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July 09, 2009

Building Platform

Liana Brooks has a great article link in a post about building platform. Do read that article by Michael Hyatt and consider if you might benefit from starting a Facebook, Twitter, and blog account, too.  (Most of you do have blogs, though, I know; it's how we found each other, right?) 

There is, of course, the downside of blogging and twittering and facebooking:  Blogging can be a time suck, potentially scratching the writing urge itch* and ruining your production.  But it can also be a valuable means of building readership.   

Also, a great article, The Beginner's Guide to Twitter, and this is a site with many cool apps listed which you can use to have twitter post links to blog entries, so you can follow twitter tweets on mobile phones, you desktop or whatnot.

*itch reference via Josephine Damien's blog about a conversation with Donald Maas. 

Today is Readercon, next week is Babelcon.

Readercon is an annual sf convention that's in the Boston area.  I could actually make this one if I could ever get the time off.  Here's some info for you, and maybe you can plan to be there next year!  And if you are free on the 17th, you can go to Louisiana and enjoy Babelcon!  (I think that's a good one; if I had to pick a place in the South to live, Louisiana would get my vote.)

I think I'll start a lit of annual conventions so that I can keep my eye on the prize and hopefully make it to one one of these days.  Maybe meet up with some of my blog friends.  Oh, wait!  Yahoo has done that for me...check out Upcoming.org group on yahoo here.  You can keep a calendar of events online.  Pretty cool site, actually.

Blog that you should watch for opportunities

Instead of actual content for Opportunity Thursday, I give you a  Cool Site, Anthology News & Reviews, which lists anthology opportunities on a regular basis.

New Markets!

Death Head Grin.  Length 500-6000 words.  Pay: $0.  "Focus on speculative fiction...all genres considered except for erotica or romance."  Open submissions as they are currently looking for submissions for the first issue.

The Fugitive's HideawaySF/F/H. Length: 3-5k. Pays: $0.  "The Hideaway will eventually become a in-print/online speculative fiction magazine. We're open for submissions in all capacities and are trying to implement content fast, so submit ASAP. The first issue is on target to publish in July, the reading and submissions period will be open until 12:00am June 21st, 2009. Submissions after this are fine, they just will have to wait until later in the summer."

Emerald Tales.  Length: 4k. Pays: $40 flat.  Bi-montly print magazine.  All genres"Needs poetry and short fiction from a cross-section of genres all written on the same theme. There will also be an ongoing serial story of six installments, one installment per issue. Volume one: Theme: Follow the Butterflies."  Check the website for current themes and submission instructions.  Submissions@scribblersandinkspillers.com

NewFoundSpecFic.  Length: up to 4.5k.  Pays: $.01/word (Canadian$) or a flat $45 for stories exceeding 4.5k.  Bi-annual speculative fiction anthology.  Aims to showcase the creative spec fic stories of horror, fantasy and science fiction written by "many of the undiscovered talents of Canada."  Deadline: July 6, 2009 for the next issue.  (NOTE:  From the web site, it appears that submissions are not limited to Canadians.) 

CHEER UP, UNIVERSE (One Time Print - TBD) Needs: SF/F. Length: No limits. Pays: 1¢/wd ($15 max) "Seeking ORIGINAL speculative fiction stories (both SF and Fantasy) that make us feel good. Feeling good is subjective so going into specifics is not possible."  Submit: Ai_59@yahoo.com  This one sounded interesting.  I mean, upbeat futuristic fiction?  Tres droll!

HYPERSONIC TALES Length: 1k. Pays: $5.  All genres.  Looking for flash fiction.

QUEER GOTHIC (One Time Print/E anthology - Queered Fiction)  Length: 3-10k. Pays: 50% split royalty"We're looking for gothic tales of horror and romance. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés."  Submit: Editor@queeredfiction.com  Deadline: 08/31/09.  Publishing Date: Aug/Sep 2009

AND A CONTEST:

CHIZINE & Leisure Books are sponsoring a contest.  "Leisure Books, the company “leading the way in publishing paperback horror,”* is partnering with Rue Morgue magazine in association with horror fiction web site ChiZine, to present “Fresh Blood,” a new writing contest specifically for unpublished horror authors. The winner will receive a contract for publication in Leisure’s 2011 lineup....

Leisure is looking for finished horror novel manuscripts, either supernatural or non-supernatural, of 80,000–90,000 words. A panel of experts, including Leisure Executive Editor Don D’Auria and editors at ChiZine, will judge entries. The finalists will be announced in November 2009."

July 08, 2009

Help Orbit Books create the World's Worst SFF Book Cover!

World In A Satin Bag has a link to Orbit Books' contest to create the World's Worst SFF Book Cover.  This sounds like some fun to be had.  Right now, they are asking for crappy titles; soon they'll be asking for book cover elements. 

Also on that post is a link to Smashing Magazine's list of the Fifty Best Free Resources to help you with your writing. 

Confluence 2009 this month!

Say, if you aren't doing anything on the weekend of July 24th and you're in the area, perhaps you might consider attending Confluence!  It's an sf convention in Pittsburgh PA, and John Scalzi is the guest of honor.  (I actually have that week for vacation, but I am committed to getting some home improvement projets done and can't afford it this year anyhow.  But it sounds like it might be fun.)

Confusing action scenes

"The trouble is, suspense involves a bit of fear. You're scared something bad will happen to a character you care about. That's how it works. If the hero is completely unassailable there's no tension: they'll win, so why get interested? You already know what's going to happen. Conversely, if the scene is going to have any dramatic tension, there has to be a chance the hero will suffer, will lose, will fail."  Kit Whitfield, from her blog

Blog hopping this morning, I came across Kit Whitfield's post on, basically, some of the reasons why Transformers 2 is considered to suck, big time.  [Before we go on to the main topic, let me just say that, although I gave it an immediate "too long and boring despite the noise and explosions and things morphing all over the goddamn place" I didn't hate it; it was just dull and dumb with confusing scene cuts.  Not engaging.  Brain candy of the glitteriest and most unfulfilling sort...but I didn't hate it.]

However, Ms. Whitfield expresses one reason Transformers 2 was dull and hard to grasp:  The action director broke the 180 degree rule, which basically states when you make a scene cut, you need to maintain continuity so as not to confuse the viewer, for example "if a vehicle leaves the right side of the frame in one shot, it should enter from the left side of the frame in the next shot. Leaving from the right and entering from the right will create a ...sense of disorientation."

Or, more clearly, "The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle." (From Wiki, link above.)

How this applies to writing.

Ms. Whitfield's post got me to thinking about action scenes and about emotional hooks.  I read Lilith Saintcrow's new book, Strange Angels last night, and although a few spots made my eyes cross (descriptions in the character's style were sometimes convoluted to the point of meaninglessness) it was a gripping read that had me staying up until I finished the book...because I was hooked emotionally.  I cared about the characters, and I also wanted to know what happened next.  So both suspense and emotional hook accomplished.

Now, the reader has to care about the outcome of all the crises your characters face.   If s/he doesn't, you will lose their interest.  These mini-crises build up to the major crisis, and the main character has to come out of these early crises to get to the big climactic crisis.  The important thing out of all these moments building to the climax is that the reader has to have serious doubt that your character can actually reach her goal, that the character really could lose or die or fail.  And, sometime, your character does experience a set back, so you have to ensure that if that does happen, readers believe your character can overcome this new obstacle, too, and keep slogging forward. 

It's not straightforward always, but the emotions you create in a reader are. They must care about your characters, must want them to win. 

And this applies to fight scenes, or action scenes in books as well.

In Ms.Saintcrow's book Strange Angels, there were a number of fight scenes.  I found them really well crafted and very clear as to what was occurring.  Here and there i think they got a bit overlong and a touch too descriptive about things like sounds (and I say this because I stopped to notice during the fight scenes, which did pull me from the reading a teensy bit) but the actions were very clear and the emotional drama was high.  It flat worked for me as a reader.

And after reading Kit Whitfield's post on Transformers, I realised something about how movie structure and book story structure overlap.  It's not quite the 180 degree rule, but it is something worth considering, and which I think Lilith Saintcrow used to good effect:  Keeping the focus of the pov character written so it stayed in focus yet keeping her also feeling and worrying about her compadres in the middle of a fight. 

That sounds rather simplistic and obvious, but I can think of other fight scenes where the character's emotions weren't engaged (e.g. not blended in with the writing) and where others were involved but the pov character doesn't feel for them.

So maybe this is s bit of hair splitting, but like the quote at the top of this post, it occurs to me that if you don't fully engage the readers' emotions your story won't grab them as much...but that can't happen if your character doesn't care herself.  You need to write them so they care, and that has to be a strong, clear thread throughout the story you write.  It doesn't have to be overt, but it needs to be there...at least for me. 

What do you think? 

July 07, 2009

Writing about zombies a felony?

Ran across this undated story link and when I read it I certainly found it an eyebrow raiser.  You will too:  You can be arrested for terrorism for writing stories:  "'Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky,' said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill."

Wuh-huh????? I think this should be dismissed, but one wonders.  

On the personal front, I have actually lost maybe five pounds.  Can't figure out how it actually occurred, given that a week ago I'd gained seven pounds according to my scale.  I go up and down so much it drives me crazy. This loss will make my surgeon happy, too.  She can't say I haven't been toeing the diet/exercise/drive myself crazy line with five pounds off my butt.  On the other hand, I kind of went nuts today and ate Mcdonalds, Pop Tarts, several bananas, cherries, 40 ounces of coffee with cream--all topped off with vegetable stir fry for dinner.  I know.  Wierd.  I just was hungry and wanted to EAT.  Feed me Seymour and all that. 

Sometimes I think one's body resists losing weight by giving you massive hunger attacks like I had today.

Anyhow, back to dieting tomorrow. 

WisCon 34: May 27-31, 2010

WisCon is a feminist oriented sf convention.  Per the site, "This is the world's leading feminist science fiction convention. WisCon encourages discussion and debate of ideas relating to feminism, gender, race and class. WisCon welcomes writers, editors and artists whose work explores these themes as well as their many fans. We have panel discussions, academic presentations, and readings as well as many other uncategorizable events. WisCon is primarily a book-oriented convention... with an irrepressible sense of humor."  Mary Ann Mohanraj is one of the guest speakers, too!

Emotions affect germ cells?

Here's an idea for you:  Your parents' emotional states have a profound affect upon your emotional makeup. 
 
According to this Science Daily article, a study "suggests that a wide range of chemicals that our brain generates when we are in different moods could affect 'germ cells' (eggs and sperm), the cells that ultimately produce the next generation. Such natural chemicals could affect the way that specific genes are expressed in the germ cells, and hence how a child develops."
 
I am sort of boggled by this concept, as you could go many crazy places with it:
  • Big Brother manipulating people with subliminal messages to create a "slave" population of passive consumers;
  • people consciously planning their grandchildren (or the next generation of of their utopian society, Hitler Youth or whatever) by manipulating the germ cells of their kids;
  • clones grown for the purpose of properly stimulating and then harvesting "to order" germ cells--either in a government or private enterprise;
  • germ cell factories (e.g. just organs clones) and stimulated/harvested via implant in hosts who are kept brain controlled for that purpose...which gives a new use for prisoners and is rather squicky;
  • and more, mostly along the lines of how good ideas can go oh-so-wrong when the government steps in to control human breeding.
 
 

July 06, 2009

Wierd Al for Musical Monday

"Craigslist," by Weird Al, is a tribute to The Doors.  Really good music, and as always Al surprises me with his singing ability and his ability to mimic other performers.  This is Hi-Def, so it takes forever to load.  But it's really cool, so check it out!

Also, for vast amusement for little effort, you can follow Al on Twitter.  The guy's just funny. 

SFWA Professional Sales

I see carping about RWA and SFWA and other writers' associations all over the place, it seems.  Who's recognized as a professional sales market, who's recognized as a professional writer. Do ebooks count, et cetera.  It's crazy-making, is what it is.

But, for your elucidation, here is the Science Fiction Writers of America page listing what it takes to qualify for membership.  Note you only have to have one professional-ranked story sale to become an Affiliate Member, and three for an Active Member (or one novel sale.)

The professional sales rates have also changed:  paid at the rate of 5c/word or higher (3c/word before

1/1/2004).  If you get a nickel a word, you're golden.

Is your character above the [natural] law?

Space.com offers a number of things that are fascinating to the non-scientist. As a writer, I find the articles are easily digestible and useful for idea fuel.

Take this article for example  which describes one potential means of using a black hole's singularity to pop over into another universe. As the article states,

"But some black holes have hybrid structures, theorists have long suspected. The new research shows that the hybrid singularity could contain both strong and weak sectors. 'It would allow the captain to navigate toward the sector where the singularity is weak,' Burko said. 'Experiencing only finite (and even small) effects (of stretching and squeezing), the spaceship could arrive at the singularity unharmed. While that still does not guarantee a peaceful traversing of the singularity, it keeps the possibility of doing so open. If that traversing becomes possible, it could open a 'tunnel' to another universe.'"

Extra-universal travel explained? Cool. But what about using black holes to jump across our own universe? The question that I've always had to consider when the possibility of extra-universal travel comes up in conversation (as it does so frequently) is this: Laws of physics that apply in our universe (Universe One) likely will differ over yonder in Universe Two.  Different universe, different physical laws, right?  It is a distinct possibility that another universe, another reality, will have variances or even completely different sets of rules.

For example, what about gravity? Or perception by the human mind? Is thought a powerful yet weak force like gravity, able to affect things in a field like gravity does? Is light perceived the same? So many questions.

But the biggest one for me is akin to the issue of going physcally backward or forwards in time:  Can a human being survive that sort of thing if we ever figure out how to do it? What happens to a living being subjected to the physical laws of a new universe? Can they survive what occurs to them? Is there some natural 'translation' that occurs allowing them to live and function? Is being in a new galaxy like living in a dream, where things make sense when you're there, but not once you are no longer in that realm?  And, most fascinating for me, do the 'rules' change when you translate yourself into another reality like that?  Is your natural response to, say, gravity, going to turn into the ability to consciously resist the new universe's version of gravity, e.g. to fly?  (Superman's powers stem from merely being on another planet, which wouldn't make a difference according to our understanding of physics; but into another reality, another universe?  I think that concept makes sense in that context!)

I have my own thoughts. What are yours?

July 05, 2009

Plots and links

"In every story there are visible and hidden “hinges”–places where the particular bits of the story “hang,” for structure. The visible hinges are crisis points and revelations, easy enough to spot. The hidden hinges, however, are harder to see. This is partly because the hat-trickof writing depends just as much on what happens behind the curtain as it does on the visible excitements that make up the outer story."  Lilith Saintcrow, from her blog

I like that description of pivotal plot points.  The skeleton, if you will, to the story.  Without these key occurrences and the scenes you write to deploy them, the novel will fall flat.

Additionally, Moonrat, our friendly Editorial Ass[istant], posted a link to another great publishing site by another editorial assistant, Charles Tan.  He's based in the Philippines, apparently, but the site has lots of great links to publishing & writing advice sites.

July 04, 2009

Site updates update

FYI I've gotten all the links from the blog into the link pages, but there are more to come.  I've a zillion (see, I counted that high again!) which I have to copy from Goodle Reader and the old blog as well.  Plus gleanings from blog posts that I always meant to add in there. 

So if I frequently comment and you don't find yourself on the link list it's because you're on my Google Reader.  I'll get to you.  Really I will.  This is just very time consuming!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy birthday, USA! 

To celebrate, I shall be working.  But if the weather is clear I might make it to see the fireworks and be munched on by a zillion black flies and mosquitoes. 

And for those of you who aren't celebrating your nation's birth, I hope you have a lovely day as well.

July 03, 2009

I'm updating the site!!!

As I've accumulated a zillion (yes, I CAN count that high!) links over the last couple of years, I'm pulling them off the site and placing them on linked pages.  You can find them in the top right link list entitled, appropriately enough, Writtenwyrdd Links. 

Organic idea

Organic vs. Genetically Modified (GM) foods.  No matter your take on the science, these videos provide some possibles for world building. 

I am reminded of Karen Travis' Wes'har series, where GM crops are all that are available, and thus the world's food supply is in the iron fascist fist of global corporations. While that wasn't the main thrust of the novels (there being a great big story arc involving people, political issues, ecological issues and alien first contact) the Macguffin that is chased after initially is a pack of non-genetically modified crop genetics.  Without that particular quest for the story, the rest would not have followed.

July 02, 2009

Workshop opportunity

Check this workshop opportunity out: F&SF's sponsoring a workshop led by Gardner Dozios, who was editor of Asimov's for twenty years.  Details here

I'm willing to plonk my money down for this one!

Groovy progress meters installed!

Thanks to Fairy Hedgehog, I have progress meters in the side bar.  I'm only tracking short stories.  The myriad novel projects will limp along like always, gathering dust and cobwebs along the way.

WIP-ometers

I want to know, if anyone can tell me, where do people find those cool widgets that measure the progress of their various projects in the sidebars of their blogs and websites?  If you know, can you hook me up, please?  I can use the embarrassment incentive!

Contest!

Golden Gazette, part of Galaxy Press, has launched a new contest. It's not precisely about writing, but you needed to get your Halloween costume prepped anyhow, right?

The contest is simple; dress up as your favorite pulp fiction character and send your photo in to editor@galaxypress.com by email or by regular mail to:

GALAXY PRESS
Attn: Editor
7051 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

More details at the link!

 

Invincible Defense, anyone?

Gypsy scholar has an article on a proposal for an Invincible Defense.

Whether dealing with megalomaniacs in the real world (where it's darned scary) or in your spec fic tale, it's a fascinating idea...and I say it loving sarcasm.  Really.

July 01, 2009

cool sites

Thought you might find this article on archetypes in writing interesting. 
 
And Nick Mamatas has a link to a cool science magazine, H+.  You can read it digitally, which is a bit annoying, but it loads fairly quickly. From my perusal, it has a lot of great little articles. The one that particularly got my attention was about how drinking a bit of heavy water (but not too much of it, which will kill you) can prolong the life of fruit flies. And as an anecdote, heavy water ice cubes sink in regular water.
 

June 30, 2009

My zombie story is up!

My zombie story, "What Mother Never Told You," is up at Electric Spec ezine.  A great crop of stories this issue, if I do say so myself. 

Thanks to the editors at Electric Spec as well.  The story's beginning, in particular, was improved by the red pen.  The suggested cuts forced me to rewrite the beginning to remove some extraneous stuff with which really wasn't in the same tone as the rest of the story.

I like to call my tale a "cozy horror."  And I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Poetry skills help prose writing

Tara Maya has an excellent post on poetic sensibilities in prose writing.  It echoes my own sense of things. 

Underpainting

Underpainting - a new term I found on Julie Weather's blog the other day helps to describe the stage business and other elements which are so important to convey subtext and mood, as well as to help pull the reader futher into the fictional world. Carefully chosen, the details that comprise underpainting can make a good scene outstanding.  A worthy refresher and reminder on stage business. 
 
I rather like the term underpainting, but I'm afraid that my own experience painting literally colors the term in a less-than-useful way for me.  Probably something to do with my scrape and repaint habits, lol.
 

Hikkikomori - an odd angst for your characters

I ran across a mention of hikkikomori the other day--some sort of social withdrawal being described in Japan.  It's akin to agoraphobia but more a fear of being around other people than of being outside, and possibly due to academic or social embarrassment/failures. Young men primarily.  See wiki article here.
 
Not exactly sure how to use this tid bit, but I liked it.  I think it might be an interesting thing to use when building a culture-focused and success-oriented society.
 
Ideas.
Your protagonist knows others like this. Your protagonist flirts with this problem. Your protagonist tries it, can't manage it or is denied by parental intervention. And the protagonist, though checked in his urge to avoid social/academic failure again, must thus find a new venue in which to fit when faced with the shame of returning to the outside world. This spawns a fascinating tangent to the life he has previously led.
 
 
 

June 29, 2009

What if you had a longer life?

When I saw that Madoff got 150 years in prison for his crimes, I figured he deserved it.  Not as badly as the Enron assholes who took thousands of peoples' retirement pensions away from them deserved to DIE, but Madoff does deserve his punishment. 

It occurred to me that Madoff wouldn't live to endure one hundred and fifty years of punishment...but I'd really like him to. 

And it further occurred to me...what if we had the technology to extend the life of a man? 

And what if we used that technology not for the average guy, nor for the rich...but for extending the life of criminals so that they die Five Freaking Minutes before their release from prison--after one hundred and fifty years?

I like that. 

One hundred and fifty years in prison... In those circumstances, a really long life would become a nasty punishment.

There's a story there someplace...



"Punk" fiction defined

Maura Anderson on Witchy Chicks has a good definition of "punk" subgenres--Cyberpunk and Steampunk--here.  Check it out.  Below, my understandings to add to the conversation. 

Cyberpunk - To me, William Gibson is the master of this style, although Bruce Sterling is also well known for his work in the cyberpunk subgenre.  These two essentially began it in the 80s!   Read Gibson's Neuromancer or Mona Lisa Overdrive for your bible.  Cyberpunk has an asthetic of tech-merged-with-man, computer reality as real as the world of our five senses, high tech with a fast, fast, fast paced motion like living inside a video game.  Glitter, glam, details and jargon.  Visually:  Bladerunner.  Often rather post-apocalyptic in feel, cyberpunk deals in society run by corportations more than government, taking the current trend of megacorps sucking control one corrupt official and dollar at a time from the governments and peoples of the world and investing it in themselves.  Individual hopelessness fostering a man-versus-machine asthetic and a disdain for the flesh world (body as meat), rebels without a cause, punks as heros.  Cyberpunk Review's definition here, Wikipedia's here.

Now, I've heard that some think cyberpunk is passe, a child of the 80s that has died a slow death.  But, like the mullet, it hasn't quite disappeared from the scene!  There are still some works in that vein coming out in print in the last few years; and the movies still embrace the look and feel.  [And personally I find that dark fantasy, especially dark urban fantasy, has embraced a lot of what makes cyberpunk what it is.  You have the gritty, dangerous feel.  You have magic (standing in for tech) and a disdain for those without magic/supernatural powers, you have either vast supernatural forces or corporations (often of evil) threatening mankind's rule over itself.  In short, you have much of what makes cyberpunk what it is.]

Some of my favorites in the genre:  Gibson (Mona Lisa Overdrive, Neuromancer), Marianne de Pierres (Parrish Plessis series), and for movies Aeon Flux, Dark City, BladeRunner, The Matrix.  Check out Cyberpunk Review to find more reads and films in this genre.

Steampunk - My take: Generally Victorian era with technology resembling modern 21st century tech, except things tend to be powered by steam or clockwork.  Emphasis on flying craft and sometimes an organic design vibe reminiscent of Art Noveau or Art Deco.  Wiki's take: "In general, the category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate-history version of an actual historical period) where the Industrial Revolution has already begun but electricity is not yet widespread, with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets."

Books such as The Difference Engine (by Gibson & Sterling) and the graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Films in the genre include The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass., and the anime Steamboy.  (That last title is a bit of a clue, isn't it?)

You can learn more about steampunk (both as a cultural phenomena and as a subgenre of speculative fiction) at Steampunk Magazine.

Musical Idol Monday

I bring you bad video quality, but it's my favorite clip from this season's American Idol, because it stars my two favorites from the show: Adam Lambert and Allison Irehita. (I hate the widescreen overlap so I've removed it.  Drives me crazy.)


June 28, 2009

Online Psychic Test

Check this out!  An advanced ESP test using the Zener cards.

You tell me: Is this legit?

Via New Adventures in Fantasy Fiction, I found a link to Anthology Builder, a site that purportedly allows you to build your own anthology. 

Per the site, "Our story archives contain hundreds of reprints from quality magazines. You pick the cover. You pick the stories. You run the show."  They use already published works and say they obtain rights to publish the works.  Then you decide whose stories you want to print and print them.  The books are bound, have cover art and sound like 'real' books...but I wonder about things like ISBN numbers and such, and whether this is something that might end up being controversial...

Any thoughts on this, people?

more blahther

I don't intend to volunteer myself for the McKoala Claws of Shame & Rending but I do hope to get the rest of my story drafted out today.  We'll see.  My writing has been pretty consistently not since the big move. 

And another story, "Another Shade of Pale," which has been hanging fire while I admit to myself the original structure isn't working and must be totally revised, is perking away merrily in the back of my head.  I think I'm almost ready to slash and hack...

More rain predicted for the rest of the week.  So long as lightning's not going to strike my office again, I'm happy.  What's really exciting is when lightning strikes while you are sitting there.  One struck about thirty yards away and blew half the equipment last summer.  It's a wonder anything worked yesterday, given that it either struck the building directly or within a few yards!  But only the telecommunications went.  The lightning arrestors (I think that's what they're called) and a couple of the other pieces of the telecomm gear were fried, but remarkably no computers or anything else. 

In other news, my life is rather dull.  My tenant moves into the old house this week and I plan on celebrating by spending the rent money on paying off credit cards.  How's that for exciting?

June 27, 2009

A comparison of drafts for y'all...

My blather post yesterday showed what I felt was a promising start to a new short story.  For comparison purposes, here are the revised first three paragraphs as they exist today.  Voila:

When twilight brought sirocco winds sweeping through the mud brick alleys of ancient Aplinar and clawing through the crevices of her tiny flop, Meida roused from a fitful and sweaty doze to prepare for the evening.  She gathered her damp curls into a braid and donned the local fashion, a loose-fitting salwar tunic and baggy kameez pants in the plain linen of the working class, then draped herself in a dark blue chadri of a different caste entirely--one to which, ironically, she was entitled, although that was not her reason for the choice.  Made of silk and embroidered with a pattern of leaves and vines forming glyphs intended to guard her virtue, the chadri was stifling, both because of heat and the magical cloud it settled upon her aura.  It would go down the nearest midden as soon as she was done with it, and good riddance.  But for now it masked her power and the various charms, gris-gris and mundane weaponry she carried on her person.

She checked her gear one last time, made sure all was ready for a hurried departure, and sketched a glyph of aversion across both possessions and the rickety door.  Then, in a ritual as old as her freedom, she checked the rubies at forehead, wrist, ankle, neck and navel, ensuring they remained bound against her skin, protecting her.  As prepared as she could be, she pinned the chadri to hide her face, and, with a sigh, donned the last necessary discomfort, the fingerless gloves which hid the one body part women habitually did expose in Aplinar, their plump and hennaed hands. 

Immediately, heat filled Meida's palms like damp, hot coins to match the sweat pasting curls against her nape, making her grateful for the wind when a moment later she stepped outside.  Discomfort, however, was the least of her worries. She had a commission to fulfill and this night to fulfill it. And all was in readiness except for the acquisition of a single item.

If you compare the two, notice that, though the same general activities and ideas are expressed, there are a lot of different things going on.  The prose is broader, for one thing, and the actions better described and blocked out.  And I've added in more clarity about magic, the heat and mention some amulets that become important later. And the original third paragraph has been excised as indulgent and not relevant. 

Admittedly, it's about 120 words longer now (333 versus 220ish); but I like it much better. 

You can call this draft 2 for the purposes of examination, but I am only 2500 words into a 5000 word story.  It's still the first draft.  Now you see why I don't write that fast; I tinker until I am reasonably satisfied before I move on.

I'm certainly not the only person ever to develop this style of story construction.  But it is what satisfies me.  I have to rework until I get the details settled.  I battered my  head against a mental wall yesterday, trying to get the kernal of an old idea (which I'd already started as a book at this character's childhood, believe it or not) trying to get it to sprout.  Once I managed that, I could move forward, letting my back brain feed me ideas.  When I got stuck again, I started boring my coworker at work today with the details of the story, and that got me to the middle.  Now I'm sort of stuck in a conversation, trying to get it right before i can move on from there.  The biggest problem is the twist that makes the story hasn't come to me yet.  Because I know I'll find the kernel of that solution in teh conversation I'm struggling with, where one character is trying to convince our protagonist to let him help her kill him, that it really isn't a trick.  Meanwhile, he does have an agenda he's trying to hide...it's just not what she suspects!  And the ending must be a surprise that is well laid and thus  not such a big surprise.  (I'm not asking much here, right?) 

Meanwhile, I'm terribly afraid this won't work when it's done, so my fingers are crossed.  I hope this gets easier with practice.

And--color me surprised--I think I'm beginning to like writing short stories. 

Reframing - for those characters who need to grow

"Stop thinking some people are purely negative and evil. Every behavior has some positive intention behind it. Once you realize that, you can deal with “negative” people much better. For example, you can help them achieve their positive motive in a way that doesn’t harm anyone else." Vlad Dolezal, from his blog.

One of the things that can make me chuck a book across the room are TSTL (too stupid to live) characters who continually miss growth opportunities and retain the same flaws over the course of a series.  By book three*, if the character is continuing to whine about her problems and yet repeating the same mistakes, I say shame on the writer for failing to recognize the need for character growth as well as plot movement.

Yes, you do need both.  Plot movement implies character growth or at least change.  From being clueless to clued in, grief stricken to more at peace, victimized to vengeful--whatever.  You get the picture, though.  Because one of the things readers expect about novels is that the characters grow and change as their lives advance.  Like us, they do not remain static in their fictional worlds; characters face adversities and these leave their legacy in the form of scars, triumphs, newly won confidence, grief and the rest of the gamut of human emotions and outcomes. 

And, during all the upheaval, you character's growth has to be shown as part of a transformative process. 

One means you can use to do that is a technique called reframing.  Vlad Dolezal in his blog has a nice article on the subject, and it occurred to me it would be a useful means of dealing with a character who is in some form of emotional conflict.  Thought I'd fling that out there for you all to play around with. 

In particular, note the mention of how all actions are intended to have positive ends. They aren't inherently evil in intention. I plan to keep that in mind for my Evil Overlords. :)
 
*and here I'm being more generous than my wont
 

June 26, 2009

Cool publishing insider site: The Intern blog

Thanks to Anna Claire at A Novel Idea, I have discovered a witty blog written by a publishing intern.  It's The Intern, and you should go read it Right Now.  Because things like what she learned about authors (e.g. how strange they can be) is hilarious:

"...certain Authors are not real people and have only psychotic concerns—for example, one Author is threatening to sue because her author photo (which she provided) makes her chin look big. And another Author will only respond to e-mail written in pink, size 16, comic sans font." 

I can just imagine. The drunken/crazy/neurotic/strange/OCD author stereotypes had to come from somewhere.

What your characters want

It’s usually true that the external desire will be a selfish want – something the protagonist wants for him or herself, and the inner need will be unselfish - something the protagonst comes to want for other people. This is a useful guideline because it clearly shows character growth.   Alexandra Sokolov

You don't own your Kindle purchases.

An article I just found tells how the DRM (Digital Rights Management?) that Amazon plugs into your Kindle books basically ensures they own and control the goods you pay for.  One Amazon customer apparently returned too many items--none Kindle related--and they arbitrarily made his Kindle account null.  He could no longer access any of his Kindle subscriptions and couldn't download any of the Kindle items he'd already paid for.  (Upon appeal, Amazon relented.) 

How is that for ridiculous. 

Blah blah blather

I got inspired to write a short story based on my desire to submit to the Way of the Wizards anthology I linked to last Thursday.  Four hours, 216 words.  Head banging against wall.  Nails bitten.  And not enough coffee (because the doc said I had to cut back, drat her.)

That's two and a half paragraphs.   And now that I have the setting and main character in my head, I have to figure out the specifics of the plot, that thing upon which the story hangs.  Oh, and decide upon the ending.  Here's a snippet. 

When twilight brought sirocco winds to sweep the streets of Aplinar, Meida rose from a fitful doze within her airless room and pulled on her mantle, which obligingly reformed itself into the local fashion, a dark blue chadri.  She checked her gear again--still ready for a hurried departure--and sketched a glyph of aversion across both possessions and the door.  Then she twitched the chadri scarf across her face and donned the fingerless gloves that hid the scars across the backs of her hands.

Immediately, heat filled her palms like damp, hot coins and sweat pasted curls against her nape, making her grateful for the wind when a moment later she stepped outside.  Discomfort, however, was the least of her worries. She had a commission to fulfill and just until moonrise to fulfill it. And all was in readiness except for the acquisition of a single item, upon which hinged the entire enterprise.

Her contact in the market had best have the supplies she required.  If he did not, his license to trade would shortly be revoked--through his nostrils, with a dull spoon.

It's still a draft, but overall I like where this is heading. 

And I sort of have a logline*, too:  In ancient Aplinar, a thief matches wits with a powerful magus, only to discover the object of her desire will cost more than she's willing to pay--perhaps even her soul.

*which Alexandra Sokolov statesshould have "a defined protagonist, a powerful antagonist, a sense of the setting, conflict and stakes, and a sense of how the action will play out." 

 

Story structure

Alexandra Sokoloff* has a blog post on story structure that's fascinating in how she ties story structure and screenwriting. The twain do meet, because a screenplay is a story at its leanest, generally speaking, as a screenplay is so short when compared to a novel. It's like writing a short story but with novel length ideals. Sort of.
 
Anyhow, interesting read, and she has a whole post on her writing-related posts for your perusal, here.
 
*Via a link from Steve Malley's blog

June 25, 2009

Mother Earth News

Talk about your ultimate geeky reference tool!  Mother Earth News has a DVD of their archives--from 1970 to 2008!--for a mere $10!  You can't beat that.  (You can also pay $30 for a whoohoo package with extras, shown at the top of the page; me, I prefer the no frills version further down.) UPDATE:  My bad, it's $30, not $10.  Bad web design caused me to mistake the price for the previous item as the one for the archive DVD.

Also, for learning about old time methods of taking care of biz, you can scare up the Foxfire books.  From Amazon, "In the late 1960s, Eliot Wigginton and his students created the magazine Foxfire in an effort to record and preserve the traditional folk culture of the Southern Appalachians. This is the original book compilation of Foxfire material which introduces Aunt Arie and her contemporaries and includes log cabin building, hog dressing, snake lore, mountain crafts and food, and "other affairs of plain living."

Here's a craft project for ya!

Wreck this Journal has a few suggestions as to the proper way to keep a journal.
I'm not sure if the point is to make your journal look hard-used so you appear more writerly or it's to make fun of the whole journaling process, but it's an amusing idea to me.
 
 

Anthology opportunity

From Liana Brooks' blog, an anthology opportunity:

Way of the Wizards, John Joseph Adams editor.  Payment: 5 cents per word ($250 max), plus a pro-rata share of 50% of the anthology’s earnings and 1 contributor copy.  Word limit: 5000 words. (Stories may exceed 5000 words, but $250 is the maximum payment per story, and stories 5000 words or less are strongly preferred.)  Write about real magic wielders using magic.  Being different appears to be a plus.  Submissions:  July 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010...  So you have plenty of time! 

June 24, 2009

Cool sites

Via Nick Mamatas' blog post here I bring you a cool new webzine: Plots with Ray Guns. Amusing and if you like noir you might consider this 'zine for your submitting pleasure with your ray gun sf. 
 
And if you like to keep up with the spec fic news, you can try sfscope's blog.
 
Or this interesting spot: 
Via Nick Mamatas' blog, the World Superhero Registry.

June 23, 2009

The danger of being outdated

I've been reading a couple of books that I read twenty or twenty-five years ago--long enough ago I recalled nearly nothing about them until I started reading.  Mote In God's Eye and Destination: Void were books I recall enjoying immensely.  But sadly they are so dated they are a bit difficult to read for me now, although there is still so much good it outweights the outdated.

MIGE is filled with sexist gender roles like women wearing only skirts and being considered by the male characters in terms like "she was strong-minded for a woman" and such.  And D:V has 1966 computer terminology and references to obviously solid-state electronics, as in hand-flipped switches, diodes, capacitors, and "software" that is apparently hardware, message "tapes" and all sorts of things that sound idiotic considering the current level of technology.

But you know what?  The stories still work.  You do have to fight to get past the 'packaging' that dates them, but the stories are still really well written, gripping stories. 

Because stories are about common issues of humanity, not about the trappings.  The trappings are important, but the reader can get beyond that to the human story if it's written well.  And these are both classics and they're written exceedingly well.  (I particularly love me some Frank Herbert.)

As far as our own writing goes, however, it might behoove us to be a touch less specific about some of the scientific details that might possibly be outdated later on.  Nothing wrong with science being spouted; but if we set things in the future using a badly thought out projection of technological growth, we might feel a bit embarrassed later on when we discover we were wrong. 

June 22, 2009

free books...sort of

Got an email from Wildside Books, where they state that for a limited time if you buy a $10 or greater p riced book, they will give you a second one free.  Check it out here and see if you are interested.

The email, as follows:

Anyone who's been following Wildside Press knows we've been in business for more than 20 years now. In all those years, we've published more than 10,000 different books. In the early years, we used to just warehouse the books in the publisher's basement. And there they would sit until sold.

 
Well, there are still some copies sitting there after all these years. And the publisher's wife has decreed that the time has come. ALL MUST GO -- OR ELSE! (What the "or else" is, we don't dare contemplate!)
 
So, we've decided to give a lot of them away. More than a thousand books, in fact. Here's the deal: Every time you buy a Wildside Press book with a price of $10 or higher, we'll GIVE YOU A FREE BOOK from the vast basement stockpiles, up to a maximum of five. That's right, buy five Wildside Press books at regular prices ($10 or up) and we'll give you five more from the list below. Just detail your choices in the comments section of our online order form at www.wildsidebooks.com -- plus some alternates, in case we run out -- and number your choices in order of preference. We'll do our best to give you your first choices. (If we run out and you didn't list alternates, we reserve the right to substitute something else just as good as your first choice.)
 
Anyway. Some of these books are signed. Some are limited editions. Some are slipcased. Others are leftovers from conventions. They may not always be in 100% perfect mint shape. (After all, they've been through two household moves and been shuffled in and out of boxes for convention sales.) But we guarantee they're worth every penny you're not paying.
 
Here's the list . . .
 
THE CONSCIENCE OF THE BEAGLE, by Patricia Anthony. Her first-written science fiction novel. It came out from Ace years ago; we did both a hardcover and a trade paperback before the Ace edition. It's a fast, exciting SF read: Terrorist bombings rock the colony planet of Tennyson, and only Major Dyle Holloway's crack investigative team stands a chance of solving the crime. We'll give out the hardcovers first, then the trade paperbacks. 
 
THE WHITE MISTS OF POWER, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Signed, numbered, slipcased edition of her very first novel. Originally published at $40.00. The only storyteller in the history of fantasy/science fiction to win one Hugo Award for writing fiction and another for editing, Rusch here brings us a dynamic fantasy of magic, manners, and intrigue. Two travelers, unbeknownst to the other, both set out to journey to the palace of Kilrot: a brash bard with a mysterious past, and the heir to the throne who's been prematurely declared dead...

NIGHT, by Alan Rodgers. This is a great horror novel, originally published in mass market paperback by Bantam Books. We did a signed, numbered limited hardcover edition -- bound in black, with white or yellow title stamping. Original price was $35.00.
 
IN THE FOREST OF FORGETTING, by Theodora Goss. The incredible debut collection from the World Fantasy Award-winning short story writer! In these postmodern gothic fairytales, we meet such unforgettable characters as Miss Emily Grey, a sort of dark Mary Poppins who exists to grant children their hearts' desires -- often at a high price. Hardcover.
 
THE TARZAN TWINS, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Yes, it was Burroughs' first YA novel! Twin cousins of the Lord of the Jungle are summoned to Africa to join their legendary relative and his Waziri warriors -- but when they get lost along the way, adventure follows! Our edition features a new intro by Mike Resnick, too. Trade paperback.
 
IF WISHES WERE HORSES, by Anne McCaffrey. A magical YA tale by one of the great masters of modern fantasy! Young Tizra and her twin brother Tracell find their world abruptly changed when their father is unexpectedly called to fight in a war which promises to last much longer than the usual three-day skirmish. Their mother, the village healer, enlists the kids to assist her in caring for the conflict's refugees. Paperback.

SPICY ADVENTURE STORIES, December 1939. The famous "Spicy"pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s are among the rarest and most sought-after publications by collectors, featuring a titilating mix of fantasy, horror, mystery, action-adventure, and suspense, punctuated by episodes of torture, sadism, sex, and other risque elements. This issue includes stories from Robert Leslie Bellem, Lew Merrill (Victor Rousseau), Hugh Speer, Ken Cooper, Clayton Maxwell, Clark Nelson, and Harley L. Court.

Have your Cake but don't eat it...for Musical Monday

Discovered a cool band, Cake, who were out for quite a while during the 90s but may not actually be together any longer.  Anyhow, I give to you, Comfort Eagle.  The video is just the music, but this song has a really cool groove. Rather hypnotic. 

Also, I may be doing more links and fewer embedded videos as they are now widescreen and overlap the righthand column on the blahg.

June 21, 2009

Happy Solstice!

I knew I forgot to mention something important.  Happy Solstice, people.  I hope you are enjoying a lovely summer weekend.

SunDisc-cropped
To celebrarte, here's a solstice bit of art I did a number of years ago.  Block print.  Orange paper.  Woo woo.

Disturbing Climate Information

The authors show that peak CO2 levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 parts per million; but today, CO2 is at 385 parts per million, or 38% higher. This finding means that researchers will need to look back further in time for an analog to modern day climate change.  Science Daily article, "Carbon Dioxide level higher today than in past 2.1 million years."