tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58263531772822559662024-03-13T14:44:21.381-07:00Diary of a WriterDragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-32992259868099003702017-02-19T09:11:00.001-08:002017-02-19T09:11:15.890-08:002017I've been too long in making daily updates anywhere, even for myself. Time to get them going again.<br />
<br />
I cranked out some words today. Not bad for less than a week post-op. I seem to be in less pain than I was lkast year, and so can think a bit better,<br />
<br />
But typing with just my left hand is hard.<br />
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<br />Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-62311476223358766732013-11-03T11:59:00.004-08:002013-11-03T12:01:45.044-08:00"I Hate NaNoWriMo"<br />
It' s November, the month for NaNoWriMo. If you got to this page you probably know what NaNoWriMo is. If you live at the bottom of Valles Marineris, on Mars, you likely know as well, but for those that don't I shall explain: NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. All over the world, people attempt to write a novel in one month. For the purposes of this activity, a novel is defined as 50,000 words, most of them different from each other, and a month is defined as November. Participants keep track of their wordage on an official web site and through various non-official social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the dinner table. There are write-ins and parties and meet-ups for the participants, and quite a lot of people saying, "Sorry I can't make your party, but I'm Nanoing this month."<br />
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Along with all the people happily joining the activity, there are a fair number of people loudly announcing that they will not be participating. While some are simply stating it, others are writing long explanations as to their actions. Even though a simple excuse would do, such as, "I have to clean out the septic tank for winter," or, "My wife/daughter/son/I just had a child," the long-winded posters have to explain pretty much why they hate NaNoWriMo. A few point out that they are "just kidding," reminding me far too much of certain people in Jr. High School. So, after reading far too many of these, I can boil some of their objections to the following bullet points.<br />
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<b>* It encourages sloppy writing.</b><br />
<br />
And there's a whorehouse in Texas! Yes, yes, sloppy writing is the point of NaNoWriMo. If you hack out fifty thousand words in a month it will be sloppy, free-style, self-editor turned off, wild abandonment writing. Wildfire writing. Misspelled words, characters changing names, cities marching all over the map. A mess you'll have to spend months cleaning up. And it will be writing that bounds off into new and unexpected places as your brain makes wild associations, rampages down obscure alleys, and rides the flood of raw wordage. It doesn't have to be a good story. It can't be a polished story. But it can be a playground for the imagination, and a mine of freshly turned ideas to dig out and use in other stories. Sloppy writing is more creative than polished from the pen writing, and NaNoWriMo can be a good excuse to visit the playground of the mind.<br />
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<b>* Writers have been ruined by NaNoWriMo.</b><br />
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As in, if they fail, they are turned off to writing forever? Then add it to the list of things that can ruin a writer, such as red pens, criticism, rejection slips, writer's block, professional writing workshops, creative writing classes, and onions. Excuses come up a dime a dozen. But the truth is that a person can't blame others for his lack of success. He must look to himself, see where he went wrong, and ask the big question: "Do I really want to be a writer? Or do I just want to be someone who dreams about being a writer?" The problem is not in the activity, it is in the person making the excuse.<br />
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<b>*NaNoWriMo is a waste of profitable writing time. </b><br />
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<br />
NaNoWriMo is playtime. I do realize that there are many people out there who take it <i>seriously,</i> and I think that they do a disservice to themselves. But then, maybe they take all their play <i>seriously.</i> Maybe the only way that their activities can be respected by others is if these activities take on the veneer of <i>serious work.</i> Maybe what they <i>really</i> need is the permission to say, "I'm going to play." To do real work during working hours and play during the play hours. And if NaNoWriMo isn't your choice of play, don't sweat it. But respect those who do choose it.<br />
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<b>*There are too many rules to NaNoWriMo, and people get anxious about not making word counts! </b><br />
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I don't understand people and their rules, frankly. Give them a simple idea, and the next thing you know they come up with dozens of rules and limitations and penalties. And they keep making it harder to meet all the goals and targets. As in video games -- no one wants to just win the game. They want to win with the High Score. And then the Higher Score. They want to move the game to harder settings. Well, NaNoWriMo is a game -- yes, it's a fun writing game! -- and people who have been winning it for a dozen years want to make it harder all the time. But if you're playing a video game for the first time <i>and</i> you're not a practicied video player, then set the game to the easiest setting. Crank it up after you've gone through it a few times.<br />
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In other words, <i>change the rules to something that works for you!</i> <br />
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<b>*Everyone is doing NaNoWriMo, and I won't do what everyone else is doing.</b><br />
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(I'll be honest, I've not heard this stated, but I have heard it in subtext.)<br />
<br />
Fair enough. NaNoWriMo is a bandwagon activity, with everyone and their brother and cousin and sister and aunt doing it, and the peer pressure to jump on the bandwagon is immense. But that doesn't make NaNoWriMo inherently bad, or a reason for other people not to join in -- unless you're trying to start your <i>own</i> bandwagon and pressure your own peers into joining you.<br />
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<b>* NaNoWriMo leads to a glut of bad books in the marketplace.</b><br />
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That's not NaNoWriMo, per se, but all the self-publishing avenues which have realized that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to pay to see their book in print. These avenues know that people who sign up NaNoWriMo are good advertising targets. The activity produces a sloppy first draft, and the author, still infused with the giddy joy and enthusiasm of producing this work, believes that it is perfect, perfect, perfect. The author also believes that the self-publishing avenue will judge their work to be good and will help them to publicize it, and that all the world will see their greatness! And it's true that a lot of the NaNoWriMo hoopla feeds this, with teasers such as, "Will your novel be the next great find?"<br />
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But of course it won't. My NaNoWriMo novels, along with all my wildfire writing, need revisions, polishing, editing, and a damn good grammar checker. Most everyone is the same way, everyone not named Ray Bradbury, who claimed he only wrote first drafts. The rest of us mere humans need to actually work on the stuff we produce, making it look less like a thing hacked out of wood with an ax and more like an actual carving. But learning that truth about our writing, learning not to trust the perfection of the joyous first draft, is part of learning to be a commercially viable writer. Dianne Wynne Jones, the British Fantasy Writer, often said that she wrote her stories while sitting in her chair, pen and paper, in a wildfire daze. The family had to work around her as she worked, and put together her wonderfully twisty plots. Less often, however, she talked about what she did with these giddy first drafts, and how she worked them into publishable stories. Even for her, enthusiasm did not replace work -- and that's a message that has to be pounded into every writer's head.<br />
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Writers must also learn about scams and dishonesty, and how to look at advertising with a salt mine. No one approaches you to give you money. Everyone wants something. But that is something authors have to learn whether they do NaNoWriMo or not.<br />
<br />
<b>*What can you learn from NaNoWriMo?</b><br />
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Excellent question. As with all play, especially free-form play, you can learn just by exploring your options and trying new things. You can learn, for example, how to grab some time each day to write. You can learn how to let your characters run free and develop without an outline. Or you can learn, as I did, how to develop and work with an outline. You can learn how to use tropes to simplify your storytelling, and you can learn how to describe things in length. You can learn how to blow past writer's block and how to skip over spots where the story has bogged down (and where the reader is as bored as you are.) There is much you can learn, if you let yourself learn. For one month a year, you can be a child again, and write just for play, just for fun.<br />
<br />
Let's play.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-9520478216514650312012-09-18T10:03:00.000-07:002012-09-18T10:04:08.912-07:00Raw Trip Report<h3>
9/6/12</h3>
Dear Diary,<br />
<br />
Yesterday we got up at 4:30 AM to get to the airport by 7:30 in order to catch a 9:00 flight to Chicago. After three hours waiting in Chicago, we caught a 4 hour flight to Seattle. I’m glad I paid extra for the slightly more leg room seats. We needed it.<br />
When we got to our hotel, it wasn’t quite four, and we were already starving. Four in Seattle is Seven at home. After we got dinner we fell into bed and collapsed.<br />
<h3>
9/7/2012</h3>
And woke up this morning at three. Went back to sleep. Got up at five and got dressed, and went downstairs to breakfast at six, but the restaurant didn’t open until six thirty.<br />
We went back and packed up, and then, with still time to spare, walked two blocks to catch the monorail. It took us straight to the Space Needle, so after peeking through the fence into what we could see of the Chihully garden, we went up the Space Needle. Spent some time looking down on Seattle. Mount Rainer and the Cascades look like watermarks in the sky behind the city.<br />
At noon we caught the shuttle to the boat, and took an hour to get processed and on the ship. Then we had to wait for the cabin to get ready. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating and watching the boat sail out of port. Watched a police boat chase a Catamaran out of our path.<br />
Watched the sunset, an orange line on the horizon to the west with dark mountains all around.<br />
<h3>
9/8/12</h3>
Dear Diary,<br />
Woke up again at three. Forced myself to sleep until five-thirty, when I rose and watched the sun rise while eating a smuggled bagel. (Well, I didn’t know until I walked onto the ship that we weren’t supposed to be bringing food on or taking it off.)<br />
Today was a sailing day. We sailed in the open sea beyond the coast. Sometimes we could see the cliffs and peak of the coast line, dark or gray with streaks of white. Mostly we saw fog, as we sailed in and out of fog patches. We hit the first right at noon, and it was a like a wall of fog. It was so thick that we could see nothing beyond the rails, and the ship blasted the fog horn.<br />
In the morning we went to a lecture by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the history of his profession. They were originally created to deal with the problems arising from the alcohol trade. It was called Whiskey, but “Kickapoo Juice” from Fort …” Which had little alcohol, but a lot of other stuff, including tobacco.<br />
The upper deck was very windy and cold, especially after we went into the cloud bank.<br />
<br />
In the afternoon, I slept while Steve worked out.<br />
Tonight we gain another hour. I’m likely to be awake even earlier. <br />
In the late afternoon the sea got rough, could have been worse. That’s the price of going up through the open Northwest Ocean. <br />
Dinner was formal, with photos and the captain’s address afterwards. There was free champainge for everyone, and at the end, male dancers performed inside the chandeliers in the concourse. A lot like Cirque de Soil.<br />
<br />
<h3>
9/9/2011</h3>
We arrived at Juneau two hours early. We’ll have to tender in, as the dock space is taken up by the bigger Cruise ships, such as the Radiance of the Seas and the Island Princess. Celebrity’s Milleniun. The weather is foggy and moist, a bit rainy. (It turns out that we had to tender in because the cruise ship extended its stay by a month, but too late to reserve wharf space.<br />
The mountain on either side of the harbor are tall, covered with fir trees, and streaked by fast mountain rivers. Juneau doesn’t seem like a large town, after the Ohio towns I’m used to.<br />
After an early lunch, a bacon salad – the breakfast menu hadn’t quite turned over to lunch, we took the tender into town and walked around for a bit. We saw the state capital, a squat brown building about the size of Dayton City hall. The rest of the government buildings covered a short city block. The town library sits on the top floor of the town parking garage. We tried to visit the Red Dog saloon in Juneau, but it was too crowded to admit us. We looked at other things, fought the crowd to visit a few shops, then caught the bus to the Mendenhall Glacier. Our tour guide was friendly, telling us all about the town and inviting us to her house for dinner. <br />
The glacier was impressive, even if it was well broken up with deep crevasses. It was indeed a bright blue color, which comes from the crystalline structure of the compressed ice. Some chunks were out in the glacial lake, just sitting. Apparently glacial ice does not float as well as regular ice. Good that we saw it before it was completely gone. We saw no one trying to slide down it on their raincoats.<br />
Driving to our next event, there was a porcupine curled up by the road.<br />
The salmon bake was in an outdoor camp. Good food, but by that time the rain had turned steady, and the singer – a mellow tenor who looked a lot like a friend I knew in college – sang accompanied by the drum of raindrops. In the gift shop, a pair of two year old twins were attacking each other with stuffed “killer salmon.” Brought back memories. Afterwards, we went and looked at the river and waterfall.<br />
We went back to the ship and vegged for the rest of the eveing, except for a drink in the high lounge.<br />
<h3>
9/10/2012</h3>
Dear Diary,<br />
When we got up at 5:30 this morning, we were already in Skagway, a hour and a half ahead of schedule. And it was still dark. <br />
We grabbed an early breakfast and went out on the dock to catch the bus to the train. That was a wee bit absurd, since the train depot was a block away from the end of the pier – but it let the tour guide introduce us to the driver for the second half of the trip and to put us on the correct car of the train. We rode the train up the White Pass to Frazier, BC, passing through a glacial valley on the way. Then we boarded the bus and went on into the Yukan, and visited a suspension bridge over the river. There was a log cabin on the other side. Then the bus went back down the pass, and we saw the same things from a different perspective.<br />
One unique feature was a suspension bridge, suspended from only the south side. It crosses the intersection of two active fault lines, and thus is only anchored to one side so that the other side can move away from it. I could see where the road had been mended several times, and there was already a one-inch crack at the edge.<br />
The mountains folding up around me made me feel very sheltered, very secure. The tops were snow-streaked, the first snow of the season. The snow was solid in the mountain valleys, scoops along the craggy tops, and in the furrows between the sawtooth mountains. The mountains below were dark and rounded, then below that, covered with the temperate forest. <br />
The glacial valley was windswept, strewn with boulders, craggy. Fireweed (red with pink flowers) and yarrow (white flowers) grew in abundance. Yarrow is good for repelling mosquitoes, some which seemed to be the size of small Cessna aircraft. Fireweed is good for honey.<br />
We also learned that Spruce tips, while edible and vitamin C rich, are bitter – unless made into beer. <br />
I took a lot of pictures.<br />
After the drive, we went to a place with a buffet lunch that included barbeque ribs and fried salmon, and then had us all pan for gold. I got about six flakes worth. It was difficult work for six flakes.<br />
Afterwards we shopped, and I bought two pairs of gloves to replace the glove I lost yesterday. I had to use my silk liners as gloves today, and it was cold and my hands are chapping. Then we came back and ate dinner, and as the ship left dock, again, after dark, we watched an aerial artist show. The best were the synchronized bungee-jumping dancers.<br />
<h3>
9/11/2012</h3>
Dear Diary,<br />
Today we saw glaciers and I saw a whale. Finally.<br />
We woke up early as the ship was just turning into Endicott Arm Fjord and rushed to get into Windjammer along with all the other early risers. It was like a land rush when the doors opened, and I staked a claim near the very front of the ship. Since the Windjammer has glass walls, this gave me one of the best views as the ship worked its way up the Fjord. We were supposed to go up Tracy Arm Fjord, but there was too much glacial ice in the water. Glacial ice is very dense, and while it floats, it doesn’t move very well. Hitting it is like hitting a boulder, so going into that would bang up the ship. <br />
We were allowed to go into Endicott Arm and approach Dawes Glacier. After breakfast, I went back to the cabin and watched the trip from my balcony. We actually got very close, and with the binoculars I could bits and chunks falling off the face. I could hear the glacier crack with booms like gunshots, or cannon shots.<br />
Glacier ice is very blue and streaked with grit. The grit shows the path of the glacial ice as it curves to the sea.<br />
The captain was excited to get so close, and went out with the rescue boat to capture some of the 10,000 year old ice. Afterwards, he put it on display on the pool level. <br />
It was indeed cold and windy near the glacier. I’m glad my sister recommended that I bring long underwear. The ship was selling hot chocolate spiced with alcohol, but I got a virgin. It tasted like cinnamon or nutmeg had been added, and was delicious.<br />
After turning about to see the glacier, the boat went out <br />
I saw several seals sunning themselves on the ice floes. And flock of birds. Auks? The one I could see through the binoculars was short winged, black on the tips, with a duck like body and a short beak.<br />
After lunch we went out into the inside passage, but the clouds were low and the fog was thick. I ended up napping for a bit during the afternoon, and then running about doing errands. <br />
We dressed up for dinner. “Formal night” is pretty much “Wear a shirt and a nice shirt night.” I don’t mind. Then we went to a talk by the Canadian Mountie on the Mountie training school. On our way to dinner, I paused to look out the window, and saw a curving head, I think there were knobs, then a spout, then a curved back, and then a nice dark whale tail! Apparently a pod was swimming past, and I caught the one.<br />
After dinner we got pictures taken.<br />
<h3>
9/12/2012</h3>
Dear Diary,<br />
Today we visited the largest of the Alaskan cities, Ketchikan. We arrived at sunrise, in the fog, and conditions deteriorated during the day. Rain, not mists, and up to 35 mph gusts meant that all the air and sea tours were cancelled. That included ours. Instead, we went shopping for souvenirs and collecting harm tokens, which became shopping for jewelry. Then we ate lunch and visited two of the three museums in town.<br />
One was a national parks museum, a Tongess Forest discovery center, and the other was the Ketchikan town museum, which shared a building with the public library. The Ketchikan creek ran behind the museum, and it was raging, too rough to see the salmon.<br />
We missed the Totem Heritage Center, because the rain was really pouring by then, and we were cold and wet.<br />
We left the port at sundown, and now it is pouring again and the boat is shaking.<br />
<h3>
9/14/2012</h3>
Day at sea. Packing. Humpback breaching. Orcas or dolphins by the boat. Dudley Do-Right and Due South Mountie talk. 560 feet deep – and two inches.<br />
Ice cream cups on the deck with an Australian named Rodney. He was handicapped, and asked me to get him an ince cream cone, as the ship had finally opened up the machine. It was out of cones, so I put the ice cream in a cup, and then had to walk the entire length of the ship to find spoons. But then I got a cup and we sat and talked, and it was nice.<br />
Exhausted.<br />
<h3>
9/15/2012</h3>
Dear Diary<br />
It’s going home day. We woke up with the ship pulling into the Vancouver Port. The Radiance was already in port, and the Celebrity ship was just pulling in. I took some picture in the dawn light, and we got breakfast, packed our carry off bags, and went to the “Shall We Dance Lounge” to await our time off the ship. When our time came, we went off – and into mass confusion. Three cruise ships disembarked at the same time, with all the people struggling to get somewhere. When we finally made it onto the shuttle bus to the airport, the driver said, “Welcome To Mass Confusion.”<br />
We arrived at the airport with three hours to make our flight, and needed almost all of it. First we had to check in at a Kiosk, and then we had to go to the desk to get our luggage tags, but the printer had jammed, so the clerk printed a new set. We then went to the line at next place, where we put our bags on the security belt. Then off to the next check station, where we were asked how many bags did we have? Apparently the security system takes pictures of all the bags, and there were no pictures for the first four. We explained, and were told, be sure to tell customs. Then we went to another room and stood in another long line. By the time we got through that, we had to walk about a mile to get to our gate, and had only half an hour to get lunch. The lunch selections for the people flying to America are much poorer than those for people flying within Canada.<br />
On the flight over, reality returned. We were shoehorned into seats, each of us with a tv screen on the seat in front of us. We could pay for programming, just swipe the credit card, but since we didn’t, we were treated to non-stop commercials and the same half hour sitcoms repeated over and over. We were allowed a drink, gratis, but had to pay for the snacks. After a week of luxury, to be common cattle once again…<br />
We made it home, finally, just after midnight.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-82158442317624686902012-06-13T05:57:00.001-07:002012-06-13T06:20:19.503-07:00Unique Business ProposalIn my inbox this morning, I received the following letter:
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Greetings, </b><br /><br />
<b>I would like to discuss a business proposal that has the potential for significant earnings.<br /><br />
I am currently employed with a privately held manufacturing company. My company has demand for a specific material that is vital to its processing operations. We are currently purchasing this material at a price well over the manufacturing cost.<br />
<br />
I would like to explore the possibility of having you stand-in as a new supplier, providing this material while retaining the same profit margins. My role would be to introduce you to my company, as the supplier, and to obtain a contract between you and my employer. I have already discussed sourcing possibilities with the existing manufacturer, leaving room for attractive profit margins. What is still required in order to materialize this venture is an individual who is at arm's length to oversee these supply chain transactions. The required capital to purchase our initial order from the manufacturer will be funded strictly from myself and no additional investment will be required from yourself. With that said, we can discuss terms and commission structure in the near future.<br />
<br />
I understand that your experience with does not directly relate to my field. However, this venture is more in line with your personal capabilities rather than your professional experience.<br />
<br />
Please send a return email to verify your contact number and to schedule the most convenient time to discuss these possibilities in detail. I look forward to speaking with you soon.<br />
<br />
Kindest Regards,<br />
Barry Crawford </b><br />
<br />
I don't need anyone to tell me that this a scam or phishing. That much is, well, <i>obvious.</i> Even if the errors hadn't cued me in, or the vagueness of the offer, I would still know that it was bogus in that it appeared to be directed at me, yet didn't have my name in the letterhead. However, it is still an intriguing letter.<br />
<br />
What is this "specific material?" Unobtainium? Raw blood for vampire chow? Human organs for wealthy donors? Parts from stolen alien spaceships? What do you think? What would be the most far-out item that a mysterious businessman would want "laundered?"<br />
<br />
Dragonwriter<br />Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-90090799393497565602012-02-08T05:41:00.000-08:002012-02-08T05:41:09.381-08:00De-whiching WorkThe process sounds simple. One, cancel the iUniverse contract for Silent Runners to remove it from the catalog. Two, put the manuscript into Word and give it a quick polish. Three, put it up on Amazon Kindle Select. 4) After ninety days, publish it through Lulu and Smashwords for the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
I'm stuck on step two. Someday I will learn that a "quick polish" does not exist. I have now removed over 2000 words, and I suspect that another 1000 will leave before I'm finished.<br />
<br />
I have found I have found misspelled words. I have found misused words, particularly which for that. It is an old and very frustrating problem of mine, knowing when to use which and when to that. Is which the limiting word, or that? My current rule is: if you can the word that, and there is no comma, do so. After all, a comma looks like a cliff and witches fly off of cliffs, so you need a comma to use which.<br />
<br />
The largest bulk of missing words, however, are Tom Swiftys. <i>"I've got to go," she said hurriedly.</i> The adverb restates what is shown in the quotation, and is therefore redundant. Further, one doesn't need the attribute <i>she said</i> as it can be replaced with something I call an action tab -- an action which is linked to the quote. <i>"I've got to go." She balanced the files in her arms.</i><br />
<br />
You can properly use either an attribute or an action tab. However, I found that I was using both.<br />
<br />
Nope, not a quick polish. Not at all.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-58709514439730074872012-01-30T09:22:00.000-08:002012-01-30T09:22:13.233-08:00Put Down the Eye-liner.In the art of fiction, characters become very real to the reader. They love, they hate, they laugh, they cry. Even though they live in a two-dimensional world, that of words on paper or images on a screen, the characters live in three dimensions in the reader's mind. They love, they hate, they laugh, they cry. How can the author let the reader know how the character feel?<br />
<br />
Stealthily, says Ben Marcus, writing for Wordcraft in the January 21, 2012 Wall Street Journal. You don't show the character having an emotional reaction, and you don't state that the character is feeling an emotion. If you do, you risk letting the reader feel manipulated, and nothing kills the relationship between the reader and the character faster than the feeling of manipulation. You show emotion by not showing it. Just describe the sadness of the situation and let the reader infer the emotions.<br />
<br />
I don't quite agree with what Mr. Marcus states, but I do agree with what he is trying to say. New writers do put too much emotion in their stories. Too much <i>emo,</i> as the teenagers like to say. Too much <i>drama.</i> Why? It's not because new writers are trying to hit the reader over the head with emotions, or to manipulate the reader's feelings. For the most part, the new writer is merely trying to describe the depth of emotion that he himself feels.<br />
<br />
Emotion in a story, however, is a lot like Chili powder. To make a dish taste good, you should add some, but for heaven's sake, don't throw in handful after handful. Don't upend the bottle. Don't even think, "one pinch makes the dish good, so a palm full will make it better." A little spice goes a long way.<br />
<br />
A little emotion goes a very long way.<br />
<br />
Mr. Marcus seems to argue that the writer shouldn't put in any emotion, but that would be like chili without any spice. And there are stories where the characters move through events, seemingly untouched, very wooden. Those stories leave the reader quite detached. Bored.<br />
<br />
The trick, no, the art, is to put in just enough emotion, and to blend it into the story so that it doesn't seem to be there. Like spice, it adds to the flavor, but does not stand out on its own. Don't describe how a characters feels--but say <i>how</i> the character thinks about an object. Give the character responsive actions, such as, "He turned the picture facedown and did not look at it again."<br />
<br />
Am I an expert at this? I think I'm getting better. I picked up a novel I wrote decades ago and found that the first few chapters dripped emo. The main character might as well have circled his eyes with kohl and auditioned for a role in a Japanese manga. Too much emotion. I've been slashing it out right and left.<br />
Leaving room for something that all that emo was drowning out--tension.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-36380898488790350452012-01-23T06:34:00.000-08:002012-01-23T06:38:54.413-08:00The Cake is a LieThe GPS in my car is names GlaDOS, after an evil computer in the games Portal and Portal 2. GlaDOS uses the promise of a reward, cake, to lure her victim, you, into one dangerous situation after another. Just like GlaDOS, my GPS appears to be helpful, but will kill you if she gets the chance. She often routes me right past intersections with lights and turn arrows, and then demands that I make a left turn at a dangerous intersection with no traffic lights and a stream of oncoming traffic.<br />
<br />
In truth, however, my GPS is not evil--she's just programmed that way. She calculates her route based on the shortest possible distance, and simply doesn't have the computing power to weigh the safety of one intersection against another. All roads are the same to her, so she is just as likely to route me down a narrow, two-lane, shoulder-less road as down a four-lane highway. I can't put my brain on hold while using the GPS. She's a tool, but I'm the one who thinks.<br />
<br />
Spell-checkers and grammar checkers are the same way. They are programs, but they are tools, and you can't put your brain on hold while using them. Often, a spell-checker will not distinguish between a word and its synonym. I once read a story where the characters were horrified to come across a scull. I tried to point out to the young author that she had misspelled the word, and she assured me that the spellchecker had said it was right. Well, scull is spelled properly--if you are talking about a small boat.<br />
<br />
The spell checker might help you find misspelled words, especially if you are slightly dyslexic, like me, but it can't replace your brain.<br />
<br />
Grammar checkers are worse, I've found. Grammar checkers don't like stylistic writing. An author may use sentence fragments for emphasis, and when writing dialog, both sentence fragments and bad grammar can be deliberate. When the word processing program calls your attention to everything it considers an error, it becomes easy to turn a blind eye to it. The Little Grammar Checker calls wolf once too often, and then you miss something you should have caught. Grammar checkers do not replace proofreading.<br />
<br />
Another problem with grammar checkers is the ability to miss grammar problems. For example, in Word, the error in this sentence is caught: "Although the great Depression was the most severe, there has been others." A wavy blue line appears under has. But in this sentence, "Programs like this in the New Deal led by President Roosevelt helps the U.S. recover from the worst depression in its history in 1933," the error goes right past the spell-checker. Although the program can look for subject-verb agreement, or see that a helper verb is the wrong form, it can't see that a sentence should be past tense. Computers are tools, but you should never put your brain on hold.<br />
<br />
The cake is a lie--never trust a computer to think for you.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-63518549960695340352012-01-16T06:45:00.000-08:002012-01-16T06:52:17.738-08:00The Worst AdviceAfter my mother read my latest first draft, she said those words, the words no writer should take to heart. The words which are the absolute worst advice that a writer can follow--with one exception. Now, these weren't bad words, or mean words. My mother is a great fan of my work, as mothers should be. And she was quite pleased with the story. She offered me praise, and as praise, they are very nice words. But followed? Never. Well, hardly ever.<br />
<br />
The one time that the advice should be followed, the only time that any writing advice should be followed blindly, is when it is accompanied by the words: "I'll get a contract right out to you."<br />
<br />
And the advice? <i>"Don't change a thing."</i><br />
<br />
Never, never assume that your writing is so perfect that it cannot be improved upon. Never, never assume that you have written your story the only way that it can be written, or that your words are the best you can do. Writing is an exercise in creativity, and creativity is best found in flexibility. You should shift things around, experiment with more words and less words, and even examine scenes from other points of view. And if you keep backups of your work, you need not fear losing anything.<br />
<br />
Spend some time working with the story.<br />
<br />
Yes, at some point you will have to declare it finished and stop fiddling with it--if not out of consideration for your readers, then so that you may move onto other projects. Declaring a project finished too soon means that you will not get a chance to grow, explore, develop. Don't waste the opportunity. Tell your readers "Thank you," assure them that will you stay true to the vision in the book, and get back to work.<br />
<br />
So if saying "Don't change a thing," is such bad advice, why do readers do it? Because they aren't giving you advice. They are giving you praise. They are telling you that the big picture worked well for them, that they enjoyed it. But they really don't mean, "Don't change a thing." After all, even my mother's statement was followed by, "And I've made up a list of corrections and questions that I have."Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-30021780524827452582012-01-08T08:35:00.000-08:002012-01-08T10:08:09.466-08:00Starting a StoryEvey week the Wall Street Journal has an article on writing, titled "Wordcraft." Different authors weigh in on topics which range across the field, but all have to do with writing of some sort. Sometimes it covers word usage, sometimes it deals with the professional side of things, and sometimes it covers non-fiction writing. I highly recommend looking for it if you have access to the Wall Street Journal.<br />
<br />
<br />
Look in the Saturday section with art, book excepts, and stage reviews.<br />
<br />
This week's article, by Darin Strauss, "The Fine Art of Where To Start," dealt with the opening of a story. One does not, precisely, start at the beginning. One starts as late as possible, when the action is already moving. You draw the reader aboard the train which is already pulling out of the station, thrust him into a bar fight, or have him struggling for his life. Or just as he has turned into a giant insect.<br />
<br />
Once the reader is hooked, <i>then</i> you go back and explain how things came to be the way that they are.<br />
<br />
This article reminded me of a Writing Panel I attended at a convention, I do forget exactly which one, but the speaker was Barry Longyear, and he was verbally critting a story by one of the participating hopefuls. He read aloud the first page and a half, which showed a spaceship crew dithering about what to do with a robot which was floating in the ether before them. Then they fired on it--and their ship was destroyed by the weapons that the robot carried.<br />
<br />
Mr. Longyear, who was turning in an entertaining performance, told the author that she should give us more background on the crewmembers, have us get to know them so that we cared when they were killed. The author objected to this, claiming that they really weren't important. The story was about the robot, not the people. He held his position that she should make them important. She argued.<br />
<br />
I turned to the person beside me and muttered, "It should start with, <i>They fired on the robot, and that was their last mistake.</i>"<br />
<br />
Go right into the action. If the story focuses on the robot, then by all means, focus on the robot <i>doing</i> something. Something lethal, preferably.<br />
<br />
Lethal is always a good way to start a story.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-41234344667416281072011-11-15T08:49:00.000-08:002011-11-15T08:49:16.423-08:00Write Every DayThis is one of those mantras for being a writer. Write every day. According to the Columbia University Break Writing program, the maximum that a writer can write and concentrate for in a single period is 90 minutes to 2 hours -- so that should be your minimum each day. <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/pages/cstudents/dean/break-writing/break-1.html">http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/pages/cstudents/dean/break-writing/break-1.html</a> Other than the possibility of working yourself into burnout, it is good advice.<br />
<br />
<br />
But if you haven't got two hours a day to write, and many of us don't, the advice is still good. You should write every day, and at least for a certain set time. And if all you have is fifteen minutes, then write for that fifteen minutes. Same time, same place, every day. When I was in graduate school, and single, I had rice for dinner every night. It took fifteen minutes for the rice to cook, and that was my fifteen minutes. I hammered away on my manual typewriter until the scent of burning grain told me that it was time to eat.<br />
<br />
A problem, though. Most people take fifteen minutes just to start writing. How do you make the most of your fifteen minutes? My trick, especially when I am snatching bits and pieces of time to fill out a handwritten roughwrite, is to spend the time before I write thinking over what I will cover in my writing. Family doesn't need to be talked to, when I am clearing the table or doing dishes. Especially the teenagers. And while driving? Hey, that's what defensive driving is all about, right? Other people watching out while I think, right?<br />
<br />
Seriously, there is a lot I can do while also thinking on a story. I am woman, I multi-task. Maybe not driving, unless it is on an empty highway in the middle of nowhere, and I don't have to be watching for deer, but walking, definitely. And while waiting in the check-out line at the store, stuck behind an extreme couponer who is going to try every coupon in her massive notebook. And at red lights.<br />
<br />
I work out a lot of plot problems while sitting at red lights in this town.<br />
<br />
Write every day. Think every minute. It's supposed to keep you young.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-52704948765247351272011-10-29T18:00:00.000-07:002011-10-29T18:00:15.198-07:00Surprise coming soon.I am working on a new project. <br />
<br />
I'm also declaring my intention to do NaNoWriMo this year.<br />
<br />
Oy vey! And I'm not even Jewish!Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-8716748467377309572011-10-26T06:33:00.000-07:002011-10-26T06:33:42.749-07:00The Income Tax ProblemForty-ninne percent of all households pay no income tax, or so I've heard. I think that is atrocious. <br />
<br />
Many Conservatives also think that is atrocious, but for different reasons. They state, in published opinions and verbally to my face, that these people should pay their fair share of taxes. But they do. Everyone, except those who are completely supported by others, such as little children and the extreme elderly, pay taxes. Hardly anything can be bought without an additional sales tax. Gasoline and diesel fuels, which are used to transport goods to market, and from market to home, are bought with hefty taxes. Transportation taxes are paid for by raising the cost of food and goods, and this additional cost then incurs additional sales tax. Residences are taxed, directly or indirectly. Gas for heating and cooking, electricity, municipal water; all these utilities are taxed. And people pay these taxes regardless of income.<br />
<br />
Income taxes fall on those people who make a certain minimum. If your household doesn't make this minimum, then the government considers you to be barely scraping by, and tries not to burden you heavier. The fact that forty-nine percent, nearly half, of all households in this country are considered to be scraping by or less is disturbing. Very disturbing.<br />
<br />
Am I in the forty-nine percent? No. We pay income taxes. And that means, despite the fact that I clip coupons and search to save money, that we must be rich. Rich enough to pay taxes.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-62975819278196836322011-01-13T17:47:00.000-08:002011-01-13T17:47:23.314-08:00Trial ReadingDear Diary,<br />
<br />
How much of a book should I read before I give up?<br />
<br />
I used to believe that any book I started must be finished. It's what readers do, you know. But one day, as I was dragging through a book I found unpleasant, I realized, <i>I don't have to do this. This is my time that I'm spending, and I'm not enjoying this.</i> So I set the book down and did not finish it.<br />
<br />
I discovered later that I had set down the book about ten pages from the end, but I've never had the urge to go back and read those ten pages. The time I spent on that book still felt wasted -- not because it was a bad book, but because it was a book that I did not enjoy.<br />
<br />
Some books are obviously bad in the first few pages. They are easy to abandon, and if I can just remember to read a bit, and not just the carefully crafted blurb, I can avoid buying them. If I do buy them, I can avoid spending time with them. Simple. But many more books aren't really bad -- they just don't work for me. Or maybe they are written well, but the plots wander about like drunken ants, aimless on a good day. Other stories seem to wander, at first, but are merely setting an elaborate stage for a plot that will unfold bit by bit like a blooming rose. They need time to ripen.<br />
<br />
The only way to know the difference between a story that will work, eventually, and one that is a waste of time, is to give the book a trial. Some people read for forty pages, and some for twenty. A few go as far as a hundred before giving up. My magic number is seventy-six. Hook me by then, or it's goodbye, not just goodnight.<br />
<br />
E-books, I've discovered, challenge this model. They don't have pages. How will I know, with an e-book, that I've suffered enough? The Kindle, at least, has a bar at the bottom that tells me what percentage of the book has been completed. An average novel is about three hundred and fifty pages long, so seventy-six pages is about twenty-two per cent. That sounds right. After all, if you follow a certain model of writing, the first major twist should happen right at twenty-five percent so the story should be falling together by then.<br />
<br />
So be warned: if the story isn't moving at page seventy-six, or at the twenty-two percentile mark, I, for one, will not long be a reader.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-21833400956433052102010-11-19T06:10:00.000-08:002010-11-19T06:10:47.787-08:00UF: Endless WarsDear Diary,<br />
<br />
Today I start a short series on unrealistic fantasy. The first point brought up was:<br />
<br />
1. The endless war where everyone fights. If everyone is a soldier, how are soldiers being fed?<br />
<br />
Endless wars come, unfortunately, straight out of our own history. One need only read the Old Testament to see that one conflict was constantly being traded for another, and that this went on for thousands of years. Egypt, a land rich in resources amid people who were less fortunate, kept a standing army to protect its borders. Rome's economic model was based on the constant growth of the Empire by military means, and funded by the plunder taken from conquored civilizations. The Middle Ages, the basic source for Fantasy, was a time when petty princes tended to enforce their policies on their neighbors violent means. The Vikings raided the coastal areas of Europe for more than a hundred years. Moving into later times, there was the 100 years war and the 30 years war, both in Europe, and frequent flareups of smaller wars in the meantime. And the formative years for modern fantasy took place during the last dredges of the Vietnam War, which wasn't all that long, comparatively, but seemed to drag on forever.<br />
<br />
However, this constant state of war which is the backdrop for Medevial-based Sword and Sorcery fantasy was much different from our current concept of warfare. The strongest weapon of mass destruction was fire, which tended to leave the ground more fertile afterwards, not less. battles were fought hand to hand, mostly, with air support coming from arrows. Battles stayed local to the fields on which they were fought, and most of the surrounding fields and farms left untouched. and as far as manpower was concerned, most armies were raised at the time of conflict, not kept standing in readiness. Except for the knights, the warriors were also the farmers and tradesmen of the castle. <br />
<br />
In addition, even if _Everyone_ went off to fight, a lot of people stayed behind. Women, children, older men. The typical workforce of the time.<br />
<br />
The eternal war works if it is not global, if it's not destructive to the environment, and if the peasants are smart enough to plant potatoes. One good thing about potatoes is that they are not destroyed when the rest of the crops are burned or trampled by an invading army. Unfortunately, there is just one teensy little problem with potatoes in Sword and Sorcery Fantasy. Potatoes came from the Americas, and although some came to Europe in the century following Columbus's famous Renaisance-era, they weren't eaten for food for another hundred years. But that's not an insurmountable problem, for peasants ate the other white tuber -- turnips!<br />
<br />
The trick for answering the criticism, I believe, is to acknowledge that even while a war is taking place, much of life is continuing as normal. Or as normal as life in the Fantasy Middle Ages could be, what with all those wizards and female warriors in brass bras running around...Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-40055295905134490552010-11-18T06:13:00.000-08:002010-11-18T06:13:00.276-08:00Unrealistic FantasyDear Diary,<br />
<br />
Today I'm going to send you on a linkquest:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/tag/fantasy/forum/ref=cm_cd_dp_rft_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxRHP2KEWXI0H1&cdThread=Tx14C13VFTDOI58">Unrealistic Fantasy.</a> This is a forum I found on Amazon.com where readers, and a few authors, post their gripes about unrealistic fantasy scenarios.<br />
<br />
Enjoy, and I'll discuss some of those points in future posts.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-50206501155123572522010-11-17T12:14:00.000-08:002010-11-17T12:14:01.991-08:00Car RepairsDear Diary,<br />
<br />
Pluses and minuses of spending three and a half hours in the lobby of teh car dealership while waiting for a one and half hour service to finish (They had to wait for a part.): <br />
<br />
Plus: nothing to do but work on the handwritten story, and no cat to eat my pen while I'm trying to write.<br />
<br />
Minus: construction taking place very close to where I was sitting. The people walking about on the roof, and the few times they dropped things, was very disconcerting.<br />
<br />
Plus: Guilt-free time for writing, thinking, and reading.<br />
<br />
Minus: Five Guys and a Burger is not a good place for a fat-intolerant person to each lunch...Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-76420823860042895192010-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:002010-11-16T09:32:18.170-08:00Feminist FictionDear Diary,<br />
<br />
Sword and Sorceress 25 is coming out this week. It is an anthology of stories featuring strong female heroines. Feminist fantasy, some say. But what, pray tell, is feminist fantasy?<br />
<br />
I don't have a scholarly answer. I only have what I observe from reading the stories, from coming of age in the Eighties, and from living life as a woman. So I will tell you what Feminist Fantasy means for me.<br />
<br />
It means strong women who achieve. They are stong because they face opposition. Traditionally, in 1980's thinking, that opposition often wears a beard and sports testosterone. Not just men, but manly men, who make it their mission in life to subdue women and keep them pregnant. Whether these men are fathers, husbands, or brothers is moot. A woman's place is in the marriage bed, birthing heirs.<br />
<br />
This makes for boring stories, by the way.<br />
<br />
The opposition, however, can come from any number of things. Economic problems, war, the cold equations of survival -- a good heroine has to deal with all those things. And she must deal with those things herself. To me, that's the key. The heroine can't sit about whining for a prince, fate, or the sisterhood to rescue her. She might do that at first, but she has to understand that she can't win that way. She has to reach into her own strengths, buck up, and get the job done.<br />
<br />
She's gotta show <i>ovaries!</i><br />
<br />
Yep, that's the main thing you need for Feminist Fantasy. Ovaries. And some magic, come to think of it. Can't have fantasy without magic.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-85629801331676156722010-11-15T09:48:00.000-08:002010-11-15T09:48:20.701-08:00Writing For The LoveThis weekend I read about an interesting experiment. The researcher put two groups of people into rooms with a puzzle that they had to assemble as a team. One group was to be paid for each puzzle piece that had been corrected placed. The other group was not paid. After a set amount of time, the researcher called a halt, put some magazines in the room, and told the participants that he was going to go grade their efforts. Instead, he sat down and watched the people in the rooms.<br />
<br />
Those that had been paid by the completed puzzle piece went to the magazines and began to read them. Those who had not been paid continued to try to solve the puzzle.<br />
<br />
The results don't surprise me. After people have been paid to do something, its hard for them to do it without pay. I see that all the time in writing. Once a person has entertained the idea of writing for pay, the idea of writing for the love becomes objectionable. The work they do must be marketed and sold, must not be given away. No matter how much joy the writing may have brought them when it was just for fun, now it is serious. Now it is work.<br />
<br />
Further, they tell Everybody that it is bad to write for free, until Everybody knows it. You don't put work on the web, if you are a serious author. You don't self-publish. You don't, under any circumstance, give it away for free.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure I want the joy of creating for creation's sake taken away from me. Sure, I want to make money at this. Who doesn't want to make money? But I also want to keep part of it for fun. Maybe I'll head over to Smashwords, and put up some stories for free. For fun. For the love.<br />
<br />
Right after I get this for-pay work done...Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-37034712746427716412010-11-13T14:52:00.000-08:002010-11-13T14:56:07.644-08:00AnthologiesDear Diary,<br />
<br />
As a child growing up among my parent's collections of books, the short story collections were the first I took to reading. They were brief and varied, and each story could be consumed before important plot elements were forgotten. Many of the ideas were quirky and thought-provoking. Books dragged on a bit, a challenge to my elementary school mind. My parents had some magazines, also filled with interesting short stories.<br />
<br />
Today, all we hear about is how the magazines are barely holding on and how anthologies really don't make money. This seems odd in our time-pressed culture. One would think that a book that could be consumed in small chunks would be more popular than a novel, not less. And magazines still cost less than a paperback when bought on the newstand. By subscription, they are a huge bargain.<br />
<br />
It doesn't make sense. Unless -- is there a reason why people would rather put their money into books than into short stories?<br />
<br />
Could it be that I'm not the only person disappointed in the state of short story publications today? I figured I was just being a snob, and that I was only imagining that short stories in magazines are very artsy --but not very thrilling. Not thought-provoking to the hurried mind. Not entertaining in the way that the old stories used to be.<br />
<br />
But if it is just me, then why are the magazines getting harder and harder to sell? And themed anthologies -- they should be popular. I like variety, and so do many people I know. We go to buffets and sample all the different foods. An anthology of short stories should be likewise. Unfortunately, I all too often find that the stories in anthologues are monotonous. It's like going to the Chinese buffet and finding twenty different varieties of Fried Rice. I want to try different things, but the editor seems to be working on variations of a single theme.<br />
<br />
I wonder if anthologies would sell better if they had more variety, more plots that were tangential to the theme? I wonder if it would excite people to read exciting, non-stylistic stories? I wonder if I'm just weird?Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-62276771199365066472010-11-12T14:27:00.001-08:002010-11-12T14:27:11.667-08:00I'm Sure I Had An Idea...Dear Diary,<br />
<br />
I'm sure I had an idea for a topic today. Where did I put it?<br />
<br />
Maybe if I clean up this writing room I will find it...Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-54066107853397522862010-11-11T08:04:00.000-08:002010-11-11T08:05:00.651-08:00Revise, Rinse, RepeatDear Diary,<br />
<br />
Today I worked on revising some stuff I had completed and let sit for awhile. Writing is like making soup. The longer it sits, the better it gets. And that which was perfect last month is incomplete today.<br />
<br />
One story needs an ending. I was trying to create something short, something flash. It may still stay as a short piece, but it's not going to be flash. In fact, I may only have the beginning.<br />
<br />
That's always a disheartening feeling, for some reason. Finished, no. Barely started. Where do I go from here? How does it end? Other, of course, than some time in the future.<br />
<br />
Just like housework...Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-29429965849990889372010-11-10T09:15:00.000-08:002010-11-10T09:15:15.361-08:00Urban FantasyDear Diary,<br />
<br />
You may not know this, but right next to you, right in your own home town, where you take your kids to school and buy your supper, evil is lurking. And not just any evil. Those foul-mouthed punks, that seemingly random violence, and even the the tiny annoyances of the ever-red traffic lights are all part of a supernatural movement that will, quite soon, erupt in demonic flames and fractured reality. But you'll never know it because also sitting next to you, in the guise of a mild-mannered street bum, is a supernatural hero with a hard-boiled past, who will sacrifice almost everything to keep you ignorant.<br />
<br />
Welcome to Urban Fantasy.<br />
<br />
It takes place in the real world, generally in some troubled city like Detroit or Cleveland, and features the epic battles of good and evil while most everyone notices that nothing unusual is happening. The reason that no one ever seems to notice this varies from the conspiracy of the magical world to keep itself hidden from mundane eyes to the simple reality that most mundanes wouldn't know a dragon if it stepped on their car. They would probably just blame the wreckage on some drunk kids speeding down the street. But the main reason that no one ever knows about this magical world is that the hero almost always wins to keep the bad evil from changing the world. And if he or she fails, a cover story can always be quickly fabricated.<br />
<br />
So, the first step in writing an urban fantasy novel is to comb the newspapers for unusual events and then ask yourself, "What supernatural force could have caused this?" And then, "What happens next?"<br />
<br />
But whatever you do, don't forget that urban fantasy must also be gritty, dark, and moderately depressed. Why? That's the fashion. It's also the atmosphere of "urban," that land of slums, garbage strikes, graffiti, and the homeless. But urban is also the land of museums, river festivals, parades, and major league ballparks. There should be some fertile ideas in those!Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-73883446567310036442010-11-09T07:06:00.000-08:002010-11-09T07:06:48.517-08:00Non-NaNoWriMoDear Diary,<br />
<br />
In the wide world of writing, Novemeber has been set aside as a month when authors attempt the marathon of writing: an entire novel in thirty days or less. Of course, the novel is to be short, only 50,000 words. And crappy. Yes, the whole point is to write a crappy novel in as little time as possible -- for by telling your brain that it is supposed to be crappy, you short-circuit the internal editor who stands over your shoulder whimpering, "That sentence wasn't good enough. Go back and change it." And the idea is that if you write a short, crappy novel, you will at least have the basic frame down, and can go back and work on it at your leisure.<br />
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At the least, this is supposed to be a very fun experience. I don't go for full participation in the event because, even with my internal editor turned off, I wear out after a thousand words a day. That and my habit of not waiting until one particular month to embark on white fire writing. Last year I hit a spell that might have qualified, but it struck in the middle of August.<br />
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I have found, however, that not everyone supports the idea of NaNoWriMo. Most, like me, simply feel that the frantic pace is not for them. Not in November, with the holidays breathing down our necks. But there are some interesting alternative to the marathon.<br />
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There is, for example, NaQuaWriMo -- or National Quality Writing Month. You turn out a 100 words of highly polished prose every day for a month. I cann imagine that might be of more use to me, as I can write crappy just fine, but writing well is a challenge. Or there is NaPoWriMo -- National Poetry Writing Month. Produce a poem a day. There was even at one point WriSoEvDay -- write something every day. <br />
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What has worked best me, however, is a simple challenge. You set the word goal for each day, preferable something that makes you stretch a bit without guaranteering frustration, then report every day whether or not you made the goal. The other people who have picked up the challenge with you also report in the same place. It's not frantic, it's not a heart-pounding. But it's a steady pace that can easily become habit-forming.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-25353528544984210622010-11-05T10:12:00.000-07:002010-11-05T10:12:05.618-07:00Vacuuming The Cat Is A Good IdeaDear Diary,<br />
<br />
I have come with the perfect excuse for why I cannot do NaNoWriMo this year: my cat won't let me.<br />
<br />
I admit, freely and without reservation, that I am too slow a writer to achieve NaNoWriMo. I can approximate the experience, however, with something I call a Rough Write. It's hand written, it jumps off the board with no good goal in sight or even a way to get there, it plows ahead without revision, and it taps into a very creative part of my brain. After doing the Rough Write, I can then do the first typed draft. Followed by a serious revison or two, then a serious polish, then another polish, and so on. This November my need to do a Rough Write coincides with the challenge, so I am aiming to finish the section I am Rough Writing by the end of the month. I've got what, fourteen hand-written pages?<br />
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However, I have discovered that my opportunities to sit down with notebook and pen are limited. Today I had to flee to Starbucks to get some done. I really thought that I would have more time to sit and write once my children were out of the house, but I found that their place has been taken by the cat.<br />
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Pet me! Pet me! Love me! Pet me!<br />
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He comes begging for attention every time I install myself on the couch with pen and paper. And if I do not pet him, with my right hand no less, he starts reaching out with his paw and touching me. Pat. Pat. Pat the author. And if I do not respond, then he continues to pat.<br />
<br />
With his claws out.<br />
<br />
<i>I have a request you can't ignore...</i>Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826353177282255966.post-78407551114398631062010-11-04T06:24:00.000-07:002010-11-04T06:24:34.451-07:00They Saw What????Dear Diary,<br />
<br />
I am reading a book where the protag remembers going to visit Serpent Mound, in Ohio. She describes what she saw, as a young girl. And I said, "What?"<br />
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Now, the author had done her research, I give her that. In fact, I recognized her description from similar ones I had seen while researching the place myself. But I've also been to Serpent Mound, and what she describes the young girl seeing is impossible.<br />
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"Anya recalled walking around the edges of the mound with her mother. She hadn't been impressed at the time. The mound wasn't more than three feet high and it seemed to melt into the grass, like a sea serpent sleeping... Anya's mother pointed from the nose to the tail of the effigy. "This is the sleeping place of a great serpent. They all sleep underground."<br />
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What's wrong with this description is a small thing, but one which screams out to me. You can't see the entire serpent from the ground. You can't see much at all. <a href="http://weekendwizards.blogspot.com/2010/05/serpent-mound-ohio.html">weekendwizards.blogspot.com</a> To see the serpent, you have to get up in the air. A three-story metal platform was constructed at the turn of the century for just that purpose -- and one would think that climbing such a thing, an open air metal staircase, would itself have made an impression on the narrator. But even from the platform you can't see the head of the serpent very well.<br />
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It seems to me that the author has never been to the place her character traveled to. Not that this is a major fault, but it begs the question: If you can't afford to travel to all the places you describe, what's the best way to describe them? How afraid should you be of getting details wrong? If I had never been to Serpent Mound, I would not have caught the error. Still, it makes me more nervous about setting my stories in places I have never been.<br />
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Score one for Fantasy. At least the Fantasy lands are all I imagine them to be, and nothing more.Dragonwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01404255745335201964noreply@blogger.com0