Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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A community to back my heroes

I’m doing some work on a forthcoming sourcebook for a roleplaying game.
Savage Worlds being the engine, the rules are not a problem.
As long as I do not re-invent the wheel, I’ve ample margin for trying new stuff.

Now, in most “heroic” stories – no matter if we’re talking fantasy, science fiction, historical, western – one of the key elements is, the hero speaks for a group, for a clan or tribe or culture.
It’s a simple mechanism, it has lots of anthropological implications (the hero as everyman, etc.) but it also has a very good, simpleĀ  effect on storytelling: the hero (or heroes) have somebody they care abut, and that cares about them.
Maybe non even in a personal, one-on-one way, but community is important.
Think about the way in which Spiderman is an expression of New York and its people… Continue reading →


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Getting Away from It All?

This post makes a pair with yesterday’s detox post.

I started Karavansara as an experiment, as a way to improve my English and as a reason to start and look outside of my country – but also as a safety valve.
Should everything else fail, I’d be able to kill strategie evolutive (my Italian blog) and go on doing my things here.

I guess anyone who’s keeping a blog or leading some kind of on-line writing activity feels like getting away from it all once in a while. Continue reading →


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Doing some literary detox

I’m not a good person, so I blame science fiction and fantasy fans.
Been around them too much lately – they bored me to death.
Or maybe, it’s the fact that I read – and wrote – too much genre stuff in the last months, and I’ve reached a sort of saturation.

I’m bored!, like Toyah used to sing.

So it’s time to do some serious detox – because without variety, everything you read (and write!) feels the same, and boredom ensues.
Therefore, in this month of May, I’ll stay clear of the fans, I’ll take long brisk walks and I’ll read history, and crime fiction.
And I’ll write… oh, well, a western.

And for a curious coincidence – or maybe not – I just fell in love with this mystery TV series from Australia, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, which involves history, murders, guns, and a gorgeous, independent woman.
Perfect.

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Freedom from formality

This is going to be quite freeform, rambling, vague, and probably off-topic.
Bear with me.
A few days back I stumbled on a photograph, while browsing on Pinterest – you know I use Pinterest a lot when looking for visual references.
Now, the picture in question, an old portrait of a popular alternative model (I hope that’s the right definition), struck me as quite interesting, and started a whole train of thoughts.
It would make for an excellent writing prompt, I’m quite certain, but there was something more.

So, here’s the image.
Take a look, then I’ll go on with my story… Continue reading →


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Writing the blues away

Ouch!
The post for today did not go online as planned, due to a web glitch while I uploaded it.
This is bad!
Here’s the belated post.
Sorry sorry sorry.

old-typewriterI’m going through a writing bout – partially caused that my professional life has come to a complete standstill after my PhD dissertation.

So I’m sending CVs around, and writing like there’s no tomorrow.
Because, in all fairness, there could be no tomorrow.

To me, ebooks and author-published stories are really today’s pulp racks.
Which means I suddenly understand in a very hands-on way what being a hack in the golden age of the pulps might actually feel like.
A heady mix of dread and exhilaration.
Ideas come freely, and writing them is easier than usual.
As long as this lasts, I’m on a roll. Continue reading →