I guess I need a catchy name for blog posts that are a bunch of little tidbits. Hmmm.. . .
---I got a nice #followfriday twitter boost from @revolutionsf today. If you haven't checked out their website, do so! They're really trying to make SF, in all forms and permutations, fun AND thoughtful again. Today's Prisoner watercooler chat is a great example of that.
---Our child has fallen asleep before midnight for the SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW, and as soon as this bloggery is committed I am hitting the writing folder. Need to work on the Four Horsemen thing (I'll put up some WIP when I have something intriguing to share) and get a comic idea out of my head. One of the projects I've been developing is a comic book called THE FORCE! (yeah, it needs a better title), which is about a government superhero team full of misfits who turn out to have their own agendas, led by the smartest creature to ever walk the earth, who also has his own plans. I'm trying to combine superhero action with emotional realism, and poke a bit of fun at the genre as well. I have an 18-issue story arc laid out in the most basic terms, but got some great ideas for twists that need to get plunked into the file.
---I've been obsessing over Warren Ellis' latest T-Shirt of the Week. It's just so brutally perfect. Trying to figure out affordability, because with shipping the one I want (2x,charcoal gray) is $30. Grargh. But I love the idea of the shirt itself, and I love the DIY, POD aspect of the project. It shows some of the potential for creative use of the web on your own terms. That last part is so important; maintaining artistic and to some extent financial freedom is one of the more alluring aspects of putting your art and goods out on the web.
---I commented the other day on David Pomerico's post about the future and zombies. Given that I'm writing Aetas Nex, this is a topic near to my interests and to my slightly-swollen heart. Apocalypse and dystopia are great spaces for zombies to arise, and they have a versatility that can be exploited if you're willing to innovate and break a few rules. In the case of Aetas Nex,it becomes obvious that zombies are a symptom of a larger problem, and also themselves a dynamic force. For me, that was key: zombies cannot just all be brainless shamblers. Zombies develop, sometimes in lethal ways, sometimes in ways that are uncomfortable for the regular humans to face. Once they are a part of the world, and also harbingers of something bigger happening, they become more interesting as a subject themselves, and also a dynamic plot device that can throw a lot of surprises at the reader. I think there is still some potential for zombies to be useful in SF, and not just as lurching boogeymen.
And other boogeymen as well, but that is a post for another day.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
New Column, New Ailments
First of all, my new Forces of Geek column is up. I forgot to change the title before sending it (the topic altered itself as I wrote it), but otherwise I like this column a lot. Do comment!
Second, I have been afflicted with a series of respiratory ailments, including some weird month-long coughing affliction, that have left me barely enough energy to write a tweet or two, never mind write stories and thoughtful blog posts. It is slowly getting under control and I hope to be back to the keyboard soon. In my decrepitude I have been able to do some thinking about writing, and hit on some good ideas for continuing Aetas Nex and fleshing out the background of the main elements of the "Skull-face" story.
Third, that damned Cory Doctorow wrote a great piece on "radical presentism" in SF that is full of notions to respond to and ideas to unpack. I share his conclusion, but I think that there is much more to say about how this works.
OK, running out of steam already. More later.
Second, I have been afflicted with a series of respiratory ailments, including some weird month-long coughing affliction, that have left me barely enough energy to write a tweet or two, never mind write stories and thoughtful blog posts. It is slowly getting under control and I hope to be back to the keyboard soon. In my decrepitude I have been able to do some thinking about writing, and hit on some good ideas for continuing Aetas Nex and fleshing out the background of the main elements of the "Skull-face" story.
Third, that damned Cory Doctorow wrote a great piece on "radical presentism" in SF that is full of notions to respond to and ideas to unpack. I share his conclusion, but I think that there is much more to say about how this works.
OK, running out of steam already. More later.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Lazy Bastard! (With a Few Extra Bits)
So, because it is late, and I am going to figure out how to make one reflect the other anyway, this blog post is mostly taken from tonight's LJ entry, with one omission and a few added bits. But I shan't tell you what is missing and what is added. Ha!
Things are moving and grooving. Very busy with child-rearing, making some form of living, working on family stuff, and doing assorted writing. I commented on the second part of SF Signal's Mind-Meld about genre, and got out of it an idea for my next Forces of Geek column. In her response Sue Lange asked "Does the consumer of science fiction disallow experimentation?" I think that is a good question to explore, partly because I can relate it to the social life of SF. I'm already jotting down notes taking apart the question and thinking about how the answer is more than a simple "yes" or "no."
I am doing a lot of personal writing on my private LJ, a cross between Deep Thought and the everyday give-and-take of life. I am re-acquiring the rhythm of writing every single day with that journal, in an environment that is not about the outcome, but about the process.
In terms of fiction, I finished "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die" and am just doing a bit of editing before I decide where to send it. I'm working on the next story, currently entitled "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society." It is a post-post-apocalyptic tale, a legend played out with real people, a terrible idea for an Ultimate Weapon, and a few whacked-out gods. Here is a bit of the WIP:
"The Folk-That-Were knew that their enemies could stop the missile, and the bomb, and the man who was a bomb, but they could not stop the crickets, so they gave the crickets mighty gifts, gifts so bloody and marvelous that they swarmed over the earth until there wasn’t enough for them to eat. Or for the Folk-That-Were to eat. They just about died out, both the people and the bugs. We honor the people by choosing our deaths carefully, and we honor the crickets by emulating their voracious appetite for life by eating their glowing husks and beginning a journey to glory and oblivion."
Aetas Nex has progressed more in terms of ideas than words on the page. I got totally gobsmacked by the end of the chapter I working on, and realized that the next plot point was one that came at the purported end of the novel. So, I have been gradually fleshing out some background. I have enough now to get back to the draft.
The problem is discipline, of sticking to a few things and getting them done. I keep shoving ideas for A Crown of Crusted Blood and two other works into other folders and not getting back to Nex in the time I have to write. So, now that I am writing just about every day I need to focus on a few things and get them written. I have to put my attention on progress and completion.
Things are moving and grooving. Very busy with child-rearing, making some form of living, working on family stuff, and doing assorted writing. I commented on the second part of SF Signal's Mind-Meld about genre, and got out of it an idea for my next Forces of Geek column. In her response Sue Lange asked "Does the consumer of science fiction disallow experimentation?" I think that is a good question to explore, partly because I can relate it to the social life of SF. I'm already jotting down notes taking apart the question and thinking about how the answer is more than a simple "yes" or "no."
I am doing a lot of personal writing on my private LJ, a cross between Deep Thought and the everyday give-and-take of life. I am re-acquiring the rhythm of writing every single day with that journal, in an environment that is not about the outcome, but about the process.
In terms of fiction, I finished "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die" and am just doing a bit of editing before I decide where to send it. I'm working on the next story, currently entitled "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society." It is a post-post-apocalyptic tale, a legend played out with real people, a terrible idea for an Ultimate Weapon, and a few whacked-out gods. Here is a bit of the WIP:
"The Folk-That-Were knew that their enemies could stop the missile, and the bomb, and the man who was a bomb, but they could not stop the crickets, so they gave the crickets mighty gifts, gifts so bloody and marvelous that they swarmed over the earth until there wasn’t enough for them to eat. Or for the Folk-That-Were to eat. They just about died out, both the people and the bugs. We honor the people by choosing our deaths carefully, and we honor the crickets by emulating their voracious appetite for life by eating their glowing husks and beginning a journey to glory and oblivion."
Aetas Nex has progressed more in terms of ideas than words on the page. I got totally gobsmacked by the end of the chapter I working on, and realized that the next plot point was one that came at the purported end of the novel. So, I have been gradually fleshing out some background. I have enough now to get back to the draft.
The problem is discipline, of sticking to a few things and getting them done. I keep shoving ideas for A Crown of Crusted Blood and two other works into other folders and not getting back to Nex in the time I have to write. So, now that I am writing just about every day I need to focus on a few things and get them written. I have to put my attention on progress and completion.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
From Hell's Heart, I Write at Thee!
Despite still being under the weather, I managed to hammer out a new Forces of Geek column. Who knew it would be "timely" and all that, given SF Signal's Mind Meld question today?
Right after submitting the column I followed one of the links from the Mind Meld thing to a larger discussion collated at Lou Anders' blog. I love the quotation from James Enge about the effect of mainstreaming, but don't we already have that today with some of the paranormal romance stuff and SyFy movies? I think his remarks, and the article Lou points to, require some more consideration. After all, this kind of stuff is an important part of the social life of SF (as I talk about in my FoG column!).
But I am out of juice for today. Hopefully a bit more rest and good night's sleep will knock this bug or whatever out of me.
Right after submitting the column I followed one of the links from the Mind Meld thing to a larger discussion collated at Lou Anders' blog. I love the quotation from James Enge about the effect of mainstreaming, but don't we already have that today with some of the paranormal romance stuff and SyFy movies? I think his remarks, and the article Lou points to, require some more consideration. After all, this kind of stuff is an important part of the social life of SF (as I talk about in my FoG column!).
But I am out of juice for today. Hopefully a bit more rest and good night's sleep will knock this bug or whatever out of me.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Arghity
Hello, poor, unattended blog! I am sorry to have ignored you for almost two weeks! I am a bad writer; surely no biscuit for me!
Trying to work on the new column, but I have been ill for the past few days and it is hard to write through a cloud of sinus fluid and pain.
The new short story, "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society," is shaping up. I had a revelation about the story's purpose and narrative direction last week and have started whipping it into shape. I think it's a more dense story than "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die." Speaking of the latter tale, still waiting for reader responses so I can redraft. Sadly, I picked up a problem in my own re-reading, and I want to see what readers say about it. Hoping to get on track with that next week.
The novel has gotten some conceptual work done on it as well, but not many new words. I was hoping to do some writing over the next few days, but I need this ailment to let up, or maybe just a good long nap to fortify me for some wordsmithing :-). I did write a short scene. . . for the third book, but that does not add word count to the current novel!
A few links for your amusement:
---Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have put together what looks like a top-notch fantasy anthology. Go check out the Table of Contents for Swords and Dark Magic on Lou's blog.
---On the advice of a colleague, I am thinking of submitting "Skull-face. . . " to this Four Horsemen anthology. That's the direction the story is going in right now. Part of what made the story's underlying theme come into focus was reading about this anthology.
---Amusing take on 10 SF Concepts Ruined by Human Nature.
On that note, nap-time. And hopefully later, writing-time!
Trying to work on the new column, but I have been ill for the past few days and it is hard to write through a cloud of sinus fluid and pain.
The new short story, "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society," is shaping up. I had a revelation about the story's purpose and narrative direction last week and have started whipping it into shape. I think it's a more dense story than "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die." Speaking of the latter tale, still waiting for reader responses so I can redraft. Sadly, I picked up a problem in my own re-reading, and I want to see what readers say about it. Hoping to get on track with that next week.
The novel has gotten some conceptual work done on it as well, but not many new words. I was hoping to do some writing over the next few days, but I need this ailment to let up, or maybe just a good long nap to fortify me for some wordsmithing :-). I did write a short scene. . . for the third book, but that does not add word count to the current novel!
A few links for your amusement:
---Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have put together what looks like a top-notch fantasy anthology. Go check out the Table of Contents for Swords and Dark Magic on Lou's blog.
---On the advice of a colleague, I am thinking of submitting "Skull-face. . . " to this Four Horsemen anthology. That's the direction the story is going in right now. Part of what made the story's underlying theme come into focus was reading about this anthology.
---Amusing take on 10 SF Concepts Ruined by Human Nature.
On that note, nap-time. And hopefully later, writing-time!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Completion
I am happy to announce that the following projects are done:
1) My new column at Forces of Geek is up: go enjoy it!
2) I finished the rough draft of my story "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die." Hopefully it will be read by a few folks and commented on so that I can get back to it over the weekend and polish it up. It needs work, especially towards the end, but it feels like the important elements are all there. I am thrilled that it's done. And what really got it done was giving myself a firm deadline and a basic word count. When I got stuck about 2/3rds of the way through, I had to set some endpoints, and once I did, it got done. Whew!
3) I decided on the next story and have begun writing it. The working title is "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society." It's hard to describe; the idea came out of a daydream I had after selling some Hunter S. Thompson and Beat books to what appeared to be a goth biker gang. It's part post-apocalyptic fable, part postmodern farce, and part thought-exercise on what's important about life. I think the hardest part will be maintaining a consistency of tone that incorporates all of those pieces. And not going insane half-way through.
4) Earlier in the week, in a bout of brain-freeze over my writing, I did some thumb-drive cleaning and I think I finally have all of my writing files in one place on my computer (and backed up on 2 different thumbs!). I found a lot of cool ideas and silly fragments. They aren't well-organized within the file, but they are there. I have a big pile of ideas; now to start breathing life into them. . . .
5) I think I found a good image to use for Fantasy Magazine's 2009 Halloween Flash Fiction and Graphic Contest. I just need to make sure I can use it. And, y'know, write a good 1,000-word story in a week.
1) My new column at Forces of Geek is up: go enjoy it!
2) I finished the rough draft of my story "A Fine Day to Watch the Dragons Die." Hopefully it will be read by a few folks and commented on so that I can get back to it over the weekend and polish it up. It needs work, especially towards the end, but it feels like the important elements are all there. I am thrilled that it's done. And what really got it done was giving myself a firm deadline and a basic word count. When I got stuck about 2/3rds of the way through, I had to set some endpoints, and once I did, it got done. Whew!
3) I decided on the next story and have begun writing it. The working title is "Skull-face, Hogtamer, and the Dead Cricket Society." It's hard to describe; the idea came out of a daydream I had after selling some Hunter S. Thompson and Beat books to what appeared to be a goth biker gang. It's part post-apocalyptic fable, part postmodern farce, and part thought-exercise on what's important about life. I think the hardest part will be maintaining a consistency of tone that incorporates all of those pieces. And not going insane half-way through.
4) Earlier in the week, in a bout of brain-freeze over my writing, I did some thumb-drive cleaning and I think I finally have all of my writing files in one place on my computer (and backed up on 2 different thumbs!). I found a lot of cool ideas and silly fragments. They aren't well-organized within the file, but they are there. I have a big pile of ideas; now to start breathing life into them. . . .
5) I think I found a good image to use for Fantasy Magazine's 2009 Halloween Flash Fiction and Graphic Contest. I just need to make sure I can use it. And, y'know, write a good 1,000-word story in a week.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Because I said I would. . .
. . . even though it's about 12 hours too late!
Prepare for Blogging Tidbit Madness!
1) Writing output was low this week because the family was home. My wife is a Renaissance Faire performer and is on the road some weekends, and recently her father needed some help, so she is with him every other week, which means that I see her and our daughter for about 4 days every two weeks. This is a temporary thing for now, but it means that when they are here I try to concentrate on them and very little writing gets done.
2) However, I did do some organizing, which was great because I found some ideas and writing info in odd places. And I did it while engaging in razzberry contests with my daughter :-).
3) Felicia Day was interviewed by Wired AND Time this week. Quite a coup for an indy web entertainer! She was also on Jimmy Fallon's talk show, so she's getting some heavy press attention for herself and The Guild. I came to watch The Guild rather late (end of Season 2), but it's a great show and, most importantly to me, well-written. The amount of care that goes into the series, and the obvious affinity that Day has for the subject matter, comes through very clearly and makes it even more enjoyable to watch. I like the fact that despite their length each installment feels like a full TV episode. I credit some of that to the combination of concise dialogue and narrative pacing; without musical interludes, random pans of exterior settings, and other fillers that you find in many TV shows, The Guild boils your viewing experience down to the essentials and lets you connect to the moment the characters are experiencing. Without a lot of foreshadowing or extraneous character interaction, you are immediately plunged into the story. That unfiltered, yet down-to-earth, quality gives The Guild its combination of punch and hilarity.
4) It's Steampunk Month at Tor.com. This seems gimmicky, but so far I've enjoyed what they have to offer, including a guest blog from Cherie Priest and a roundup of steampunk animation, including the wonderfully-done The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. I highly recommend it; not only is the story good, but the shadow-puppet animation sets an eerie, crisp visual tone to the tale. It is another good example of how short-form web entertainment can be done professionally and wonderfully.
Prepare for Blogging Tidbit Madness!
1) Writing output was low this week because the family was home. My wife is a Renaissance Faire performer and is on the road some weekends, and recently her father needed some help, so she is with him every other week, which means that I see her and our daughter for about 4 days every two weeks. This is a temporary thing for now, but it means that when they are here I try to concentrate on them and very little writing gets done.
2) However, I did do some organizing, which was great because I found some ideas and writing info in odd places. And I did it while engaging in razzberry contests with my daughter :-).
3) Felicia Day was interviewed by Wired AND Time this week. Quite a coup for an indy web entertainer! She was also on Jimmy Fallon's talk show, so she's getting some heavy press attention for herself and The Guild. I came to watch The Guild rather late (end of Season 2), but it's a great show and, most importantly to me, well-written. The amount of care that goes into the series, and the obvious affinity that Day has for the subject matter, comes through very clearly and makes it even more enjoyable to watch. I like the fact that despite their length each installment feels like a full TV episode. I credit some of that to the combination of concise dialogue and narrative pacing; without musical interludes, random pans of exterior settings, and other fillers that you find in many TV shows, The Guild boils your viewing experience down to the essentials and lets you connect to the moment the characters are experiencing. Without a lot of foreshadowing or extraneous character interaction, you are immediately plunged into the story. That unfiltered, yet down-to-earth, quality gives The Guild its combination of punch and hilarity.
4) It's Steampunk Month at Tor.com. This seems gimmicky, but so far I've enjoyed what they have to offer, including a guest blog from Cherie Priest and a roundup of steampunk animation, including the wonderfully-done The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. I highly recommend it; not only is the story good, but the shadow-puppet animation sets an eerie, crisp visual tone to the tale. It is another good example of how short-form web entertainment can be done professionally and wonderfully.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
