Well, I failed at my task to get a new book to read this past week. Which means I instead spent that time writing. So.... win?
After my post last week the day went very sideways, and so I didn't have the time I thought I would before Writing Group. In fact, I ended up running late, so I sprinted up to the room, and saw that it was already pretty filled. That was kind of exciting, to see the group blossom like this.
Anyway, it also meant that I didn't take the time before group to set up a library card finally, and then borrow the book I was intending. Since group goes until the library closes, I couldn't very well get everything sorted out after group. And, as it turns out, Tuesdays are the only days of the week the library is open longer than my new job, so unless I have another weekday off, Tuesdays are my only Library Days. So, care to guess what I'm going to squeeze in on my day off today?
As for Writing Group, I discovered that Keaton has been with the group since it started five years ago. I had a feeling she was a "charter member" as it were. I'm fairly certain at least DFL is too. It would make sense that the two of them feel most comfortable leading the group if that's true. Although, DFL has been leaning more towards leading the group than actually participating in it. It makes me concerned, and so I tried to encourage her to bring something to read next time. We'll see how that goes. But Keaton being with the group for five years means that she's also been working on her weird anthology concept of "these are all random writing prompts all about Buster Keaton, but there's no true connecting story" for about as long. I'm curious as to why she's stalling on calling the story complete, and either moving on or working on a different volume.
Doesn't matter. There were other people there. There was a new gentleman who didn't think to bring anything to read, so he just listened and commented. Works for us. He is in the same boat as me: likes about three different genres - including High Fantasy - but isn't sure which genre he wants to write in, and/or has no story concept to focus on. It will be interesting to see him grow; it might give me more of a direction myself.
Another "new" member - she was around years ago and finally decided to rejoin the group - was this timid older woman. She was adorable. Her writing was good. However, for some reason because she went with tribal names like Snowy Owl and Shining Moon, three of the people in the room thought she was talking about anthropomorphized animals, like wolves, and were thrown off when the characters turned out to be human. I didn't get that confusion. I just pictured the scene as two Inuits in the woods, so my only confusion was that this was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic story, and I was picturing it as before Alaska was invaded by Americans/Canadians/whomever. To each their own, I guess. If those three were confused, others could be too, and so I guess it was a good thing that she took note of the critique.
We had one last "new" member. Again, someone who had already been a member, but hasn't attended in about a year. She was a really spunky older woman. Her wiring must be different than everyone else, because she was coming up with questions no one else seemed to even imagine asking. They were both very good points, and very left-field points. Frankly, I would have ignored the left-field ones because they were so odd, but the good points were definitely ones to take to heart.
The one gentleman who had been reading us his spy novel - did I name him yet? For right now I'll go with his main character's name: Carson - continued on his story. We had a nice round table about it: critiques, praise, questions about the over-arching plot, etc.
A woman who started coming a few weeks back also read. She's writing personal essays, which are works of non-fiction written sort of similarly to an autobiography, but laser-focused on just one event. She already read about her walking the college track to help her get over her painful divorce. Last week she read about the loss of an old colleague, and how that put her own career goals into focus. Since her theme unintentionally, but beautifully done, is "journeys" or "moving forward" I think I'm calling her Traveler.
We had another round table with Traveler, and the Left-Field woman came up with her many questions. One was that she wanted to know more about the colleague's goals, and how they were parallel to Traveler's. I personally figured it was unneeded information; that it was implied enough that it didn't need to be stated, but maybe other readers do need it spelled out a bit more.
Red - who hasn't been dying her hair, so it's not so red; gonna need to rethink her name - has been in a writing funk, and so we discussed ways to get her back into the rhythm of things. I suggested Ali Luke's concept of starting with just 15 minutes a day. That seemed to really inspire her. "Oh, I can do that. I can take 15 minutes." Thank you, Ali, for inspiring yet another writer! We also suggested that maybe she needed to just work on random writing prompts for the time being; to give her mind a rest from her grim murder/decent-into-insanity drama. She seemed to respond to that idea too. So, we'll see if that means she'll bring something new in next week.
Last up was Sandy. Like all the other published authors I talk about here, no nickname for her to protect her privacy. How am I supposed to promote her and her book once I'm done reading it if I'm using a nickname for her? Anyway, she read a bit more of her draft of her book's sequel. It was more of an establishing scene to introduce all the characters. For me it was a bit lackluster because it was everyone gathering for a barbecue, plus it was confusing because you have David - the main character - Danny, I think - I can't recall, honestly - and his wife Dee. There were just too many D-Names being thrown at me, and I was having a hard time keeping straight who was doing or saying what, because none of them have distinctly different characterists/voices yet. At least, not displayed in that little segment. We'll have to see how she tweaks it, or if she even can. For all I know all these D-Names were already introduced in the first story.
Snuggled about half-way through everyone else was me. I read off "The Fallen Guardian Angel" to everyone. As per usual, most seemed to really enjoy it, with virtually no critiques. The most round table discussion we had was me informing people what fanfiction was, and giving a quick synopsis of "Xenocide" so everyone knew the events surrounding the story I read. I didn't think to explain the Jane character though, and that might have resulted in the only critique I received. Carson felt that Novinha's arguments were so raw and passionate, that you sided with her easily. Comparatively, he felt that Ender's arguments seemed hallow and non-genuine. This is FAR from the truth. While no one else at the table either countered or echoed Carson's critique, it is still one of the few I've ever received. So I wanted to take it to heart as much as possible.
Could I have written Ender completely out of character? Did I make him too meek while fighting back with Novinha? What made his arguments seem hallow? Was it the comments about him already hurting Novinha because of Jane? While not terribly too off, did Carson believe that Ender had an affair with Jane, and therefore his profession of love to Novinha seemed untrue? I didn't stop to think to ask Carson WHY he felt that way, I just nodded and jotted the critique down to think about. And now I'm not sure where I went wrong. It's possible he's the only one who felt that way. It's possible I wrote Ender completely wrong. It's possible that Ender's counterarguments only seem false because Carson doesn't understand who Jane is.
Point being, if any of my readers felt the same way about my latest one-shot, please respond either below or in the comments of the story itself to give me an idea of where I went wrong. Thank you.
Anyway, so that was last week's Writing Group. As I mentioned, life got chaotic, and I didn't have time to grab the book for this week. So, I ended up bringing my netbook to work in order to at least write during the painfully slow times.
I decided to take another crack at "Glitches." For those who may have missed it last week, I had decided to just go with "Glitches" as my working title for my X-Future Reboot story. I'll work out later if that title is already being used, and/or if it's catchy enough to draw people in for a first read.
Anyway, I converted my comic script into a movie one. Not a very good movie one, though, because it includes very few shots or transition marks. It's written more like a stage play, I guess, but it's too complicated to be able to perform on stage. Eh, either way, it's part prose narrative, part script. I figured it was the easiest way to read it aloud to the Writing Group without them being overly confused; hopefully. So it's not written as a proper script, so what? It's not supposed to be a screenplay anyway. I figured, write it out as this weird novel-script hybrid, and then once everything is figured out and talked through in the Writing Group, I can properly convert it back into a comic script.
I just need to figure out where the heck to post it so I can share it with you guys. I don't know if I want to share the WIP though, that's the thing. So, I may just talk about my progress more here, instead of actually sharing something from it each week.
To really try to get my butt in gear about this whole thing, I looked towards Writers’ Huddle. I disappear. I come back. I disappear again. Well, Ali is again starting up the Summer Writing Challenge, and it began yesterday. Seems like a great time for my Grand Return yet again.
As per usual, I have no clue what I want to do for the challenge since I have no direction or focus like everyone else seems to have. So, I decided - for the time being - to go full throttle with "Glitches." I'm aiming to write three more pages for my weird prose-script hybrid thing each day. That way I'll always have something new to read from it for Writing Group each other week.
Granted, I couldn't read ALL that I had if I keep with the 3-a-day pace since that's 42 pages each meeting. The general rule of thumb is that each page of script is about a minute of screen time. That's not even including the time it takes to read the action going on. No way. Too much to read each meeting. I'd take up at least half the time! Still, it would mean I'd have a LOT of "backlogged" writing to read after the challenge concludes and I go back to being a bum about this whole writing thing, or I switch gears. Whichever.
Plus, I'll probably chump out on my days off in favor of cleaning, watching TV, and/or playing video games. PLUS, Spink has her wedding at the end of July, and so I'll probably get a bit overwhelmed with helping her finish organizing that. PLUS, I still have that reading challenge too. So, maybe I should drop that down to two pages a day so I can easily pick up the slack from my days off....
Anyway, that's my game plan for this week: get my July Book from the library to start reading, work on some semblance of a plot outline for "Glitches," and write 3 pages per day for the "script." It may not be something I can then post to share with you to read, but I can still talk about my progress, right?
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Book Review Time!
Well, folks, I did it. I finally did it. I was so fed up with my netbook's slowness that I upgraded. I now have a fancy new laptop and hopefully you can stop reading me whine about how much I hate computers or that my update got screwed up by technical problems. YAY!
As for the writing for the week, eeeeh, I sort of slacked off again in favor of finishing off the novel I was reading. Once again, though, Orson Scott Card's character Novinha really inspired me. Her pain and anguish just pulls at me, and while I was reading more of "Xenocide" I just kept thinking of her. I missed her in this novel. Aside from obviously Ender - it IS the Ender Saga - the book mostly focused on Novinha's children and three people on a separate planet named Path. So, in my lament of Novinha's lack of appearance, I wrote another real brief one-shot at work. I'm loving that they don't really care that I bring my netbook there to write.
This one-shot contains spoilers for "Xenocide" for anyone who hasn't at least read through the chapter Grego's War, so fair warning about that.
It's not much, but it's enough to read tonight at the writers' group. I've also been debating if I should read what I have so far for my X-Future Reboot comic, which I think I'll officially use "Glitches" as the working title from now on. If I read from the Glitches script it will FINALLY be a Work-In Progress that I've brought to the meetings. Until now I've just brought basic writing samples for basic writing advice. Since I haven't actually received much of any, perhaps reading a WIP will be the way to truly get the most out of these meetings. My only real concern is that I don't really have much going on in the comic because I couldn't figure out how to open it.
Perhaps that's all the more reason to read it off, to ask for advice on how to explain evolution quickly in a comic book setting in order to explain how Glitches came to be in the human race. It's a thought. I'll report back next week as to whether or not I followed through.
One last bit of a semi-writing related insert: Hubby and I had a spontaneous visit from Ronoxym and Cyhyr on Saturday. It was nice seeing them. I miss hanging out with them. Since Ron isn't doing the overnight job any longer, and I have an actual functioning car, perhaps we can meet up at least once a month now. It's a thought.
Anyway, I playfully harassed Ron about his distinct lack of writing this year. He was kind of like "meh" about the whole thing, probably because for him it's just a fun hobby, not a way of life. So if he's creatively tapped out it's not that big of a deal for him to move on to a different hobby. It's a shame though. He has such fun ideas, has writing potential, is inspiring to work with - when he does work on the writing - and even if I'm not co-writing with him, his writing is not only fun to read, but it also sparks something in me that really kicks my writing juices in gear. It really would be a shame to lose that.
Especially since Cyhyr told me that she hasn't updated her blog in so long because she gave up on it and deleted it. How did I miss that? She was one of the most disciplined writers I knew, and she too was like "Eh, baby on the way and finishing up college, more important things." Not that she's wrong on that account, but still, another voice lost from writing and I hope she, her husband, and someone else I haven't mentioned in forever - Omnibladestrike - all return to writing someday. I'd hate for people to never know them through their writing.
Finally, we are up to what has become one of my favorite bits to write for this blog. Probably because it requires little thinking about what to write, as well as something I KNOW I can report on each month. It's time to share my views on the latest book I've read!
I have to admit, that while there were tense moments way more engrossing than in "Speaker for the Dead," over all "Xenocide" just didn't seem to match my love for Speaker. I did enjoy the new characters from the planet of Path, but some of the returning characters just seemed so out of character. It was like Orson Scott Card only vaguely remembered the personalities he created in Speaker, when he started writing them some more in Xenocide. I understand that 30yrs past between the close of Speaker and the opening of Xenocide, but it still felt like some of the characters changed a bit TOO much over those decades.
Another thing is that in Speaker two of Valentine's children are named: Syfte and Ren; daughter and son 2yrs younger. Card also stated: "It was Plikt...who taught Valentine...the miracle of each of her five children..." Then you remeet Valentine and her children in "Xenocide" and Valentine describes her family. There is Styfe and her new husband Lars, and then there was Ro, a daughter two or three years younger than Styfe, and Varsam, the lone son who was youngest by four years. Only three children, and the son Ren is never mentioned. Did Card just forget Valentine's family between writing Speaker and Xenocide? Or did Valentine lose two children on the cold, harsh, frozen world of Trondheim? And if it's the later, why wasn't there a single mention of Valentine's loss in Xenocide?
It was also hard for me - and this could just be my own wacky mind - to picture Novinha's children at their appropriate ages. Ela should have been about 48, and the youngest Grego would have been around 36. Yet I pictured Ela about my age, and Grego and Quara a pair of bickering 17 and 18 year olds. Yes, Hubby and I do still act fairly childish at points, but lines like "It looked like a typical teenager's bedroom, complete with Grego's legs stretching up the walls, his bare feet dancing a weird rhythm..." really don't help with reminding me that Grego's character is supposed to be older than I am.
Also, I read Sci-Fi for the Fantasy portion of it. The mysteriousness of "what would happen in the future, or on another planet, or if we had different technology" of it all. However, I myself can't really stand science. For some reason it goes over my head. I guess it's the fantasy writer in me. I'd much prefer to just be wowed by the world working instead of figuring out why. Although, there are plenty of people interested in science precisely because the why of the world working is the "wow" factor for them. Either way, my point is that my eyes glaze over when it comes to science, and a little bit the same with philosophy. Mainly because I'm a visual person, and it's hard to visualize philosophical questions with possibly no true answer.
All of this made "Xenocide" all the more difficult to read, because I like to describe it simply as "Metaphysics and Philosophy: A Novel." I already told celestialTyrant that this could possibly become one of his top 10 novels once he reads it.
The book starts off well enough. A fleet is coming to destroy a planet in order to protect humanity from a deadly virus residing on it that is threatening to spread throughout the universe. Problem is, there are humans already on that planet struggling against the virus, as well as two other sentient alien species who only exist on this planet. Destroying it might save humanity, but it would be a xenocide of those two sentient species, as well as the other lifeforms on that planet. So already there are two sentient species being threatened with extinction, but if they aren't wiped out with the virus, then humanity could face extinction. Then Card throws in Jane, another sentient entity that somehow "lives" in the intergalactic connections between computers across the worlds that humans have colonized. A "living" AI that tries to save the humans on the threatened planet, but doing so exposed herself, and humanity knows that sentient computers are never a good thing. Thing is, Jane is the only one of her kind, so that would be another sentient alien - so to speak - lost to xenocide. Then you have Quara swearing that the deadly virus that the fleet was sent to destroy in the first place is equally sentient, but no one has been able to figure out the language enough to communicate to the virus how deadly and destructive it is. She hopes doing so will convert it from killing humans, and instead make itself as crucial to the life-system as it does with the native sentient species. Which makes things even more complicated. If the humans can figure out how to stop the virus so the entire planet doesn't need to be destroyed, at least one sentient alien - two if you count the virus as Quara does - might still die because they can't survive without the virus.
More and more species' existence are at stake in this hugely tangled mess of morality: who to save; who to let die? It's exciting and intense as you wonder how all the species are going to be able to survive. Then it takes the turn. The eternal question of "What is 'life' and what makes up a 'soul'?" pops up, and Card spends chapters having his characters pop back onto that question as they determine who should live, who should die, and if someone was truly "living" in the first place. It gets really philosophical and metaphysical from there. Thing is though, while he based it all on metaphysical science, the answer he came up with to resolve most of the problems seemed very "Deus Ex Machina" and almost in a literal sense.
Then there were the new characters introduced, the people of the planet Path. We are specifically introduced to a young woman named Qing-jao. She is a very loving and relatable character to start off with, but I'm not a fan of her character development. Side note: I'm equally not a fan of Novinha's development in this novel. In regards to Qing-jao, you get enough insight into her to understand the character development. It doesn't come from left field. Still, she changes from a sweet girl that you sympathize with to one of the most arrogant, annoying characters, at least for me. I'm also not a fan of the conclusion of her story in this novel, or the conclusion of the novel itself.
The novel closes with the main dilemmas IMPLIED to be taken care of, but there is no actual conclusion written out. I won't go into the cliffhanger questions I was left with because they could cause spoilers, but to me there was still at least one more chapter left on what was going on with Lusitania. Yet the novel closed off on Path with Qing-jao in a very unsatisfying way, at least for me. I'd much rather Card finished off with expressly stating what happened on Lusitania and implying Qing-jao's story close, instead of the other way around.
All-in-all, a good read that I tore through easily for the first 350 pages or so, but then after the Grego's War chapter it just gets too metaphysical, philosophical, and Qing-jao changes too drastically - as does Novinha - for me to have really enjoyed the remainder of the book. Still, if people want to know what happens after "Speaker for the Dead" and/or really like the philosophy of "what constitutes life" and metaphysical quandary of parallel universes/alternate planes of existence, then this is DEFINITELY the book for them.
Me? I'm going to have to track down "Children of the Mind" to continue to follow the conclusion of Ender's life, and hope that Card is back on his game, because I feel like he went into a really weird realm with the last half of "Xenocide." Out of the three I've read so far in the Ender Saga, Speaker, while a slow start, is definitely my favorite.
Alright, well it's Chart Time. What book am I going to pick up now to try to finish the month off with, or at least to get started so I can make sure to get my July book done with all the chaos that will be going on next month?
While not a local librarian, Keaton has really been pushing the work of a fellow Writers' Group member. Enough so that I would call her an unofficial "bookseller." Because of this, I think I'll swing by the library a bit before group tonight in order to try to borrow "Reformation," a novel written and self-published by one of our group members. Sadly, I don't remember the woman's last name, but if I can pick the book up today I'll be sure to promote her properly next week.
And thus I charge ahead with this challenge. We'll see what else I charge ahead with in regards to my writing. That's the important one....
As for the writing for the week, eeeeh, I sort of slacked off again in favor of finishing off the novel I was reading. Once again, though, Orson Scott Card's character Novinha really inspired me. Her pain and anguish just pulls at me, and while I was reading more of "Xenocide" I just kept thinking of her. I missed her in this novel. Aside from obviously Ender - it IS the Ender Saga - the book mostly focused on Novinha's children and three people on a separate planet named Path. So, in my lament of Novinha's lack of appearance, I wrote another real brief one-shot at work. I'm loving that they don't really care that I bring my netbook there to write.
This one-shot contains spoilers for "Xenocide" for anyone who hasn't at least read through the chapter Grego's War, so fair warning about that.
"The Fallen Guardian Angel"
It's not much, but it's enough to read tonight at the writers' group. I've also been debating if I should read what I have so far for my X-Future Reboot comic, which I think I'll officially use "Glitches" as the working title from now on. If I read from the Glitches script it will FINALLY be a Work-In Progress that I've brought to the meetings. Until now I've just brought basic writing samples for basic writing advice. Since I haven't actually received much of any, perhaps reading a WIP will be the way to truly get the most out of these meetings. My only real concern is that I don't really have much going on in the comic because I couldn't figure out how to open it.
Perhaps that's all the more reason to read it off, to ask for advice on how to explain evolution quickly in a comic book setting in order to explain how Glitches came to be in the human race. It's a thought. I'll report back next week as to whether or not I followed through.
One last bit of a semi-writing related insert: Hubby and I had a spontaneous visit from Ronoxym and Cyhyr on Saturday. It was nice seeing them. I miss hanging out with them. Since Ron isn't doing the overnight job any longer, and I have an actual functioning car, perhaps we can meet up at least once a month now. It's a thought.
Anyway, I playfully harassed Ron about his distinct lack of writing this year. He was kind of like "meh" about the whole thing, probably because for him it's just a fun hobby, not a way of life. So if he's creatively tapped out it's not that big of a deal for him to move on to a different hobby. It's a shame though. He has such fun ideas, has writing potential, is inspiring to work with - when he does work on the writing - and even if I'm not co-writing with him, his writing is not only fun to read, but it also sparks something in me that really kicks my writing juices in gear. It really would be a shame to lose that.
Especially since Cyhyr told me that she hasn't updated her blog in so long because she gave up on it and deleted it. How did I miss that? She was one of the most disciplined writers I knew, and she too was like "Eh, baby on the way and finishing up college, more important things." Not that she's wrong on that account, but still, another voice lost from writing and I hope she, her husband, and someone else I haven't mentioned in forever - Omnibladestrike - all return to writing someday. I'd hate for people to never know them through their writing.
Finally, we are up to what has become one of my favorite bits to write for this blog. Probably because it requires little thinking about what to write, as well as something I KNOW I can report on each month. It's time to share my views on the latest book I've read!
I have to admit, that while there were tense moments way more engrossing than in "Speaker for the Dead," over all "Xenocide" just didn't seem to match my love for Speaker. I did enjoy the new characters from the planet of Path, but some of the returning characters just seemed so out of character. It was like Orson Scott Card only vaguely remembered the personalities he created in Speaker, when he started writing them some more in Xenocide. I understand that 30yrs past between the close of Speaker and the opening of Xenocide, but it still felt like some of the characters changed a bit TOO much over those decades.
Another thing is that in Speaker two of Valentine's children are named: Syfte and Ren; daughter and son 2yrs younger. Card also stated: "It was Plikt...who taught Valentine...the miracle of each of her five children..." Then you remeet Valentine and her children in "Xenocide" and Valentine describes her family. There is Styfe and her new husband Lars, and then there was Ro, a daughter two or three years younger than Styfe, and Varsam, the lone son who was youngest by four years. Only three children, and the son Ren is never mentioned. Did Card just forget Valentine's family between writing Speaker and Xenocide? Or did Valentine lose two children on the cold, harsh, frozen world of Trondheim? And if it's the later, why wasn't there a single mention of Valentine's loss in Xenocide?
It was also hard for me - and this could just be my own wacky mind - to picture Novinha's children at their appropriate ages. Ela should have been about 48, and the youngest Grego would have been around 36. Yet I pictured Ela about my age, and Grego and Quara a pair of bickering 17 and 18 year olds. Yes, Hubby and I do still act fairly childish at points, but lines like "It looked like a typical teenager's bedroom, complete with Grego's legs stretching up the walls, his bare feet dancing a weird rhythm..." really don't help with reminding me that Grego's character is supposed to be older than I am.
Also, I read Sci-Fi for the Fantasy portion of it. The mysteriousness of "what would happen in the future, or on another planet, or if we had different technology" of it all. However, I myself can't really stand science. For some reason it goes over my head. I guess it's the fantasy writer in me. I'd much prefer to just be wowed by the world working instead of figuring out why. Although, there are plenty of people interested in science precisely because the why of the world working is the "wow" factor for them. Either way, my point is that my eyes glaze over when it comes to science, and a little bit the same with philosophy. Mainly because I'm a visual person, and it's hard to visualize philosophical questions with possibly no true answer.
All of this made "Xenocide" all the more difficult to read, because I like to describe it simply as "Metaphysics and Philosophy: A Novel." I already told celestialTyrant that this could possibly become one of his top 10 novels once he reads it.
The book starts off well enough. A fleet is coming to destroy a planet in order to protect humanity from a deadly virus residing on it that is threatening to spread throughout the universe. Problem is, there are humans already on that planet struggling against the virus, as well as two other sentient alien species who only exist on this planet. Destroying it might save humanity, but it would be a xenocide of those two sentient species, as well as the other lifeforms on that planet. So already there are two sentient species being threatened with extinction, but if they aren't wiped out with the virus, then humanity could face extinction. Then Card throws in Jane, another sentient entity that somehow "lives" in the intergalactic connections between computers across the worlds that humans have colonized. A "living" AI that tries to save the humans on the threatened planet, but doing so exposed herself, and humanity knows that sentient computers are never a good thing. Thing is, Jane is the only one of her kind, so that would be another sentient alien - so to speak - lost to xenocide. Then you have Quara swearing that the deadly virus that the fleet was sent to destroy in the first place is equally sentient, but no one has been able to figure out the language enough to communicate to the virus how deadly and destructive it is. She hopes doing so will convert it from killing humans, and instead make itself as crucial to the life-system as it does with the native sentient species. Which makes things even more complicated. If the humans can figure out how to stop the virus so the entire planet doesn't need to be destroyed, at least one sentient alien - two if you count the virus as Quara does - might still die because they can't survive without the virus.
More and more species' existence are at stake in this hugely tangled mess of morality: who to save; who to let die? It's exciting and intense as you wonder how all the species are going to be able to survive. Then it takes the turn. The eternal question of "What is 'life' and what makes up a 'soul'?" pops up, and Card spends chapters having his characters pop back onto that question as they determine who should live, who should die, and if someone was truly "living" in the first place. It gets really philosophical and metaphysical from there. Thing is though, while he based it all on metaphysical science, the answer he came up with to resolve most of the problems seemed very "Deus Ex Machina" and almost in a literal sense.
Then there were the new characters introduced, the people of the planet Path. We are specifically introduced to a young woman named Qing-jao. She is a very loving and relatable character to start off with, but I'm not a fan of her character development. Side note: I'm equally not a fan of Novinha's development in this novel. In regards to Qing-jao, you get enough insight into her to understand the character development. It doesn't come from left field. Still, she changes from a sweet girl that you sympathize with to one of the most arrogant, annoying characters, at least for me. I'm also not a fan of the conclusion of her story in this novel, or the conclusion of the novel itself.
The novel closes with the main dilemmas IMPLIED to be taken care of, but there is no actual conclusion written out. I won't go into the cliffhanger questions I was left with because they could cause spoilers, but to me there was still at least one more chapter left on what was going on with Lusitania. Yet the novel closed off on Path with Qing-jao in a very unsatisfying way, at least for me. I'd much rather Card finished off with expressly stating what happened on Lusitania and implying Qing-jao's story close, instead of the other way around.
All-in-all, a good read that I tore through easily for the first 350 pages or so, but then after the Grego's War chapter it just gets too metaphysical, philosophical, and Qing-jao changes too drastically - as does Novinha - for me to have really enjoyed the remainder of the book. Still, if people want to know what happens after "Speaker for the Dead" and/or really like the philosophy of "what constitutes life" and metaphysical quandary of parallel universes/alternate planes of existence, then this is DEFINITELY the book for them.
Me? I'm going to have to track down "Children of the Mind" to continue to follow the conclusion of Ender's life, and hope that Card is back on his game, because I feel like he went into a really weird realm with the last half of "Xenocide." Out of the three I've read so far in the Ender Saga, Speaker, while a slow start, is definitely my favorite.
Alright, well it's Chart Time. What book am I going to pick up now to try to finish the month off with, or at least to get started so I can make sure to get my July book done with all the chaos that will be going on next month?
 |
| Reading Challenge created by Modern Mrs. Darcy |
While not a local librarian, Keaton has really been pushing the work of a fellow Writers' Group member. Enough so that I would call her an unofficial "bookseller." Because of this, I think I'll swing by the library a bit before group tonight in order to try to borrow "Reformation," a novel written and self-published by one of our group members. Sadly, I don't remember the woman's last name, but if I can pick the book up today I'll be sure to promote her properly next week.
And thus I charge ahead with this challenge. We'll see what else I charge ahead with in regards to my writing. That's the important one....
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Crafts is a FORM of Writing, Right? No?
Another glorious week where I once again have little to no clue what to write here since I did no other writing this week. Instead, I did crafts.
After I was done with my blog post last week, Hubby and I did some errands, and I attempted to type up the "Speaker for the Dead" fanfic I was scribbling out at work. I didn't get very far before Spink came over to chat about her X-Future character. She watched the movie "X-Men: Apocalypse" and the bug bit her again. It's typically what happens to me too. Watch "Hey, Arnold!" or "X-Men" or "Game of Thrones" or some high fantasy thing like "Lord of the Rings" or Hubby playing "Skyrim". Next thing I know, I'm writing HA! fanfic, or I'm super active on X-Future, or I have a new concept set up for D&D. So, I get her renewed enthusiasm for the game. Issue is, she doesn't know X-Men at all, and is too hung up on that handicap. Instead of letting Donna speak through her, Spink feels she doesn't know enough about Donna's parents or world or powers to really get a feel for the character. So Hubby and I showed her Colossus clips from movies and TV series to help her get a better handle on the character, as well as talk her through her writer's block.
Problem was, this ate up all my free writing time before my writing group, so I quickly typed up what I had hand written, and called it a day. I went to the meeting, and was one of three people who actually brought something to read. Which felt weird, since in the past nearly everyone at least had the writing prompt done for the meeting, but life has been getting in everyone's way, I guess. I know that feel.
As per usual, there was a decent discussion about the works of the other two authors in the group that read, and then for me it was a brief "that's really good" and then moving on. I STILL don't know how to handle that. WHAT IS THAT!? Are they saying I'm much better than I think, and that they can't help me improve? Are they saying "you're doing fine, let's focus on people with ongoing projects they want printed"? Are they saying "that's nice dear, now let the adults talk"? Are they just unsure as to how to critique me since I write in such "odd ball" genres? Or because I write FanFiction? WHAT IS THE REASON FOR SUCH LITTLE DISCUSSION OF MY WORKS!?!?!?!
This is gonna bug me for a while, isn't it?
Once again, I was informed that my fanfic could hold its own as an original with a few tweaks, just as they stated when I was reading my X-Future stories. While short, they enjoyed what I wrote, and told me I didn't need to worry about all the background build-up I verbalized to them so they knew what was happening in the fanfic; something I didn't need to do when publishing online because anyone who read "Speaker for the Dead" would know exactly what was going on.
While I appreciate the praise, I also disagree with it. There are too many elements crucial to Novinha and her characterization. Too many elements that would either ruin the character if I had to change/eliminate them, but also too many elements that would be blatantly "Speaker for the Dead" if I just changed the names.
Things like Novinha's guilt over Pipo, her isolation due to her literal saintly parents, her strained relationship with Libo, her equally strained relationship with Marcão, her bizarre marriage arrangements, and the descolada virus; all of these things are essential, but also nearly impossible to change without altering Novinha's character or still basically being a Speaker rip-off.
So, I opted to not do a "name swap" version to post on DeviantArt as I claimed I would last week. As I said, anyone who read my story and THEN read "Speaker for the Dead" would quickly figure out the spoilers. Anyone who opted to never read Speaker wouldn't care about the spoilers. Anyone who has read Speaker already knows the spoilers. What's the point of changing out the names in a veiled attempt at being original instead of a fanfic?
I do have to say, though, that - surprise, surprise - I'm not a fan of the title I picked. I wasn't able to finish the story I wanted to tell. I'm not even half-way done, I don't think, but I haven't had time to go back and keep working on it. I debated waiting to publish until I was done, but I had promised you folks something new to read, so I uploaded late last night. I literally sat on the couch blankly staring at the screen for about ten minutes trying to think of a decent title. I thought through the entire story I wanted to tell in order to see if there was some theme I could grab and use as a title. I tried to think of a phrase that Novinha would attach herself to. I tried to think of a keystone quote to symbolize the feel of the whole chapter. Instead, I came up with this brain fart....
I'll get good at this naming thing eventually. I hope. I mean, I SHOULD get better, right?
Anyway, throughout the rest of the week I sort of had a mental shut-down when it came to writing at work. I just couldn't get into the flow of continuing my story while writing on paper. I know that most writers break out of their writers block by whipping out good old pen and paper, but for me I need the flow of keys beneath my fingertips, not a pencil's weight in my hands. I like being able to shift things if I feel they fit better in a different order. I like hitting delete instead of scribbling or erasing. I like being able to move the cursor and insert something, instead of writing it in the margins and using an arrow to show where I want to insert a sentence. I like having spell-check. I like not having to write, only to waste time typing it up later so it can be posted. I like not wasting paper that I won't need to hold on to once I type everything up. I like not having piles and piles of loose leaf scattered about. I like knowing exactly where to find the story I was working on, instead of shuffling through a pile to find the paper I needed.
To me, if I'm creatively blocked, the WORST thing is for me to be abandoned with a pen/cil and a stack of paper. Yet, that's what happened. I didn't have the flow, the momentum I had when I started writing "True Husband." Trying to start it back up again was trying, and I still don't know how appropriate it would be for me to bring my netbook into work during the slow times. So, I'm stuck scribbling and desperately trying to find things to work on.
As for the crafts I mentioned at the top of the post? Well, one of my coworkers got super bored, there's a craft store down the street, and so she ran out, bought two skeins of yarn and two crochet needles, tossed one of each at me, and we sat and crocheted like little old ladies all week. She's working on a baby blanket for a friend, and I decided to get my butt in gear and crochet the bags for Spink and her fiance's wedding rings. It was fun trying to figure out how to crochet the ring bags, and then even more fun trying to figure out how to crochet ying-yang on them. It was tricky, but I think I'm okay with how they turned out. Still need to show them to Spink to see how she and her fiance feel about them. That way I have time to start over and practice more if need be.
In the meantime, though, that means I'm not using my work down-time for writing like I wanted. And when I'm home I'm socializing with Hubby or doing chores. Resulting in a not very productive writing week.
I've been reading like crazy, though. I have 152pages left of "Xenocide"; not too shabby considering how long it kept me to read all the other books I've taken on this year. A nearly 600pg book done in about two weeks; well, let's make it three weeks to be safe. I might even have time to plow through a small second book this month, or get an early start on next month's book, so that I can catch up and make up for me missing January's book.
Interesting factoid about "Xenocide" though. The chapter I'm on, the one that is about 150pages from the end of the book, that chapter is EIGHTY-SEVEN FRIGGEN PAGES LONG! Yup. About HALF of the remaining book is all ONE CHAPTER! Like, what? There are short stories shorter than this chapter! You'd think Orson Scott Card would chop it up a little, wouldn't you???? Especially since there are like three more chapters after this one is done. Sheesh!
Also, the book got REALLY philosophical about a hundred pages back. I went from edge-of-my-seat page-turner to "um.... my peanut brain can't understand...." So, I'm hoping for a big finish that doesn't focus so heavily on the complex paradoxical quandary of "what is life, what is the purpose of life, and is there such a thing as free will?" I read another sci-fi book entitled "Life, The Universe, And Everything" and it wasn't nearly this heavy! Sheesh again!
Anyway, I shouldn't really complain. I'm tearing through the story, and it's inspiring me to write my own stuff. That's the main reason writers should all read. So, perhaps I should get back to reading so I can actually have something written for next week. Something COMPLETELY written for next week.
After I was done with my blog post last week, Hubby and I did some errands, and I attempted to type up the "Speaker for the Dead" fanfic I was scribbling out at work. I didn't get very far before Spink came over to chat about her X-Future character. She watched the movie "X-Men: Apocalypse" and the bug bit her again. It's typically what happens to me too. Watch "Hey, Arnold!" or "X-Men" or "Game of Thrones" or some high fantasy thing like "Lord of the Rings" or Hubby playing "Skyrim". Next thing I know, I'm writing HA! fanfic, or I'm super active on X-Future, or I have a new concept set up for D&D. So, I get her renewed enthusiasm for the game. Issue is, she doesn't know X-Men at all, and is too hung up on that handicap. Instead of letting Donna speak through her, Spink feels she doesn't know enough about Donna's parents or world or powers to really get a feel for the character. So Hubby and I showed her Colossus clips from movies and TV series to help her get a better handle on the character, as well as talk her through her writer's block.
Problem was, this ate up all my free writing time before my writing group, so I quickly typed up what I had hand written, and called it a day. I went to the meeting, and was one of three people who actually brought something to read. Which felt weird, since in the past nearly everyone at least had the writing prompt done for the meeting, but life has been getting in everyone's way, I guess. I know that feel.
As per usual, there was a decent discussion about the works of the other two authors in the group that read, and then for me it was a brief "that's really good" and then moving on. I STILL don't know how to handle that. WHAT IS THAT!? Are they saying I'm much better than I think, and that they can't help me improve? Are they saying "you're doing fine, let's focus on people with ongoing projects they want printed"? Are they saying "that's nice dear, now let the adults talk"? Are they just unsure as to how to critique me since I write in such "odd ball" genres? Or because I write FanFiction? WHAT IS THE REASON FOR SUCH LITTLE DISCUSSION OF MY WORKS!?!?!?!
This is gonna bug me for a while, isn't it?
Once again, I was informed that my fanfic could hold its own as an original with a few tweaks, just as they stated when I was reading my X-Future stories. While short, they enjoyed what I wrote, and told me I didn't need to worry about all the background build-up I verbalized to them so they knew what was happening in the fanfic; something I didn't need to do when publishing online because anyone who read "Speaker for the Dead" would know exactly what was going on.
While I appreciate the praise, I also disagree with it. There are too many elements crucial to Novinha and her characterization. Too many elements that would either ruin the character if I had to change/eliminate them, but also too many elements that would be blatantly "Speaker for the Dead" if I just changed the names.
Things like Novinha's guilt over Pipo, her isolation due to her literal saintly parents, her strained relationship with Libo, her equally strained relationship with Marcão, her bizarre marriage arrangements, and the descolada virus; all of these things are essential, but also nearly impossible to change without altering Novinha's character or still basically being a Speaker rip-off.
So, I opted to not do a "name swap" version to post on DeviantArt as I claimed I would last week. As I said, anyone who read my story and THEN read "Speaker for the Dead" would quickly figure out the spoilers. Anyone who opted to never read Speaker wouldn't care about the spoilers. Anyone who has read Speaker already knows the spoilers. What's the point of changing out the names in a veiled attempt at being original instead of a fanfic?
I do have to say, though, that - surprise, surprise - I'm not a fan of the title I picked. I wasn't able to finish the story I wanted to tell. I'm not even half-way done, I don't think, but I haven't had time to go back and keep working on it. I debated waiting to publish until I was done, but I had promised you folks something new to read, so I uploaded late last night. I literally sat on the couch blankly staring at the screen for about ten minutes trying to think of a decent title. I thought through the entire story I wanted to tell in order to see if there was some theme I could grab and use as a title. I tried to think of a phrase that Novinha would attach herself to. I tried to think of a keystone quote to symbolize the feel of the whole chapter. Instead, I came up with this brain fart....
"True Husband"
I'll get good at this naming thing eventually. I hope. I mean, I SHOULD get better, right?
 |
| Knives from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley |
To me, if I'm creatively blocked, the WORST thing is for me to be abandoned with a pen/cil and a stack of paper. Yet, that's what happened. I didn't have the flow, the momentum I had when I started writing "True Husband." Trying to start it back up again was trying, and I still don't know how appropriate it would be for me to bring my netbook into work during the slow times. So, I'm stuck scribbling and desperately trying to find things to work on.
As for the crafts I mentioned at the top of the post? Well, one of my coworkers got super bored, there's a craft store down the street, and so she ran out, bought two skeins of yarn and two crochet needles, tossed one of each at me, and we sat and crocheted like little old ladies all week. She's working on a baby blanket for a friend, and I decided to get my butt in gear and crochet the bags for Spink and her fiance's wedding rings. It was fun trying to figure out how to crochet the ring bags, and then even more fun trying to figure out how to crochet ying-yang on them. It was tricky, but I think I'm okay with how they turned out. Still need to show them to Spink to see how she and her fiance feel about them. That way I have time to start over and practice more if need be.
In the meantime, though, that means I'm not using my work down-time for writing like I wanted. And when I'm home I'm socializing with Hubby or doing chores. Resulting in a not very productive writing week.
I've been reading like crazy, though. I have 152pages left of "Xenocide"; not too shabby considering how long it kept me to read all the other books I've taken on this year. A nearly 600pg book done in about two weeks; well, let's make it three weeks to be safe. I might even have time to plow through a small second book this month, or get an early start on next month's book, so that I can catch up and make up for me missing January's book.
Interesting factoid about "Xenocide" though. The chapter I'm on, the one that is about 150pages from the end of the book, that chapter is EIGHTY-SEVEN FRIGGEN PAGES LONG! Yup. About HALF of the remaining book is all ONE CHAPTER! Like, what? There are short stories shorter than this chapter! You'd think Orson Scott Card would chop it up a little, wouldn't you???? Especially since there are like three more chapters after this one is done. Sheesh!
Also, the book got REALLY philosophical about a hundred pages back. I went from edge-of-my-seat page-turner to "um.... my peanut brain can't understand...." So, I'm hoping for a big finish that doesn't focus so heavily on the complex paradoxical quandary of "what is life, what is the purpose of life, and is there such a thing as free will?" I read another sci-fi book entitled "Life, The Universe, And Everything" and it wasn't nearly this heavy! Sheesh again!
Anyway, I shouldn't really complain. I'm tearing through the story, and it's inspiring me to write my own stuff. That's the main reason writers should all read. So, perhaps I should get back to reading so I can actually have something written for next week. Something COMPLETELY written for next week.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Read to Write: Spark of Inspiration
Before I get going on this week's post, I want to send out a belated birthday wish for one of my high school friends who hit the big 3-0 yesterday!
Alright, back to business.
I have spent the week keeping myself busy with things that could possibly be RELATED to writing, but actual writing was not done. Again. This is getting tiring.
I'm at a point where I'm mentally blocked again. I want to just write things. I want to spend my downtime at work frantically scribbling off pages and pages of ANYTHING prose. Instead, whenever I sit at work and go "OK, I'm taking my fifteen-minutes-a-day to write.... NOW." I then spend it scribbling in the margins as my mind goes blank. I'm still not entirely sure if it's due to a lack of inspiration, or an overload of it.
I hopped back on Writers’ Huddle late last week. I haven't been on in MONTHS, and I felt that this dry spell is precisely when I would need the group again. While chatting in the forums, I jotted down all the projects I either have in the works, or planned in the back of my head. There's quite a few....
Of course, the one that's pulling me the most is the one that not only has the second-to-most world building to do, but also presumably has no conclusion. It's meant to be a comic series. While comics, especially web comics, do run their stories and eventually end, there are more like the main staples - Superman, Batman, X-Men, Captain America, The Avengers, The Justice League, Teen Titans, Fantastic Four, etc - that are still running about half-a-century later. With different writers and illustrators, yes, but they're still going. Heck, even TV shows like The Simpsons are the same way. What if "Glitches" is actually a success? That would be awesome, but there would also presumably be no end in sight. No goal to really work towards, just the telling of the story of characters that I love until they stop telling me their stories anymore.
A sweet sentiment, but not one that really helps me out in whittling down that above list. Sad thing is that most of that list are 20-some chapter novels. Nothing quick to finish off so that I have at least ONE completed long project. The closest I have to that is "Please, Let Me Explain" which should be about seven or so chapters long. Problem is, I can't finish it without Ron, who's been very MIA. I can't really blame him. He's working the overnight shift now, and is prepping for his first-born's arrival next month. Still, both he and Phfylburt; I miss reading their writing, because it always sparked my own creativity. So, yeah, it's kind of selfish of me that I'm bummed at their lack of writing lately. Is that wrong???
Anyway, people on the Writers Huddle forum suggested that I needed to ignore writing for a bit, and find other creative outlets: walking, drawing, watching movies, playing video games, or reading books, that sort of thing. Doing so might spark my muse again. Can't say that they're wrong.
Since I haven't been using my downtime at work for writing, I've been using it for reading. Seven days into this month - but in all reality, let's not count today yet since I literally started writing this right after waking up today - and I'm already 236pages into my book for the month. I'd be nearly done with "Speaker for the Dead" if I was reading that this month instead of last. As it stands, however, I am a little shy of half-way through my current novel.
I decided to just go ahead and read "Xenocide" by Orson Scott Card. That way Speaker and its characters were still fresh in my mind. I'll use the book to check off the "Owned but never read" category. I mean, technically, HUBBY owns the book, but what's his is mine and vice versa, right? So it counts as me also owning it and never reading it for nearly five years, right? Yeah. I'm going with it.
Much like in Speaker, Card starts off each chapter with a little intro side-story sort of thing before getting into the meat of the chapter. Unlike in Speaker, Xenocide's intro bits aren't nearly as distracting. They are conversations between two unnamed characters. Having read Speaker recently, I recognized the "voices" being used by the two characters, and was able to figure out who is speaking before each chapter starts. It still gets a bit confusing because sometimes the two characters themselves have similar voices, while distinct in relation to the voices of the rest of the book characters, and so it's a challenge to figure out who is saying what in the conversation. A couple of passes and I think I have them sorted out, though.
I really am enjoying the story. Each chapter adds more presumably impossible challenges instead of ever conquering any, and so the stakes just keep getting higher and higher, and the "correct" path becomes harder and harder to see. It follows the theme present in all the Ender Saga books I've read so far, and possibly every story Card ever writes; I haven't read enough of them yet: be empathetic to everyone, because everyone believes their way is the only correct one, and just because those beliefs conflict doesn't mean either is wrong.
I must admit, Card's language is a bit more elevated than I'm used to, and my vocabulary isn't exactly extended enough to understand some of the words he throws in - truthfully, if I wasn't at work, I'd probably have a dictionary on my lap as I read - and he still tosses in untranslated Portuguese a lot. So, yeah, my eyes sort of glaze over in spots. Still, the majority of the story is engaging because it deals so much with the Human Condition and inner turmoil of the characters; something I enjoy greatly. There's just something about Character-driven plots instead of Event-driven plots that really calls out to me. Maybe it's because I'm a people person. Maybe it's because my calling really should have been some sort of therapist or counselor. I did really want to do something like a minor in Psychology in college because it both intrigued me, and it would help with creating more believable characters. Had to drop the idea though because my workload was too much to finish in four years. I might have to go back and Annex a few Psych classes some day.
Sorry, tangent. The point I'm trying to convey is that while the mystery of Speaker, quickly followed by the love of the characters, really drew me in for that story, the real hook for Xenocide is just the characters. How will they handle, and hopefully avoid, their impending doom, or the massive burdens they bear? Is xenocide of SOME species inevitable in order for the other species to survive? I mean, there are at least five species at stake, and who knows how many more Card is going to throw in before the story's done. So many nagging questions and challenges I'm waiting to see results for! At the same time, though, reading Xenocide is making me think more and more of the events of Speaker.
Which brings me full circle: read to write. The more I read "Xenocide" the more I think about the background events of "Speaker for the Dead": what exactly happened during the twenty-odd years it kept the Speaker to get to Lusitania? We know the broad strokes; the basic history. We know the essentials of what happened, but what about the nitty gritty day to day? How did that history play out?
It was late yesterday, and I didn't get very far, and so I don't have anything to post and share, but I did start writing a fanfic about that very subject: what was the day-to-day turmoil on Lusitania like while they unknowingly waited for the Speaker? I don't want to give any spoilers away, and so I'll actually be writing two different versions of this fanfic. One will have the actual character names in true fanfic fashion. That one will be posted on FanFiction.net when I'm done. The other version will be the same exact tale, but with original names. That way when you go into the story cold, you won't know which characters it's talking about. This version will be posted on DeviantArt.com and FictionPress.com when I'm done. Fair warning, though, in order for this tale to work I still need to keep the key fanfiction elements of the character interactions. So, if you read even my "spoiler free" version, if/when you read Speaker you will get the spoilers anyway. Or at least, it should come to you based on the interactions of the characters; you should be able to plug back in who is supposed to be who. In that case, should I bother removing the names????? I'll have to figure that out before officially posting.
Well, I have a lot to do, especially if I'm going to have that story written up in time for Writing Group tonight. I hope to have it all set for the rest of you to read next week. With any luck, more writing inspiration should strike too, and not just more character/plot builds for my D&D campaign like this past week.
 |
| Happy Birthday, Stargazer! I'm sure your son is making you feel equal parts young and old right now. :D |
I have spent the week keeping myself busy with things that could possibly be RELATED to writing, but actual writing was not done. Again. This is getting tiring.
I'm at a point where I'm mentally blocked again. I want to just write things. I want to spend my downtime at work frantically scribbling off pages and pages of ANYTHING prose. Instead, whenever I sit at work and go "OK, I'm taking my fifteen-minutes-a-day to write.... NOW." I then spend it scribbling in the margins as my mind goes blank. I'm still not entirely sure if it's due to a lack of inspiration, or an overload of it.
I hopped back on Writers’ Huddle late last week. I haven't been on in MONTHS, and I felt that this dry spell is precisely when I would need the group again. While chatting in the forums, I jotted down all the projects I either have in the works, or planned in the back of my head. There's quite a few....
So.... yeah... my block is not for want of ideas, it's most likely for want of a direction to go in. Right now I'm scattered all over this above list. Whichever I'm in the mood for, I guess, a little X-Future here, some more world building there, maybe sprinkle in some fanfiction.... You get the idea. It's not a good way of doing things at all. The lack of focus is hurting me more than anything. I just don't know where to aim my focus, since I don't know what story is calling out to me.I feel like there's more I'm forgetting, but you get the idea by now.
- "Please, Let Me Explain" is the story I'm co-writing with my friend Ronoxym, but he disappeared in November. The story is about his character Devon returning to the Xavier school after seemingly abandoning it to their enemy. He tries to win back the trust of my character Willow, but she's not biting. He convinces her to use her telepathic powers to read his mind to prove he isn't lying, but when she does so his Id takes over and manifests itself as a sort of Tour Guide through Devon's brain to keep Willow from finding out his deepest secret: murdering a man in cold blood because Devon believed the man had murdered Willow and the rest of the kids at the Xavier school.
- "X-Future: The Second Generation Begins" is my conversion of the X-Future play-by-post role play game story into novelized narrative. I was passionate about this project at first because I love the majority of the story that came out of the gameplay. However, the task has become so daunting that I rarely put in the effort to try to continue it...
- "X-Future: Snippets" are simple little one-shots of the X-Future characters to help me character build, work through headcanon that wouldn't work as legit game-canon, or get back into character for the game. I haven't touched this project in a little while either. Everything I think of for the game characters I almost instantly place in the game itself.
- "Glitches" is my reworking of X-Future into an original work, most likely a graphic novel series. I'm not decided on the title yet, but instead of "mutants" or "gifted" or "super humans" or whatever else Marvel and the MCU has used, I'm going with the term "Glitches" since their mutations are "glitches" in their DNA. This is the project that grips me the most, but it still has a lot of world building and character building that I need to work on.
- "The Divine Legends"/"The People of Gyateara" are two stories dealing with my high-fantasy world building, but I'm just soooo bad at coming up with original versions of D&D gods and mythos and populating a world.... I've been working on Gyateara since, like, 2009.... >_<
- "What Is Truly Meant To Be" is a "Hey, Arnold!" fanfic I started around 2010 and sort of abandoned. I do wish to finish it, I just need to find time to rewatch the show in order to re-immerse myself in the source material in order to stay in character. This story is about Arnold, upon graduating high school, realizing he's still in love with Helga. However, when he returns to his childhood hometown to confess his love to her, he discovers that she's now dating her long-time admirer Brainy, whom I believe I renamed Ian. Arnold struggles to deal with losing Helga, while Helga is torn between her current love for Brainy/Ian and her lingering love for Arnold.
- "HA! Midsummer..." I don't even have a crafty title yet. It's another "Hey, Arnold!" fanfic idea. Yes, idea, I haven't even started writing this one yet. The concept is a HA! crossover with Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I really liked this idea since the show itself seemed to mimic The Bard's weird love square: Arnie loves Helga, who loves Arnold, who loves Lila, who loves Arnie.... It's trying to figure out which "Hey, Arnold!" characters best fit the rest of the play's cast that's been snagging me.
- "A Huntress' Love" or something like that.... Sorry for the pathetic title, I suck at those.... This is - surprise, surprise - another fanfic idea, this time focused on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson universe. I once saw a tweet back and forth between Riordan and a reader asking about what would happen if one of the maiden huntresses of the Greek goddess Artemis fell in love. The thought of an Artemis huntress falling into the greatest Taboo of her mistress really stuck with me. I even wrote out an outline for this tale for my "Master Class with James Patterson" webinar series I did last fall. Trick is, I still haven't even developed the two main characters for this tale. I know the one is a huntress and the other is a demigod. Beyond that? Nothing really.
- "Lottie's Tale" another one where I never really even thought of the title, this is just some BS placeholder working title. Anyway, the story is based on a vampire character I created for a live-action role play game I was part of. The concept is that Lottie is on a mission to track down the vampire that killed and diablerized her sire, in other words, ate the vampire's soul; the vampire equivalent to cannibalism. While slaughtering her way through vampire clans, she also follows subtle clues as to why her husband went MIA in WWII, clues that hint that perhaps he's still alive after all. All of this is chaos enough, but poor Lottie is also struggling with the fact that decades of being a vampire, especially an overly murderous one of her own kind, is whittling away at her humanity.
- "Best Served Cold" similar to the above story, this one is about another vampire character I created for game. This one has Neghya - pronounced Nia - on the hunt for the vampire that violently raped her and mutilated her before turning her into a vampire all as punishment for embarrassing and wronging him in the most grievous of ways in his eyes. He wanted to literally take everything from her, and then hoped that she wouldn't reawaken before the sun had ashed her. Neghya has no clue about the world she was dumped into, and must learn how to control her new vampiric powers while trying to track down her Sire.
- "The Race for Destiny", again, I'm sorry about the terrible titles.... This is a NaNoWriMo story from YEARS back, and it's one of the first stories I had set up on Gyateara. A woman from Earth is magically teleported onto Gyateara and struggles to find a way home. In the meantime, the locals believe that she's a prophesied Chosen One of the main four goddesses of the country. The goddesses each pick a Chosen One that best personifies her favored.... we'll call them personality traits for want of a better term.... and if the Chosen Ones come together, or if one person wins favor with all four goddesses, then they will gain the ability to unlock the divine sword Destiny from its chamber. I know, the sword's name is lame, I plead youth ignorance.... Anyway, any who wield Destiny would have the blessing of the Goddesses, and could use the sword to either bring great prosperity and peace to the land, or drive the country into immense destruction and despair; depending on the wielder's heart. Unfortunately, a villain that could very well bring upon the world this great destruction had managed to win favor of two of the goddesses: strength and strategy. The girl from Earth, who was believed to win the Goddess favor of love, and a young man possessing the Goddess favor of valor, must work together to beat the villain in order to unlock Destiny and finally return peace to the young man's world. Oh, and I bet you can already guess that the two main leads hook up; causing the girl the struggle of wondering if she wants to even return to Earth; cliche....
Of course, the one that's pulling me the most is the one that not only has the second-to-most world building to do, but also presumably has no conclusion. It's meant to be a comic series. While comics, especially web comics, do run their stories and eventually end, there are more like the main staples - Superman, Batman, X-Men, Captain America, The Avengers, The Justice League, Teen Titans, Fantastic Four, etc - that are still running about half-a-century later. With different writers and illustrators, yes, but they're still going. Heck, even TV shows like The Simpsons are the same way. What if "Glitches" is actually a success? That would be awesome, but there would also presumably be no end in sight. No goal to really work towards, just the telling of the story of characters that I love until they stop telling me their stories anymore.
A sweet sentiment, but not one that really helps me out in whittling down that above list. Sad thing is that most of that list are 20-some chapter novels. Nothing quick to finish off so that I have at least ONE completed long project. The closest I have to that is "Please, Let Me Explain" which should be about seven or so chapters long. Problem is, I can't finish it without Ron, who's been very MIA. I can't really blame him. He's working the overnight shift now, and is prepping for his first-born's arrival next month. Still, both he and Phfylburt; I miss reading their writing, because it always sparked my own creativity. So, yeah, it's kind of selfish of me that I'm bummed at their lack of writing lately. Is that wrong???
Anyway, people on the Writers Huddle forum suggested that I needed to ignore writing for a bit, and find other creative outlets: walking, drawing, watching movies, playing video games, or reading books, that sort of thing. Doing so might spark my muse again. Can't say that they're wrong.
Since I haven't been using my downtime at work for writing, I've been using it for reading. Seven days into this month - but in all reality, let's not count today yet since I literally started writing this right after waking up today - and I'm already 236pages into my book for the month. I'd be nearly done with "Speaker for the Dead" if I was reading that this month instead of last. As it stands, however, I am a little shy of half-way through my current novel.
I decided to just go ahead and read "Xenocide" by Orson Scott Card. That way Speaker and its characters were still fresh in my mind. I'll use the book to check off the "Owned but never read" category. I mean, technically, HUBBY owns the book, but what's his is mine and vice versa, right? So it counts as me also owning it and never reading it for nearly five years, right? Yeah. I'm going with it.
Much like in Speaker, Card starts off each chapter with a little intro side-story sort of thing before getting into the meat of the chapter. Unlike in Speaker, Xenocide's intro bits aren't nearly as distracting. They are conversations between two unnamed characters. Having read Speaker recently, I recognized the "voices" being used by the two characters, and was able to figure out who is speaking before each chapter starts. It still gets a bit confusing because sometimes the two characters themselves have similar voices, while distinct in relation to the voices of the rest of the book characters, and so it's a challenge to figure out who is saying what in the conversation. A couple of passes and I think I have them sorted out, though.
I really am enjoying the story. Each chapter adds more presumably impossible challenges instead of ever conquering any, and so the stakes just keep getting higher and higher, and the "correct" path becomes harder and harder to see. It follows the theme present in all the Ender Saga books I've read so far, and possibly every story Card ever writes; I haven't read enough of them yet: be empathetic to everyone, because everyone believes their way is the only correct one, and just because those beliefs conflict doesn't mean either is wrong.
I must admit, Card's language is a bit more elevated than I'm used to, and my vocabulary isn't exactly extended enough to understand some of the words he throws in - truthfully, if I wasn't at work, I'd probably have a dictionary on my lap as I read - and he still tosses in untranslated Portuguese a lot. So, yeah, my eyes sort of glaze over in spots. Still, the majority of the story is engaging because it deals so much with the Human Condition and inner turmoil of the characters; something I enjoy greatly. There's just something about Character-driven plots instead of Event-driven plots that really calls out to me. Maybe it's because I'm a people person. Maybe it's because my calling really should have been some sort of therapist or counselor. I did really want to do something like a minor in Psychology in college because it both intrigued me, and it would help with creating more believable characters. Had to drop the idea though because my workload was too much to finish in four years. I might have to go back and Annex a few Psych classes some day.
Sorry, tangent. The point I'm trying to convey is that while the mystery of Speaker, quickly followed by the love of the characters, really drew me in for that story, the real hook for Xenocide is just the characters. How will they handle, and hopefully avoid, their impending doom, or the massive burdens they bear? Is xenocide of SOME species inevitable in order for the other species to survive? I mean, there are at least five species at stake, and who knows how many more Card is going to throw in before the story's done. So many nagging questions and challenges I'm waiting to see results for! At the same time, though, reading Xenocide is making me think more and more of the events of Speaker.
Which brings me full circle: read to write. The more I read "Xenocide" the more I think about the background events of "Speaker for the Dead": what exactly happened during the twenty-odd years it kept the Speaker to get to Lusitania? We know the broad strokes; the basic history. We know the essentials of what happened, but what about the nitty gritty day to day? How did that history play out?
It was late yesterday, and I didn't get very far, and so I don't have anything to post and share, but I did start writing a fanfic about that very subject: what was the day-to-day turmoil on Lusitania like while they unknowingly waited for the Speaker? I don't want to give any spoilers away, and so I'll actually be writing two different versions of this fanfic. One will have the actual character names in true fanfic fashion. That one will be posted on FanFiction.net when I'm done. The other version will be the same exact tale, but with original names. That way when you go into the story cold, you won't know which characters it's talking about. This version will be posted on DeviantArt.com and FictionPress.com when I'm done. Fair warning, though, in order for this tale to work I still need to keep the key fanfiction elements of the character interactions. So, if you read even my "spoiler free" version, if/when you read Speaker you will get the spoilers anyway. Or at least, it should come to you based on the interactions of the characters; you should be able to plug back in who is supposed to be who. In that case, should I bother removing the names????? I'll have to figure that out before officially posting.
Well, I have a lot to do, especially if I'm going to have that story written up in time for Writing Group tonight. I hope to have it all set for the rest of you to read next week. With any luck, more writing inspiration should strike too, and not just more character/plot builds for my D&D campaign like this past week.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
All About The Books
It's been an interesting writing week. I'm not sure if I should consider it a success, though, since I didn't actually write anything to share. I did warn you about that, though. This week was mostly dedicated to reading and structuring the next session for D&D. There was some creativity in the later part, so that counts, right?
Tuesday went more-or-less the way it always does at Writing Group. I went, I socialized, I gently critiqued others so that they might improve, and then I read my writing. As per usual, I had a pleasant response to my sibling dialogue piece. People enjoyed it. You could tell which sibling was talking because their voices were well defined. They were believably twelve and seven. You could tell what actions were being taken based on their dialogue, and even the passage of time didn't seem awkward while each sibling waited for the other. Good notes. Yay, me! Still, we spend so much time with everyone else, and then when it comes to me it's almost like they're patting me on the head. "Good, good. Well, done. Scurry along now..." Perhaps it's because they legitimately can't find anything to critique. Maybe they want to focus more on people's ongoing manuscripts than improving generic writing skills via oneshots. Maybe they're pandering to me. It's hard for me to tell which it is.
After the meeting, our newest member Brooklyn stopped me to chat. He commented about how he enjoyed my writing, mostly because it reminded him of his own. I stated that I felt the same way about other authors; mainly Rick Riordan. It was flattering to hear Brooklyn speak so highly of my writing, especially since he introduced himself at the meeting by stating that he has never been published, but he does have four completed manuscripts waiting to be picked up by someone. He also stated that he has tons of published-author friends back in New York City that have been trying to find him an agent. Encouraging stuff for this man's writing career, and yet he was impressed with my writing? Now my ego got a bit stroked, not even gonna lie. He trusted my writing eye well enough that he asked if I would mind beta reading a small chunk of his most recent story. I agreed - why not, I seem to be everyone's beta reader - and he handed me twelve random pages: presumably most of his third chapter, and the first two pages of his fourth.
Work again being as slow as commissions sales tend to be, I had plenty of time to read through Brooklyn's writing. I'm not entirely sure if he wrote the story the way he did because his main character, who is also the story narrator, has the mentality of a twelve-year-old, much like the writing style in Flowers for Algernon, or if the narration is simple because it's intended to be an elementary/middle-grade chapter book. I'm leaning towards the later, if no other reason than the subject of his story. Brooklyn's book is about Spike the Christmas Elf. Spike decides that he's tired of only knowing of the North Pole, and wishes to be more Worldly. So, Spike sets off on a journey, and finds himself in the United States. He's befriended by a traveling lounge musician named Ian, and a waitress named Jill. Where I last left Spike's wanderings, the trio left wherever Ian was originally performing - it was probably addressed in the first 34 pages that I didn't have - and went on what seemed to be a two-day drive to Las Vegas, Nevada for Ian's next big gig.
I have to say, that's one of the things I enjoy about my new job. Since it's commission sales, I could have a day like yesterday, where I'm twiddling my thumbs for about six out of the eight hours I'm working, have a fantastic sale by the end of the day, and still average out as making about $50 per hour! Not too shabby! Especially when I can spend those boring six hours of waiting doing things for my writing career. I could beta read. I could world build. I could actually write. I could focus on the pillar of writing I tend to neglect: reading published novels.
Which is precisely what I also did last week. I plowed through the last of Speaker for the Dead. For the three women that I am doing this reading challenge with, you've already read my thoughts on the matter, so excuse my repeating myself.
In all honesty, reading "Speaker for the Dead" was a trying race, and I thought I wasn't going to make it to the finish, just as I was concerned last month when I hadn't even picked up a book the first 20-some days of April. My biggest concern was that I didn't even really get into reading SftD until the fifteenth or so. Nearly 400 pages in fifteen days felt like too much of an undertaking. Especially when I still had about 100 pages left this past Wednesday, and then I forget to bring the book home while I had Thursday off.... Thankfully, even with the store having a Memorial Day special, it was almost painfully slow. Thanks to road work outside the store, I had enough down-time to charge through about 72% of the novel in a little over one week!
So, what was my reaction to "Speaker for the Dead"? Well.... it's a VERY grinding read. Orson Scott Card wanted to deviate from Europeans as main characters, and English as the primary language for this book. Breaking up the monotonous White Washing of Sci-Fi - at least, at the time it was written - Card had the residents of the new-found planet of Lusitania be decedents from Brazil. Which meant a LOT of Portuguese that I struggled to mentally pronounce, and a great deal of it was not actually translated. The meaning was supposed to be interpreted by the other character's reactions and responses.
There was also a lot of scientific jargon thrown in, most of which was probably created by Card for this novel. I mean, Speaker was set around 5270AD - it spans nearly thirty years throughout the course of the novel - that's a lot of technological advancements to think up....
The beginning of each chapter had a semi-unrelated text that, together, created the subplot backstory of an impending war, and why it was coming about. My issue here, however, is that while they made sense the further into the book you got, they seemed disruptive in the starting chapters, especially since you couldn't tell which bit of information came when since it was all essentially written in different stardate forms. To be fair, this may be something that would only irritate me.
Now, as I started off saying, the story was indeed very grindy. Even when I was completely immersed into the story, enjoying every page I read, I still found myself stopping to count how many pages I had left, and moaning about how long-winded the book was. And that's saying something, coming from me. Since I enjoyed it so much, I honestly couldn't tell where Card could cut. It was all very well done, and all needed material. It was just So. Slow. Paced. You'd enjoy the twenty-page chapter, only to realize that in the grand scheme of things, twenty-pages barely puts a dent in the book. I felt like I wasn't making any ground at all. The fact that the end of May was fast approaching probably didn't help the slow-paced nature of the story.... All in all though, I did, I truly did, greatly enjoy the novel. I completely understand why Hubby has tried for so many years to get me to read it, even if he himself isn't up to the task of REreading it. Again: slow read.
While "Ender's Game" was more fast-paced and gripping due to its action and concern for Ender, "Speaker for the Dead" presented a whole family - about a dozen characters, at least - that I fell in love with. To me, that more than makes up for the slow pacing. There were a few characters that only made relatively short appearances in the book - only about two chapters out of eighteen - and yet I still yearned for more about them; mourned for them. Each time another character's heart is ripped open, mine did too. Ender's great gift/terrible curse of empathy translates so well that I had the same love for these people in just as short a time with them. I yearned to know them just as he did.
The real, kicker, though, was the underlining mystery of it all: Why did the Piggies - the book's alien species - do what they did? The mystery called out to me, and I just NEEDED to know the answer. I won't speak more on that topic since it would create spoilers, but I was proud to know that my semi-analytical mind was able to figure it out after only a few chapters. I just needed to get to the ending to confirm my deduction. Go, me!
Speaking of spoilers and my ability to figure the Great Mystery out, Hubby's copy is the "Author's Definitive Edition." Probably part of my problem with making my way through this book was that, before even page 1 of the story, there are thirteen pages of introduction by Card, two pages listing the key players on the new planet of Lusitania, one page listing the family trees of the two main families in the book, and two pages explaining how to pronounce Portuguese names. Since Brazilian - and perhaps all Portuguese? - names are usually about five long, Card thankfully abbreviated everyone's name, even their given names which were typically at least three syllables long, to a short, generally two syllable nickname. The trick was when these characters would use or were addressed by their proper names; that was when I was grateful for the listing of players at the front of the book. My mistake, however, was attempting to read the introduction before reading the book for the first time, as well as checking out the family trees while wondering why I cared about the family histories. Was I about to embark on some Sci-Fi version of Lord of the Rings, where every character is introduced by whose child, and grandchild, and great-grandchild they are?
In both cases, there were MAJOR spoilers for the story. The introduction was Card explaining how he went from inspiration to publication of Speaker, in which he essentially gave away the "Why" of what the Piggies do. The family trees gave me a heads up of who would die when, and who would be paired up. That knowledge softened the blow a couple of times, but ruined the real impact. While I did frequent the family trees page multiple times to keep track of who was whose kid, and how old everyone was - space travel and Catholic families are tricky things - I would have much rather it be buried in the back as an appendixed reference point. That way clueless readers like myself wouldn't accidentally stumble into spoilers. That all being said, I caution you, if you're gonna give this book a try, and also have the Author's Definitive Edition, do yourself a favor and ignore everything before the official first Prologue page, at least, until you get about 100pgs in, then you're safe to refer to the family trees if need be.
All-in-all, I really did enjoy this story. It really made me love these characters, drew me in to their secrets and pain, and made me just as curious about the Piggies as the characters were. Also, while I loved Ender in the first book, he was a scared, isolated little boy who got me to RAGE at "Ender's Game" for being "so mean to him." The way that Ender grew into such a kind, loving, but still bluntly honest man made me love his character more. It IS a slow read, and I DID groan about the length, but, as I already stated, I honestly don't really know where Card could have cut. Besides, the story nags at the back of your mind when you put it down. A soft, slow nag, until you end up spending hours reading to quiet the hunger. So it definitely has THAT going for it. Even now, it still lingers, almost daring me to give it another read. Part of me wants to see if I could do justice to the characters if I wrote out a fanfic of the jumped-over twenty-two years that played in the background of the main story.
My final thoughts on the book? Even if you aren't into Sci-Fi, I'd recommend "Speaker for the Dead". It's more about interspecies/racial interaction and understanding, as well as religious vs humanitarian vs citizen loyalties and morals. The science jargon or Portuguese may weigh some people down, but overall it is such a good read. In fact, it's an almost inspirational read about the necessity to be empathetic towards everyone, and trying to see everything from everyone's point of view. Most things are not what they seem from your vantage point, and sometimes we aren't the heroes we perceive ourselves as, nor are we the villains, contrary to the guilt we feel.
Anyway, go out, and read! Read this book! Do it!
Okay, so I'm now back to trying to decide what I'm going to do for my next book in this reading challenge. Let's go to the chart again, shall we?
Now, keep in mind, that I can still slide "Life, the Universe, and Everything" to the "published before birth" category in order to open up the "already read at least once" for another book. I could also shift "Coraline" to either "owned but never read" or "meaning to read" in order to fit another book in the "can finish in one day" spot. I'm intending on saving the "published this year" for Riordan's next book in the Magnus Chase Norse Mythology series, or the Apollo series, whichever book we get first. Which means, I should probably also save either "owned but never read" or "meaning to read" for the first Magnus Chase book, since Hubby got it for his birthday or Christmas - one of those two; it was in December - and I didn't want to read his book before he did. He's been slacking, though, so I told him he has until September before I swipe the book and read it regardless of whether or not he's finished it.
So, September and October's categories are already figured out. I still need to TALK to my local librarian for the one category, since I CLEARLY don't need to talk to a book seller; have more than enough books already piled high in my spare room. I'm also still trying to interpret what "should have read in school" could mean for me. Dare I give books like "The Old Man and the Sea" or "Red Badge of Courage" another try now that I'm older, more mature, and more likely to appreciate such works? Or do I trust my high school self that these stories are just NOT my cup of tea, and find something like "The Giver" that is generally in school reading lists, but it wasn't for my school?
Speaking of "The Giver," I was leaning towards a banned book for June, but I can't put my finger on which one I want to read, especially since the ones I own I've already read. I'd prefer to read one I haven't tackled yet, such as "Catch-22" or "1984." I might have to forego my own expansive book collection, and finally set up a library card so that I can track down one of these banned books.
The last category I more-or-less know what I want to do is the "book that intimidates you," in which case, I want to read Dante's Divine Trilogy, or at least Inferno, since it's referenced so much in pop-culture - I even own a computer game called Daria's Inferno where the 90s MTV cartoon character runs through her own version of Dante's hell - plus, Dante's Inferno is just such a classic tale to have read. Thing there, though, is my copy is part of a leather-bound collection my father bought when I was born, and I don't know how I feel about bringing it outside the house to work every day. However, I don't know if I'll have time to read outside of work anymore, except for maybe when Hubby hops on World of Warcraft now that Quarthix talked him into playing.
There is also the possibility of using the "owned but haven't read" category in order to continue the Ender Saga by diving right into "Xenocide." The story conquers the tale of the impending war hinted at throughout "Speaker for the Dead," and reading this book right after Speaker will help me really remember the previous novel; as opposed to reading Speaker about a decade after "Ender's Game." Although, Card did do a fantastic job of reminding the reader - or informing the reader, if the reader didn't read "Ender's Game" - of the key pieces from "Ender's Game," making "Speaker for the Dead" completely capable of standing on its own. In theory, "Xenocide" could have been written the same way, and so waiting a few months, or even a year - if I wait until I'm done with this challenge - may not be that large of a hindrance. Even so, "Xenocide" might be another choice for June's read...
Trying to mentally calculate the second half of the year in regards to reading is hard! Still, I'm fairly bored at work now that I'm not reading for at least a few hours of it, so I'll be sure to find something for June by tomorrow in order to stave off mindless counting of my watch's ticking. I'll let you know what I decided on next week. For now, I'm off to catch up on chores and prepping for D&D this Sunday.
Tuesday went more-or-less the way it always does at Writing Group. I went, I socialized, I gently critiqued others so that they might improve, and then I read my writing. As per usual, I had a pleasant response to my sibling dialogue piece. People enjoyed it. You could tell which sibling was talking because their voices were well defined. They were believably twelve and seven. You could tell what actions were being taken based on their dialogue, and even the passage of time didn't seem awkward while each sibling waited for the other. Good notes. Yay, me! Still, we spend so much time with everyone else, and then when it comes to me it's almost like they're patting me on the head. "Good, good. Well, done. Scurry along now..." Perhaps it's because they legitimately can't find anything to critique. Maybe they want to focus more on people's ongoing manuscripts than improving generic writing skills via oneshots. Maybe they're pandering to me. It's hard for me to tell which it is.
After the meeting, our newest member Brooklyn stopped me to chat. He commented about how he enjoyed my writing, mostly because it reminded him of his own. I stated that I felt the same way about other authors; mainly Rick Riordan. It was flattering to hear Brooklyn speak so highly of my writing, especially since he introduced himself at the meeting by stating that he has never been published, but he does have four completed manuscripts waiting to be picked up by someone. He also stated that he has tons of published-author friends back in New York City that have been trying to find him an agent. Encouraging stuff for this man's writing career, and yet he was impressed with my writing? Now my ego got a bit stroked, not even gonna lie. He trusted my writing eye well enough that he asked if I would mind beta reading a small chunk of his most recent story. I agreed - why not, I seem to be everyone's beta reader - and he handed me twelve random pages: presumably most of his third chapter, and the first two pages of his fourth.
Work again being as slow as commissions sales tend to be, I had plenty of time to read through Brooklyn's writing. I'm not entirely sure if he wrote the story the way he did because his main character, who is also the story narrator, has the mentality of a twelve-year-old, much like the writing style in Flowers for Algernon, or if the narration is simple because it's intended to be an elementary/middle-grade chapter book. I'm leaning towards the later, if no other reason than the subject of his story. Brooklyn's book is about Spike the Christmas Elf. Spike decides that he's tired of only knowing of the North Pole, and wishes to be more Worldly. So, Spike sets off on a journey, and finds himself in the United States. He's befriended by a traveling lounge musician named Ian, and a waitress named Jill. Where I last left Spike's wanderings, the trio left wherever Ian was originally performing - it was probably addressed in the first 34 pages that I didn't have - and went on what seemed to be a two-day drive to Las Vegas, Nevada for Ian's next big gig.
I have to say, that's one of the things I enjoy about my new job. Since it's commission sales, I could have a day like yesterday, where I'm twiddling my thumbs for about six out of the eight hours I'm working, have a fantastic sale by the end of the day, and still average out as making about $50 per hour! Not too shabby! Especially when I can spend those boring six hours of waiting doing things for my writing career. I could beta read. I could world build. I could actually write. I could focus on the pillar of writing I tend to neglect: reading published novels.
Which is precisely what I also did last week. I plowed through the last of Speaker for the Dead. For the three women that I am doing this reading challenge with, you've already read my thoughts on the matter, so excuse my repeating myself.
In all honesty, reading "Speaker for the Dead" was a trying race, and I thought I wasn't going to make it to the finish, just as I was concerned last month when I hadn't even picked up a book the first 20-some days of April. My biggest concern was that I didn't even really get into reading SftD until the fifteenth or so. Nearly 400 pages in fifteen days felt like too much of an undertaking. Especially when I still had about 100 pages left this past Wednesday, and then I forget to bring the book home while I had Thursday off.... Thankfully, even with the store having a Memorial Day special, it was almost painfully slow. Thanks to road work outside the store, I had enough down-time to charge through about 72% of the novel in a little over one week!
So, what was my reaction to "Speaker for the Dead"? Well.... it's a VERY grinding read. Orson Scott Card wanted to deviate from Europeans as main characters, and English as the primary language for this book. Breaking up the monotonous White Washing of Sci-Fi - at least, at the time it was written - Card had the residents of the new-found planet of Lusitania be decedents from Brazil. Which meant a LOT of Portuguese that I struggled to mentally pronounce, and a great deal of it was not actually translated. The meaning was supposed to be interpreted by the other character's reactions and responses.
There was also a lot of scientific jargon thrown in, most of which was probably created by Card for this novel. I mean, Speaker was set around 5270AD - it spans nearly thirty years throughout the course of the novel - that's a lot of technological advancements to think up....
The beginning of each chapter had a semi-unrelated text that, together, created the subplot backstory of an impending war, and why it was coming about. My issue here, however, is that while they made sense the further into the book you got, they seemed disruptive in the starting chapters, especially since you couldn't tell which bit of information came when since it was all essentially written in different stardate forms. To be fair, this may be something that would only irritate me.
Now, as I started off saying, the story was indeed very grindy. Even when I was completely immersed into the story, enjoying every page I read, I still found myself stopping to count how many pages I had left, and moaning about how long-winded the book was. And that's saying something, coming from me. Since I enjoyed it so much, I honestly couldn't tell where Card could cut. It was all very well done, and all needed material. It was just So. Slow. Paced. You'd enjoy the twenty-page chapter, only to realize that in the grand scheme of things, twenty-pages barely puts a dent in the book. I felt like I wasn't making any ground at all. The fact that the end of May was fast approaching probably didn't help the slow-paced nature of the story.... All in all though, I did, I truly did, greatly enjoy the novel. I completely understand why Hubby has tried for so many years to get me to read it, even if he himself isn't up to the task of REreading it. Again: slow read.
While "Ender's Game" was more fast-paced and gripping due to its action and concern for Ender, "Speaker for the Dead" presented a whole family - about a dozen characters, at least - that I fell in love with. To me, that more than makes up for the slow pacing. There were a few characters that only made relatively short appearances in the book - only about two chapters out of eighteen - and yet I still yearned for more about them; mourned for them. Each time another character's heart is ripped open, mine did too. Ender's great gift/terrible curse of empathy translates so well that I had the same love for these people in just as short a time with them. I yearned to know them just as he did.
The real, kicker, though, was the underlining mystery of it all: Why did the Piggies - the book's alien species - do what they did? The mystery called out to me, and I just NEEDED to know the answer. I won't speak more on that topic since it would create spoilers, but I was proud to know that my semi-analytical mind was able to figure it out after only a few chapters. I just needed to get to the ending to confirm my deduction. Go, me!
Speaking of spoilers and my ability to figure the Great Mystery out, Hubby's copy is the "Author's Definitive Edition." Probably part of my problem with making my way through this book was that, before even page 1 of the story, there are thirteen pages of introduction by Card, two pages listing the key players on the new planet of Lusitania, one page listing the family trees of the two main families in the book, and two pages explaining how to pronounce Portuguese names. Since Brazilian - and perhaps all Portuguese? - names are usually about five long, Card thankfully abbreviated everyone's name, even their given names which were typically at least three syllables long, to a short, generally two syllable nickname. The trick was when these characters would use or were addressed by their proper names; that was when I was grateful for the listing of players at the front of the book. My mistake, however, was attempting to read the introduction before reading the book for the first time, as well as checking out the family trees while wondering why I cared about the family histories. Was I about to embark on some Sci-Fi version of Lord of the Rings, where every character is introduced by whose child, and grandchild, and great-grandchild they are?
In both cases, there were MAJOR spoilers for the story. The introduction was Card explaining how he went from inspiration to publication of Speaker, in which he essentially gave away the "Why" of what the Piggies do. The family trees gave me a heads up of who would die when, and who would be paired up. That knowledge softened the blow a couple of times, but ruined the real impact. While I did frequent the family trees page multiple times to keep track of who was whose kid, and how old everyone was - space travel and Catholic families are tricky things - I would have much rather it be buried in the back as an appendixed reference point. That way clueless readers like myself wouldn't accidentally stumble into spoilers. That all being said, I caution you, if you're gonna give this book a try, and also have the Author's Definitive Edition, do yourself a favor and ignore everything before the official first Prologue page, at least, until you get about 100pgs in, then you're safe to refer to the family trees if need be.
All-in-all, I really did enjoy this story. It really made me love these characters, drew me in to their secrets and pain, and made me just as curious about the Piggies as the characters were. Also, while I loved Ender in the first book, he was a scared, isolated little boy who got me to RAGE at "Ender's Game" for being "so mean to him." The way that Ender grew into such a kind, loving, but still bluntly honest man made me love his character more. It IS a slow read, and I DID groan about the length, but, as I already stated, I honestly don't really know where Card could have cut. Besides, the story nags at the back of your mind when you put it down. A soft, slow nag, until you end up spending hours reading to quiet the hunger. So it definitely has THAT going for it. Even now, it still lingers, almost daring me to give it another read. Part of me wants to see if I could do justice to the characters if I wrote out a fanfic of the jumped-over twenty-two years that played in the background of the main story.
My final thoughts on the book? Even if you aren't into Sci-Fi, I'd recommend "Speaker for the Dead". It's more about interspecies/racial interaction and understanding, as well as religious vs humanitarian vs citizen loyalties and morals. The science jargon or Portuguese may weigh some people down, but overall it is such a good read. In fact, it's an almost inspirational read about the necessity to be empathetic towards everyone, and trying to see everything from everyone's point of view. Most things are not what they seem from your vantage point, and sometimes we aren't the heroes we perceive ourselves as, nor are we the villains, contrary to the guilt we feel.
Anyway, go out, and read! Read this book! Do it!
Okay, so I'm now back to trying to decide what I'm going to do for my next book in this reading challenge. Let's go to the chart again, shall we?
 |
| Reading Challenge created by Modern Mrs. Darcy |
So, September and October's categories are already figured out. I still need to TALK to my local librarian for the one category, since I CLEARLY don't need to talk to a book seller; have more than enough books already piled high in my spare room. I'm also still trying to interpret what "should have read in school" could mean for me. Dare I give books like "The Old Man and the Sea" or "Red Badge of Courage" another try now that I'm older, more mature, and more likely to appreciate such works? Or do I trust my high school self that these stories are just NOT my cup of tea, and find something like "The Giver" that is generally in school reading lists, but it wasn't for my school?
Speaking of "The Giver," I was leaning towards a banned book for June, but I can't put my finger on which one I want to read, especially since the ones I own I've already read. I'd prefer to read one I haven't tackled yet, such as "Catch-22" or "1984." I might have to forego my own expansive book collection, and finally set up a library card so that I can track down one of these banned books.
The last category I more-or-less know what I want to do is the "book that intimidates you," in which case, I want to read Dante's Divine Trilogy, or at least Inferno, since it's referenced so much in pop-culture - I even own a computer game called Daria's Inferno where the 90s MTV cartoon character runs through her own version of Dante's hell - plus, Dante's Inferno is just such a classic tale to have read. Thing there, though, is my copy is part of a leather-bound collection my father bought when I was born, and I don't know how I feel about bringing it outside the house to work every day. However, I don't know if I'll have time to read outside of work anymore, except for maybe when Hubby hops on World of Warcraft now that Quarthix talked him into playing.
There is also the possibility of using the "owned but haven't read" category in order to continue the Ender Saga by diving right into "Xenocide." The story conquers the tale of the impending war hinted at throughout "Speaker for the Dead," and reading this book right after Speaker will help me really remember the previous novel; as opposed to reading Speaker about a decade after "Ender's Game." Although, Card did do a fantastic job of reminding the reader - or informing the reader, if the reader didn't read "Ender's Game" - of the key pieces from "Ender's Game," making "Speaker for the Dead" completely capable of standing on its own. In theory, "Xenocide" could have been written the same way, and so waiting a few months, or even a year - if I wait until I'm done with this challenge - may not be that large of a hindrance. Even so, "Xenocide" might be another choice for June's read...
Trying to mentally calculate the second half of the year in regards to reading is hard! Still, I'm fairly bored at work now that I'm not reading for at least a few hours of it, so I'll be sure to find something for June by tomorrow in order to stave off mindless counting of my watch's ticking. I'll let you know what I decided on next week. For now, I'm off to catch up on chores and prepping for D&D this Sunday.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Reading, Always Reading (and Some Writing...)
Sorry about being so late today. My internet has been really wonky lately. It kept me nearly five minutes just to load the page to type this.
On top of everything else, I've had a lot of personal drama again, of course. The long and the short of it is that I'm kinda hating people right now.
That doesn't matter, though. What matters is writing, and writing I have done!
Work was painfully slow, and so I used that time to do more writing. I've developed a bit more of my X-Future reboot world, but the big thing was to work on the challenge Phfylburt gave me a couple weeks ago.
As a refresher, the challenge, in a nutshell, was to write a scene in ONLY dialogue. I did this once before last year for my James Patterson MasterClass webinars. Just like with that try, I feel like I'm again a bit long-winded with four pages of dialogue, but I hope it's worth it to see the characterization. Plus, stealing from a parent may not always be as cut and dry as grabbing money from a sock drawer.
Feel free to let me know what you think, as I hope you'd feel inclined to do with everything I write. Remember, I can't improve if no one points me in the direction I need to head.
I'm actually impressed with how much I actually like my characters of Caleb and Rebecca. I hope you guys fall at least a little in love with them too. It's been a while since I created characters I cared for like this. So, thanks, Phfyl, for having me meet them.
The rest of my week - when I wasn't writing or actually doing work - I was back to reading "Speaker for the Dead" for this month's book. I have 8 more days to finish, and I still have over 100 pages to read! I've been reading nearly non-stop for four days straight! Geez!
Although, I do have to say that Hubby was right, the book does take a bit, but it then sucks you in. You grow to love characters, and you wonder about the mystery undertone of the book. Why do the Piggies do what they do? What did Novinha discover? How are things going to end with Miro and Ouanda? Who is the Hive Queen talking to? There are more, but it would bring about spoilers, I think, if I were to list them.
So, I'm frantically bouncing between writing, my personal drama, and finishing this book in time! I don't know if I'll have anything to showcase next week due to this, but hopefully I'll at least be able to talk about the book.
|
| Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley |
That doesn't matter, though. What matters is writing, and writing I have done!
Work was painfully slow, and so I used that time to do more writing. I've developed a bit more of my X-Future reboot world, but the big thing was to work on the challenge Phfylburt gave me a couple weeks ago.
As a refresher, the challenge, in a nutshell, was to write a scene in ONLY dialogue. I did this once before last year for my James Patterson MasterClass webinars. Just like with that try, I feel like I'm again a bit long-winded with four pages of dialogue, but I hope it's worth it to see the characterization. Plus, stealing from a parent may not always be as cut and dry as grabbing money from a sock drawer.
"The Great Heist"
Feel free to let me know what you think, as I hope you'd feel inclined to do with everything I write. Remember, I can't improve if no one points me in the direction I need to head.
I'm actually impressed with how much I actually like my characters of Caleb and Rebecca. I hope you guys fall at least a little in love with them too. It's been a while since I created characters I cared for like this. So, thanks, Phfyl, for having me meet them.
The rest of my week - when I wasn't writing or actually doing work - I was back to reading "Speaker for the Dead" for this month's book. I have 8 more days to finish, and I still have over 100 pages to read! I've been reading nearly non-stop for four days straight! Geez!
Although, I do have to say that Hubby was right, the book does take a bit, but it then sucks you in. You grow to love characters, and you wonder about the mystery undertone of the book. Why do the Piggies do what they do? What did Novinha discover? How are things going to end with Miro and Ouanda? Who is the Hive Queen talking to? There are more, but it would bring about spoilers, I think, if I were to list them.
So, I'm frantically bouncing between writing, my personal drama, and finishing this book in time! I don't know if I'll have anything to showcase next week due to this, but hopefully I'll at least be able to talk about the book.
Labels:
drama,
Phfylburt,
Reading Challenge,
Writing Challenge
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Questions Plague My Life
A full week of just the new job is under my belt. It turned out to be a weird scenario in which it's equal parts great and horrible for my writing. I've become lazy, and instead of still getting up at about 7am in order to write and have ample time to get ready before work, I've opted to just stay in bed and snuggle my husband for that extra hour before whining about having to climb out of the covers in order to start my day. I need to work on this. Otherwise, the "write first thing in the morning" concept is a complete wash.
Work is either Feast or Famine; Flood or Drought. While it could also arguably reflect on the basic concept of a Commissions worker, I mean customer flow in this case. I hope that's ALL it refers to, actually, for obvious reasons, because even with just one or two customers a day my coworkers are still bringing home at least $400 paychecks. Not much more than minimum-wage, but still more than what I was making at the retail job.
Anyway, my point is that we'll go about five out of our eight-hour day with no one in the store and virtually nothing to do but sit and wait. The other three-hours, while sprinkled throughout the day, could then have about seven people show up at once. It's a bit insane.
While it's a bit jarring to have a writing flow - or reading, since it seems to be the only way I'm getting my books read from now on - interrupted abruptly by a customer, the fact that I have so much time to think and write is pretty cool.
The other downside is that, aside from dialogue that I can quickly scribble down more-or-less the way the conversation flow would be, I'm not a fan of writing out prose by hand anymore. There's something textual about writing on a computer. I know most writers probably think in the reverse, that there's something special about writing by hand. However, for me, when I get into something I type with fury, and I can get my ideas down fairly quickly. I can't write as fast as I can type, at least, not if I want to be able to understand my handwriting when I'm done. Plus, when I'm in my writing furies I tend to grip my pen or pencil super tight with my excitement. It literally pains me to write something I'm excited about if I'm doing so on paper. The pen/pencil digs into my finger, my knuckles and wrist cramp up, my shoulder tightens, it's not a fun experience.
So, when my Handy Dandy Netbook isn't available, I tend to stick to bulleted lists and Q&A. By that, I mean I write out all the questions I have about a project, and slowly try to tick away at a possible answer. It may lead to more questions with more answers and so on and so forth, but it help build the story.
At the end of my week, I had a pile of bulleted lists and Q&A sheets, but no actual writing. I truly don't know if I should call the week successful or a dud. Especially since a lot of my scribbles were for a D&D plot that was again derailed by my darling husband this past Sunday's game, and the rest of said scribbles were me just remembering where I was in creating the X-Future reboot.
Yup, back on that again. I was actually a bit embarrassed with how the Contessa story turned out. While Phfylburt ended up enjoying it, he had the same concerns I did with the story, and nothing else. What was the point in reading it to my writing group if they, like Phfyl, were simply going to critique the same issues I already had with the piece? Even if they had advice on how to fix it, I'm really not planning on ever going back to it.
So, when all was said and done, I ended up whipping out an old X-Future Snippet to read: It Is So On!
It received mostly good reviews. There were also some valid critiques that I never thought of before, so thanks to the group on those. There was also one main thought among the group: I do really well with mostly dialogue writing. I have to admit, it is my strong-suit.
One of the newer members - she actually signed up last year and disappeared over the winter; kind of like me over at Writers’ Huddle - even asked if I thought about writing screenplays. I admitted that it was one of the things I went to school for, unofficially. She also commented on the fact that I talked about wanting to do a graphic novel when the meeting first started. She stressed that maybe that's the path I should stick with, since, while the prose is still good, it felt like it really wanted to be more visual. I was also informed that if the script is written well enough, a publicist would pair me with an artist, so there's that. Kind of makes me want to try my hand at the X-Future script again...
In truth, it REALLY wanted me to try my hand at the X-Future script again. If I wasn't working on the now-moot plot for my D&D campaign, or doing ACTUAL work, I was trying to hash out more of the world-build for X-Future's reboot. One of the other responses that I got to "It Is So On!" was that I didn't necessarily need to give the group the verbal lead-in of "these are the children of X-Men/Brotherhood mutants living at the Xavier Mansion, these are their powers, and this is the plot lead-in as to who these people are and why they're at each others' throats." They felt it was fairly stand-alone, and that it didn't automatically scream out "X-Men Rip-off." Then again, most, if not all, of those in attendance don't really know comic books, and if they do the knowledge is from the Marvel movies....
Point is, it was encouraging to hear them all tell me to stick with these characters, and to try my hand at scriptwriting some more. True, most of them are novelists, but there are a few poets in the group, and it would be exciting to everyone to have a screenwriter added to the mix. I just need to figure out how to read a script aloud for critiquing.... seems awkward.
Now, the downside to these critiques is that I've come to realize that I'm not exactly the best at prose. I mean, I've always known I wasn't the BEST, but how much I need to improve is a lot more than I originally thought.
I don't like big blocks of text. You probably picked up on that since most of my paragraphs, while probably capable of being grouped together more than they are, are only about five sentences long. My dislike of large blocks of text, which, to me, seem daunting, boring, and slow down the read, leads me to also break up dialogue. I may write mostly in it, but I can't have a monologue go on. How often does that happen in real life? I mean, come on.
The issue, however, is that I don't just have other characters interject to keep the dialogue short and quick, I also have the character put in physical pauses. She'll say something, pause, and then continue her thought, but in that pause she moves. People do this all the time. Who stays still? Ninety-percent of communication is non-verbal. People give facial reactions, shift their weight or position, fall into a physical tick like playing with a ring or tapping a foot, or they gesture with their hands or even their whole body. We are constantly in motion, and I showcase this in my writing.
To my writing group, and perhaps every reader I've had, it's a bit excessive. While they admitted it may move smoother on paper than it did verbally, they were beginning to lose track of where people were in the story. Willow was sitting, then standing, then sitting again. Then she wrestled with Nys a bit, and so Nys was now sitting. And they get up into each others' faces before pushing the other down into a sitting position. I can understand how this can be a bit overwhelming to mentally keep track of if there aren't any actual visual cues to follow.
I think in images, and so I'm constantly blocking out my characters' movements; keeping mental track of who's moving, and how long it's been since a character last moved. Constant flow. Constant movements. It may make sense in visual media such as comics, movies, TV, or plays. Probably doesn't make sense in things like prose.
Writers are supposed to find some happy medium where their dialogue SEEMS realistic, but edits the realism down so it's a bit easier to read and follow. For instance, count how many times you say "um" or "like" or "uh" or anything along those lines. I'm sure you do so more frequently than you think. What about misspeaking? Using the wrong word? Being repetitive in your speech? Losing track of where you were, or being interrupted, and so you start the sentence over again? How about stuttering?
Now think of how many times you witness any of that honest-to-God, true-to-life speech in novels. Not much, right? Unless it's crucial to the characterization or plot, or in some cases, joke, all of that extra stuff that we naturally mentally weed out of conversations writers have to consciously weed out of their dialogue. I tend to leave a bit more in than most to give it a sense of realism other writers don't have, but apparently that's not the best writing option....
Point is, while most writers just have to edit down reality to make their dialogue SEEM real without the mundane and convolution of actual speech, I need to do the same thing with the non-verbal. True, people may move a lot while talking, but it's probably best if I just let the characters talk and let the reader picture whatever movement they want.
It's going to be tough for me, though, because if a writer doesn't specifically state that a character moves, I barely picture movement, and so limiting myself will be tricky.
Coincidental to my decision to try my hand at scripting again, Phfylburt gave me a challenge - due this upcoming Saturday - that seems right up this alley. Namely, an All Dialogue challenge.
This challenge for instance. I haven't started because I need to figure out more information:
Maybe that's why I stay with my crutch of fanfiction writing. Everything is more-or-less spelled out for me already. The environment, the characters, the personalities of the characters, and the basic idea of the antics they get into; the way that world works. It involves very few questions that I need to answer, and so my mind can just focus on the writing.
Honestly? I have no clue how to work on this tripping block so that my mind doesn't go into overload when I'm forced to do something original with little to no direction. Hell, even my main writing question proves how much guidance I need: How Do You Figure Out What To Write About For Your Manuscript?
I can't get anywhere in my writing because I don't even have an idea for a manuscript. One college friend has a basic story idea about young adult twins that just went off on their own in New York City. Keeton in Writers' Group obviously has her story concept of "Buster Keeton" and working around that. DFL in the same group has her pre-historical, "age of Babylon" story. Red stumbled upon her murder-revenge psycho story via a writing prompt that stuck with her. And the man that now comes to the meetings - let's call him PI since that's his profession - has his spy mystery novel.
It's weird to go to group meetings and have everyone else read a new part of their manuscript, asking for help on it, and I'm just reading random stuff that I wrote. None of it connects to each other. None of it - like Contessa last week - really, truly matters to me. They're just exercises to work my muscles, not the actual marathon I'm training for. It's rough not really getting much feedback on what I read in group, and even less helpful when the critiques I do get are on things I'm either never going to continue, or never attempting again.
The concept of me being a natural script-writer though.... that was a good bit to point out....
Joy. Look at me, finding yet another writing hurdle, and no clue how to overcome it. I don't even know if it's worth going to Writers' Group or jumping back on to the long-abandoned Writers’ Huddle and commenting about this roadblock. This realization that I can write with ease, as long as I have a very specific guideline handed to me, whereas actually coming up with plots stumps me for years on end.
Maybe I could become a James Patterson co-author...
In all seriousness, though, what could anyone possibly say for advice if I did decide to ask them? Aside from "keep practicing" or "Yeah, I've been there" or "Which is why writing is tougher than people think" what on earth could anyone say about my issue? If/when I figure this out on my own, what could I possibly say to the next struggling writer?
I know part of it is "Wait for a story to grab you so tight it won't let go and you HAVE to write it," but how much longer do I wait? I've wanted to be a writer since I was, like, nine or something. I went to college to become a writer. I had set out to have my first piece published by the time I was about thirty. Fast forward almost two years, and I still don't even have that Grand Manuscript Concept to work on. If I just passively wait for a story to hit me, when will I get that inspiration? This year? Next year? Five years from now? As I'm telling my kid a bedtime story? When I retire and can spend all day just thinking about stories?
I can't wait for inspiration to strike, because every day that passes I fear a bit more that I'm not supposed to be doing this. Which is a painful paradox, because the only reason it pains me to think that I'm not a writer is because I'm obviously a writer! It doesn't keep me up at night to know that maybe I'm not some great athlete. I KNOW I'm not some great athlete. I came to terms with that when I was in elementary school. I KNOW I'm not a great artist, and so, while I lament not being able to draw what I see in my head - would make things a lot easier for me - I also don't fret over my pathetic stick figures. My heart ACHES at the concept of dying without ever publishing anything, which PROVES that I'm supposed to be doing this!
Yet, that paradox continues. My perpetual struggle of days passing me, making me think that I should give up because I'm not cut out for this, quickly followed by an ache and welled up eyes at that prospect; proving to me that I HAVE to write. I just need to figure out what.
The eternal struggle: What
What am I good at writing? What genre pulls me in the most? What characters in the ether are calling for me to bring them to life? What story will both be fun for me to write, and for someone to read? What story do I have inside me that hasn't been told already? What in/about the world do I see differently than others?
I'll add these questions to the ones above about Phfyl's challenge, I guess. Suppose I should try to see if I can answer some of them, at least, the ones for the challenge due on Saturday....
Work is either Feast or Famine; Flood or Drought. While it could also arguably reflect on the basic concept of a Commissions worker, I mean customer flow in this case. I hope that's ALL it refers to, actually, for obvious reasons, because even with just one or two customers a day my coworkers are still bringing home at least $400 paychecks. Not much more than minimum-wage, but still more than what I was making at the retail job.
Anyway, my point is that we'll go about five out of our eight-hour day with no one in the store and virtually nothing to do but sit and wait. The other three-hours, while sprinkled throughout the day, could then have about seven people show up at once. It's a bit insane.
While it's a bit jarring to have a writing flow - or reading, since it seems to be the only way I'm getting my books read from now on - interrupted abruptly by a customer, the fact that I have so much time to think and write is pretty cool.
The other downside is that, aside from dialogue that I can quickly scribble down more-or-less the way the conversation flow would be, I'm not a fan of writing out prose by hand anymore. There's something textual about writing on a computer. I know most writers probably think in the reverse, that there's something special about writing by hand. However, for me, when I get into something I type with fury, and I can get my ideas down fairly quickly. I can't write as fast as I can type, at least, not if I want to be able to understand my handwriting when I'm done. Plus, when I'm in my writing furies I tend to grip my pen or pencil super tight with my excitement. It literally pains me to write something I'm excited about if I'm doing so on paper. The pen/pencil digs into my finger, my knuckles and wrist cramp up, my shoulder tightens, it's not a fun experience.
So, when my Handy Dandy Netbook isn't available, I tend to stick to bulleted lists and Q&A. By that, I mean I write out all the questions I have about a project, and slowly try to tick away at a possible answer. It may lead to more questions with more answers and so on and so forth, but it help build the story.
At the end of my week, I had a pile of bulleted lists and Q&A sheets, but no actual writing. I truly don't know if I should call the week successful or a dud. Especially since a lot of my scribbles were for a D&D plot that was again derailed by my darling husband this past Sunday's game, and the rest of said scribbles were me just remembering where I was in creating the X-Future reboot.
Yup, back on that again. I was actually a bit embarrassed with how the Contessa story turned out. While Phfylburt ended up enjoying it, he had the same concerns I did with the story, and nothing else. What was the point in reading it to my writing group if they, like Phfyl, were simply going to critique the same issues I already had with the piece? Even if they had advice on how to fix it, I'm really not planning on ever going back to it.
So, when all was said and done, I ended up whipping out an old X-Future Snippet to read: It Is So On!
It received mostly good reviews. There were also some valid critiques that I never thought of before, so thanks to the group on those. There was also one main thought among the group: I do really well with mostly dialogue writing. I have to admit, it is my strong-suit.
One of the newer members - she actually signed up last year and disappeared over the winter; kind of like me over at Writers’ Huddle - even asked if I thought about writing screenplays. I admitted that it was one of the things I went to school for, unofficially. She also commented on the fact that I talked about wanting to do a graphic novel when the meeting first started. She stressed that maybe that's the path I should stick with, since, while the prose is still good, it felt like it really wanted to be more visual. I was also informed that if the script is written well enough, a publicist would pair me with an artist, so there's that. Kind of makes me want to try my hand at the X-Future script again...
In truth, it REALLY wanted me to try my hand at the X-Future script again. If I wasn't working on the now-moot plot for my D&D campaign, or doing ACTUAL work, I was trying to hash out more of the world-build for X-Future's reboot. One of the other responses that I got to "It Is So On!" was that I didn't necessarily need to give the group the verbal lead-in of "these are the children of X-Men/Brotherhood mutants living at the Xavier Mansion, these are their powers, and this is the plot lead-in as to who these people are and why they're at each others' throats." They felt it was fairly stand-alone, and that it didn't automatically scream out "X-Men Rip-off." Then again, most, if not all, of those in attendance don't really know comic books, and if they do the knowledge is from the Marvel movies....
Point is, it was encouraging to hear them all tell me to stick with these characters, and to try my hand at scriptwriting some more. True, most of them are novelists, but there are a few poets in the group, and it would be exciting to everyone to have a screenwriter added to the mix. I just need to figure out how to read a script aloud for critiquing.... seems awkward.
Now, the downside to these critiques is that I've come to realize that I'm not exactly the best at prose. I mean, I've always known I wasn't the BEST, but how much I need to improve is a lot more than I originally thought.
I don't like big blocks of text. You probably picked up on that since most of my paragraphs, while probably capable of being grouped together more than they are, are only about five sentences long. My dislike of large blocks of text, which, to me, seem daunting, boring, and slow down the read, leads me to also break up dialogue. I may write mostly in it, but I can't have a monologue go on. How often does that happen in real life? I mean, come on.
The issue, however, is that I don't just have other characters interject to keep the dialogue short and quick, I also have the character put in physical pauses. She'll say something, pause, and then continue her thought, but in that pause she moves. People do this all the time. Who stays still? Ninety-percent of communication is non-verbal. People give facial reactions, shift their weight or position, fall into a physical tick like playing with a ring or tapping a foot, or they gesture with their hands or even their whole body. We are constantly in motion, and I showcase this in my writing.
To my writing group, and perhaps every reader I've had, it's a bit excessive. While they admitted it may move smoother on paper than it did verbally, they were beginning to lose track of where people were in the story. Willow was sitting, then standing, then sitting again. Then she wrestled with Nys a bit, and so Nys was now sitting. And they get up into each others' faces before pushing the other down into a sitting position. I can understand how this can be a bit overwhelming to mentally keep track of if there aren't any actual visual cues to follow.
I think in images, and so I'm constantly blocking out my characters' movements; keeping mental track of who's moving, and how long it's been since a character last moved. Constant flow. Constant movements. It may make sense in visual media such as comics, movies, TV, or plays. Probably doesn't make sense in things like prose.
Writers are supposed to find some happy medium where their dialogue SEEMS realistic, but edits the realism down so it's a bit easier to read and follow. For instance, count how many times you say "um" or "like" or "uh" or anything along those lines. I'm sure you do so more frequently than you think. What about misspeaking? Using the wrong word? Being repetitive in your speech? Losing track of where you were, or being interrupted, and so you start the sentence over again? How about stuttering?
Now think of how many times you witness any of that honest-to-God, true-to-life speech in novels. Not much, right? Unless it's crucial to the characterization or plot, or in some cases, joke, all of that extra stuff that we naturally mentally weed out of conversations writers have to consciously weed out of their dialogue. I tend to leave a bit more in than most to give it a sense of realism other writers don't have, but apparently that's not the best writing option....
Point is, while most writers just have to edit down reality to make their dialogue SEEM real without the mundane and convolution of actual speech, I need to do the same thing with the non-verbal. True, people may move a lot while talking, but it's probably best if I just let the characters talk and let the reader picture whatever movement they want.
It's going to be tough for me, though, because if a writer doesn't specifically state that a character moves, I barely picture movement, and so limiting myself will be tricky.
Coincidental to my decision to try my hand at scripting again, Phfylburt gave me a challenge - due this upcoming Saturday - that seems right up this alley. Namely, an All Dialogue challenge.
It definitely feels like a fun project, but, as per usual, I haven't started because I'm stuck in my own head. Ask most writers and they'll tell you that the ideas are the easy part, it's the execution that's hard. The actual writing of the thing. While my numerous incomplete projects can attest to that, at the same time, I feel like I may be meant to be a ghost writer, because for me the execution is the fun, exciting, easy part. It's those damn ideas that keep me blocked.Phfylburt: You have to write a scene in which two siblings steal money from their parent's wallet....The entire thing must be done using only dialog...The scene should show them setting up for the miniature heist, performing the act, and the getaway. It is entirely up to you if they get away successful or if they crash and burn. No limitations on the length, so you don't need to worry about that.
This challenge for instance. I haven't started because I need to figure out more information:
- What age are the children?
- Are they even children in the colloquial sense? Or are they already adults, such as in their early 20s?
- What sex are the siblings? Both girls? Both boys? One of each?
- Will their sex affect how they perform the theft, or why they need the money?
- Which parent are they stealing from?
- Why are they stealing?
- Are both siblings willing parties?
- Is one manipulating the other? Are both being blackmailed/hazed into the stunt? Is this a dare?
- How much are they stealing?
- What makes them think they'll get away with it?
- WILL they get away with it?
- What danger(s) might they come across on this mini-heist?
- How do I portray that via only dialogue?
Maybe that's why I stay with my crutch of fanfiction writing. Everything is more-or-less spelled out for me already. The environment, the characters, the personalities of the characters, and the basic idea of the antics they get into; the way that world works. It involves very few questions that I need to answer, and so my mind can just focus on the writing.
Honestly? I have no clue how to work on this tripping block so that my mind doesn't go into overload when I'm forced to do something original with little to no direction. Hell, even my main writing question proves how much guidance I need: How Do You Figure Out What To Write About For Your Manuscript?
I can't get anywhere in my writing because I don't even have an idea for a manuscript. One college friend has a basic story idea about young adult twins that just went off on their own in New York City. Keeton in Writers' Group obviously has her story concept of "Buster Keeton" and working around that. DFL in the same group has her pre-historical, "age of Babylon" story. Red stumbled upon her murder-revenge psycho story via a writing prompt that stuck with her. And the man that now comes to the meetings - let's call him PI since that's his profession - has his spy mystery novel.
It's weird to go to group meetings and have everyone else read a new part of their manuscript, asking for help on it, and I'm just reading random stuff that I wrote. None of it connects to each other. None of it - like Contessa last week - really, truly matters to me. They're just exercises to work my muscles, not the actual marathon I'm training for. It's rough not really getting much feedback on what I read in group, and even less helpful when the critiques I do get are on things I'm either never going to continue, or never attempting again.
The concept of me being a natural script-writer though.... that was a good bit to point out....
Joy. Look at me, finding yet another writing hurdle, and no clue how to overcome it. I don't even know if it's worth going to Writers' Group or jumping back on to the long-abandoned Writers’ Huddle and commenting about this roadblock. This realization that I can write with ease, as long as I have a very specific guideline handed to me, whereas actually coming up with plots stumps me for years on end.
Maybe I could become a James Patterson co-author...
In all seriousness, though, what could anyone possibly say for advice if I did decide to ask them? Aside from "keep practicing" or "Yeah, I've been there" or "Which is why writing is tougher than people think" what on earth could anyone say about my issue? If/when I figure this out on my own, what could I possibly say to the next struggling writer?
I know part of it is "Wait for a story to grab you so tight it won't let go and you HAVE to write it," but how much longer do I wait? I've wanted to be a writer since I was, like, nine or something. I went to college to become a writer. I had set out to have my first piece published by the time I was about thirty. Fast forward almost two years, and I still don't even have that Grand Manuscript Concept to work on. If I just passively wait for a story to hit me, when will I get that inspiration? This year? Next year? Five years from now? As I'm telling my kid a bedtime story? When I retire and can spend all day just thinking about stories?
I can't wait for inspiration to strike, because every day that passes I fear a bit more that I'm not supposed to be doing this. Which is a painful paradox, because the only reason it pains me to think that I'm not a writer is because I'm obviously a writer! It doesn't keep me up at night to know that maybe I'm not some great athlete. I KNOW I'm not some great athlete. I came to terms with that when I was in elementary school. I KNOW I'm not a great artist, and so, while I lament not being able to draw what I see in my head - would make things a lot easier for me - I also don't fret over my pathetic stick figures. My heart ACHES at the concept of dying without ever publishing anything, which PROVES that I'm supposed to be doing this!
Yet, that paradox continues. My perpetual struggle of days passing me, making me think that I should give up because I'm not cut out for this, quickly followed by an ache and welled up eyes at that prospect; proving to me that I HAVE to write. I just need to figure out what.
The eternal struggle: What
What am I good at writing? What genre pulls me in the most? What characters in the ether are calling for me to bring them to life? What story will both be fun for me to write, and for someone to read? What story do I have inside me that hasn't been told already? What in/about the world do I see differently than others?
I'll add these questions to the ones above about Phfyl's challenge, I guess. Suppose I should try to see if I can answer some of them, at least, the ones for the challenge due on Saturday....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)