Luke and Vader's light saber duel in 'Return of the Jedi' gives me chills every time. Even the still photo of the two of them in silhouette, sabers crossed, gives me a rush.

Paul S. Kemp

Categorized in : Me Silhouette Time Light

The anti-hero walks the morally gray path and constantly flirts with redemption, and that flirtation is just a blast to write.

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The human mind has infinite capacity to rationalize, and evil characters just push that boundary a bit. Whatever they're doing, they think it makes sense to do it, and they think they have a good reason to do it. In short, they feel justified.

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I don't actually do anything special to get in the proper frame o... by Paul S. Kemp

I don't actually do anything special to get in the proper frame of mind for creepy/heinous scenes.

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For me, 'The Hobbit' is an object lesson in storytelling, both in terms of characterization and story structure. It is an exemplar of storytelling in that regard.

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I'm a transactional lawyer, which involves a lot of negotiation. If nothing else, that's given me a good eye for human motivation and frequent case studies in peculiar psychological quirks. I think that's served me fairly well as a writer.

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It's true that 'Lords of the Sith' has a lesbian character. Her orientation is a characteristic in the same way as is her brunette hair. It just fit with my conception of her.

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I don't do 'political correctness,' whatever that means. I write the stories I want to write, featuring the characters I want to feature. I don't touch demographic bases to appease this group or that. I write what I want. Full stop.

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My favorite film is 'The Empire Strikes Back.' My writing, and my personal taste in movies and books, tends toward works with a darker tone, and 'Empire' fits that the best of all the movies.

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I think my best quality as a writer is the ability to craft complicated, nuanced, interesting characters.

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