Oliver Campbell's Blog

I waited there outside, and I was the first person when he pulled up. He got out of that car, and he was so beautiful. He looked right at me… and I didn’t know what to do! I mean, I couldn’t say anything, I couldn’t even move. I never even talked to him and he was RIGHT THERE… I still have that red bandanna.

The thing is, you never know, you know? Had I at least said SOMETHING…. you never know.

Anyway, the point is I totally realized, fate! There IS fate. But it only takes you so far, because o...

The thing that draws people subconsciously to Batman, is that Batman has taken his life fears and transmogrified them into a weapon. A tool, as it were.

Let’s have a conversation today. Let’s talk a little bit about fear.

You may have heard me say this a few times before: “Courage isn’t having a lack of fear. Courage is continuing to act in the FACE of fear.”

But let’s REALLY think about that, for a moment. What is fear? Fear is a good thing. Every human being is built with a fear center. Fear w...

Character names can be used to create associations. This is something to work on long after you’ve solved your story problems. If you don’t know what I mean, start with . If you’re past that, read on.

Consider first your setting. Names should be appropriate to the time and place. Girls named Jordan and Madison were far less common a hundred years ago. In 1913, Elizabeth, Hazel, and Henry would have a more likely sounding adventure than would Dillon, Kayden and Jayden. Census data...

Someone asked me recently if I start a story with a character’s name or or if I start with a story. Here’s what I told them.

Names don’t matter. They just don’t. Falling in love with a character’s name is vanity. We all do it. In middle school, I wrote about girls named Tygre and Sapphire. That’s how you knew they were special, you see. I abandoned that sort of mental dick-jerking pretty quickly. Cutesy names, perfect names, haunting or evocative names… none of them matter. Vanity.

If you don’t...

Your characters have to fail. There’s no story without it. Everyone knows struggle = drama. So what’s the mistake I see new writers making when it comes to struggle? Read on.

There better be…

You’ve read all the advice about conflict. You know that your character has to want something to be believable. You’ve written your open, in which Hero finds himself in a hideous pickle. It’s full of hooks, drama, and excitement. It’s all conflict.

Aaaaaaaand here’s where you fuck up. You go soft on Hero. Y...

I’m at the base of a towering mountain. My tour guide stands before me, telling me about the beautiful lake 10 miles up the trail. It sounds perfect.

“I forgot my glasses, my compass, my map,” says the tour guide, “And I’ve also never been here before.”

Not so perfect.

Five miles in, the tour guide spots a cave and decides we’ll do some spelunking instead of continuing the hike.

“Well, the cave is here, and it seems like a shame to waste it,” the tour guide says. “And some people really like spel...

The protagonist of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Aveline, and AC III: Liberation co-writer, Jill Murray with Writer’s Guild Award.

(Quick note: This is a reblog of the excellent interview that Greg Fisher of Attack Initiative did with Jill Murray, co-writer of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation for the PlayStation Vita. This is notable because the writing team just received the Writer’s Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing.)

One of the things that I found v...

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(Foreword: This post is mirrored from my video game site, Attack Initiative. It has been unedited so that you can consume it in the same fashion.

Sadly, I have also broken my number one rule about NOT posting video game things on this blog. However, I feel that it is justified in that this is specifically referencing BAD WRITING. As this is an opportunity for my readers to learn, I’d ask that you take it. I will make sure this isn’t a habit! ~Oliver)

So, it looks like it’s about that time agai...

So… remember when I said it was done a little bit ago? That we’d finally finished Part 1? Yeah… It’s not. I have a stack of rewrites as long as my arm to work on, and some of the best scenes in the book just never made it onto the page! I just want to thank my incredibly patient editor, Ryvenna, for putting up with me. Also, our SuperUsers, the test reading group has been very patient and very thorough through all of this, and I appreciate it. It will be done, and soon, but it isn’t. Stick wi...

I’m the best basketball player there ever was, I’m sure of it. Even though I won’t practice, won’t dress out for games, and won’t study game tapes. Oh, and I don’t actually play. Don’t worry though, I’m totally the best. Just you wait world, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Hey folks, it’s been a while. Been finishing up with The Dusk Harbinger, started a brand new video game review site with a whole gamut of talented first time writers, and have been hustling every day. But that’s not what I wante...