I ran across this page earlier today and just remembered it. Have you ever said "I could care less" something or other? You may not have ever realized it but that's probably not what you meant to say. What you probably meant to say was "I couldn't care less."
Here's a fun little page about it.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Is Language an Inveterate Trait In Humans?
While not specifically related to a written language it is about expressing ideas and thoughts with "words"...
There are some interesting thoughts on this here.
If we shipwrecked a boatload of babies on the Galapagos Islands--assuming they had all the food, water, and shelter they needed to survive--would they produce language in any form when they grew up?
There are some interesting thoughts on this here.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Writing Advice
After reading the Jeff Vandermeer advice for writers below I started to think of what advice has really stuck with me over time. A few things seem jammed in the wet confines of my Hippocampus:
And the now famous The only 12.5 writing rules you'll ever need:
1. If you write every day, you'll get better at writing every day.
2. If it's boring to you, it's boring to your reader.
3. Get a writing routine, and stick with it.
4. Poetry does NOT have to rhyme.
5. Resist stereotypes, in real life and in your writing.
6. Writers read. Writers read a lot. Writers read all the time.
7. Make lists of your favorite words and books and places and things.
8. There doesn't always have to be a moral to the story.
9. Always bring your notebook. Always bring a spare pen.
10. Go for walks. Dance. Pull weeks. Do the dishes. Write about it.
11. Don't settle on just one style. Try something new!
12. Learn to tell both sides of the story.
12 1/2. Stop looking at this list. WRITE SOMETHING!
I've always thought that in writing and reading fiction it's more about the journey than the destination.
And whatever you do, please never go for one of Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations, let your story develop on it's own.
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
— Salvador Dali
And so, by giving myself permission to fail, I was able to begin.
— James Patrick Kelly
And the now famous The only 12.5 writing rules you'll ever need:
1. If you write every day, you'll get better at writing every day.
2. If it's boring to you, it's boring to your reader.
3. Get a writing routine, and stick with it.
4. Poetry does NOT have to rhyme.
5. Resist stereotypes, in real life and in your writing.
6. Writers read. Writers read a lot. Writers read all the time.
7. Make lists of your favorite words and books and places and things.
8. There doesn't always have to be a moral to the story.
9. Always bring your notebook. Always bring a spare pen.
10. Go for walks. Dance. Pull weeks. Do the dishes. Write about it.
11. Don't settle on just one style. Try something new!
12. Learn to tell both sides of the story.
12 1/2. Stop looking at this list. WRITE SOMETHING!
I've always thought that in writing and reading fiction it's more about the journey than the destination.
And whatever you do, please never go for one of Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations, let your story develop on it's own.
Jeff Vandermeer
My buds over at Skullring.org just clued me into an interesting read on advice for writers from Jeff Vandermeer entitled "Evil Monkey Guide to Creative Writing," it's worth a read and maybe even printing out.
Go read it right now. Refresh your coffee later.
Never seek validation from others. Some people will always think you should not be a writer. Some people will always think you should be a writer. All of these people are fools. There is only one way to determine whether or not you are a writer: you must find the secret tunnel leading to the hidden door. Once there, you must place your hand upon the doorknob. If you are really a writer, the door will open. You will be ushered into a magical palace. Inside of this palace, a beautiful woman (or man, depending on your wont) will take your hand and whisper in your ear, “I’m glad you made it here. I need someone to mop the marble floors. I’ll pay you good money. This will keep you from starving while you write.” Of course, everyone is chosen. The door opens for everyone.
Go read it right now. Refresh your coffee later.
Automaton Books
This doesn't have much to do with writing but these books are animated with a sensor so when you walk past them as they sit on your shelf the middle one slides out a bit and they emit spooky sounds.
Writing a Novel on a Cell Phone
Robert Bernocco, an IT professional took advantage of his travel time by writing a 384-page science fiction novel, Compagni di Viaggo (Fellow Travelers), on his Nokia using the phone's T9 typing system.
I love the idea behind this. Writing a novel in spare moments here and there is something I think more people could do if they thought seriously about it. The concept isn't new, it was used as a plot device in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Hocus Pocus. I guess the danger is in it turing out more like a blog than narrative fiction. Plus I STILL can't type efficiently on my cell phone...
But for some writers that's the trick; writing a little every day. I know people who write great swaths of text every day and others who struggle to bang out a few sentances...but they write every day. It has to do with how you not only manage your time but how you view your tools.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Collaborative Novels
I've never been one for writing with a partner. Sure I've collaborated on scripts and short stories and one novel with other people but overall I prefer to write alone. But the idea of a communal novel has always fascinated me. One that everyone thinks of first is opensourcenovel.com which is up to um...page 4 as of this post. I'd contribute to it but it's written in the first person and I'm not a big fan of anything other than 3rd, I'm snootish like that. Then there's Novel Twists which is quite similar and up to page 41. A million penguins is another one but much further along.
Scriblist is interesting because it could be a door to getting published.
Other famous collaborative books range from the classic novel format such as The Whole Family which had 12 authors, one for each chapter (Natural Suspect is a modern version of that idea) to the more technically minded tomes of Wikibooks and a variant on that called OpenEffort. Even fan fiction has dipped into the idea with things like the Blade Runner Interactive Story.
There are even collaboratively created worlds such as those at Galaxiki.
One thing to consider regarding open source collaborative novels is the concept of crowdsourcing where the creative energy expended transitions from something fun and donated to something that's labor and a potential profit making project.
Another thing is that this collaborative crowdsourced novel idea doesn't always work. Smart Gene is an example of this. Then there was unblokt which (I think, from memory here) allowed a different person to pen each sentence in a collaborative novel.
Other than Wiki's there are a few online tools out there for open sourcing novels. Two of the best I think are Glypho and Writeboard.
(There is some novel that was written collaboratively by various authors mailing in their chapters and not having read or even knowing about the other authors work. It was published and there was some confusion about it but I just cannot remember the name of it...gah. I'll post it here if I think of it.)
Overall, other than for the sake of art I don't think collaborative novels work all that well. Too many cooks and all ya know? As experimental art okay, and for technical books it could work but for fiction I'm beginning to think that even two authors is one too many for a novel.
Scriblist is interesting because it could be a door to getting published.
Other famous collaborative books range from the classic novel format such as The Whole Family which had 12 authors, one for each chapter (Natural Suspect is a modern version of that idea) to the more technically minded tomes of Wikibooks and a variant on that called OpenEffort. Even fan fiction has dipped into the idea with things like the Blade Runner Interactive Story.
There are even collaboratively created worlds such as those at Galaxiki.
One thing to consider regarding open source collaborative novels is the concept of crowdsourcing where the creative energy expended transitions from something fun and donated to something that's labor and a potential profit making project.
Another thing is that this collaborative crowdsourced novel idea doesn't always work. Smart Gene is an example of this. Then there was unblokt which (I think, from memory here) allowed a different person to pen each sentence in a collaborative novel.
Other than Wiki's there are a few online tools out there for open sourcing novels. Two of the best I think are Glypho and Writeboard.
(There is some novel that was written collaboratively by various authors mailing in their chapters and not having read or even knowing about the other authors work. It was published and there was some confusion about it but I just cannot remember the name of it...gah. I'll post it here if I think of it.)
Overall, other than for the sake of art I don't think collaborative novels work all that well. Too many cooks and all ya know? As experimental art okay, and for technical books it could work but for fiction I'm beginning to think that even two authors is one too many for a novel.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Gordonator Precision Search Engine
I have no idea really how accurate or updated the "Gordonator Precision Search Engine" is but it's a good idea overall.
Try it out here and see for yourself.
Of course the main site has a more basic plot search engine but it's not that good. Searching for "talking spider" did not turn up Charlotte's Web.
The Gordonator Precision Search Engine (GPSE) seems merely complex, but is actually extremely complex. The basic idea is to make finite categories which describe the plot, character, setting, and style of a book or movie and list those categories to users and reviewers in a logically organized hierarchical system. By making the categories finite and presenting them to the user, the user is helped because he is presented with the same list that the reviewer of the book used when the book was categorized. Also, by presenting the categories to the user, the list of options may give search ideas to the user that the user hadn't before considered.
Try it out here and see for yourself.
Of course the main site has a more basic plot search engine but it's not that good. Searching for "talking spider" did not turn up Charlotte's Web.
Harry Potter vs Trees
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Although some editions will be printed on recycled paper and some of the wood for the initial print run comes from so-called "sustainably harvested" trees, that's still an astonishing figure.
first printing will consume 16,700 tons of paper (which, depending on whose estimates of tree per piece of paper you believe, equals roughly 400,800 trees), according to Scholastic.
Although some editions will be printed on recycled paper and some of the wood for the initial print run comes from so-called "sustainably harvested" trees, that's still an astonishing figure.
Hyping Your Own Book
Antony Moore describes the trials and tribulations and, frankly, dirty tricks of a first-time author trying to get his book noticed in the days just after its ‘birth’
I really can't put it any more succinctly than that. The very interesting article is here.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Read A Book
Read A Book is a music video (with some potentially offensive lyrics) that addresses the lack of interest in not only reading and literacy but other issues as well. It's not a race issue, in my opinion, it's a question of the individual and what they see the future holding for themselves and their level of self-worth. It's causing quite a stir on some message boards.
Either way it's serious satire in the true denotative sense of the word.
(Thanks to Willie for the link)
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Ok, this doesn't have much to do with real writing but Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is just a brilliant parody of classic 80's horror television and celebrity authors like Stephen King.
It's hilarious, and to me at least, what's funnier still are the interviews (most of the good ones are on the DVD) where they play up in perfect style the self-aggrandizing gobbledegook that most interviews with artists end up being full of.
If you've ever been a fan of 80's horror and horror authors and shows like Tales from the Crypt and Monsters, then you're bound to love Garth. It's just fascinating how saying just about the same things about writing and creating horror and fiction in real interviews and then in a parodic context end up being so hilarious.
Here's a sample of an interview with his Publisher:
The premise of the series is that in the mid-1980s, Garth Marenghi and his publisher Dean Learner made their own TV series on a shoestring budget. Set in Darkplace Hospital in Romford, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace tells of the adventures of Dr. Rick Dagless, MD, as he fights the forces of darkness while simultaneously coping with the pressures of running a modern hospital. In spite of the programme's obvious flaws — wooden acting, cringeworthy scripts and amazingly poor special effects, to name but three — both Marenghi and Learner still regard the series as a masterpiece. But nobody else does, which is why it's taken nearly 20 years to reach the screen.
It's hilarious, and to me at least, what's funnier still are the interviews (most of the good ones are on the DVD) where they play up in perfect style the self-aggrandizing gobbledegook that most interviews with artists end up being full of.
If you've ever been a fan of 80's horror and horror authors and shows like Tales from the Crypt and Monsters, then you're bound to love Garth. It's just fascinating how saying just about the same things about writing and creating horror and fiction in real interviews and then in a parodic context end up being so hilarious.
Here's a sample of an interview with his Publisher:
"I will generally put in punctuation. I see that as my job. Garth, does one draft. He doesn't want to dalliance by constantly revising. He'll do one draft and he'll often elect to omit punctuation. That's his call. I will, put in commas. I won't put in semi-colons, this isn't Joyce. Um...I will omit dashes, again, this isn't French writing. I will make sure sentences start with capital letters; that's what they're called. I will make sure the book is long enough. Or should I say, thick enough. And that could be a question of adding more words. It could be a question of making the paper thicker. Depends what we've got time for."
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Some Harry Potter Books Are Missing Pages
Egads.
And this is to be expected I guess. It is one of, if not the, largest initial print run in history.
I did buy an anthology many years ago of short horror fiction and while I was reading it I noticed that it had a chunk of pages in the middle duplicated. I went back to the store and they happily exchanged it but it was a weird experience. People come to trust books in many ways and to see one flawed like that was just unsettling in some way to me.
It's a bit frightening to wonder if any of the as of yet unread books lining my walls are defective...
The Associated Press reports that Scholastic said that of the twelve million books printed, several hundred have pages missing.
And this is to be expected I guess. It is one of, if not the, largest initial print run in history.
I did buy an anthology many years ago of short horror fiction and while I was reading it I noticed that it had a chunk of pages in the middle duplicated. I went back to the store and they happily exchanged it but it was a weird experience. People come to trust books in many ways and to see one flawed like that was just unsettling in some way to me.
It's a bit frightening to wonder if any of the as of yet unread books lining my walls are defective...
THE BIG BOX OF OLD PAPERBACKS BOOK CLUB
Last summer, while shopping at a Half Price Books And Records location in Chicago, I [Keith Phipps] came across something I didn’t know I needed until I saw it. After perusing the recent arrivals, I made my way to the less heavily trafficked back of the store where, next to stacks of back issues of Good Housekeeping I found a big, narrow box wrapped in plastic. It contained over 75 old paperbacks published between the ‘60s and ‘80s, all of it genre fiction, most of it science fiction. I had to have it, and at the price of $35, I somehow couldn’t afford not to buy it.
I also gave myself the project of reading the entire box. And after neglecting that project for a while, I decided to revive it here
He's started on his 5th book and I think it's a lot of fun to keep up with his reading of the entire box.
(I've always though books with commercials/advertisements in them were just hilarious.)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The Accuracy of Novels
I don't mean how accurate the facts contained therein may be but how accurately your edition of a novel is represented according to the author's original text. Take the infamous Great Illustrated Classics editions for example.
GIC published The Time Machine a while back since it's in the public domain just about everywhere right now. It'll be PD in the EU around 2017. But they changed the text without really letting anyone know. But this wasn't the first time the text of The Time Machine was altered upon publication.
The Time Machine was first published as a series between 1894 and 1895. But even back then it was altered before reaching the public's eyes, for an entire chapter was excised because it was thought too harsh or depressing or just too shocking for the readers of that time. You can read this "lost" chapter here.
But, the GIC edition did something even more sinister in my opinion; it ADDED an entire chapter to the novel (and changed the ending). This chapter, added years later...
It makes you wonder just how complete or at least what version of a novel you have and have read is. One red flag unfortunately may be the simple fact that the novel is now in the public domain.
GIC published The Time Machine a while back since it's in the public domain just about everywhere right now. It'll be PD in the EU around 2017. But they changed the text without really letting anyone know. But this wasn't the first time the text of The Time Machine was altered upon publication.
The Time Machine was first published as a series between 1894 and 1895. But even back then it was altered before reaching the public's eyes, for an entire chapter was excised because it was thought too harsh or depressing or just too shocking for the readers of that time. You can read this "lost" chapter here.
But, the GIC edition did something even more sinister in my opinion; it ADDED an entire chapter to the novel (and changed the ending). This chapter, added years later...
[Tells of a time] in which the Time Traveller blunders into a highly advanced future society where time travel is illegal. The time machine is confiscated and the Traveller is arrested, but he eventually escapes after one of the future men attempts to steal the time machine.
It makes you wonder just how complete or at least what version of a novel you have and have read is. One red flag unfortunately may be the simple fact that the novel is now in the public domain.
Stealing By Remembering
This is something to think about. Is it legal to read a book in a bookstore without buying it and then leave? And if not, why is it okay to read that same book in a Library without checking it out and then leave?
Here's a fun comic about this.
Here's a fun comic about this.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Creative Commons
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
We're a nonprofit organization. Everything we do — including the software we create — is free.
I haven't tried it but I hear (and read) good things about it. I don't know much about online copyright and how rights and usage in the real world translate to the interwebtubes but this could prove helpful to someone.
For me it's interesting because I'm seriously considering releasing a novel I've been working on online in it's entirety so maybe a Creative Commons "Some Rights Reserved" license is just what I'd need.
Scribd
What is Scribd?
Scribd lets you publish and discover documents online. It is like a big online library where anyone can upload. We make use of a custom Flash document viewer that lets you display documents right in your Web browser. There are all sorts of other features that make it easy and fun to publish, convert, embed, analyze, and read documents.
Part of the idea behind Scribd is that everyone has a lot of documents sitting around on their computers that only they can read. With Scribd we hope to unlock this information by putting it on the web.
It's an interesting idea but it's already pockmarked with seemingly unimportant documents and images. I think it's a great idea in concept but without moderation it's poorly executed. There are already a few clearly illegal documents and copyrighted works even entire novels. However, given time, I think Scribd could be something useful.
What's neat is that Scribd is kinda like Youtube for documents in that each document is it's own file and they're converted into flash so viewing them is 99% possible by everyone since Flash is pretty much ubiquitous. Plus they allow embedding, direct URL links and downloading of documents in several different formats.
One thing I'm not sure about is if you can keep some documents private. I'm not sure how that would fit into their revenue plan and it's not mentioned in their FAQ but if you could keep documents private then Scribd would be even more useful to small companies and individuals to an extent.
If you have a book in print, you can upload an excerpt (or even the whole thing!) to Scribd as a promotion.
Really, it's a place to host your documents for free and view them in any web browser. I like that idea. Since we talk about writing fiction here, here is a link to files tagged with "Novel" at Scribd. And here are the collected works of Poe which is of questionable legality I'm sure.
This is a fun one I found on there.
The Humor of Hyphens
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Online Dictionaries Redux
So I've become a bit obsessed with online dictionaries as of late and decided to run an Online Dictionary Showdown which really isn't as hard as it sounds. I picked four words:
encyclicals
monitories
poshlost
chattel
What's great is that there is a one stop shop for most online dictionaries...onelook.com.
Here's how they did:
encyclicals = 2 dictionaries had it.
encyclical, however has 22.
monitories = 1 dictionary.
poshlost = 1 dictionary, at Worthless Word of the Day, no less.
chattel = 21 in general and 13 in business categories respectively.
The winner in this impromptu test? Dictionary.com...gah.
encyclicals
monitories
poshlost
chattel
What's great is that there is a one stop shop for most online dictionaries...onelook.com.
Here's how they did:
encyclicals = 2 dictionaries had it.
encyclical, however has 22.
monitories = 1 dictionary.
poshlost = 1 dictionary, at Worthless Word of the Day, no less.
chattel = 21 in general and 13 in business categories respectively.
The winner in this impromptu test? Dictionary.com...gah.
Online Text Tools
I thought this should get a separate post because it covers several different things, but this page, has several fun online tools relating to words, text, readability and so on.
Anything from intentionally misspelling your text, to analyzing your text for word usage, readability or complexity, to finding how rare or unusual the words are in a text (or suggesting them).
Anything from intentionally misspelling your text, to analyzing your text for word usage, readability or complexity, to finding how rare or unusual the words are in a text (or suggesting them).
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
While I'm talking about words, especially unknown ones, here's a way to gauge how difficult a text supposedly is. The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test.
It's pretty much the de facto standard for measuring a texts readability and what grade level it's written for. The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read. That seems backwards to me, but...that's me.
If you have the inclination it's fun to measure your own work and see where it stands. There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
Btw this is the score for the text above this line:
Number of characters (without spaces) : 539.00
Number of words : 123.00
Number of sentences : 8.00
Average number of characters per word : 4.38
Average number of syllables per word : 1.49
Average number of words per sentence: 15.38
Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index : 9.40
Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index : 8.06
Flesh Kincaid Grade level : 7.96
ARI (Automated Readability Index) : 6.90
SMOG : 9.71
Flesch Reading Ease : 65.36
List of sentences which we suggest you should consider to rewrite to improve readability of the text :
The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read.
There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
I was just thinking that this would be VERY FUN to do to people's emails to see at what level they write at on average...hmmm
Another version of the test is here.
It's pretty much the de facto standard for measuring a texts readability and what grade level it's written for. The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read. That seems backwards to me, but...that's me.
If you have the inclination it's fun to measure your own work and see where it stands. There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
Btw this is the score for the text above this line:
Number of characters (without spaces) : 539.00
Number of words : 123.00
Number of sentences : 8.00
Average number of characters per word : 4.38
Average number of syllables per word : 1.49
Average number of words per sentence: 15.38
Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index : 9.40
Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index : 8.06
Flesh Kincaid Grade level : 7.96
ARI (Automated Readability Index) : 6.90
SMOG : 9.71
Flesch Reading Ease : 65.36
List of sentences which we suggest you should consider to rewrite to improve readability of the text :
The scales are a little hard to conceptualize (for me) at first because for the Ease of Reading metric, the HIGHER the number the easier something is said to be to read.
There are some automated tools online to do this but I have no idea how accurate they (or any of this) really is.
I was just thinking that this would be VERY FUN to do to people's emails to see at what level they write at on average...hmmm
Another version of the test is here.
Unknown Words While Reading
I've had this problem for a long time now, ever since I've started reading actually. How to handle words in the text that I don't know. I've tried different things:
Looking them up immediately
Making a list for each chapter and looking them up afterwards
Ignoring them and just flag the page to go back to later
The trouble is I don't like looking up words while I'm reading because it's a hassle and I'm lazy like that. I can get myself to make a list while I read but then I'm looking up the words out of context. Ignoring them and thinking I'm going to get back to them later never works. So what to do?
Overall, probably the best solution is to look them up as I read but that's not always convenient because sometimes I'm reading outside, or in bed or sitting in some room someplace or riding in a car...it's just not convenient to lug around a dictionary. I guess an iPhone would be good for this, then I could access ninjawords or something (btw, ninjawords isn't as comprehensive as dictionary.com or others so far. Unfortunately, dictionary.com has a 100% success rate for me while the other online dictionaries I've tried at best get 99% from me...gah).
I have a HUGE dictionary here on my desk. HUGE. I've had it for a while now and while it's not completely up to date with the latest words like I dunno, blog, woot and ZOMG! it's overall fairly comprehensive. I've been making tick marks next to words I've looked up over the years so when I end up looking them up again I know I should be familiar with it. That's why I dig ninjawords history list so much. In a more perfect world dictionary.com would have a history list.
So I'm open for ideas. I'm thinking the best solution (until I get an iPhone or something) is to look up words right then and there or if I can't for some reason, jot down the word on the bookmark I'm using in the book and look them up later. What words don't I know you say? Here's a small selection from my current list:
Splenetic
Encyclicals
Monitories
Scabious
Missal
Lees
Santonin
Nasturtium
Antiphony
Dalmatic
Faille
Samovar
Looking them up immediately
Making a list for each chapter and looking them up afterwards
Ignoring them and just flag the page to go back to later
The trouble is I don't like looking up words while I'm reading because it's a hassle and I'm lazy like that. I can get myself to make a list while I read but then I'm looking up the words out of context. Ignoring them and thinking I'm going to get back to them later never works. So what to do?
Overall, probably the best solution is to look them up as I read but that's not always convenient because sometimes I'm reading outside, or in bed or sitting in some room someplace or riding in a car...it's just not convenient to lug around a dictionary. I guess an iPhone would be good for this, then I could access ninjawords or something (btw, ninjawords isn't as comprehensive as dictionary.com or others so far. Unfortunately, dictionary.com has a 100% success rate for me while the other online dictionaries I've tried at best get 99% from me...gah).
I have a HUGE dictionary here on my desk. HUGE. I've had it for a while now and while it's not completely up to date with the latest words like I dunno, blog, woot and ZOMG! it's overall fairly comprehensive. I've been making tick marks next to words I've looked up over the years so when I end up looking them up again I know I should be familiar with it. That's why I dig ninjawords history list so much. In a more perfect world dictionary.com would have a history list.
So I'm open for ideas. I'm thinking the best solution (until I get an iPhone or something) is to look up words right then and there or if I can't for some reason, jot down the word on the bookmark I'm using in the book and look them up later. What words don't I know you say? Here's a small selection from my current list:
Splenetic
Encyclicals
Monitories
Scabious
Missal
Lees
Santonin
Nasturtium
Antiphony
Dalmatic
Faille
Samovar
Friday, July 20, 2007
The Wilmarth Cafe
I've never "been there" but it seems like a decent enough place. What's interesting though is that their website has nearly all the works of H.P. Lovecraft (apparently, not sure, his works are in the public domain now) and they have some interactive fiction in the vein of Choose Your Own Adventure books.
Author Podcasts
This is pretty cool. Book Expo America has podcast interviews with authors. Since I'm largely -nearly exclusively actually- interested in fiction, here's the page with podcast interviews with authors of fiction.
I haven't had time to listen to too much but I think it's worth bookmarking and maybe even subscribing to. Of course I have to promote a podcast of one of my favorite fun (and by fun I mean it's basically light reading) authors F. Paul Wilson the creator of Repairman Jack.
(btw, it looks like there's going to be a Repairman Jack film soon. I'm not sure how I feel about this as Hollywood seems quite adept at turning good things into bad on a regular basis and they seem to love not only words like "remake" and "re-imagining" but "franchise" as well. Gah.)
I haven't had time to listen to too much but I think it's worth bookmarking and maybe even subscribing to. Of course I have to promote a podcast of one of my favorite fun (and by fun I mean it's basically light reading) authors F. Paul Wilson the creator of Repairman Jack.
(btw, it looks like there's going to be a Repairman Jack film soon. I'm not sure how I feel about this as Hollywood seems quite adept at turning good things into bad on a regular basis and they seem to love not only words like "remake" and "re-imagining" but "franchise" as well. Gah.)
Books Which No Longer Exist
On the opposite end of the field from non-existent books lugubriously lay books that never existed.
Probably the largest collection of texts that no longer exist is the Library of Alexandria's collection of knowledge. Destroyed largely due to religious intolerance and ignorance only a few fragments remain as well as a few titles of forever lost scrolls. These will likely never be recovered.
Les Journées de Florbelle and other works by the Marquis de Sade. Upon his death the Marquis de Sade requested that much of his work be destroyed. Unhappily some were. Again, there's little chance this will ever be recovered.
Ernest Hemingway lost, literally, an entire suitcase full of his writings. It's debated exactly what was contained in the suitcase be it original or carbon copies and from what period in his life they came from, but nevertheless, they're now lost. There is the chance that somewhere this suitcase or portions of it's contents are still floating around either misplaced in someone's attic, exchanged quietly between private collectors or buried somewhere deep in a landfill.
Louisa May Alcott's Long-Lost Novel was found unexpectedly.
Capote's lost novel was recently discovered.
And then there are the individuals such as Maurice Girodias who have produced false novels, purporting to be actual books that are only fictions themselves within a novel.
Bizarrely enough, this "fake" novel of The Seven Minutes (retitled 7 Erotic Minutes) is still available.
Probably the largest collection of texts that no longer exist is the Library of Alexandria's collection of knowledge. Destroyed largely due to religious intolerance and ignorance only a few fragments remain as well as a few titles of forever lost scrolls. These will likely never be recovered.
Les Journées de Florbelle and other works by the Marquis de Sade. Upon his death the Marquis de Sade requested that much of his work be destroyed. Unhappily some were. Again, there's little chance this will ever be recovered.
Ernest Hemingway lost, literally, an entire suitcase full of his writings. It's debated exactly what was contained in the suitcase be it original or carbon copies and from what period in his life they came from, but nevertheless, they're now lost. There is the chance that somewhere this suitcase or portions of it's contents are still floating around either misplaced in someone's attic, exchanged quietly between private collectors or buried somewhere deep in a landfill.
Louisa May Alcott's Long-Lost Novel was found unexpectedly.
Capote's lost novel was recently discovered.
And then there are the individuals such as Maurice Girodias who have produced false novels, purporting to be actual books that are only fictions themselves within a novel.
He also got into serious trouble with Simon & Schuster and author Irving Wallace over a book called "The Original Seven Minutes" by JJ Jadway which purported the be the actual book featured in Irving Wallace's title The Seven Minutes.
Bizarrely enough, this "fake" novel of The Seven Minutes (retitled 7 Erotic Minutes) is still available.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Jennifer Weiner's Advice
Jennifer Weiner is an author of chick-lit or book club books or something. I'm not sure. I've never read any of her novels but she does have a page with some good advice for those wanting to write and get published. Here's a sample:
Not all of it applies to everyone but it's worth a read.
I sold my first story to Seventeen magazine - one of the shrinking number of mass-market magazines that still publishes fiction. No agent. I just printed up my story, wrote a cover letter saying who I was and what I'd done, and mailed it off, and was thrilled and delighted a few months later when I got a phone call….and, eventually, a check.
Now, granted, I went to Fancypants U., and I was able to do some name-dropping on my cover letter. Did that help? Sure, probably it did. Is it necessary? I don't think so. I think if I'd submitted the same short story (it was called "Tour of Duty," and published in the spring of 1992), with a letter that left out all the stuff about Princeton, and just said I was a recent college graduate working as a reporter, the story would have met with the same happy response. No matter where, or whether, you went to college, good writing finds a home.
Not all of it applies to everyone but it's worth a read.
Detective Sheep Novels
Her novel, just released in the United States, is a detective story with a twist. Shepherd George Glenn is discovered murdered in a sheep pasture, with a spade in his chest, but the humans are helpless so some talking sheep come into play to solve the crime.
Not only is the idea not what you expected but the author is already working on a sequel and a film is already in the works. Full story here.
The amazon link is here.
What's interesting to me is that the novel is largely told from the sheep's perspective. It's not hard to be reminded of Animal Farm or myriad other stories about animals like Charlotte's Web but that humans are observed by the animals is something I'd like to see more of.
Here's the description of Three Bags Full:
In this refreshingly original detective story from debut German author Swann, a flock of sheep investigates the murder of their beloved shepherd, George Glenn. Leading the effort is Miss Maple, considered the cleverest sheep in the Irish seaside village of Glennkill. She slyly "pretends" to graze while eavesdropping on suspects who come to search George's caravan for something he may have died for. When a long-lost ram recounts an incident that occurred upon his departure years earlier, Miss Maple uncovers the catalyst for George's death. The wooly troupe reveals the crime's solution in a near-Shakespearean mime at the annual "Smartest Sheep in Glennkill" contest. The author's sheep's-eye view and the animals' literal translation of the strange words and deeds of the human species not only create laugh-out-loud humor but also allow the animals occasional flashes of accidental brilliance.
I'm also reminded of Jean George's Frightful's Mountain wish is told from the perspective of a falcon.
Non-Existent Books
Some books should never have been written, and some, never were.
I like the old phrase, "Some books were never meant to be written" myself.
Here are two links to lists of non-existent books:
Best Non-Existent Books
Answers.com list of non-existent books.
And here's another good list.
I like the old phrase, "Some books were never meant to be written" myself.
Here are two links to lists of non-existent books:
Best Non-Existent Books
Answers.com list of non-existent books.
And here's another good list.
The Book of the Book
Idries Shah's The Book of the Book is a fairly well known, well, book.
From this wiki page:
I've flipped through this book online, and may even order it just to A, have a copy and B, see what it's all about but aside from that this has reminded me of another, similar book:
This is A Perfect Vacuum by Stanislaw Lem, circa 1971.
There is also mention of a book entitled Investigations of the Writings of Herbert Quaine by Jorge Luis Borges but I can't find mention of it at his wiki page and very little else other than this page.
Either way this has started me thinking, not so much about the "antinovel" but really what's possible with experimental novels. Nothing experimental and/or different just for the sake of being different, mind you, but more along the lines of Experimental and False Histories.
I have some notes on it and I think it would run the gamut from alarmingly simple to nearly impossibly difficult to write. I may give it a go though. I have a title for it, translated into Latin to sound even more mysterious, but I'll hang onto that for now. It's not terribly original meaning that there are some books around like this, but not many and there hasn't been one with a cohesiveness to it as far as I've seen similar to my idea.
From this wiki page:
Author Idries Shah, distrusting critics' reviews of his books, wrote The Book of the Book (1969, ISBN 0-900860-12-X), which consists of sixteen written pages of reviews of itself. The rest of the book is intentionally filled with about 140 blank pages to give the appearance of a normal book. Initial reactions were generally negative, but over time critics have come to praise it.
I've flipped through this book online, and may even order it just to A, have a copy and B, see what it's all about but aside from that this has reminded me of another, similar book:
It is an anthology of imaginary reviews of nonexistent books. some of the reviews remind the reader of drafts of his science-fiction novels, some read like philosophical pieces across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers, finally others satirise and parody everything from the nouveau roman to pornography, Ulysses, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky.
This is A Perfect Vacuum by Stanislaw Lem, circa 1971.
There is also mention of a book entitled Investigations of the Writings of Herbert Quaine by Jorge Luis Borges but I can't find mention of it at his wiki page and very little else other than this page.
Either way this has started me thinking, not so much about the "antinovel" but really what's possible with experimental novels. Nothing experimental and/or different just for the sake of being different, mind you, but more along the lines of Experimental and False Histories.
I have some notes on it and I think it would run the gamut from alarmingly simple to nearly impossibly difficult to write. I may give it a go though. I have a title for it, translated into Latin to sound even more mysterious, but I'll hang onto that for now. It's not terribly original meaning that there are some books around like this, but not many and there hasn't been one with a cohesiveness to it as far as I've seen similar to my idea.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Harry Potter Book 7 Leak
It was not unexpected. Of course someone would leak "HP7" onto the net in some form or another. Other than the repeated hoaxes of a leaked pdf or text file of the novel (which usually contained nothing more than a popular - and long- fan fiction) someone actually did leak the entire novel. But how?
They guy took photos of every page. EVERY PAGE. 396 images.
If you look around at all the popular places it's not hard to find at all. It's remarkable to me that someone could take the time and expend the effort to take all those photos and then upload them to the IntarTubes. But what a desideratum this guy made eh? Apparently, if rumors are to be believed, the guy that took the photos works at a library and (again, this could be apocryphal) libraries could open the boxes containing the books early so they could catalog them and place the protective jackets on them and all that fun stuff. I mean it doesn't take that long to snap off...
396 images. Geepers.
They guy took photos of every page. EVERY PAGE. 396 images.
If you look around at all the popular places it's not hard to find at all. It's remarkable to me that someone could take the time and expend the effort to take all those photos and then upload them to the IntarTubes. But what a desideratum this guy made eh? Apparently, if rumors are to be believed, the guy that took the photos works at a library and (again, this could be apocryphal) libraries could open the boxes containing the books early so they could catalog them and place the protective jackets on them and all that fun stuff. I mean it doesn't take that long to snap off...
396 images. Geepers.
Tom Swifties
Tom Swifties (and Wellerisms) are a lot of fun for me to spot in books. Authors consciously write them into some novels as easter eggs or even more humorously, inadvertently. Some examples from fun-with-words.com.
Careful though, they can be addictive.
"I need a pencil sharpener," said Tom bluntly.
"Oops! There goes my hat!" said Tom off the top of his head.
"I can no longer hear anything," said Tom deftly.
"I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
"This must be an aerobics class," Tom worked out.
Careful though, they can be addictive.
Google Books
This one may have slipped your radar, maybe not.
Google Books.
What's google books?
How about that? Basically, it's an archive of books, some in their full text, some partial and some are only listed. Either way, it's a worthwhile resource to look up a book that's been shadowing you.
Check it out; it's pretty neat. Keep in mind that like gmail recently was, this is in it's beta stage.
Google Books.
What's google books?
Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.
How about that? Basically, it's an archive of books, some in their full text, some partial and some are only listed. Either way, it's a worthwhile resource to look up a book that's been shadowing you.
Check it out; it's pretty neat. Keep in mind that like gmail recently was, this is in it's beta stage.
Online Dictionaries
I love the meaning of words. To me not only does finding just the right word for something help you sub-vocalize about things in a more precise manner but it allows you to really communicate your ideas clearly but I'm really getting tired of dictionary.com.
It's slow.
They want you to pay for some content.
They have big banner ads.
Now there are a lot of online dictionaries out there:
Dictionary.com
Thefreedictionary.com
Etymonline.com
Merriam-Webster
Google (yes, really. Just type in "define:word" where word is the word you're looking for.)
dict.org (Thanks Mat!)
And one you should bookmark:
Urbandictionary.com
I've decided to use two online dictionaries from now on. My second deeper investigation of a word will check dictionary.com, but from now on my initial search for a word will be at Ninjawords.com.
Ninjawords is clean, fast and efficient. It's like google for words in many ways. And they have one feature that just blows dictionary.com out of the ocean.
A PERSONAL SEARCH HISTORY. Finally.
Bookmark it.
Love it.
Use it.
It's slow.
They want you to pay for some content.
They have big banner ads.
Now there are a lot of online dictionaries out there:
Dictionary.com
Thefreedictionary.com
Etymonline.com
Merriam-Webster
Google (yes, really. Just type in "define:word" where word is the word you're looking for.)
dict.org (Thanks Mat!)
And one you should bookmark:
Urbandictionary.com
I've decided to use two online dictionaries from now on. My second deeper investigation of a word will check dictionary.com, but from now on my initial search for a word will be at Ninjawords.com.
Ninjawords is clean, fast and efficient. It's like google for words in many ways. And they have one feature that just blows dictionary.com out of the ocean.
A PERSONAL SEARCH HISTORY. Finally.
Bookmark it.
Love it.
Use it.
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Lyttle Lytton Contest
The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest challenges entrants to pen the world's most atrocious first line to a novel. Winners — and, for that matter, runners-up and honorable mentions — are generally very long.
It's hilarious.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Malevolent vs. Benevolent
Okay, make sure you get these straight because I'm tired of seeing them getting mixed up in newspapers.
Malevolent:
1. wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: His failures made him malevolent toward those who were successful.
2. evil; harmful; injurious: a malevolent inclination to destroy the happiness of others.
3. Astrology. evil or malign in influence.
Benevolent:
1. characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings: a benevolent attitude; her benevolent smile.
2. desiring to help others; charitable: gifts from several benevolent alumni.
3. intended for benefits rather than profit: a benevolent institution.
Malevolent:
1. wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: His failures made him malevolent toward those who were successful.
2. evil; harmful; injurious: a malevolent inclination to destroy the happiness of others.
3. Astrology. evil or malign in influence.
Benevolent:
1. characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings: a benevolent attitude; her benevolent smile.
2. desiring to help others; charitable: gifts from several benevolent alumni.
3. intended for benefits rather than profit: a benevolent institution.
The Scriptorium
The Scriptorium is a nice site that has some good info on so-called "experimental" authors all in one place.
If you want to further explore experimental fiction a handy link to have is The Modern Word.
If you want to further explore experimental fiction a handy link to have is The Modern Word.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Wordie
What if LibraryThing and Flickr had kids?
Wordie.
Wordie.
Wordie lets you make lists of words—practical lists, words you love, words you hate, whatever. See who else has listed the same words, add citations and comments, and discuss.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Blondes Have More Macrobez
An escaped prisoner in a foreign land trips over a dead platypus and is knocked out near a river while being chased by the local militia of retired police officers since it's a national holiday. Over the course of the night, laying there unconscious, his DNA is examined by intelligent microbes not known to science and who have never seen a human before.
The intelligent microbes decide to alter their own dna so they can have arms and legs and in the matter of a fortnight they do so and grow rapidly. By this time our escaped prisoner has made it to the nearest small town which doesn't speak a language he knows.
That night the band of intelligent DNA modified microbes descends upon the town trying to find their creator. To fit in they steal clothes and drink at the local bar. They only talk in gestures and by drawing pictures.
Getting frustrated with the locals who don't understand them they fax a drawing portraying them holding the town hostage to the country's president saying the town is under their rule and everyone's a hostage until their creator is found. But he's been recaptured and is now in another country in solitary confinement for escaping.
Then the country's swat team laughs after a newbie hot blonde at SWAT HQ figures out that the fax isnt' a hoax and that the microbes are holding her grandmother and her 3 yr old daughter hostage as well. The microbes are getting smarter and more dexterous every minute. No one believes her so she steals a tank, the tank's manual and some ammo and drives to the town alone to rescue everyone.
Title: Blondes Have More Macrobez
The intelligent microbes decide to alter their own dna so they can have arms and legs and in the matter of a fortnight they do so and grow rapidly. By this time our escaped prisoner has made it to the nearest small town which doesn't speak a language he knows.
That night the band of intelligent DNA modified microbes descends upon the town trying to find their creator. To fit in they steal clothes and drink at the local bar. They only talk in gestures and by drawing pictures.
Getting frustrated with the locals who don't understand them they fax a drawing portraying them holding the town hostage to the country's president saying the town is under their rule and everyone's a hostage until their creator is found. But he's been recaptured and is now in another country in solitary confinement for escaping.
Then the country's swat team laughs after a newbie hot blonde at SWAT HQ figures out that the fax isnt' a hoax and that the microbes are holding her grandmother and her 3 yr old daughter hostage as well. The microbes are getting smarter and more dexterous every minute. No one believes her so she steals a tank, the tank's manual and some ammo and drives to the town alone to rescue everyone.
Title: Blondes Have More Macrobez
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Signature Balloon
Absurd Plot:
Here's another:
A man works as a model for balloon figure designer. But he decides that one of his poses is so "him" so it's trademarked. After he sees people making his signature poses with balloons he decides to take the designer to court over it. But before that he snaps and goes on a rampage with a pellet gun shooting all the balloons in the world.
The balloon appreciation society is aghast and decides to hire a hitman to take him out. At the end he's killed while doing his signature pose. But in Malaysia, on a Wednesday while in a silent movie theatre watching an avant-garde expressionist film about gingerbread men.
Then the cloned intelligent dinosaurs from the future show up.
Absurd Plots.
As a writing exercise I like to try and come up with the most absurd plots I can think of. Usually they end up being funny but not always. Thinking about the previous post...
If you get blocked or loose inspiration try making up an absurd plot or imagine a really horrible description for a novel that you would read on the inner sleeve or rear cover. Sometimes that's enough to get your creativity flowing again. It's a lot like the random association method of overcoming a creative block but I'll post about that later.
A trio of robotic alien clowns are lost in space in a damaged spaceship. Their home world was lost in an unfortunate full-scale Dyson Sphere experiment and they barely escaped the planet's destruction by stealing a damaged ship low on fuel, that was being towed away after a crash outside their circus tent.
Mulgador, the lead robot alien clown, has his dead wife's memories encrypted on an old bio-chip, (the gov't backup in case something like this would happen) made before she married the clown, and needs to get it decrypted because as the former president of their galaxy she was the only one left who knew The Secret. And who controls that knowledge will rule the known universe.
That's when the notice a big metal crate in the cargo hold marked "Never Open."
So then...
If you get blocked or loose inspiration try making up an absurd plot or imagine a really horrible description for a novel that you would read on the inner sleeve or rear cover. Sometimes that's enough to get your creativity flowing again. It's a lot like the random association method of overcoming a creative block but I'll post about that later.
Romance Writers Competition
I have no real personal interest in writing romance stories unless by romance I mean hot giant-robot on giant-robot action and building sized mutant rats all against one human with an alien ray gun of which he lost the manual to 200 years prior while escaping an exploding planet with only a chip of the recorded memories of his lost girlfriend. Oh, and that chip is encrypted by some lost alien race. Around then is when the nano-clowns show up.
But...if you ARE interested in writing romance novels and aren't too busy with your 70 days romance novel, check out the Gather.com First Chapters Romance Writing Competition.
So yeah. There's that. Oh, what do you win?
But...if you ARE interested in writing romance novels and aren't too busy with your 70 days romance novel, check out the Gather.com First Chapters Romance Writing Competition.
Here’s How It Works: From August 1 through August 22, aspiring romance writers will have the opportunity to submit a full-length romantic fiction manuscript for consideration. Over the course of the competition, authors will post chapter one of their manuscripts in the First Chapters Romance Group. These chapters will be rated by the Gather community and the Gather Editorial Team, and five finalists will be selected through two rounds of voting. (See our new voting guidelines.) One Grand Prize Winner will then be chosen for publication by a panel of judges.
So yeah. There's that. Oh, what do you win?
This unique opportunity will enable one talented Gather member to win a guaranteed publishing contract, along with a $5000 cash advance!
$3.75 Million for a Vampire Trilogy
This is kind of, and still kind of not, unexpected given the popularity lately of Vampires in media.
For $3.75 Million dollars.
Read about the deal here.
Last week, we hear, agent Ellen Levine at Trident Media closed a deal for a postapocalyptic vampire trilogy with editor Mark Tavani at Ballantine.
For $3.75 Million dollars.
Read about the deal here.
Online Free Writing Workshop
Rosina Lippi is hosting a writing workshop on her blog. It's free and interesting so far. Check it out.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Pronouncing Words
Sometimes it's nearly impossible to know how to pronounce a word. Take things like Gerund or Ignominy for example. Is it a G as in Grover or a G as in Gerald? Or Ignominy...is it Eg-nom-in-ee or what?
Dictionary.com has all kinds of charts and tables to help you figure this stuff out but sometimes it's like trying to work out a secret with your Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring. They have audio files that help you hear how a word is said but they're for premium users.
So, looking around I noticed that Encarta has audio files for a lot of words in their dictionary...like Ignominy and Gerund.
What's cool is that they're just tiny mp3 files too if you want to keep one for later reference.
Dictionary.com has all kinds of charts and tables to help you figure this stuff out but sometimes it's like trying to work out a secret with your Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring. They have audio files that help you hear how a word is said but they're for premium users.
So, looking around I noticed that Encarta has audio files for a lot of words in their dictionary...like Ignominy and Gerund.
What's cool is that they're just tiny mp3 files too if you want to keep one for later reference.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Pseudo-Fiction
Alex Hutchinson in an award winning poet and novelist. He is the creator of Suburban Fiction, a new genre for writers who fictionalize parts of their lives into Bio-Thrillers. Alex has six books in print and they are all available at www.Suburbanfiction.com(from his writerscafe.org about box)
New genre. Bio-Thrillers. It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure exactly how this benefits the reader however, because to them no matter what it's still a story. In a sense it's admitting lying to your readers from the outset and telling them, "Hey, this started out true but here's what I wish would have happened." Or what could have happened I suppose.
Now, to be fair I haven't read any of them but I get the sense that they're literary daydreams, which is fine. It's a journal of lies in a way. It's saying, "Here's what my life could have been like, had this happened, had this path been taken." I'm not against it, I'm not against even calling it a new genre, I just question how it's different to the reader, to the average Joe or Jane in a bookstore who picks up the book from them picking up a novel of complete fiction. It's like buying a lightbulb and not caring if it was made in the USA or China...it's still a lightbulb...they're still novels largely comprised of fiction. I question whether it's new as well.
It immediately reminded of the un-produced screenplay based on Bob Lazar's life where it delves into his (allegedly true) UFO reverse engineering experience in the desert of Nevada but ends up with him being chased by the government while he clutches a gun and runs through speeding traffic, something he never claimed happened. Likewise, Bio-Thrillers just seem to me -without having actually read one- to be Hollywood-ising one's life. Great if that knocks your hair back and gets you writing but I fail to see the benefit or attraction to the faceless reader over the Bio-Thriller author's shoulders.
What's interesting is that Hutchinson uses iUniverse to self-publish his novels. I have nothing against self-publishing other than I wish there were some logo or medallion on a book's outer jacket -front or back- that indicated that it was indeed self-published. Unless you know names such as iUniverse or Lulu you're likely to never know and wonder why (occasionally) there are spelling mistakes or glaring grammatical errors in your copy of whatever you just ordered from amazon.com.
Still you gotta give Hutchinson credit since he's getting his writing out there. Kudos to that.
Self-publishing is great to make your book look like a real book but it does not guarantee that it's been professionally vetted and scrutinized by unbiased eyes before being printed.
Btw, Author House is another self-publishing company.
Authors@Google
Here's a worthwhile bookmark, Authors@Google for the morning coffee warm up, the mid-day tea or the evening wind-down or the late night, "Gah..."
What is it? Authors@Google is:
Yes, Amazon does this as well but they call it Amazon Fishbowl and really it's not worth your time. With authors such as Janet Evanovich and Stephen King, and "First-time novelist Keith Donohue then revealed the dark origins of his critically acclaimed book The Stolen Child, which chronicles the lives of a boy stolen by fairies and the changeling who replaces him in the human world" really you're better off without it.
Oh, and make sure you avoid fishbowl episode 9:
Stick with Authors@Google.
What is it? Authors@Google is:
The Authors@Google program brings authors of all stripes to Google for informal talks centering on their recently published books. Through the program, we invite authors to our Mountain View headquarters as well as our New York, Santa Monica, and Ann Arbor offices, where they treat Googlers to readings of everything from serious literature and political analysis to pioneering science fiction and moving personal memoirs
Yes, Amazon does this as well but they call it Amazon Fishbowl and really it's not worth your time. With authors such as Janet Evanovich and Stephen King, and "First-time novelist Keith Donohue then revealed the dark origins of his critically acclaimed book The Stolen Child, which chronicles the lives of a boy stolen by fairies and the changeling who replaces him in the human world" really you're better off without it.
Oh, and make sure you avoid fishbowl episode 9:
To start this show, Bill asked Holly, Kendra, and Bridget--Hugh Hefner's trio of platinum-blond girlfriends--about their life in the Playboy Mansion. Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex authors Mark Leyner and Dr. Billy Goldberg were next at Bill's desk, where they explained some of the mysteries of the male anatomy. In Palm Beach, Florida, James Patterson made a UPS Special Delivery of his latest murder mystery to a customer who was "utterly amazed." And Los Lonely Boys finished the show with their unique brand of "Texican rock and roll."
Stick with Authors@Google.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Re-writing v1.1
I have this old screenplay I wrote back in 1993 or '94 (the original idea started out as an outline in 1989 I think, maybe '90) that has received some fairly positive reviews from the close circle of friends that have read it. A producer optioned it back in 1995 and a production company once wanted to shoot selected scenes from it for a test/demo reel of theirs.
Over the years the one lonely printed out copy I've had has been passed around back and forth across the USA a few times and it's not in very good shape anymore. The problem is that the original disks that contain the screenplay are lost. Gone. Period. I've looked EVERYWHERE and by everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE. I won't get into it but I wrote it on an older Brother brand word processor which turns out is not compatible with ANYTHING and by anything I mean NOT EVEN THE BROTHER WORD PROCESSOR THAT CAME OUT IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS.
The only option to get the screenplay from the the Brother disc to a format readable by a Mac or PC was a CRAZY expensive conversion service. Not even Brother's on conversion software would do it. I was one version too late.
So, what did I do? I gave up like any sensible person would knowing that my printed copy was safe in my filing cabinet for me to type up later or make photocopies of or scan in and OCR.
Fast forward a few years and one day I get the urge to dig it out and start re-reading it. Only it's gone. The folder which held the script is still there, the notes and reviews from friends are there but the actual screenplay is goners.
To make a VERY long story short the friend who had it said he didn't, I didn't know where it was until one day it shows up in the mail. My friend found it about a year and change after me asking about it. Yays!
(as a side note, I have a TON of things I've written on that old Brother WP, only the disk drive in the thing is on the fritz so one day -actually I should do this now that I have a HD Video Camera- I'm going to pop the discs in, and if they read, scroll one screen at a time while I record the WP's screen with a video camera so I at least have THAT. Guh. That's a weird thought, editing my writing in Final Cut Pro...)
So once it was in my hands I decided not only to make a copy of it but do it by hand because after all these years it was still, literally, the first draft. Sure, I'd re-written some scenes and dialogue here and there when I initially wrote the thing longhand (yes longhand) before typing it up that first time but what I typed in that first time is what it remained for all those years. I wanted to update it.
That was the key for me, an epiphany of sorts: update. I'm a geek, I'll admit. I LOVE updating software and firmware, LOVE IT. So being the person that I am, dreading any re-writes at all I decided that I'm not re-writing I'm updating, I'm improving, I'm making better. I'm updating the engine under the hood that tells the story. And the first step was to give my screenplay a version number...v1.0.
Just looking at that number made me want to update it so it read something terribly exciting like v1.1 or even v2.0. I decided to go conventional and say that any changes I did while typing it up would bump it up to v1.1. So I began typing it in. Over the course of typing it into my shiny brand new word processor (which exports as a plain text file if I want so it's compatible in the future with just about everything, screw Brother...) I noticed little lines of dialogue here and there which would be improved or fleshed out, bits of description which could be more descriptive and so on. As I got to the end of the re-type I went back to the cover page and happily typed in "v1.1." Woot!
I'll get to another post another day about re-writes in general but for me that's how I look at them. Where once I used to DREAD the mere thought of going back and re-visiting these events, places and characters, now I look forward to it mostly. I think the problem I had is that it's re-writing MY work, rather than someone else's. I'd love to re-write more things from other people, that's a natural thing to like to do. But going back over my stuff, knowing all the sweat and emotional angst and stress that went into getting those words on the paper, let alone think about what emotional mazes I'd have to navigate to re-write it was too much to bear. But...thinking about it like software...thinking about it in terms of version numbers...ok, that gets me excited. Weird? Sure, but it works for me.
Over the years the one lonely printed out copy I've had has been passed around back and forth across the USA a few times and it's not in very good shape anymore. The problem is that the original disks that contain the screenplay are lost. Gone. Period. I've looked EVERYWHERE and by everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE. I won't get into it but I wrote it on an older Brother brand word processor which turns out is not compatible with ANYTHING and by anything I mean NOT EVEN THE BROTHER WORD PROCESSOR THAT CAME OUT IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS.
The only option to get the screenplay from the the Brother disc to a format readable by a Mac or PC was a CRAZY expensive conversion service. Not even Brother's on conversion software would do it. I was one version too late.
So, what did I do? I gave up like any sensible person would knowing that my printed copy was safe in my filing cabinet for me to type up later or make photocopies of or scan in and OCR.
Fast forward a few years and one day I get the urge to dig it out and start re-reading it. Only it's gone. The folder which held the script is still there, the notes and reviews from friends are there but the actual screenplay is goners.
To make a VERY long story short the friend who had it said he didn't, I didn't know where it was until one day it shows up in the mail. My friend found it about a year and change after me asking about it. Yays!
(as a side note, I have a TON of things I've written on that old Brother WP, only the disk drive in the thing is on the fritz so one day -actually I should do this now that I have a HD Video Camera- I'm going to pop the discs in, and if they read, scroll one screen at a time while I record the WP's screen with a video camera so I at least have THAT. Guh. That's a weird thought, editing my writing in Final Cut Pro...)
So once it was in my hands I decided not only to make a copy of it but do it by hand because after all these years it was still, literally, the first draft. Sure, I'd re-written some scenes and dialogue here and there when I initially wrote the thing longhand (yes longhand) before typing it up that first time but what I typed in that first time is what it remained for all those years. I wanted to update it.
That was the key for me, an epiphany of sorts: update. I'm a geek, I'll admit. I LOVE updating software and firmware, LOVE IT. So being the person that I am, dreading any re-writes at all I decided that I'm not re-writing I'm updating, I'm improving, I'm making better. I'm updating the engine under the hood that tells the story. And the first step was to give my screenplay a version number...v1.0.
Just looking at that number made me want to update it so it read something terribly exciting like v1.1 or even v2.0. I decided to go conventional and say that any changes I did while typing it up would bump it up to v1.1. So I began typing it in. Over the course of typing it into my shiny brand new word processor (which exports as a plain text file if I want so it's compatible in the future with just about everything, screw Brother...) I noticed little lines of dialogue here and there which would be improved or fleshed out, bits of description which could be more descriptive and so on. As I got to the end of the re-type I went back to the cover page and happily typed in "v1.1." Woot!
I'll get to another post another day about re-writes in general but for me that's how I look at them. Where once I used to DREAD the mere thought of going back and re-visiting these events, places and characters, now I look forward to it mostly. I think the problem I had is that it's re-writing MY work, rather than someone else's. I'd love to re-write more things from other people, that's a natural thing to like to do. But going back over my stuff, knowing all the sweat and emotional angst and stress that went into getting those words on the paper, let alone think about what emotional mazes I'd have to navigate to re-write it was too much to bear. But...thinking about it like software...thinking about it in terms of version numbers...ok, that gets me excited. Weird? Sure, but it works for me.
The Reverse Dictionary
We all know about dictionary.com but what if you know the meaning of a word and can't recall the actual word? What then?
Reverse dictionary may be the answer. I think it's something every writer shouldn't be without.
It's not perfect but it's a good first step towards finding that word. Of course the tried and true method of going through thesaurus listings is always helpful.
Reverse dictionary may be the answer. I think it's something every writer shouldn't be without.
OneLook's reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word.
It's not perfect but it's a good first step towards finding that word. Of course the tried and true method of going through thesaurus listings is always helpful.
The Writer
No not you, Pierre Jaquet-Droz's automaton, The Writer.
If you haven't seen this in action you've been missing out. It's an automaton built sometime around 1770 completely from clockworks which, when wound and provided with paper and ink...writes.
I'm sure there's some deep-thought parallel here to actual writing but I'm too scared to even think about it. Like Kain once said, "Freewill is an illusion" and like Ford Prefect said, "Lunch, doubly so."
How The Writer works here. More info about him here.
Free bonus video. That so reminds me of Bronnt Industries Kapital.
If you haven't seen this in action you've been missing out. It's an automaton built sometime around 1770 completely from clockworks which, when wound and provided with paper and ink...writes.
I'm sure there's some deep-thought parallel here to actual writing but I'm too scared to even think about it. Like Kain once said, "Freewill is an illusion" and like Ford Prefect said, "Lunch, doubly so."
How The Writer works here. More info about him here.
Free bonus video. That so reminds me of Bronnt Industries Kapital.
James Patterson
James Patterson has written novels (and I use the term loosely) with titles such as "The Quickie" and "You've Been Warned." Oh, the irony.
Not only does he write (purportedly) some of these things but he often collaborates (and by collaborate I mean get his name printed next to theirs) with other writers. Lots of them:
Maxine Paetro
Michael Ledwidge
Andrew Gross
Howard Roughan
Have you seen one of this guy's books? Ever been inside a grocery store? His novels are the ones near the M&M's with big 30% off stickers on them. I can't tell if it's evil or just genius. The guy writes novels tailor-made for soccer moms who want to feel literate. Look, if you're reading this junk you're not reading okay? You're going through all the motions but it's not reading a novel.
It's pretend reading.
You are just exercising your eye muscles.
His books have sometimes 200+ chapters. 200!! That's because each chapter is only a few pages, sometimes less than 5. You can read a chapter or two while you sit on the throne or while you're on the phone yakking to your other soccer mom friends when she has to run off to discipline her kids or while you sit at a game pretending to be interested in it when you're really only there to be seen looking like you're interested.
It's genius. You can be a member of the Borrowed Brain Club and still feel literate because you just read an entire novel...by yourself!
Go you.
James Patterson novels are the jujubes of the literary world. They'll rot your head. Do not try to read every one he's written. That's just about as helpful to the universe as counting to one million aloud.
Not only does he write (purportedly) some of these things but he often collaborates (and by collaborate I mean get his name printed next to theirs) with other writers. Lots of them:
Maxine Paetro
Michael Ledwidge
Andrew Gross
Howard Roughan
Have you seen one of this guy's books? Ever been inside a grocery store? His novels are the ones near the M&M's with big 30% off stickers on them. I can't tell if it's evil or just genius. The guy writes novels tailor-made for soccer moms who want to feel literate. Look, if you're reading this junk you're not reading okay? You're going through all the motions but it's not reading a novel.
It's pretend reading.
You are just exercising your eye muscles.
His books have sometimes 200+ chapters. 200!! That's because each chapter is only a few pages, sometimes less than 5. You can read a chapter or two while you sit on the throne or while you're on the phone yakking to your other soccer mom friends when she has to run off to discipline her kids or while you sit at a game pretending to be interested in it when you're really only there to be seen looking like you're interested.
It's genius. You can be a member of the Borrowed Brain Club and still feel literate because you just read an entire novel...by yourself!
Go you.
James Patterson novels are the jujubes of the literary world. They'll rot your head. Do not try to read every one he's written. That's just about as helpful to the universe as counting to one million aloud.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Prose, Plagiarism and Eragon
Somehow, in case you missed it, back in 2002 a guy named Christopher Paolini published (and by published I mean: Eragon was published privately by his parents Paolini International, LLC. To promote the book, Paolini toured over 135 schools and libraries, discussing reading and writing, all the while dressed in "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap.") a novel called Eragon.
It was pretty popular spawning subsequent novels, at least one film and a companion videogame. Christopher Paolini was 15 at the time he wrote the thing. He may be old enough to drink now which can only improve his writing skills and output I'm sure.
Problem is much of the novel, in concept at least was plagiarized from things like I dunno...Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and whatnot. No big.
It's not like he used words from Lord of the Rings and just rearranged some of the letters. Oh wait...(from amazon.com)
IMILADRIS>Imladris
VANILOR>Valinor
ARDWEN>Arwen
CERANTHOR>Caranthir
BIERLAND>Beleriand
ISENSTAR>Isengaurd
MELIAN>Melian
MITHRIM>Mithrim
ISIDAR>Isildur
TURIN>Turin (note: the "u," in the right "Turin," has an accent)
ERAGON>ARAGORN (comparison in pronunciation)
Eragon words on the left, LotR's words on the right. Oops.
Anyway, theft notwithstanding the site that points out many of the similarities between Eragon and Star Wars and LotR also has a pretty nifty section on some basic rules of writing fiction. It's worth checking out.
BONUS:
Here is an interesting passage from Eragon that someone noticed sounded VERY familiar to another book:
It was pretty popular spawning subsequent novels, at least one film and a companion videogame. Christopher Paolini was 15 at the time he wrote the thing. He may be old enough to drink now which can only improve his writing skills and output I'm sure.
Problem is much of the novel, in concept at least was plagiarized from things like I dunno...Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and whatnot. No big.
It's not like he used words from Lord of the Rings and just rearranged some of the letters. Oh wait...(from amazon.com)
IMILADRIS>Imladris
VANILOR>Valinor
ARDWEN>Arwen
CERANTHOR>Caranthir
BIERLAND>Beleriand
ISENSTAR>Isengaurd
MELIAN>Melian
MITHRIM>Mithrim
ISIDAR>Isildur
TURIN>Turin (note: the "u," in the right "Turin," has an accent)
ERAGON>ARAGORN (comparison in pronunciation)
Eragon words on the left, LotR's words on the right. Oops.
Anyway, theft notwithstanding the site that points out many of the similarities between Eragon and Star Wars and LotR also has a pretty nifty section on some basic rules of writing fiction. It's worth checking out.
BONUS:
Here is an interesting passage from Eragon that someone noticed sounded VERY familiar to another book:
Below I elaborate my point with an amusing passage I’ve picked out from the 16th chapter. The characters are Brom (the story teller) and Eragon, who are trying to cross a bridge.
The Anora River flowed between them and the town, spanned by a stout bridge. As they approached it, a greasy man stepped (out) from behind a bush and barred their way. His shirt was too short and his dirty stomach spilled over a rope belt. Behind his cracked lips, his teeth looked like crumbling tombstones.
“You c’n stop right there. This’s my bridge. Gotta pay t’ get over.”
“How much?” asked Brom in a resigned voice. He pulled out a pouch and the bridge keeper brightened.
“Five crowns” he said, pulling his lips into a broad smile.
Eragon’s temper flared at the exorbitant price, and he started to complain hotly, but Brom silenced him with a quick look. The coins were wordlessly handed over. The man put them into a sack hanging from his belt.
“Thank’ee much” he said in a mocking tone and stood out of the way.
As Brom stepped forward, he stumbled and caught the bridge keeper’s arm to support himself.
“Watch y’re step” snarled the grimy man sidling away.
“Sorry” apologised Brom, and continued over the bridge with Eragon.
“Why didn’t you haggle? He skinned you alive!” exclaimed Eragon. He probably doesn’t even own the bridge.”
“Probably” agreed Brom.
“Then why pay him?” Because you can’t argue with all the fools in the world. It’s easier to let them have their way, then trick them when they’re not paying attention.” Brom opened his hand, and a pile of coins glinted in the sun.
“You cut his purse!” said Eragon incredulously. Brom pocketed the money with a wink. There was a sudden howl of anguish from the other side of the river. “I’d say our friend has just discovered his loss.”
Now compare it with the original (and much better written) passage from the 3rd chapter of The Ruby Knight. Our hero Sparhawk tries to cross the bridge with his traveling companions, the young boy Talen among them.
Beside the ford stood a small hut. The man who owned it was a sharped eyed fellow in a green tunic who demanded a toll to cross. Rather than argue with him, Sparhawk paid what he asked. “Tell me neighbour,” he asked when the transaction was completed “how far is the Pelosian border?”
“About five leagues” the sharp eyed man replied. “If you move along, you should reach it by afternoon.”
They splashed on across the ford. When they reached the other side, Talen rode up to Sparhawk. Here’s your money back,” the young boy said, handing over several coins.
Sparhawk gave him a startled look.
“I don’t object to paying a toll to cross a bridge” Talen sniffed. “After all, someone had to go to the expense of building it. That fellow was just taking advantage of a natural shallow place in the river. It didn’t cost him anything, so why should he make a profit from it?
“You cut his purse, then?”
“Naturally.”
“And there was more in it than just my coins?”
“A bit. Let’s call it my fee for recovering your money. After all, I deserve a profit too, don’t I?”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I needed the practice.”
From the other side of the river came a howl of anguish.
“I’d say he just discovered his loss” observed Sparhawk.
“It does sort of sound that way, doesn’t it?
There are a number of smaller idea’s borrowed from other books, The Belgariad and Malloreon being the first ones to come to my mind.
Double Returns and Spaces
I don't know exactly where all this is coming from, perhaps some secret literary lab deep in the heart of some active volcano but I'm getting tired of everything slowing moving up to two where there once was one.
Take an address for example:
123 Street
America, City 12345
Now, some people are adding a second space after the City before the Zip code:
123 Street
America, City 12345
What's the diff?
Likewise, now people are putting two spaces after periods. Why do this? What's wrong with just one? I dunno. I think one looks just fine. I suspect that people who place two spaces (and double space) are just itching to eat up more page with fewer words. Yes, that's what I suspect.
I'll forgo complaining about double-spacing text; that's bugged me for years.
(Btw, the spaces may not show up correct as I have typed them in on your end. Blame technology. I do.)
Take an address for example:
123 Street
America, City 12345
Now, some people are adding a second space after the City before the Zip code:
123 Street
America, City 12345
What's the diff?
Likewise, now people are putting two spaces after periods. Why do this? What's wrong with just one? I dunno. I think one looks just fine. I suspect that people who place two spaces (and double space) are just itching to eat up more page with fewer words. Yes, that's what I suspect.
I'll forgo complaining about double-spacing text; that's bugged me for years.
(Btw, the spaces may not show up correct as I have typed them in on your end. Blame technology. I do.)
Organizing Your Ideas Via The PATH Method
I don't mean organizing the elements to your story, I'll cover that in another post, but I mean literally organizing all the different story ideas you get throughout the day/week/month/year. If you're like me you have several writing projects going on all at once (or want to) but you're never really quite sure which project to tackle first and devote a majority of your energy on.
Here's what I do.
I made up a little system I call the PATH method (don't confuse it with CPM which is far more complex) to help me find out which projects should be tackled before others.
This PATH method I've devised and have been using is pretty simple but I'll admit it's far from comprehensive and yeah, needs a new name.
PATH stands for Project Analyzation Tool using Heuristics. Not the best name ever but whatever.
How it works:
Make a chart with six columns across the top. Label these:
TITLE | GENRE | RESEARCH/DIFFICULTY | MARKETABILITY | TIME TO COMPLETE | TOTAL
Underneath these put your story ideas, one story per row, and try to group them together into groups like Novels, Short Stories, Screenplays etc... Now, under the headings Research, Marketability & Time to Complete you're going to drop in a number from 1 to 5. These number are important.
Worst/Hard 1 2 3 4 5 Easy/Best
So 1 is something that's hard or has the worst attributes while 5 has the best attributes or is the easiest.
So, for example, if you're working on Novel A and it requires a lot of Difficulty or Research to write you may put in a 2, then under Marketability you guess that it's somewhat marketable so you put in a 3, and finally under Time To Complete you know it'll take a long time so you drop in a 1. Total them up and you get 2 + 3 + 1 = 6.
For the chart the lower the total the further down the list of things to write it is. You want high totals for your first projects. Lets try another one:
Novel B is going to be nearly completely made up so you score the Difficulty (since there's no Research) a 4, and it's going to be very Marketable you think so you give it a 5 there, finally the Time To Complete will only last as long as it'll take you to type it up and do one rewrite so you score that a 4. What's our total? 4 + 5 + 4 = 13. 13 is greater than 6 so knock out Novel B before you start digging into Novel A.
Not only will you get your projects completed faster but ideally, you'll have something out there submitted while you're working on the next project.
Remember, the higher the score the better off you are working on that project before others. I've used this with other things as well from non-writing projects to actual real-world things I need to do. It's not as detailed as the GTD method but it doesn't have to be. This is just a simple way to plot out your projects and get a big picture view of them to see which order you can finish them all up in, in the least amount of time and probably have more fun doing it.
Here's what I do.
I made up a little system I call the PATH method (don't confuse it with CPM which is far more complex) to help me find out which projects should be tackled before others.
This PATH method I've devised and have been using is pretty simple but I'll admit it's far from comprehensive and yeah, needs a new name.
PATH stands for Project Analyzation Tool using Heuristics. Not the best name ever but whatever.
How it works:
Make a chart with six columns across the top. Label these:
TITLE | GENRE | RESEARCH/DIFFICULTY | MARKETABILITY | TIME TO COMPLETE | TOTAL
Underneath these put your story ideas, one story per row, and try to group them together into groups like Novels, Short Stories, Screenplays etc... Now, under the headings Research, Marketability & Time to Complete you're going to drop in a number from 1 to 5. These number are important.
Worst/Hard 1 2 3 4 5 Easy/Best
So 1 is something that's hard or has the worst attributes while 5 has the best attributes or is the easiest.
So, for example, if you're working on Novel A and it requires a lot of Difficulty or Research to write you may put in a 2, then under Marketability you guess that it's somewhat marketable so you put in a 3, and finally under Time To Complete you know it'll take a long time so you drop in a 1. Total them up and you get 2 + 3 + 1 = 6.
For the chart the lower the total the further down the list of things to write it is. You want high totals for your first projects. Lets try another one:
Novel B is going to be nearly completely made up so you score the Difficulty (since there's no Research) a 4, and it's going to be very Marketable you think so you give it a 5 there, finally the Time To Complete will only last as long as it'll take you to type it up and do one rewrite so you score that a 4. What's our total? 4 + 5 + 4 = 13. 13 is greater than 6 so knock out Novel B before you start digging into Novel A.
Not only will you get your projects completed faster but ideally, you'll have something out there submitted while you're working on the next project.
Remember, the higher the score the better off you are working on that project before others. I've used this with other things as well from non-writing projects to actual real-world things I need to do. It's not as detailed as the GTD method but it doesn't have to be. This is just a simple way to plot out your projects and get a big picture view of them to see which order you can finish them all up in, in the least amount of time and probably have more fun doing it.
Staying Motivated
For me one of the best ways to stay motivated when trying to write something -other than being in the thick of a story I'm working on- is to read, and read a lot.
So I've been reading a few books simultaneously for various reasons:
First, I've been reading Á Rebours, mainly because it's been on my list for a long long time and because it's about such an insular persona and really delves into the depths of someone's psyche. Kinda like American Psycho, only not in 1st person and not as violent.
Second, I've been leafing through H.P. Lovecraft's two shorts, The Lurking Fear and Beyond the Wall of Sleep. I chose these because of the tone, and the kind of, not level of, detail Lovecraft uses when describing things.
Third, I've been haphazardly reading Gregory McDonald's Fletch because it's not the most brain-straining novel ever and because it has a good mix of different aspects of written fiction. There's a nice mix-up of dialogue, immediate scenes and narrative summary.
And of course when time permits I flip through things like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers or something like that.
So I've been reading a few books simultaneously for various reasons:
First, I've been reading Á Rebours, mainly because it's been on my list for a long long time and because it's about such an insular persona and really delves into the depths of someone's psyche. Kinda like American Psycho, only not in 1st person and not as violent.
Second, I've been leafing through H.P. Lovecraft's two shorts, The Lurking Fear and Beyond the Wall of Sleep. I chose these because of the tone, and the kind of, not level of, detail Lovecraft uses when describing things.
Third, I've been haphazardly reading Gregory McDonald's Fletch because it's not the most brain-straining novel ever and because it has a good mix of different aspects of written fiction. There's a nice mix-up of dialogue, immediate scenes and narrative summary.
And of course when time permits I flip through things like Self-Editing for Fiction Writers or something like that.
Not All Books Have Words
Thinking about Book Art, I remembered that sometimes books don't even contain words. Take these two for example:
The Voynich Manuscript and the Mutus Liber. Neither one has any legible text and the Voynich is written in some language that was either made up or has been lost to history. The Mutis Liber is thought to be an ancient book on alchemy.
While books exist to convey information and ideas, and even sway thought, they don't always have to or even try to do so with words.
The Voynich Manuscript and the Mutus Liber. Neither one has any legible text and the Voynich is written in some language that was either made up or has been lost to history. The Mutis Liber is thought to be an ancient book on alchemy.
While books exist to convey information and ideas, and even sway thought, they don't always have to or even try to do so with words.
The Outside of the Book
I'll admit that what's inside a book is far more important than what it's exterior looks like. But, like anything else people have focused their artistic energy on what's called Book Arts where they learn and practice the traditional (and sometimes nearly lost) methods of book binding and expand upon that to create contemporary -or otherwise- books that themselves are art.
From plain to completely non-traditional some of the Book Art people are creating are just really cool.
If you want to get into it, outside of some time with google, check out The Center for Book Arts.
From plain to completely non-traditional some of the Book Art people are creating are just really cool.
If you want to get into it, outside of some time with google, check out The Center for Book Arts.
Harry Potter Is Getting Out Of Hand
This is just getting ridiculous. If you're a bookstore you have to sign a huge agreement regarding secrecy and security about the 7th Harry Potter book. It gets worse:
When you can't even photograph the boxes that contain the books is when this whole thing has simply gone from amusing to embarrassing. It's a book. All will be revealed in time.
I wonder how that works in the USA however, because if you can see it from pubic property, you can photograph it. That's the law. Maybe that explains this photograph.
Either way...
is just bonkers. Read the entire article. It's insane. Don't forget that a guy is still in jail right now because he tried to sell a copy of the 6th book a month before it's release. Right now, he's still in jail...for trying to sell a Harry Potter book.
Some of the more extreme clauses in the document, a copy of which The Sun-Herald has obtained, include that the cartons not be opened under any circumstances, nor can the boxes themselves be photographed or filmed before the on-sale date and time.
When you can't even photograph the boxes that contain the books is when this whole thing has simply gone from amusing to embarrassing. It's a book. All will be revealed in time.
I wonder how that works in the USA however, because if you can see it from pubic property, you can photograph it. That's the law. Maybe that explains this photograph.
Either way...
The boxes cannot be visible to the public until 30 minutes before sale time. In terms of promotions, some of the more bizarre rules include requiring written consent from Rowling's literary agent in order to read aloud from the book.
Quizzes, riddles and crosswords are strictly banned.
is just bonkers. Read the entire article. It's insane. Don't forget that a guy is still in jail right now because he tried to sell a copy of the 6th book a month before it's release. Right now, he's still in jail...for trying to sell a Harry Potter book.
Grammarians; and Yous...
I'm not complaining but if you can explain the differences between:
syntactical-deductive and syntactical-descriptive or appositive and segmental in regards to colon use, without looking them up and are concerned about them in your work of fiction, you aren't trying to write a novel.
Although, this is tempting me to put little grammar tips here and there now and again.
syntactical-deductive and syntactical-descriptive or appositive and segmental in regards to colon use, without looking them up and are concerned about them in your work of fiction, you aren't trying to write a novel.
Although, this is tempting me to put little grammar tips here and there now and again.
Forums for Writers
I've been keeping up with the general posts at some writer's forums and found some worth mentioning.
NanoWrimo has little activity outside of the actual month of Nano but the crowd there seems dedicated and friendly. During Nano though the place gets pretty busy.
LibraryThing has a forum too, although it seems most people overlook it. There are a ton of Groups here to post and read about in.
Writer's Cafe has some good forums too with lots of people and posts. It's worth checking out and seeing if you like it.
FictionPress has forums but they're sparsely populated.
Writing.com has a sizable forum and many members but I find the layout of the site and forums to be exceedingly messy. I never could get into it there.
GameFaqs.com has a board for books and such but mainly a younger crowd posts there and there's not much substance for writers overall.
If you have any other recommendations let me know and I'll add 'em to the list. Of course there are many other forums out there and probably many I've never heard of but these are some of the first I've run across. And naturally they all have their share of posting-hogs and Creative Typists who consider themselves Artists rather than Authors.
NanoWrimo has little activity outside of the actual month of Nano but the crowd there seems dedicated and friendly. During Nano though the place gets pretty busy.
LibraryThing has a forum too, although it seems most people overlook it. There are a ton of Groups here to post and read about in.
Writer's Cafe has some good forums too with lots of people and posts. It's worth checking out and seeing if you like it.
FictionPress has forums but they're sparsely populated.
Writing.com has a sizable forum and many members but I find the layout of the site and forums to be exceedingly messy. I never could get into it there.
GameFaqs.com has a board for books and such but mainly a younger crowd posts there and there's not much substance for writers overall.
If you have any other recommendations let me know and I'll add 'em to the list. Of course there are many other forums out there and probably many I've never heard of but these are some of the first I've run across. And naturally they all have their share of posting-hogs and Creative Typists who consider themselves Artists rather than Authors.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Author beaten up by his characters...
Ok, so there are lots of movies and stories (thanks King) about an author's characters coming to life and killing, raping, befriending and helping them. But this time, this guy almost deserved it.
Pierre Jourde wrote a novel called "Pays Perdu (Lost Land)" which is about life in the farming village of Lussaud. He described all kinds of shenanigans like immorality, impropriety and myriad other fun titillating stuff.
Ok, here's the problem with thinking along those lines...everything was fine at first.
So what did the people do when the found out that they were the stars of a popular novel?
Naturally Jourde is all upset about this and has "spoken of his fury that a writer cannot write about what he wants, and of the fact that there are now "no-go zones" not only in cities but also in villages."
Wait a minute, he's a professor of literature? Maybe he missed one lesson called Roman Á Clef.
It's even a French term!
What is it?
A roman à clef or roman à clé (French for "novel with a key") is a novel describing real-life events behind a façade of fiction.
What's a good reason for using it? Writing about controversial topics and/or reporting inside information on scandals without giving rise to charges of libel
Yeah that and I dunno, maybe not having the people you've written about get furious at you and try to beat the snot out of you?
Pierre Jourde wrote a novel called "Pays Perdu (Lost Land)" which is about life in the farming village of Lussaud. He described all kinds of shenanigans like immorality, impropriety and myriad other fun titillating stuff.
Jourde believed that simply changing the names of the characters would be enough to placate his neighbours.
Ok, here's the problem with thinking along those lines...everything was fine at first.
But it soon emerged that this was more down to the absence of a bookshop in Lussaud rather than the understanding nature of its residents. By word of mouth, the contents of the book spread around the village.
So what did the people do when the found out that they were the stars of a popular novel?
On 31 July as the writer and his family arrived for their summer retreat, they saw a sign had been put up at the village entrance carrying an ominous allusion to the death of a poet. As they approached their farmhouse, which has been in the family for generations, neighbours began to spout abuse, calling Jourde's two children "dirty Arabs". Their mother is Arab.
The irate villagers then swapped insults for stones, hurling them at the car. One smashed a window and injured a 15-month-old baby inside. Jourde hit back, striking the ringleader, a 72-year-old man. That pensioner was fined €500, and his four accomplices received two-month suspended jail sentences.
Naturally Jourde is all upset about this and has "spoken of his fury that a writer cannot write about what he wants, and of the fact that there are now "no-go zones" not only in cities but also in villages."
Wait a minute, he's a professor of literature? Maybe he missed one lesson called Roman Á Clef.
It's even a French term!
What is it?
A roman à clef or roman à clé (French for "novel with a key") is a novel describing real-life events behind a façade of fiction.
What's a good reason for using it? Writing about controversial topics and/or reporting inside information on scandals without giving rise to charges of libel
Yeah that and I dunno, maybe not having the people you've written about get furious at you and try to beat the snot out of you?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Books on Writing
Someone asked me recently what books I'd recommend that are about writing and the writing process. So here's my list -in no particular order- of favorites barring the ones about screenplays since I generally don't like screenplays.
01) Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King
02) On Writing by Stephen King (the latter half of it anyway)
03) The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
04) The Disheveled Dictionary by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (find the original version if you can)
05) The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (again, locate the original version)
06) The New Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
07) The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves & Alan Hodge
08) The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them by Judy Delton
01) Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King
02) On Writing by Stephen King (the latter half of it anyway)
03) The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
04) The Disheveled Dictionary by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (find the original version if you can)
05) The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (again, locate the original version)
06) The New Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
07) The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves & Alan Hodge
08) The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them by Judy Delton
Books Next on My List
So I've been neglecting my reading lately and have put together a little list of things I'm going to absolutely read (or re-read and finish) "next":
A Rebour by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
And long-term is to read more Irving Wallace.
A Rebour by Joris-Karl Huysmans
Night and the City by Gerald Kersh
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
And long-term is to read more Irving Wallace.
Writers read right?
I've been perusing some forums about writing and aside from the writers groups, the OCD's who litter their books with notes and things and those who dissect every syllable two things popped up over and over.
"U R what you eat, literally" one person posted. And it's true I think. If you stick to one genre (not talking about so-called genre novels here, just in general) or only a few authors or even a few types of novels you'll stagnate yourself and eventually begin to emulate and imitate. That's bad. Diversity is the key here, read wide and write wide I say.
The second thing is reading authors who are better than you so you can learn from them. Don't be intimidated, be inspired, don't be embarrassed be emboldened.
Read a lot. Read every day.
Write a lot. Write every day.
"U R what you eat, literally" one person posted. And it's true I think. If you stick to one genre (not talking about so-called genre novels here, just in general) or only a few authors or even a few types of novels you'll stagnate yourself and eventually begin to emulate and imitate. That's bad. Diversity is the key here, read wide and write wide I say.
The second thing is reading authors who are better than you so you can learn from them. Don't be intimidated, be inspired, don't be embarrassed be emboldened.
Read a lot. Read every day.
Write a lot. Write every day.
Librarything's Top Books
And by top I mean most owned.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone (18,375)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (17,289)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (16,341)
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (15,715)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (15,621)
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (15,575)
The Da Vinci code (14,063)
The Hobbit (12,819)
1984 (12,045)
The catcher in the rye (11,832)
Pride and prejudice (11,481)
To kill a mockingbird (10,366)
The great Gatsby (9,972)
The lord of the rings (9,301)
Jane Eyre (8,652)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time (8,265)
Animal farm : a fairy story (8,091)
Brave new world (8,056)
Life of Pi : a novel (7,943)
Angels & demons (7,678)
Wuthering Heights (7,628)
The fellowship of the ring (7,576)
One hundred years of solitude (7,567)
Memoirs of a Geisha (7,499)
Catch-22 a novel (7,202)
What's interesting about all this is that many of them are the kinds of books that you are "strongly suggested" to read in school, be it grade or college. Some of the few that don't fall into that group are (were) part of the mainstream heavily publicized and advertised ilk.
What's missing? Oprah's Book Club entries I guess.
Maybe those are here, somewhere in the top 1000.
Don't forget to glance at the top 1000 author list as well...guess who's #1? SURPRISE! (not)
I will admit the author cloud is pretty neato, cept for the really big ones.
At least Stanislaw Lem is above Matt Groening.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone (18,375)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (17,289)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (16,341)
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire (15,715)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (15,621)
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (15,575)
The Da Vinci code (14,063)
The Hobbit (12,819)
1984 (12,045)
The catcher in the rye (11,832)
Pride and prejudice (11,481)
To kill a mockingbird (10,366)
The great Gatsby (9,972)
The lord of the rings (9,301)
Jane Eyre (8,652)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time (8,265)
Animal farm : a fairy story (8,091)
Brave new world (8,056)
Life of Pi : a novel (7,943)
Angels & demons (7,678)
Wuthering Heights (7,628)
The fellowship of the ring (7,576)
One hundred years of solitude (7,567)
Memoirs of a Geisha (7,499)
Catch-22 a novel (7,202)
What's interesting about all this is that many of them are the kinds of books that you are "strongly suggested" to read in school, be it grade or college. Some of the few that don't fall into that group are (were) part of the mainstream heavily publicized and advertised ilk.
What's missing? Oprah's Book Club entries I guess.
Maybe those are here, somewhere in the top 1000.
Don't forget to glance at the top 1000 author list as well...guess who's #1? SURPRISE! (not)
I will admit the author cloud is pretty neato, cept for the really big ones.
At least Stanislaw Lem is above Matt Groening.
Fake Harry Potter Books
I thought this was pretty amazing...
People are writing fake Harry Potter novels and then distributing them online. Apparently some are so well written that fans can't exactly be sure if they're real or not. Either way, it seems some fans enjoy reading them nonetheless.
It's hard enough to get people to read "real" novels but since Harry Potter novels are apparently printed on paper made from opium with heroin-based ink I guess this isn't all that surprising after all.
People are writing fake Harry Potter novels and then distributing them online. Apparently some are so well written that fans can't exactly be sure if they're real or not. Either way, it seems some fans enjoy reading them nonetheless.
It's hard enough to get people to read "real" novels but since Harry Potter novels are apparently printed on paper made from opium with heroin-based ink I guess this isn't all that surprising after all.
Book Exchanges
Don't toss your books in the trash or just dump them off at some thrift store...
Here are some interesting ways to swap books for free:
SwapSimple
(free but the page looks complicated)
BookCrossing
"The practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise."
BookMooch
"Give books away, Get books you want."
WhatsOnMyBookShelf
"Trade books using a simple point system."
In my opinion BookCrossing is the coolest. People literally leave a book "out in the wild" laying around for anyone to pick up. This is gonna save me a few trips to the dump/shooting range/thrift store.
(yes I said shooting range)
Here are some interesting ways to swap books for free:
SwapSimple
(free but the page looks complicated)
BookCrossing
"The practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise."
BookMooch
"Give books away, Get books you want."
WhatsOnMyBookShelf
"Trade books using a simple point system."
In my opinion BookCrossing is the coolest. People literally leave a book "out in the wild" laying around for anyone to pick up. This is gonna save me a few trips to the dump/shooting range/thrift store.
(yes I said shooting range)
Writer's Cafe
I've decided to switch over to Writer's Cafe from Fictionpress since Writer's Cafe seems to have a lot more to offer. I even had a writing.com account for a while but man that place is just messy and hard to navigate.
Plus, Writer's Cafe doesn't have that insanely annoying and startling banner ad where someone suddenly yells out at you "CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE..." EVERY freaking time you load a Fictionpress page.
I've hit a snag though in that when I post a story there it gets truncated for some reason that I have yet to puzzle out. Anyways, Writer's Cafe is kind of like myspace for writers I guess (a little too much like myspace? LOTS of avatars...) Some of the page layouts remind me of some of the trainwrecks I've seen on myspace, but not all. It's also a tad on the slow side when loading a new page.
The link to my page there is here. Hopefully I'll sort out this truncating hassle soon.
Why is it possibly too much like myspace? Other than the layouts their Story Tag Cloud's largest words are:
Death (3rd largest)
Fantasy (2nd largest
Fiction
Horror
Love (the biggest tag)
Romance
Sex
Stories
Vampire
UPDATE: Okay I figured out the truncating problem. Turns out as some old text documents are converted from one old app to the newest for some reason some null returns are dropped in seemingly at random. Once they're taken out everything is fine.
Plus, Writer's Cafe doesn't have that insanely annoying and startling banner ad where someone suddenly yells out at you "CONGRATULATIONS YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO RECEIVE..." EVERY freaking time you load a Fictionpress page.
I've hit a snag though in that when I post a story there it gets truncated for some reason that I have yet to puzzle out. Anyways, Writer's Cafe is kind of like myspace for writers I guess (a little too much like myspace? LOTS of avatars...) Some of the page layouts remind me of some of the trainwrecks I've seen on myspace, but not all. It's also a tad on the slow side when loading a new page.
The link to my page there is here. Hopefully I'll sort out this truncating hassle soon.
Why is it possibly too much like myspace? Other than the layouts their Story Tag Cloud's largest words are:
Death (3rd largest)
Fantasy (2nd largest
Fiction
Horror
Love (the biggest tag)
Romance
Sex
Stories
Vampire
UPDATE: Okay I figured out the truncating problem. Turns out as some old text documents are converted from one old app to the newest for some reason some null returns are dropped in seemingly at random. Once they're taken out everything is fine.
WriteBoard and Mozy and Gmail
Some online tools I've been using a lot lately are Writeboard, Mozy and yep...Gmail.
MOZY
Mozy is a simple automated backup service which just runs in the background and backs up (just about) whatever you tell it to quietly and effectively. I have it set up to backup my entire (or just anything that's changed since last backup) writing folder nightly at 3am. It's free and encrypted.
WRITEBOARD
Another thing I'm digging at the moment is Writeboard which is really just an online typewriter really. It's a page that you make a free document and just type whatever you want into it (with some limited formatting options) save and then you can access that document from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and a web browser. You can even track changes and collaborate on the document with other people. There are other, better things like this out there but I like the simplicity of Writeboard.
I've been using it to write things while on the road or away from my main computer and to track my invoices to clients. Just remember to log out when you're done if you're using someone else's computer.
GMAIL
Another quick trick I've been doing lately is using a Gmail account I set up specifically for archiving files I need to keep around and may need while on the road. You have 2+ gigs of space at gmail and you can email files up to 20MBs in size so I'll just send off an email to this one account and then as long as I have a connection and a browser I can get the files from just about anywhere.
I have a flash drive in my pocket for stuff like this too but in case the computer I'm on doesn't have USB or doesn't like a Mac OS formatted drive or whatever, I can still exchange files with this Gmail account.
And here's a tip, make sure you see the "s" in https when you log into Gmail so everything is encrypted-ish.
MOZY
Mozy is a simple automated backup service which just runs in the background and backs up (just about) whatever you tell it to quietly and effectively. I have it set up to backup my entire (or just anything that's changed since last backup) writing folder nightly at 3am. It's free and encrypted.
WRITEBOARD
Another thing I'm digging at the moment is Writeboard which is really just an online typewriter really. It's a page that you make a free document and just type whatever you want into it (with some limited formatting options) save and then you can access that document from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and a web browser. You can even track changes and collaborate on the document with other people. There are other, better things like this out there but I like the simplicity of Writeboard.
I've been using it to write things while on the road or away from my main computer and to track my invoices to clients. Just remember to log out when you're done if you're using someone else's computer.
GMAIL
Another quick trick I've been doing lately is using a Gmail account I set up specifically for archiving files I need to keep around and may need while on the road. You have 2+ gigs of space at gmail and you can email files up to 20MBs in size so I'll just send off an email to this one account and then as long as I have a connection and a browser I can get the files from just about anywhere.
I have a flash drive in my pocket for stuff like this too but in case the computer I'm on doesn't have USB or doesn't like a Mac OS formatted drive or whatever, I can still exchange files with this Gmail account.
And here's a tip, make sure you see the "s" in https when you log into Gmail so everything is encrypted-ish.
Screenplays and the Unreliable Narrator
Although I vowed to never again write (re-writes are okay) a screenplay because I think film as a medium for conveying a story is far too limited I've been toying around with an idea for a film or possibly a tv series for a couple of weeks now.
Right off the bat I've hit a snag as the initial opening scene is essentially unfilmable as I imagine it. Without giving too much away the opening scene takes place in a space without light so there's nothing to film. The only way to convey what's going on is to change this or have someone or the person involved narrate it which I don't like the idea of much.
I have an idea of how to tell what happens in the opening (maybe just use a black screen and some sounds during the opening credits) by someone coming into that dark space later on and bringing light with them or light pouring in after that space is opened. Then, retroactively we "get" what happened in there.
Anyways, aside from that I've been thinking about using the 'ol Unreliable Narrator angle for the film's leading heavy since it's a cast piece. There's some research involved but overall I think I can just write willy-nilly and then shore it all up in some re-writes. But the idea of a cast of Unreliable Narrators, plural, is something I've never really come across before. We'll see. I may start outlining it in the next few days.
Right off the bat I've hit a snag as the initial opening scene is essentially unfilmable as I imagine it. Without giving too much away the opening scene takes place in a space without light so there's nothing to film. The only way to convey what's going on is to change this or have someone or the person involved narrate it which I don't like the idea of much.
I have an idea of how to tell what happens in the opening (maybe just use a black screen and some sounds during the opening credits) by someone coming into that dark space later on and bringing light with them or light pouring in after that space is opened. Then, retroactively we "get" what happened in there.
Anyways, aside from that I've been thinking about using the 'ol Unreliable Narrator angle for the film's leading heavy since it's a cast piece. There's some research involved but overall I think I can just write willy-nilly and then shore it all up in some re-writes. But the idea of a cast of Unreliable Narrators, plural, is something I've never really come across before. We'll see. I may start outlining it in the next few days.
Pre-Nano Plans
My plan for this Nano is to re-read the 10,000 or so words I managed to get to last time, let it stew in my noggin for a while and read a lot. To me reading is the best way to stay motivated and inspired with writing fiction so other than "A Rebours" I'm going to keep Stephen King's "On Writing" at hand and "Self Editing for Fiction Writers" because these two books really get me in the mood to write almost as much as reading a good thick novel.
Of course "Strunk & White" and "The Transitive Vampire" are nearby as well.
Before jumping back into the big novel, I think I may try and finish up a short story I've been working on for well, an embarrassingly long time now, called "Broken" which has some fun ideas to explore. I think I have several paragraphs written so far so I've got to just dig it out and re-read it.
mozy.com is a lifesaver...that is until Leopard is released.
Of course "Strunk & White" and "The Transitive Vampire" are nearby as well.
Before jumping back into the big novel, I think I may try and finish up a short story I've been working on for well, an embarrassingly long time now, called "Broken" which has some fun ideas to explore. I think I have several paragraphs written so far so I've got to just dig it out and re-read it.
mozy.com is a lifesaver...that is until Leopard is released.
Pre-Nano
So this is where I'm going to document my NanoWrimo attempt this year. Last year it was thwarted due to an injury so this year I'm going to wait until about the same time I had to stop last year and pick up again on the same novel. I think that's fair.
The good thing is that I still haven't given any aforethought to the novel so it will still be completely off the top of my head.
The idea behind this novel is that none of it is thought up, outlined or premeditated in any form before words hit the page. And, I don't plan on doing any rewrites at all unless somehow it turns out amazing which it won't.
It's called "Sense of Motion" and the previous daily blog of it's progress is still here.
I've started reading A Rebours for no other reason than I've always wanted to and finally have time and the mood to do so.
The good thing is that I still haven't given any aforethought to the novel so it will still be completely off the top of my head.
The idea behind this novel is that none of it is thought up, outlined or premeditated in any form before words hit the page. And, I don't plan on doing any rewrites at all unless somehow it turns out amazing which it won't.
It's called "Sense of Motion" and the previous daily blog of it's progress is still here.
I've started reading A Rebours for no other reason than I've always wanted to and finally have time and the mood to do so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
