MasteryPlus | Tom Barclay | Activity https://www.masteryplus.com/members/tombarclay/activity/ Activity feed for Tom Barclay. Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:13:56 -0700 https://buddypress.org/?v= en 30 hourly 2 a5441842073aeb803c7a43d0870fddb7 Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/how-did-you-come-to-be-a-writer/#post-510 Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:04:37 -0800 Two – the two short ‘Player’ stories, ‘Fantasia’ and ‘Kirchgessner’. I’ve been rethinking the two novels that started accreting over the last several years, wanting to apply the lessons learned and relearned here.
Honestly, I’m not working on this very hard: having great difficulties finding a new job after quite some time pounding the pavement.

]]> 80a4421939ef363ff347dc0f3433a9b5 Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/how-did-you-come-to-be-a-writer/#post-504 Wed, 04 Jan 2017 04:15:15 -0800 I was an early reader. I admired the storytelling abilities of one of my father’s friends, and that (plus a lot of time at our town’s public library) gave me the idea I could be a storyteller, too.
But I quickly noticed no one much wanted to listen to me the way I listened to Herb.
That left . . . print.
I liked the Colby series on military…[Read more]

]]> 8965710a3aaf22d3a3b022f2ba5875c8 Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/the-heroes-journey-as-movie-critique-format/#post-497 Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:18:02 -0800 I suppose that’s true – old wine, new bottles, or the 1964 Falcon wrapped in new sheetmetal and renamed ‘Mustang.’ Fresh and exciting to people who weren’t there in theatres for The Big Screen Experience in 1977.

]]> ba7a79def0b896cdca36d018052915f8 Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/the-heroes-journey-as-movie-critique-format/#post-485 Mon, 26 Dec 2016 23:23:14 -0800 Don’t know if we ever talked about this – I started out as a kid writer, but detoured (ahh, pudness) into theatre. Eventually I stopped performing to be a producer of concerts, events and opera. In the middle, I was also worked in a SAG/AFTRA talent agency.

All of which goes to say I stand by my first comments ‘SW:TFA’, that the producers wanted…[Read more]

]]> 7f80cb1f851be8dce2b8db2db70b51dd Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/the-heroes-journey-as-movie-critique-format/#post-482 Sat, 24 Dec 2016 10:02:42 -0800 As Steve has remarked in several places, after you’ve gotten accustomed to THJ, no one wants to go the movies with you anymore (especially if you predict upcoming plot points and character development aloud).
In some cases, this solitude is enjoyable.
As far as ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ goes, I found it visually attractive but predictable…[Read more]

]]> b5fc9f0322cf0ea562e6c756b19946fb Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/the-heroes-journey-as-movie-critique-format/#post-476 Thu, 22 Dec 2016 22:12:37 -0800 Certainly ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ follows the form.

The Australian tv series ‘Glitch’ seems to follow it for each character.

]]> 4fe6e9577f139f790affc27bf423d9e2 Tom Barclay replied to the topic in the forum Members http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/if-youd-like-a-first-reader-or-another-one-im-willing/#post-469 Tue, 13 Dec 2016 11:01:44 -0800 Good idea – that will streamline the process a whole lot.

]]> bd6fa35b5e58fa02f38645273cc8f151 Tom Barclay started the topic in the forum http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/if-youd-like-a-first-reader-or-another-one-im-willing/ Sun, 11 Dec 2016 06:32:36 -0800 And of course I’d appreciate the return of the favor.

My strengths as a reader? Better than average (by a lot) at grammar, spelling, syntax and diction. The nuns got me to where I was good at diagramming sentences, so structure problems in a sentence jump out at me.

My day job, most recently, is tech writing, so I see written logic and…[Read more]

]]> 97ba0b9195db4f40d3dac45cd0e1bcd1 Tom Barclay started the topic in the forum http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/fantasia-on-a-theme-of-thomas-tallis/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 23:13:25 -0800 In the early 19th Century, Player is shuttled across the Shetlands by boat, headed for Fair Isle. His boatman lands them on Foula due to bad weather, where Player finds he can be of service to the island’s small group of inhabitants in an unexpected setting.

Approximately 1,400 words. A Player story with no specific place in the sequence.

]]> bf196e3494522c0c5b37ed9e4d470e78 Tom Barclay started the topic in the forum http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/kirchgessner-at-the-cafe-metropole/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:54:28 -0800 Poor Player! Thrown from time to time and place to place, he finds himself for once in familiar surroundings. At a local cafe, he even encounters an old colleague from a previous Engagement – only find himself facing half a lifetime’s resentments, and staring down two large-caliber derringer barrels.

Approximately 1,800 words. A Player story with…[Read more]

]]> b42c982f601ed03ec8fe79ebb347d1b3 Tom Barclay started the topic in the forum http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/songs-and-dances-in-the-ortiz/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:41:48 -0800 A slave to an extra-dimensional master, bassist Player is thrown from time to time and place to place to experience human performing arts (which The Employer will later copy from his mind and, somehow, sell).
But after an Engagement which ends in murder and vengeance, Player . . . just might be free. Where should he go? What should he do? What is…[Read more]

]]> 681aff9d371996e8217178732b92767c Tom Barclay started the topic in the forum http://revolutionary-writing.masteryplus.com/forums/topic/deaths-door/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 22:27:46 -0800 Death has an uninvited visitor in his vast underworld realm: a divinely-gifted singer, Orfea, has come to demand her beloved Yuri be returned to Life.
It’s against company policy, of course. But Orfea has an advocate who is hard to ignore.

Influenced by Roger Zelazny, based on the Greek myth of Orfeo and Euridice. 2,000 words.

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