It's been said that perfection is the enemy of progress.

But 'good enough' can be just as dangerous. No artist ever took pride in what they created, and no audience ever loved it, because it was 'good enough'.

A while ago, I created a Farscape music video set to the Within Temptation song "Shot in the Dark". If you haven't already seen it, you can watch it here:

Would I say it's 'good enough'? Actually, most of it was more than that. It was great. But there were a couple parts where I wasn't completely satisfied with the clips I chose, and I felt that they muted the energy I was trying to build.

But I thought they were 'good enough'. So I let them be... only to realize later that there were other, far more fitting clips I had somehow forgotten about, which would have captured the mood I was trying to create far better.

And now those bits of the video bother me a little every time I watch it. I'm thinking about tweaking and reuploading it - it's a pity I can't do that without redoing everything I've done with it on YouTube and losing all my views.

For the moment, instead, I'm focusing on learning from that mistake, and applying that learning to everything I create from this point forward. Don't wait for perfection, but don't settle for something that doesn't feel right just because it's 'good enough'.

In my latest video, I encountered the same test. I was creating a Scorpius, John and Aeryn video set to Kalafina's "Magia", and with a song that awesome, there was NO way I was going to settle for something I wasn't satisfied with.

But, once again, some of the clips just didn't sit right. So this time, I looked over them, determined which clips were bothering me, and replaced them with ones that created the tone and energy I was going for instead of draining it.

I absolutely love the result.

​Because of this experience, I've decided that this dedication to quality, and the knowledge that "good enough never is", will carry through into my future videos and all my writing.

Last week, I talked about how you can prevent a long-running villain from looking impotent by giving them a reason not to kill the protagonists besides being incompetent.

This week, I'll share another method that I noticed and am especially fond of: having an antagonist whose ego is so stable that it's hard to offend them, and NOTHING can humiliate them.

As with last week's method, Scorpius from Farscape and the Joker from the Batman franchise are great examples. They can be captured, tortured, incapacitated, buried, tied up, degraded, demeaned, or just about anything else you can think of... but they'll bounce right back from it, and the chances are pretty good that they were largely in control of the situation the entire time.

They can go from killing people and terrorizing the protagonists, to giving out hugs and filling 'bombs' with marzipan and kittens, without batting an eye or losing even a bit of their menace.

Contrast that with some of the more immature villains, who will flip out the moment somebody implies that maybe they did something nice, or if somebody defies them, or if the world gives them ANY indication that they're not completely feared and in control. They want to be scary, but to me they really just come across as being psychologically fragile, overgrown kids.

Which ones do you prefer? 

The unstable villains who lose it when their ego is threatened, or the ones who keep control of themselves and the situation, no matter what's going on?

I think it's obvious which one I like more, but I'd love to hear from you. :) Which kind do you enjoy, and why?

It's a common problem in fictionland. You've got a villain you really like, and you want him to keep coming back.

The trouble is, if he shows up to threaten your protagonists over and over again, but never actually manages to kill them, it's only a matter of time before his menace begins to wear off.

So how do you make sure that your villain remains credible as a threat, without going so far as to murder your protagonist?

Torturing them. Killing their loved ones. Driving them into insanity. Tormenting their minds by slaughtering the populace they've sworn to protect.

And all the while, having a very good reason NOT to kill the protagonists, whether out of practicality or simply because the hero is too much fun.

That's what makes for a long-running villain who never loses their danger cred.

Naraku from InuYasha. Scorpius from Farscape. The Joker from Batman. All antagonists who managed to be menacing no matter how many times they lost, because they didn't need to kill the protagonist in order to pose a threat, and they themselves were either hard to finish off, or fighting a hero who flatly refused to put an end to them.

That's one thing I definitely like about the antagonist in Heroic Lies. He doesn't need to kill the protagonist, and he's got a very good reason for not doing so. But that doesn't stop him from causing damage, and being a very real threat to the people at the center of the story.

If you haven't grabbed your copy yet, you can get your hands on Heroic Lies for only $2.99. To read the book description and get your copy, click on the button below:
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It's been quite a diverse few weeks in the area of Farscape music videos! While I've neglected to update you about them on this blog out of a desire to write about other things, I think it's high time to share the latest fruits of my favourite hobby.

I've got a humorous video, a soft and sad one, and a harsher and more energetic one, so no matter what mood you happen to be in, I'm sure you'll enjoy at least one of them. (Note: the description for the last of the 3 contains spoilers for Farscape's 4th season, so proceed with caution if you haven't watched that far.)

Here they are, in the order in which they were made:


The funny one: Still Alive

This was a triumph! I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!

In this video, set to the awesome end-credits song of the even more awesome video game Portal, SCoRPIUS reports on his surprisingly nonfatal career as the head of the Aperture Science Gammak Project.

And, of course, he feels the need to rub in the fact that he's always still alive.


The soft, sad one: Leaves from the Vine

This song makes me cry. I don't know why, because songs usually don't. But it does. Adriana Figueroa made an absolutely gorgeous remix of the song that Iroh sings in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I wove it gently into Scorpius' quest to find answers and to protect his chosen race.


The harsh, energetic one: Strawberry Gashes

I went with an unusual premise for this one. Instead of depicting the Farscape series as it actually went, it's set in an Unrealized Reality, in which Scorpius is killed on Grayza's orders. After Braca's cycles of working with the half-Scarran, and despite John's suffering at his hands, both men are haunted by the grim result of their betrayal, and the video is an exploration of their shared guilt.


I hope you enjoy the music videos! I'd love to know which one you liked most, so please take a moment to tell me in the comments section.