Uncreative Fiction

This is a thing about creative non-fiction (and why I hate it) that I wrote for my Writing Creative Non-Fiction class back in April.

Ads

Today, while looking for the many perfectly legitimate torrents of public domain things that I like to download, I noticed a couple of ads.

Shifts in Genre Conventions

An essay on genre and how it changes over time. I think genre is generally a pretty useless and uninteresting concept, so I can't really claim to have anything interesting to say about it, but since I had to write this I may as well post it.

Remnants

Another thing I wrote for the genre class, this one was supposed to be gothic fiction but is really more just a sort of generic sci-fi, really. I don't mind this one, but it's pretty uninventive.

Pumpkin Jam with Ginger

This was a thing I wrote for a class on genre, in which the task was to combine detective and fan fiction with the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill. I think it turned out OK, given those constraints.

An astounding coincidence

I've done some research, and amazingly, it turns out that the period of time when I was a child was objectively the best time to be a child. Those who grew up either before or after me missed out on all of the best things. Here are just a few examples.

Literally everything I know about swimming

For school this week we were given this task:

Write for 10 minutes about a topic I’m going to give you. Start straight away, don’t think. Just write and don’t stop. The topic is swimming.

I wrote it, so I suppose I may as well post it, though I've no idea what educational value it was supposed to have.

A lot of words about Gat Out of Hell

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Yes, this game is awesome. The story is much shorter than previous games and there are very few story missions, but that's what it says in the game's description so it shouldn't come as a surprise. To summarise the entire game in one sentence, it's a bunch of extra activities, targets and diversions for Saints Row IV but with a whole lot of tweaks and improvements and some really good dialogue. Considering its price relative to Saints Row: the Third and Saints Row IV, I'd say it's well worth it. Now let's get to some specifics. Make yourself a cup of tea, this is a long one. And there are lots of spoilers if you care about that.

Nutcase: A True Story About Being Cyber-Bullied

A few weeks ago I was contacted out of the blue by a man called Gilbert Ohanian. He'd found my name and email address somewhere and for some reason he wanted me to read and review his book. Little did I know, when I agreed, how batshit fucking crazy this guy was. I have since learned.

Microsoft HAL

There's a point when installing Windows 8 (and again when upgrading to 8.1) where your screen fades to black, and then after a few seconds the word "Hi" appears in the middle of the screen. And I just don't understand what they were thinking when they decided to do that. It's the creepiest software installation ever.