post-cocaine, post-alcoholic bender works. Even more so, his post-road-waffle works. There is something about his sober and mortal works that make them even better than his early stuff. Don't get me cliched; his early stuff is great. As I age, put down my own vices, and look both ways before I cross the street, I think there is a deeper understanding of the mechanics in his books. I was watching the green mile the other day, and I suddenly remembered how good the books were. Originally they were released as a series of books, a parcel if you will. I looked forward to each and every one of them. In the end, I collected and read them all, then packed them away when I moved- to my dismay, I still haven't found them. But I can remember how good they were, but now that I am older, I think back to the plots of each one, and ...

This one is not only for the writers out there, but also the spoken word junkies, the coffeeshop screenwriters, and even some of the songwriters out there. Karl Iglesias is a writer, teacher, and storyteller, and he has some valuable insight into why storytelling is so important, what its purpose is, and how to build a story that really moves people. I thought I would share it with all of you because I feel that what he has to say is important, especially what he has to say about the purpose of your story. Enjoy! Cheers, and keep on creating!

One of my all-time favorite books, and movies, come to think of it, is Fight Club . It's one of the few books I saw the movie for before I read the book- and still loved it! From that moment forward, I started reading all of the author's ( Chuck Palahniuk ) works. I chewed through them as fast as he could write them. Even now if there is a new one, I guarantee I will pick it up. Every now and then I listen to a new interview and rediscover him all over again. This week I found a new (at least to me) interview and thought I would share it with all of you. So cheers, and enjoy it!  

Sometimes it's hard to see the other side of the story, especially when there is critique involved. Especially when someone is attacking our "magnum opus", that thing we slaved away half our days to create. it's even worse when they are a legitimate and bonafide professional- such as an editor.  We slowly watch them tear it to pieces nodding and taking it like it doesn't bother us. However, on the inside we are slowly planning their demise and thinking of ways to get ahold of a nondescript and untraceable poison and also some lime salt- we all know a couple of places where no one would find them, right?  But we don't do that, we take the next couple of days to eat and digest what they served. We stew and then we either look at our work and drink a couple bottles of jack then shred that hideous thing from the attic, or we embrace the fact that our perfect little child isn't what we thought it was- we start the process of revision.  If you are the kind of pe...

I have always said that a talent that is never used, never released to the world, and never seen is a wasted talent. It's a truth that we all need to make a living, at least for most of us, and as much as we would like to sit around in coffee shops writing and drawing, there are still bills to be paid. In other words, we simply cannot take the time off to write the next great novel.  We all hope, we wish, and we dream, that we will write a book or screenplay that the world will recognize, and then proceed to throw some money at us. At the very least, enough to get us out of the 9-5 lifestyle.  The hard part is making sure the right people see it and then proceed to buy it. For most of us, that is the dream- to work at what we love and not have to stress about bills in the meantime.  A friend of mine emailed me a video, he always thinks that I need to better market my work and always has good advice. This little gem is from " Gary Goldstein ", and it has some good advice a...

A number of my friends have been asking me to do this for a while, but finding the time has been difficult. However, I realize that it's not the finding of the time that's difficult, it's the making of the time. If we wait around until the time is free, we will never have time to do anything- we must make time for the things that are priorities in our lives, for me, this is one of them. After much begging from family and friends, I finally did it, and I must admit it was both a learning experience and also a very enjoyable project. Below is the full timelapse of the last work of art I drew ( Alithaer The Grandfather tree from Umbria ). The whole project took about three hours. I did it in fifteen-minute chunks over a number of days. The hard part was finding the right software for the job (I will be posting a review on that someday soon).  When all was said and done I had about ten videos, fifteen minutes each. Once I got the hang of the software, the rest was history. I th...

First off, welcome to 2022! I hope this year is better than the last one.  Normally, I don't really feel the need to post what I got from friends and family during the holidays. This year there was a winner, something I will use and fully enjoy. Something I have wanted for a long time, and have had plans to get when the time is right. Christmas time, I guess, was that time! This, my fellow creatives, is my first dalliance into CNC laser burning and cutting. Good things are coming!      Cheers!

One of the hardest parts about writing a book, or creating great art or music is getting discouraged with the work.  Most of us start with a great idea, that is, "in short"- meaning we have the summary, and the "meat" of the story needs to be added to make it into a full-length novel. Ninety-Nine percent of us don't have the whole idea in our heads when we sit down to let the work possess us.  Instead, most of us channel the demons inside to make our work complete. We fight with the monsters. We ride the winds and light the fires. We try and keep up with the waves of struggle and capture the emotions in our words or paintbrush strokes. We cut our flesh and insert ourselves into what we create. And as the process unfolds, it slowly murders us with its purpose, so we build it up.  Consequently, it breaks us and weighs us down, yet we struggle to lift it with our very souls even if it drowns us.  As we push, the pressure builds and builds until we explode, are spen...

Dedication: This one goes out to all those perfectionists out there. The ones who are still trying to release their works, the writers in aspiration, the ones whose babies haven't left the nest yet. I hope to see you on the shelves sometime soon, if not, let's see you in audio or eBook format soon.  There is no doubt that most writers want one of two things. The first is to make enough money from their writing to leave the workforce and write full time. To hang out at coffee shops musing and typing away until something profound and wonderful comes out of the fingertips. This first goal is wholly achievable, we can make enough money to live off of with our craft. The second one is a little more egotistical and much harder; it's to write the best novel ever written. This goal is most likely not possible, because the outcome is largely subjective.  What defines the "best" novel ever written? Why, of course, the people who read it. Therefore, since no one can agree on...

I have written a few crazy-complicated plots in my time. Some of which made it past the "pen and ink" phase. The rest, I quietly took out back in the early hours of the morning before the sun came up. I gently and lovingly strangled them and buried them there. There's a hydrangea there now, growing on top of those dead ideas. Someday I might dig those decaying messes up and bring them back to life, but they are a mess for now. They are illegible, tangled, and incomprehensible piles of nonsense, and thinking about them embarrasses me.  The problem wasn't that they were weak or unoriginal. It was that the writing was too complicated to sort out, rewrite, and polish.  -cough, cough, cough-  In other words, I was too lazy and didn't have the time or energy to fix them. I don't believe that a plot can be too complicated, only unorganized- look at  Game of Thrones.    One of the problems with writing, especially the more significant works, is that they need to be...