Nothing major to say today; no real time to write it.
This past week has been insane with massive work hours, doing extra whatever at work, and preparing for a major work presentation for tomorrow. I haven't really had time to work on anything else - including X-Future board postings.
Oh yeah, and my husband bought us tickets for an amazing concert that we went to last night. So, Happy Early Thirtieth to me!
I DO have stuff to talk about still, even though it won't be about my writing. The thing though is having the time to write it. I'm still doing last minute tinkerings of the presentation, plus I'm a bit wiped from the concert, and I have work tonight, as well as pick up MadDog24 after I'm done so he can spend the night. The three of us - Me, Hubby, and MD - have to be up and out the door by 6:30 tomorrow in order to get to the presentation on time. Joy.
So I'm constantly on the go until about 10:30 tonight.
Crazy, hectic week!
I'll be attempting to write a legit blog post after the presentation is over tomorrow. Be on the look-out for that tomorrow evening.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
World Building Pitfalls Chain Me to Fear
I've been stuck in my world building. I've been stuck with my X-Future reboot. I've been stuck in my collab with Ronoxym. I've just been stuck.
I tried to move through it by going back through some of my old world building notes. I found the pile of print-outs I made up back in 2008 when I first started building Amara's world. That's right, I've been world building for six years! I have print-outs of maps. Tons of maps. I use them as study materials. I use them to figure out how our world looks. I use them to study how natural landforms are placed. I study the shape of coastlines and the twists of rivers. I study the boarders of countries and states. I even have print-outs of Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings and Alagaësia from Inheritance Cycle. This way I know how even fictional worlds are laid out.
I have notes on the statistics of different states: rough state width and height, overall square feet, square feet of water vs. land, tallest mountain, deepest valley, etc. I have notes on medieval through Victorian England - mostly population density and the like. I have all these stats and real-world examples to try to help me make my maps and my world as realistic as I can.
This attention to detail will better immerse my readers and players. It will prevent those nitpickers out there from dissecting my work and pointing out how inaccurate and implausible everything is. I don't need a reader to be ripped out of my story because I have a desert surrounded by a rainforest without any magical explanation as to how that would ever work. I don't need a reader to wonder how a character can cross the entire country - on horseback - within a week when it's the size of Texas. I don't need a reader to explain in an online essay how implausible both my population density and technology level are given the rest of the surrounding environment.
In other words. I don't need any noticeable goofs if I can prevent it.
Which is probably why I'm stalled.
Fear.
Every writer fights against it at some point, and this is my time I guess.
Yes, I am concerned that while I have a small following swearing up and down that my writing is fantastic, what if they are the minority? I mean, my stories aren't exactly breaking records for readership. Same with this blog. On the flipside, what if I am as good as my fans claim, but only if I have the crutch of a pre-established world? What if once I move away from fanfiction and work on my own original works it isn't as compelling; entertaining?
My biggest fear is that I literally cannot move away from being a fanfiction writer. That it's so ingrained in me that I unintentionally write something that is just a thinly veiled version of another tale. I'm mostly interested in writing a high-fantasy tale heavily inspired by D&D. That's the main reason I'm building Gyateara in the first place. However, what's going to keep me from being just one of the numerous others who end up writing a dumbed-down Lord of the Rings? How do I avoid my tales being unfavorably compared to the Grandfather of High Fantasy? Or have critics call me out as simply transcribing a D&D campaign?
What if - in an effort to avoid being compared - I go too far away from the inspiring source, and then my world doesn't work. What if there's a flaw I didn't notice, or it just isn't as intriguing as Middle Earth?
And because of this, I'm stuck. I'm afraid of coming up with something new because it either sounds stupid, or it's too tedious a task to attempt, or it ends up just sounding like Lord of the Rings anyway...
What got me focusing on this fear this week?
Reading those notes I printed out in 2008.
It was shortly before the third book in the Inheritance Cycle was released. I had printed a few things off as warning passages for my own world-building, and I had forgotten about them - to an extent. The first was a short online essay explaining how the author was able to use the few clues Christopher Paolini put in his books in order to figure out things such as the size and population of Alagaësia. The essayist Shinobaka continued to state that Paolini was vague enough in his writing for it to not be that big of an issue, but made a huge mistake in both creating a map of Alagaësia and then including it with the books. Now Shinobaka could truly figure out the estimated land-mass and population of the continent. Based on these facts and the map, Shinobaka was able to note that Paolini's description of both The Empire and it's army were insanely disproportional, both to each other and to the rest of the continent.
Shinobaka's calculations had the whole of the continent about the size of France and Germany combined, the Empire about the size of Italy, the mountain range the dwarves lived in as well as the woods the elves lived in both at about the size of Romania, the large desert taking up at least half of Alagaësia as about twice the size of Iceland, and the independent nation of Surda as the size of Denmark. Very cool that Shinobaka was able to figure out these real-world figures. As I stated at the top of this post, I am using the same tactics when building Gyateara - using real world figures of what I want and then transfer those stats in to my world.
However, the ability to find real-world correlations also gave Shinobaka the ammunition to attack Paolini's inability to thoroughly think through the logistics of what he wrote. For starters, the army that attacked Surda - most likely just a portion of the entire Empire's available military - was larger than virtually any in human history. Especially when coupled with the Medieval Age, which is the closest to resembling life in Alagaësia.
As much as I know these pitfalls, and as critically attentive to details as I am, I still fear that I'll make the same mistakes. Someone will point out that my towns are too close to - are too far from - each other, or the rivers aren't flowing properly, or that the population is too small or too large. There will be something I'll forget about since there is SO MUCH RESEARCHING I'll need to do to figure out the real-world correlation.
And I SUCK at research. Always have. I always seem to find the hardest and longest route to find the information I want. I'll spend five hours on Google trying to figure something out, and then Hubby will swing by my computer, type in one thing, and BOOM the answer I need.
However, even if I do manage to get my world built and it feels authentic, there's still that original fear of it being a derivative of some other better-known work. Even in the criticism section of Inheritance Cycle's Wikipedia entry there is a listing of people noting the series being little more than a rehashing of stories such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Dune.
Who's to say my works won't be the same way? Especially when most of them DO start off as fanfiction. I mean, the story I originally built Gyateara for was nothing more than a massive hybrid of stealing components from the first Fable, Ocarina of Time, Inu Yasha, Vision of Escaflowne, and Fushigi Yuugi. There was even a very subtle bit of inspiration from friggen The Little Mermaid.
Yes, authors do get inspired by other works around them. It's common practice. It's one of the main reasons people don't read fanfiction of their work if it's ongoing; they don't want to unintentionally be influenced by a good story they read.
However, how do I know I'll be able to keep it at being INSPIRED by these components and not end up like Paolini - writing a story with blatant influences from the source material?
All I can really do is know what to avoid, and pray the daunting task of actually avoiding it won't keep me frozen for too much longer...
What about you guys? What is your fear about your work? What's keep you chained in place? Let me know in the comments section. Maybe stating our fear will help us overcome it.
I tried to move through it by going back through some of my old world building notes. I found the pile of print-outs I made up back in 2008 when I first started building Amara's world. That's right, I've been world building for six years! I have print-outs of maps. Tons of maps. I use them as study materials. I use them to figure out how our world looks. I use them to study how natural landforms are placed. I study the shape of coastlines and the twists of rivers. I study the boarders of countries and states. I even have print-outs of Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings and Alagaësia from Inheritance Cycle. This way I know how even fictional worlds are laid out.
I have notes on the statistics of different states: rough state width and height, overall square feet, square feet of water vs. land, tallest mountain, deepest valley, etc. I have notes on medieval through Victorian England - mostly population density and the like. I have all these stats and real-world examples to try to help me make my maps and my world as realistic as I can.
This attention to detail will better immerse my readers and players. It will prevent those nitpickers out there from dissecting my work and pointing out how inaccurate and implausible everything is. I don't need a reader to be ripped out of my story because I have a desert surrounded by a rainforest without any magical explanation as to how that would ever work. I don't need a reader to wonder how a character can cross the entire country - on horseback - within a week when it's the size of Texas. I don't need a reader to explain in an online essay how implausible both my population density and technology level are given the rest of the surrounding environment.
In other words. I don't need any noticeable goofs if I can prevent it.
Which is probably why I'm stalled.
Fear.
Every writer fights against it at some point, and this is my time I guess.
Yes, I am concerned that while I have a small following swearing up and down that my writing is fantastic, what if they are the minority? I mean, my stories aren't exactly breaking records for readership. Same with this blog. On the flipside, what if I am as good as my fans claim, but only if I have the crutch of a pre-established world? What if once I move away from fanfiction and work on my own original works it isn't as compelling; entertaining?
My biggest fear is that I literally cannot move away from being a fanfiction writer. That it's so ingrained in me that I unintentionally write something that is just a thinly veiled version of another tale. I'm mostly interested in writing a high-fantasy tale heavily inspired by D&D. That's the main reason I'm building Gyateara in the first place. However, what's going to keep me from being just one of the numerous others who end up writing a dumbed-down Lord of the Rings? How do I avoid my tales being unfavorably compared to the Grandfather of High Fantasy? Or have critics call me out as simply transcribing a D&D campaign?
What if - in an effort to avoid being compared - I go too far away from the inspiring source, and then my world doesn't work. What if there's a flaw I didn't notice, or it just isn't as intriguing as Middle Earth?
And because of this, I'm stuck. I'm afraid of coming up with something new because it either sounds stupid, or it's too tedious a task to attempt, or it ends up just sounding like Lord of the Rings anyway...
What got me focusing on this fear this week?
Reading those notes I printed out in 2008.
It was shortly before the third book in the Inheritance Cycle was released. I had printed a few things off as warning passages for my own world-building, and I had forgotten about them - to an extent. The first was a short online essay explaining how the author was able to use the few clues Christopher Paolini put in his books in order to figure out things such as the size and population of Alagaësia. The essayist Shinobaka continued to state that Paolini was vague enough in his writing for it to not be that big of an issue, but made a huge mistake in both creating a map of Alagaësia and then including it with the books. Now Shinobaka could truly figure out the estimated land-mass and population of the continent. Based on these facts and the map, Shinobaka was able to note that Paolini's description of both The Empire and it's army were insanely disproportional, both to each other and to the rest of the continent.
Shinobaka's calculations had the whole of the continent about the size of France and Germany combined, the Empire about the size of Italy, the mountain range the dwarves lived in as well as the woods the elves lived in both at about the size of Romania, the large desert taking up at least half of Alagaësia as about twice the size of Iceland, and the independent nation of Surda as the size of Denmark. Very cool that Shinobaka was able to figure out these real-world figures. As I stated at the top of this post, I am using the same tactics when building Gyateara - using real world figures of what I want and then transfer those stats in to my world.
However, the ability to find real-world correlations also gave Shinobaka the ammunition to attack Paolini's inability to thoroughly think through the logistics of what he wrote. For starters, the army that attacked Surda - most likely just a portion of the entire Empire's available military - was larger than virtually any in human history. Especially when coupled with the Medieval Age, which is the closest to resembling life in Alagaësia.
Shinobaka continued by attacking the general population density of Alagaësia.[Most] of the examples of armies [the same size Paolini gave in Eldest] come from the Muslim world, which at its smallest controlled an area at least seven or eight times that of Galbatorix's empire.
The second article that I printed out as a bit of a warning of "what not to do" was the Wikipedia article about Alagaësia itself. Some time between 2008 and today, the individual article about Paolini's main continent was taken down in favor for a more broad article about the book series itself. However, I do still have that print out of the original article, and on the first page it has yet another pitfall: possible proof that Paolini didn't pay too much attention to our world when creating his own - either that or he wanted his just THAT fantastical...The closest population figure yielded by a quick internet search was one of about 5-7 million people in England circa 1300. Since the Empire is somewhat larger than England, we can estimate its population at about 8-9 million, making Galbatorix's draft seem like 100,000 men were taken from New York City overnight...
There are a total of ten large cities in the Empire, including the capitol, and five smaller population centers. Simply put, this is a ridiculously under-populated country. Going by the apparent technology levels of the humans, Alagaësia seems to be about on par with Europe circa the 11th century, yet maps of the British Isles circa 802 AD, Italy circa 1050 AD, and even Greece circa 362 BC show much greater population density.... The population density...that most closely resembles [The Empire] is the island of Sicily circa 1050, which is [smaller than Surda]. A country that coincidentally has six major cities despite being a fraction of the Empire's size.
Couple this with the five major dwarven cities and the six major elven cities, and...[Galbatorix] is pretty well outnumbered.
So Paolini has an entire mountain range that is - according to Shinobaka's calculations - about the size of Romania, and every last one of them are not only taller than Everest, but nearly TWICE as tall. It makes me wonder if the man just threw large numbers out to make everything seem daunting without actually taking the time to note how plausible such numbers were.The Beor Mountains are the tallest mountains in Alagaësia, being over ten miles high (nearly twice as tall as Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth)....
As much as I know these pitfalls, and as critically attentive to details as I am, I still fear that I'll make the same mistakes. Someone will point out that my towns are too close to - are too far from - each other, or the rivers aren't flowing properly, or that the population is too small or too large. There will be something I'll forget about since there is SO MUCH RESEARCHING I'll need to do to figure out the real-world correlation.
And I SUCK at research. Always have. I always seem to find the hardest and longest route to find the information I want. I'll spend five hours on Google trying to figure something out, and then Hubby will swing by my computer, type in one thing, and BOOM the answer I need.
However, even if I do manage to get my world built and it feels authentic, there's still that original fear of it being a derivative of some other better-known work. Even in the criticism section of Inheritance Cycle's Wikipedia entry there is a listing of people noting the series being little more than a rehashing of stories such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Dune.
Who's to say my works won't be the same way? Especially when most of them DO start off as fanfiction. I mean, the story I originally built Gyateara for was nothing more than a massive hybrid of stealing components from the first Fable, Ocarina of Time, Inu Yasha, Vision of Escaflowne, and Fushigi Yuugi. There was even a very subtle bit of inspiration from friggen The Little Mermaid.
Yes, authors do get inspired by other works around them. It's common practice. It's one of the main reasons people don't read fanfiction of their work if it's ongoing; they don't want to unintentionally be influenced by a good story they read.
However, how do I know I'll be able to keep it at being INSPIRED by these components and not end up like Paolini - writing a story with blatant influences from the source material?
All I can really do is know what to avoid, and pray the daunting task of actually avoiding it won't keep me frozen for too much longer...
What about you guys? What is your fear about your work? What's keep you chained in place? Let me know in the comments section. Maybe stating our fear will help us overcome it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Writing Focus on the X-Future
I've avoided the dreaded "Zero-Day" this week, but only barely. Also, I managed to do so with the amazing talent of still avoiding any actual work. Shame, considering last week's post.
I've finally done something else with Lia on the board, but only barely. Essentially I had her again go through some mental turmoil while she walked to a picnic meeting place with Ripley. So... some minor character development with even less actual action: walking through campus to a meet-point.
I also advanced Willow a bit more on the mission she's currently on. Yes, most of it was just like Lia: inner dialogue and reactions to what has already happened. However, I did finish with her actually DOING something! Whoa! Yeah, she's gonna try to disarm some guards. We'll see how that goes.
Along with some moderately simple posts on the forum I've also began recapping the forum for ChibiSunnie. She has all of the X-Future: Snippets in queue; waiting for me to update X-Future: The Second Generation Begins enough that the snippets will no longer contain spoilers for her. She's less concerned about actually coming across plot/character spoilers and more concerned about being lost while reading the snippets since she doesn't know the events leading up to them.
Well, since I'm taking forever to update TSGB - more on that in a bit - I offered to give her the super broad strokes overview of the forum. Essentially what I wanted to do with TSGB in the first place. I'm trying to do so simply from memory, and I'm attempting this for two reasons. One - the same reason it's taking me forever to update TSGB: there are a LOT of posts to sift through and try to re-organize in posting order so I know exactly what happened when. It's a daunting task that my lazy butt wants to avoid having to do until I have my netbook back. That way I don't have to spend hours sitting at my computer, but I also don't have to worry about having to transfer files back and forth between the desktop and Hubby's laptop. The second reason for trying to recap for Chibi simply based on memory? Because obviously only the major events will stick with me. Therefore if I don't remember it happening on the boards it isn't something essential for Chibi to know; it won't be something that affected much on the board and/or something that would come up in my snippets.
She joked about how "brief" the broad strokes recap of the board would be:
Chibi: I'm just a bit scared to ask for it since it might be like a 500 page document given how many pages of info you gave me just on how to draw the characters.
Me: It probably WILL be about 500pgs when all is said and done. XD That's the issue with a 2yr time span and 37 characters.
Add in that I clearly haven't mastered the art of succinct writing yet... Honestly, with the amount I've written for her so far, the 500pgs isn't too far off of an estimate.
Perhaps it would be better if I made a video of myself rambling off everything and sending THAT to her instead.....
The only other writing I've done this past week has consisted of the most minor of advancements in the X-Future reboot idea. Phfylburt apologized for not being as involved with coming up with world building ideas, but I assured him it was alright. First of all, he has his own manuscript he's working on and should concentrate on. Secondly, this reboot concept is honestly more of my baby, and I'm just Shanghai-ing him and Hubby for the ride. So I totally get that this is mostly my solo-project to start off with. Hubby and Phfyl are just around as sounding boards to figure out what ideas work well. I'm sure once we have a firmer concept figured out they'll become more involved.
Anyway, in the Marvel universe you have two different terms for those who are genetically different than the average human population. Those who were born with these genetic differences - such as the X-Men - are called mutants since it was a mutation in their genes that caused the difference. However, there are also a vast amount of characters in the Marvel universe that are born as normal humans, and then they are exposed to a mutagenic that altered their DNA. Characters such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. These characters are called mutates since they were mutated after birth, instead of born with a mutation.
Even though it doesn't really affect anything since Deadpool is the only mutate in the X-Future universe - and he most likely won't be brought over since you really can't re-create Deadpool without it being obvious it's him - I still wondered what humanity would call the mutates in this new, original world.
Since I'm strongly leaning towards calling mutants "Glitches" since their mutation is brought on by a "glitch" in their DNA, I continued the computer metaphor to state that mutates had their DNA "hacked" and altered by a mutagen. Therefore, mutates would be considered "Hacked". It's a bit of an odd title since it's passive. Mutants are Glitches. They are that term. It's an active term. However, mutates "were hacked". They aren't called "Hacks" nor are they called "Hacked". They were passively "hacked". Even those who may have done it to themselves through experimentation or as a means to turn themselves in to a Glitch for power - people such as The Incredible Hulk or Captain America - would be considered people who "self-hacked".
In and of itself, the differentiating between mutants having an active term and mutates having a passive term - as if they're victims - could say a lot about the non-accepting world X-Future takes place in. So I might keep the terms as such. I might even go further and if we come up with a plot where people are actively attempting to create mutates the mutagens they come up with could be considered "viruses" or "backdoors" or "trojans" or some other term for something a hacker uses to gain access to your system.
The other minor thing I thought of was how to "introduce" mutants to this near-future world. Is this fictional world so different that mutants just sprang out of nowhere? Were they all the result of nuclear fallout? I personally liked to think that mutants in this story are like homosexuals in reality. They've always been there, even in ancient times. But for some reason they stopped being seen as a rare phenomenon and became the focus of social inequality. I need to research this more to truly see the "evolution" of homosexuality becoming socially accepted, but I would love for mutants to be the same way in X-Future.
Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia have all passed in this world. Sure, they are still holding strong with some ignorant people, but for the most part there is equality between all races, both sexes, and regardless of sexual orientation. So now it's the mutants' turn to raise their voices and plead for equality and acceptance in a world that fears and hates them.
I mean, even if it is an original take, it's still based on X-Men, and what is X-Men without the social commentary and not-so-subtle racism/Holocaust allegory?
Now, if I can just get myself to focus on more Gyateara world building....
I've finally done something else with Lia on the board, but only barely. Essentially I had her again go through some mental turmoil while she walked to a picnic meeting place with Ripley. So... some minor character development with even less actual action: walking through campus to a meet-point.
I also advanced Willow a bit more on the mission she's currently on. Yes, most of it was just like Lia: inner dialogue and reactions to what has already happened. However, I did finish with her actually DOING something! Whoa! Yeah, she's gonna try to disarm some guards. We'll see how that goes.
Along with some moderately simple posts on the forum I've also began recapping the forum for ChibiSunnie. She has all of the X-Future: Snippets in queue; waiting for me to update X-Future: The Second Generation Begins enough that the snippets will no longer contain spoilers for her. She's less concerned about actually coming across plot/character spoilers and more concerned about being lost while reading the snippets since she doesn't know the events leading up to them.
Well, since I'm taking forever to update TSGB - more on that in a bit - I offered to give her the super broad strokes overview of the forum. Essentially what I wanted to do with TSGB in the first place. I'm trying to do so simply from memory, and I'm attempting this for two reasons. One - the same reason it's taking me forever to update TSGB: there are a LOT of posts to sift through and try to re-organize in posting order so I know exactly what happened when. It's a daunting task that my lazy butt wants to avoid having to do until I have my netbook back. That way I don't have to spend hours sitting at my computer, but I also don't have to worry about having to transfer files back and forth between the desktop and Hubby's laptop. The second reason for trying to recap for Chibi simply based on memory? Because obviously only the major events will stick with me. Therefore if I don't remember it happening on the boards it isn't something essential for Chibi to know; it won't be something that affected much on the board and/or something that would come up in my snippets.
She joked about how "brief" the broad strokes recap of the board would be:
Chibi: I'm just a bit scared to ask for it since it might be like a 500 page document given how many pages of info you gave me just on how to draw the characters. |
| This is the picture she was talking about. Her X-Mas card for me. Each character had over a page of description so she knew what they looked like/how they acted... |
I of course had to throw out the rebuttal:
Me: It probably WILL be about 500pgs when all is said and done. XD That's the issue with a 2yr time span and 37 characters.Add in that I clearly haven't mastered the art of succinct writing yet... Honestly, with the amount I've written for her so far, the 500pgs isn't too far off of an estimate.
Perhaps it would be better if I made a video of myself rambling off everything and sending THAT to her instead.....
The only other writing I've done this past week has consisted of the most minor of advancements in the X-Future reboot idea. Phfylburt apologized for not being as involved with coming up with world building ideas, but I assured him it was alright. First of all, he has his own manuscript he's working on and should concentrate on. Secondly, this reboot concept is honestly more of my baby, and I'm just Shanghai-ing him and Hubby for the ride. So I totally get that this is mostly my solo-project to start off with. Hubby and Phfyl are just around as sounding boards to figure out what ideas work well. I'm sure once we have a firmer concept figured out they'll become more involved.
Anyway, in the Marvel universe you have two different terms for those who are genetically different than the average human population. Those who were born with these genetic differences - such as the X-Men - are called mutants since it was a mutation in their genes that caused the difference. However, there are also a vast amount of characters in the Marvel universe that are born as normal humans, and then they are exposed to a mutagenic that altered their DNA. Characters such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. These characters are called mutates since they were mutated after birth, instead of born with a mutation.
Even though it doesn't really affect anything since Deadpool is the only mutate in the X-Future universe - and he most likely won't be brought over since you really can't re-create Deadpool without it being obvious it's him - I still wondered what humanity would call the mutates in this new, original world.
Since I'm strongly leaning towards calling mutants "Glitches" since their mutation is brought on by a "glitch" in their DNA, I continued the computer metaphor to state that mutates had their DNA "hacked" and altered by a mutagen. Therefore, mutates would be considered "Hacked". It's a bit of an odd title since it's passive. Mutants are Glitches. They are that term. It's an active term. However, mutates "were hacked". They aren't called "Hacks" nor are they called "Hacked". They were passively "hacked". Even those who may have done it to themselves through experimentation or as a means to turn themselves in to a Glitch for power - people such as The Incredible Hulk or Captain America - would be considered people who "self-hacked".
In and of itself, the differentiating between mutants having an active term and mutates having a passive term - as if they're victims - could say a lot about the non-accepting world X-Future takes place in. So I might keep the terms as such. I might even go further and if we come up with a plot where people are actively attempting to create mutates the mutagens they come up with could be considered "viruses" or "backdoors" or "trojans" or some other term for something a hacker uses to gain access to your system.
The other minor thing I thought of was how to "introduce" mutants to this near-future world. Is this fictional world so different that mutants just sprang out of nowhere? Were they all the result of nuclear fallout? I personally liked to think that mutants in this story are like homosexuals in reality. They've always been there, even in ancient times. But for some reason they stopped being seen as a rare phenomenon and became the focus of social inequality. I need to research this more to truly see the "evolution" of homosexuality becoming socially accepted, but I would love for mutants to be the same way in X-Future.
Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia have all passed in this world. Sure, they are still holding strong with some ignorant people, but for the most part there is equality between all races, both sexes, and regardless of sexual orientation. So now it's the mutants' turn to raise their voices and plead for equality and acceptance in a world that fears and hates them.
I mean, even if it is an original take, it's still based on X-Men, and what is X-Men without the social commentary and not-so-subtle racism/Holocaust allegory?
Now, if I can just get myself to focus on more Gyateara world building....
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
The Equivalents Between Exercising and Writing
Had another “What is my life” breakdown last night. But you
folks are forced to read my “woe is me” tales far too much already for me to
really get in to that yet again. Just know that I’m struggling to get past it,
but I am getting past it. I’m hitting the world with more determination in
fact.
First up, I broke out the good old Wii Fit and synced it
with our WiiU. I used to do this thing all the time leading up to my wedding.
Even though it was a family gift from my mom for all three of us – me, her, and
my sister – since I seemed to be the only one that ever used the Wii Fit relatively regularly my
mother told me to take it with me when I moved away. I used it a bit during the
half-year that I was unemployed right after the wedding. Then I finally got a
job, the house fell in to disarray, and I stopped using the Wii Fit under the
excuses of “There’s no room for me to really move in order to properly use it” that
lead to “Since there’s no room I should use the time cleaning instead of trying
to work out” which usually lead to “It’s way too late at night now for me to
exercise, plus if I do after going to work and then cleaning I won’t have
any time left to write.” Not that I ever really did write. I usually just
plopped next to Hubby on the couch, watched some well-deserved TV, and messed
around on Facebook.
Fast-forward to about mid-April. I had the livingroom
spotless and had an urge to make sure the Wii Fit board would still work with
the WiiU – I had forgotten that the WiiU has a backwards compatibility mode
that allowed you to revert to the original Wii format. Well, after about an
hour of both researching online how to clean out battery corrosion and then
successfully saving the Wii Fit board, I used the game for the first time in over a year. I set up my Mii and did the initial Body Test to see my BMI, my
weight, and test my balance. Then I put it away.
Jump ahead again to about mid-May and you’ll find Hubby and
me participating in a new health-incentive program I’m running at work. The
concept is that you earn points – max 6 per day – for eating fruits/vegetables
as well as working out. You also earn either one point at the end of the week
for maintaining your weight, or two points for losing weight. These points are
then accumulated for one of three charities: American Cancer Society, AmericanRed Cross, or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I chose my personal
favorite charity: American Cancer Society. Therefore, the points I earn go
towards that charity’s net amount. At the end of the program all of the points
earned by every participant across the whole company are added up. Then the
points earned for each charity are divided by the number of participants who
chose that charity in order to figure out the average
amount of points each charity collected. The charity that earns the highest
average points receives a $5000 donation from the company. The second-place
charity receives $2000, and even the final charity will have $1000 donated. It
really is a great way to help others while helping yourself.
Well, over the past two weeks since the program started
Hubby and I have been kicking butt in the fruits/veggies department – which in
and of itself is impressive since we rarely had any over the winter – but I’ve
been slacking in the exercise department. The only time I earned any exercise
points was when I was running around to the point of sweating at work. I would
go “eh, that counts” and call it a day.
Today I changed that! Today I actually took out the Wii Fit
board and used it for more than a glorified scale; since my bathroom one and the one in the
breakroom at work are 10pounds off from each other, and I’m not sure which one to trust. Today I actually spent about an hour working out. About 30min with
aerobics and another with yoga. Go me!
Each activity in Wii Fit is only about a minute or two long.
Most are no more than 4min, unless you do something like “free running” in which you
set how long you want to run for and then just jog in place for that long. My
point is that I can do essentially the same thing as the push-up scenario in
the No More Zero Days concept. “Heck, I could just get on the ground and do one
push-up so I don’t have a Zero Day,” turned in to “Well, heck, I can start
up the Wii Fit and just do the Body Test.” The hardest part about using the Wii
Fit is having to dig the board out of the drawer I keep it tucked away in, and
then starting up the program. It takes about five minutes. After those five
minutes of starting the darn thing up it seems a waste to just do the Body
Test. So I do one game under the Aerobics category. None of them are all that
challenging. You only burn about 20calories with each game. Then you think “that
wasn’t so hard. That was actually kind of fun”
so then another game is played, and another. I switched over to Yoga as a
cool-down, and went through each pose even though I really only wanted to do
the ones to work out the tension in my shoulders. Next thing I know I’m doing
the free run for 10min and chugging a glass of water after a nice workout.
Now here’s the part you’ll care about: I did the same with
my writing.
Just like with the Wii Fit, the hardest part is taking the
time to just start the darn thing up. Especially since I’m doing a lot more
writing in Google Docs, so that I can share my work and get feedback. Now I
have to start up my computer, and then the internet, and then Google Docs, and
then a new file – or bring up an old one to fix/continue. It takes about five
minutes, and so once I push myself to put in the effort to “just write for a
little so I don’t have a Zero Day” I suddenly feel like the set up would be a
waste of time if I didn’t put in x-minutes in to writing. Next thing I know I’m
doing the 10min free run – or in writing terms: I’m working on a fight scene.
I suck at fight scenes.
Like, majorly. Just as I need to train in running because I
have absolutely no endurance – like, I can get winded going up stairs if they’re
steep enough, even if there’s only about 20 of them – I need to work on fight
scenes. Again, just like running, I have the basics and I can do alright when I
need to, but certainly nothing to really brag about. “Oh man, I was able to jog in place for 10min.” Ignore the fact that while I
wasn’t exactly winded, it did take about three minutes for my breathing to go
back to normal once I was done…. “Oh man, I wrote a fight scene.” Ignore the
fact that everyone just dodged everyone else’s attacks until the hero finally
got the winning blow in.
Exercising and Writing. They go hand-in-hand and I can
certainly apply the same tricks to both activities. Something that I need to do
more often in fact. More exercising. More writing. More motivation to do
something productive both on my days off and on days where I have a short
shift.
That being said, I’m proud of my pathetic fight scene, just
as I’m proud of my “almost-two-miles” jog. Because they both mean that I pushed
myself, and did so after actually getting my lazy butt in gear and doing
something I should every day.
Bet you’re curious about the fight scene, huh? Well, like I
said, it was pathetic, and it was mostly dialogue. It’s not even done yet. It’s
going to be another X-Future: Snippets once I have it to a point that is
publishable, and it’s – surprise, surprise – a Trish snippet. Her confronting
Devon. A woman who can only stab things and create fire is going up against a
man who can manipulate fire and is just as skilled as stabbing things. She’s
not going to really get much headway there. Likewise, Devon is trying to use
fire against someone who both controls it and is completely fireproof. No dice
there either. Both parties need to rethink their strategy. Right now it’s “whomever
can Stabby-stabby first wins.”
I’ve also been slowly working on the collab with AngelBlood666. I
had a grand old time last week when I created the joint Google Doc file. We
would essentially IM each other by writing in the file, and because it’s all in
real-time you can watch the other person type. It’s amusing to watch how fast
someone else can type and how quickly they pick up on their typos.
Plus, AB666 is a nutjob who had me in stitches most of the
time. His online persona may seem dark, and some of his stories may be too, but
don’t let that fool you. AB666 himself is a riot.
It seems a bit silly to admit this since it’s a play that takes
about 3hrs to perform, but it’s taken me about that long to “convert” the story
in to modern language since I write out the gist of what is happening and how people
are reacting. Oh yeah, did I mention that I’ve only managed to “convert” two scenes?
It would have been faster if I literally set it up as a
script and “translated” the dialogue in to modern language. Instead I have
passages such as “Theseus tells [Hermia] that she must either die or become a
nun. If she won’t marry Demetrius she won’t be allowed to marry anyone.”
Oh! And speaking of Demetrius…. I never before picked up on
how much of a jerk he is! Either that, or I completely forgot that part of the
story. He’s just this major… well, I’ll use “jerk” again even though I could
use more colorful language. Although the idea of a love-square works wonderfully for the Helga
> Arnold > Lila > Arnie > Back to Helga dynamic, having Arnold as
Demetrius might not be the best idea. AB666 and I are going to have to take a
few artistic licenses with the original story so that Arnold as Demetrius is
still his lovable “underdog” self. That being said, Lysander is a fantastic
character that you can really sympathize with, which isn’t really Arnie at all.
So more liberties will be taken so that Arnie actually has a personality…
Eh, we'll figure it out.
Finally, I made some - not much, but still better than none - progress in my pantheon building for Gyateara. Namely, I've come up with a list of the most commonly used "Godly Domains" that appear in both D&D and Greco-Roman faith. Domains such as "Sky" or "Wildlife" or "Roads/Travel" or "War", etc. My next task is to try to figure out what gods I create will be in charge of what domain(s), and if they are in charge of multiple domains, how are they connected. I also have to be sure that all of the "Cleric Domains" in D&D are represented by the "Godly Domains" so that the cleric-specific spells in D&D can still be used if/when I run Gyateara as a campaign setting.
Well, I think I've sat for enough. Time to get my lazy butt back in gear. To writing and exercise and productivity!
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