Villainy (the story) began in January 2014 when my best friend, Megan, sent me a writing prompt: "What does your villain do on Tuesday nights?" Immediately a nameless villain with ridiculously normal Tuesday nights was born. And he became a part of an outrageous clash of cliché vs anti-cliché forces, one of two nameless characters I referred to only as "Hero" and … Continue reading How I Embraced Villainy
"Across a stretch of meadow hurried a swordsman. The meadow wasn't a lush and green place, bursting with bright grasses and curious deer with flicking ears, nor were there happy birds' songs or the humming of insects hidden deep among a sea of wildflowers. Nearing winter, no animals visited and travelers no longer passed through on horseback or with … Continue reading Our Battles
Mr. Les Brown, an incredible motivational speaker, is a master. His theme: achieving dreams. I like to listen to him when my feet get stuck in school or projects (but it's also cool to listen when I'm already motivated, then I feel vaguely superhuman.) Here's part of one of my favorite talks: "When you want something out of life, you've got to … Continue reading Willing to be Unreasonable
Please allow me to introduce two of my babies: Villainy Genre: Science Fiction, Novel A Tidbit: Despite being a much-loved symbol of hope, Captain Hiroh Finner feels only murderous intent which is reserved entirely for a certain master of terror. He has hunted this man across galaxies for fifteen years. A brilliant, evil and nonsensical villain who … Continue reading Works in Progress
Tomorrow I'm giving a presentation titled Collagen Biosynthesis Disorders: the Biomedical Impact of Abnormal Protein Coding to a room of masters and doctorate candidate students. I like to find common threads in things I must do (presentations) with things I love (writing/acting, basically storytelling). In doing so, practicing one becomes like practicing aspects of the other and, if I can equate … Continue reading Storytelling Diversified
My brother and I are book nerds. Shamelessly. We finish 1 book and we add 15 to our lists. Normal people look at 15 books and think "ugh, why so many;" we see 15 and think "sweet, I'm good for four months." (Come now, fellow nerds, you know you do it.) For pleasure reading, I prefer classics … Continue reading Book Nerds Unite
When I was a little girl, I drew exclusively with #2 pencil on notebook or computer paper. I had zero art software. My family had been slow on the computer acquisition thing (we used a typewriter through middle school, 1998-2000) and there were a lot of us kids so, once we bought a computer, we couldn't use … Continue reading My Art Style’s Evolution
I once read that being a fiction writer is like being a schizophrenic actor because authors can play multiple people in a single scene each with distinct personalities, speech patterns and emotional states without letting them blur into one another. The simile made me smile. Growing up as a shy kid, I'd never had an interest in acting aside … Continue reading Lessons in Writing from Improv Comedy
Alaska to Florida Adventure: Day 2 May 19, 2015 - 1:58AM Yukon Territory Through the darkness the highway smoothed out and light posts appeared intermittently, enabling us to pick up speed and finally reach Whitehorse. Reluctant to stray far from the deserted main road, we swung into a sleepy Walmart and parked among a dozen or so other … Continue reading Night Vale’s Corridor
I have two projects that I am determined to complete before the fall semester begins: My first novel-length work of fiction Vol. 1 of a graphic novel series I can't work on one story at a time. I absolutely need 2 rolling at once. This way, when I need a break from one, I can switch to … Continue reading Summer 2016 Projects
Duri Rolvsson 