What can it all mean?

I have a The Force Awakens poster in my office. (I'm an academic - loosely speaking - so my office can reflect my fandoms, not my politics, but definitely my fandoms.) I'm sure you're familiar with it, but here it is as a refresher: I noticed a few things as I was staring at it, but …

Ren and Redemption

You've already seen it; you likely thought to yourself as it was happening the first time: This is not going to go well. Kylo Ren faced his father on a narrow bridge, miles from the bottom of a pit with no handrails. You can admit it - the dread was gnawing at your stomach and …

Tense and Person.

I need to preface this post by saying that I'm simply kvetching about a personal pet peeve of mine. Please take it as such. So...on to the post! Y'all. What is going on? Why are authors writing their novels in the present tense? I've seen it in self-published novels, in fanfiction, and in works published by …

In Defense of FanFiction

So, in various corners of the interwebs there reside reams of derisive references to fanfiction. What the hell is wrong with fanfiction? Can you imagine learning how to compose your own music without first studying those who composed before you? Learning to paint without studying the masters? What's so wrong with taking already developed characters …

“The focus of the story….”

"The story that we really care about, the focus of the story which is Rey and Ren." J.J. Abrams. *Record scratch. Say what now? The focus of the story is Rey and Ren? That's what the director of The Force Awakens said in his director's commentary. It's worth noting that he said the first bit …

I don’t like Kylo Ren….

So, I've completely immersed myself in Star Wars podcasts from the likes of The Star Wars Connection, the Knights of Rant, and Scavenger's Hoard. And since I don't like the word obsession, we're going to call all this research. Research for what? I have no idea. But I do know that I'm loving all the …

The importance of an article….

And by an "article," I mean a definite article in the grammar context. From Google:  Let's contrast with an indefinite article:  Now, why does that matter? Well, Kathleen Kennedy has said that Star Wars is about the Skywalker family. And who is that? Luke and Leia, obviously. Anakin is dead, or at least a Force …

Reylo or Rey-oh-hell-no?

*Spoilers ahead for 'The Force Awakens' So, I'll be the first to admit that my knee-jerk reaction for quite some time was "Rey-oh-hell-no." Like, seriously, I wondered what the actual hell people were seeing and thinking. And let me explain why I was so solidly in that camp. Y'all, I'm an old school Star Wars …

Fandoms!

What makes you a member of a fandom? I'm pretty sure that I'm a bonafide member of the Harry Potter fandom. I'm (still) not convinced that Pottermore and the rest of the sorting quizzes have sorted me properly into Gryffindor, but I have friends who say it's the right placement. I have sneaking suspicion that …