Chase Writes on Stuff and Things

I recently received a compliment from a friend that was, by my own admission, a bit odd. It’s not that I don’t receive compliments or know how to be gracious with them, but when it comes to my writing, I don’t often expect to get them. It’s nice to receive compliments, of course, so keep them coming friends on the internet – but I feel like what I was complimented for was just a standard practice…

I recently played through the latest installment of the Dragon Age franchise; The Veilguard. I have a few thoughts – as does the rest of the internet. The game was released only a few weeks ago at the time of this writing, and at the time of this writing, the critical and fan reviews are in. Critical reviews are no surprise to anyone that’s ever looked at a critical review. Every game is always…

Chapter 5 is a difficult chapter for me to discuss, not because there’s a lack of things to talk about, but because it’s incredibly sad. The chapter starts with death, and it ends in death, and everything that happens in between is such a meaningless heap of self-indulgence that I cannot help but feel a little upset about writing about. And again, it’s not because there’s a lack of things to talk…

I want to talk about power and hierarchy today. More importantly, I want to talk about the power and hierarchy that is found in “Of Mice and Men”. I know it might seem like it comes out of left field to bring up this topic now, but Steinbeck has been presenting a proper pecking order with his characters throughout the story thus far. I believe that it culminates in chapter 4 with an exchange…

Chapter 3 is the halfway point of the novel. We spent time in the previous two chapters setting up our problem, introducing the players and getting their motivations out, but here’s where I believe the real plot starts. And while I could talk about the narrative structure pushing us toward a predetermined outcome and give us a play-by-play of the story itself – I instead want to talk about…

Chapter 2 is an interesting one for me. We go from a tightly packed scene of two men in the woods talking about their hopes and dreams and being genuinely honest with one another to a bunkhouse full of people that are all sizing each other up and lying to one another. We go from intimacy to wariness and outright judgement from everyone involved. It shows us why George and Lennie want that place…

In the first chapter of “Of Mice and Men” we’re introduced to the titular duo of George and Lennie. This introduction, given the brevity of the novella, is so impressively interesting to me as a writer. Steinbeck takes less than a page to immediately give his readers everything they need to know about these two characters. This is some of the most efficient and intentional writing that I have…