The money from the school finally came through, along with two paychecks they’d been holding. That’s the first thing you need to know. Second is that after my money from the school came through, I went on a shopping spree. I bought cute outfits, cute shoes, cute jackets. The WHOLE nine yards. I look classy and adorable. Its amazing what money can buy: it may not buy happiness, but it comes damn close. The only thing that would make this week any better is if Bear could be here with me.
Suck-age
The thing is that long distance relationships suck. The Long Distance Relationship of Bri and Bear is probably not as bad as others. We talk throughout the week. He’s busy. I’m busy. Those are the facts. But it still sucks. Here are three reasons why.
He can't be here to check and see if there are zombies or other monster-esque things downstairs when I hear a noise at night.
He can't be here to say things or make faces or do dances that make me laugh.
He can't be here.
And so it goes. But the thing is that when I do get to talk to him on Skype, or I do see pictures of him on Facebook, it is enough for now.
Twilight...and Feminism
I just lately finished the second book of the Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, when I hear an uproar on the Internets. There is apparently a row about the author being an anti-feminist pro-stalker vampire lover. Honestly. I read the series. I adored it. I chewed through the first two books in days. I'll tell you this. It is pulp. It is entertainment. It is base. But that doesn't mean its not a good book. That doesn't mean that kids shouldn't read it.
I'll be going into Twilight more later this week. I'll just say for now that this sort of book is the reason I eventually picked up the classics. Formula books, books like Twilight are the reasons students stick with reading long enough to develop taste and good sense in literature.
I know I haven't been around much lately and you all have my deepest apologies on this. Life has suddenly become insane - more so than I would have thought possible. To address Joely's comment from a week or so back, I want to participate more in the 1,000 Words a Day Club, because I absolutely love the community and I have material I am working through everyday.
I'm starting to look into publication for the Post-Apocalyptic Story and I've revising a short story for a submission to a science fiction mag in two weeks. I still have my work from classes piling up in drifts...and these are the things that are killing my time:
Speaking in the Third Person: Cerebus the Aardvark
A friend loaned me Cerebus, a comic written and drawn entirely by a man named Dave Sim. The story follows a barbarian aardvark named Cerebus on his adventures across Estarcion and the city-state of Iest. With a weird mix of philosophy, feminism and a brief but touching romance, it's a graphic novel I count up there with Jeff Smith's Bone.
I Believe in Master Chief
I've also been swallowed up by the release of HALO 3, Bungie and Microsoft's Official-Slayer-of-All-Useful-Brain-Cells-and-Time. So far the graphics, the tricks you can pull as a 7-ft-tall Spartan and the game play are simply and amazingly lovely. Master Chief, John 117, is of course the hero and the range of weaponry, shields, vehicles and environments is enough to rock your socks right off. Chief has always been one of my favorite characters in a game. This is probably for the simple face that I've never seen his face. He's an Everyman. A rather tall and heavy Everyman, but sympathetic and easy to relate to because of his anonymity.
This Doesn't Bite: Twilight
On the recommendation of a close friend's little sister, I took the book she loaned to me and ate it up in almost two nights. I'm still a little ways from the end and can't get enough. The story focuses on human Bella and vampire Edward and the strange relationship they begin in the depressing gray land of the Northwest coast. Give it a read - it's part one of a trilogy - and it is SO worth it.
I have school work and a social life in here somewhere. I'm sure. But between these three (and a number of other cool things I'm not elaborating on here), I'm desperately trying not to lose touch with all of you! But I find that I sort of like wading through all the cool and discovering new ways to waste time.
After reaching today's word count, I wrote out some theme ideas and how to work them into the story. My characters use violence or pacifism - depending on their morals and what would better serve their causes. So, I've got a theme of creation v. destruction.
WHITE HATS v. BLACK HATS
Most of these characters make these decisions based on their personal backgrounds. The protagonist will not always chose "creation" and the antagonist will not always chose "destruction." They will chose like any "real" person would - based on background, personal experience, and circumstance.
If they didn't, they would be typecast as "heroes" or "villains." And everyone knows that while villains are tons of fun to write, heroes can be boring and predictable. I generally detest the idea of writinga villain who is evil,onlyfor evil's sake,ora hero who does good...onlybecause it's the right thing to do.I know I sound like a cynic, but hear me out.
I enjoy characters who make these decisions based on human need, who are interesting flawed. I don't like characters who are motivated by high-minded ideals or gutter-deep depravity - at least not at first. I don't mind if eventually the protagonist gains higher goals or motivation, or the villain darker intentions and plots. I love the characters who deal with the conflicts as humans. Not as characters.
Obviously, both types of "good" and "bad are necessary - I just prefer one over the other in what I read.
SOME EXAMPLES TO CLARIFY
Protagonists: Equality 7-2521 in Anthem, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Howl in Howl's Moving Castle, Han Solo in Star Wars, Mal Reynolds in Firefly
Heroes: Robin Hood, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Superman, Captain America, Luke Skywalker
Antagonists: Jaime Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire, Denethor in The Lord of the Rings, Deth in The Riddlemaster, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop
Villains: Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, the Borg in Star Trek, the Agents in The Matrix Trilogy, the blue-handed men in Firefly
Through this 70 Day Challenge, I've fleshed out my characters and developed a much stronger overall plot for the series. I've also gained a serious understanding of my fantasy world and found my voice fairly early in the draft. And seeing that, I peeked at the ending. And I was glad.
After getting ahead of my word count goal today, I examined what I wrote and saw that it was good. And I was glad.
Scene 1, in which violence and intense emotion lead to much greater conflict later in the novel! Scene 2, in which where my heroine shows her true strength for the first time! Scene 3, from which there is no going back, the point of no return
Ending a Series...
I've been considering Joely's post on series endings today. So, of course, I've thought more and more about the ending of my five-book series, XIII. I try to keep my calm when it comes to the ending. I've a long way to go before I get there.
But for the first time today, I dared to think of the ultimate end of the series - and I allowed myself moment to be completely psyched out about it. And I was glad.
The Beatles+Musical+ Vietnam+Free Love = The Lovely Clip Below! See Before You Go!
So say we all. Bri
P.S. I have to get glasses because of eye strain. I was not glad. But it's ok.
I've been tagged by Crystal and will post 8 Random Facts about myself tomorrow...BEWARE!
GRENDEL'S COOKIE: TWELVE YEARS' GRIEF HEAPED AT MY DOOR
I took a break for a few days from worrying about the dreaded Plot-Monster but yesterday, I pulled off its proverbial arm and hung it from the proverbial rafters. After talking to Martin and Joce about a few particular points of interest and possible scenes, a few very pretty conclusions for the story presented themselves.
THE MILK FOR GRENDEL'S COOKIE: WHAT TO DO
1. CALLING THE BANNERS - Mostly, I developed one of my nations into more a loose affiliation of tribes to give them more of a flexible structure in warfare like the Manchu bannermen, and the Celtic and Germanic tribes who swept through Europe, sacking Delphi and Rome.
2. MY HERO IS A JANUS - I also worked on characterizations, and found I love creating an image of the hero - then revealing how he's not exactly who he portrayed himself to be. Unreliable narrators are so intensely enjoyable to write. 3. A PICTURE (YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE CLICHE) - I've decided to pick up illustrating XIII again. So you all get to look forward to sketches and Photoshop delights in the weeks ahead.
OTHER THINGS NOT GRENDEL LOOKING FOR LIPSTICK AT THE END OF THE WORLD
The post-apocalyptic chick lit will be written as a short story and possibly, at a later date, be illustrated to create a weekly updated comic. So far, there is no definite title or time frame, though I do think excerpts of it will becomes available on the Friday snippets.
MAYBE A FEW THINGS GRENDEL-ESQUE NO VAMPING (OR WERE-ING), PLEASE
I've got a few ideas of how I would want to do a comic, mainly because of a little comic called LAST BLOOD, a gory but spectacular project, and Dylan Meconis' weekly Family Man, involving vampires and folk of other were-like tendencies. And speaking of were-like tendencies, give Alina Pete's Weregeek a look-see.
So say we all. Bri
P.S. I missed it...but Happy Browncoat Day! Can't stop the signal!
I THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD'VE HAD ENOUGH OF SILLY LOVE SONGS!
Today, two of my very favorite couples in XIIIfinally saw their "love at first sight" moments, though neither couple knew such a moment had just passed them by. Oddly enough, my favorite love story is not that of the hero and his oracle lover, but rather is that of his younger sister and her dangerous envoy from the west. Reason?
The sister and the envoy are so incredibly different. Age, race, religion, beliefs, even suspicion of murder - all stand between these two and blood and death follow like a pack of wolves. Sure, my protagonist and his lady have a love of tremendous awesomeness, but their bittersweet story is not, nor intended to be, as much of a hurricane-romance as that of his sister and her envoy.
BUT I LOOK AROUND ME AND SEE IT ISN'T SO!
I guess one of the things I've been working on is subtlety in plot, character and romantic development. The first two have helped take care of themselves, while the issue of romantic subtlety has raised its ugly old head and caused me trouble. So here's what I figure:
1. FLOWERY LANGUAGE IS A SILLY PLACE! RUN AWAY! - Here's the thing. No way will a couple describe each other in (full-of-evil) flowery-love-terms on their first meeting. Usually, the scene will pass in a thundering rush, with the characters focused on their original goal. Only later will each realize they are thinking of the other. I try to have them recall small, seemingly insignificant details they found charming/annoying etc. This cuts down on the potential for cheesiness/syrup-ness in any love story.
2. LAY YOUR LINES LIKE A NINJA- I try to lay hints of a romance fairly early on in the story. These don't need to be signs that scream, "Their romance is very fracking nigh!" These hints need to be unnoticeable, possibly forgettable. When I decide to reveal that a couple is in the loves, I want the reader to be pleasantly surprised and to smile, not to feel that the romance was unheralded or an unplanned cop-out.
3. WOAH, WOAH, FEELINGS - Sure, my characters have feelings. But usually my scenes are written from a very limited third person POV, which means I can record only one character's emotions at once. Sure, the POV character can notice the other's facial expressions and interpret her feelings. By limiting POVs, I also limit the amount of cheese/syrup from my romance story lines. The reader is not overwhelmed by being dragged between two characters' POVs. He is able to be content and enjoy the story at a safe vantage point from a designated POV.
WE COULD BE HEROES, FOREVER AND EVER!
I found this animation clip courtesy of a great and valiant friend named Jocelyn Howard. She knows of my enduring love of all things comicbook. So this fit. For those of you who have read Astrocity, you know how delightful this style of storytelling and drawing can be when done well. If you want, visit Chris Applehans' Site and look around. It's impressive.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!
Yesterday, I read through the entirety of The Road, a book by Cormac McCarthy which won the Pulitzer for Fiction. That's right. I read the whole book in one day, if that gives you any measure of how powerful the story is. The book follows a father and his child struggling to survive a nuclear holocaust in a dead world. As a novel, it was incredibly beautiful and touching, but some scenes were so entirely disturbing, cruel and completely awful, I still feel sort of distraught. A few details about the story, including the tone of the end, considering the post-apocalyptic genre, irked me. But it didn't irk me enough: I would definitelyrecommend The Road for McCarthy's portrayal of human nature and the relationship between father and son. Definitely give it a look-see.
WHERE EAGLES FLY, ON A MOUNTAIN HIGH!
Our blog, Written (R)evolutions has launched! A group of writers, artists and true believers have come together to discuss and create fiction of the fringe nature: fantasy, science fiction, horror, macabre, apocalyptica, cyberpunk and other whimsical and terrifying sundries! Visit us and tell us what you think!
Today, the first day after our personal storm, I got back to writing. At first, the scenes spilled out without reason or rationale, and I thought I somehow lost my voice. The story was scattered, the characters strangely aggressive or weak - and I knew, I knew! Something was terribly wrong! My voice was gone! My voice was off! But, after three or so pages, I fell back into the rhythm of the plot. It was hairy there for a little, though.
THOUGHTS ON GETTING BACK INTO A STORY!
1. START MID-SCENE - I write out a scene, making sure I have memorable characters and settings. And then I stop. , mid-sentence. I have to remember where the scene is supposed to go, because I'll pick it back up when I lose the story.
2. STASH O' SCENES - I think of all my scenes that will make readers bite off all of their fingernails, hide under the blankets with a flashlight way past bedtime, or sob into their pjs. When I forget where I'm going or where I've been, I pull out the stash o' scenes and write one up to help find the story again.
3. THE RED TELEPHONE - I write a version of the end. This is cheating. It is only to be used as a last possible measure. It's like nukes in the Cold War. Don't pick up the red telephone unless you mean it.
AND THEN I FOUND A FEW THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY!
1. I AM LEGEND - I read the book (a 1950s sci-fi novel by Richard Matheson) about a year ago, and knew a movie was in the works. And then I saw the link to the trailer and my head almost exploded. Robert Neville is the last man on earth, but he's not alone. Vampires stalk him as the last prey they can find. Every night they come to his house to try to kill him. Every day he hunts them down and stakes them out...literally. Look at the trailer - I promise it is fairly full of awesome.
2.ORYX AND CRAKE - Written by Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake is novel about dystopia and cloning and what it means to be human. On recommendation from my cousin, I picked it up and am already thoroughly in the love.
3. DAEMONS AND MY SOUL - How awesome is it that my daemon's name is Leonidas?
With the word count proceeding smoothly on schedule, the different story lines established in the first scene continue to expand and work with the main story's goals. For this I am very grateful. Today, instead of proceeding with the established order of things, I wrote a scene from the middle and one from the end of the novel. Reason for this madness?
First, I have to have faith that I will finish the novel. When I write these out-of-order scenes, I inevitably want to fill in the gaps between what I have "now" to get to "there." While I am no Indiana Jones to take a leap of faith, I like to see at least a hint of a path before I hop off into nothing, dragging the story with me. Second, I like to know where my characters are going. By writing that middle and end scene early in the draft, I hope to sort of give myself a north star - a point of reference so I can be sure to guide not only the plot, but also my characters' development in the right direction.
Not involving the writing life, but still of (slight) importance is the following:
Comicbook Day: Alas, comics you have failed me. Three of the four were slow and tedious, dealing with horrid continuity problems or pointless dialog. I decided to shorten my reading list. These I will include for your enjoyment: Ex Machina, Y: The Last Man, and Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, along with a few monthlies like Batman and The Spirit.
Mr. George R.R. Martin: You write entirely too well, ser, and your series The Song of Ice and Fire, being entirely too wonderful, is the sole object of my adoration.
I bring you news from the front. I return after a regretfully long campaign into the realms of plotting and viciously smug ideas that appear in the night and vanish before I can find a pen. My war against their evanescent nature continues daily. But, behold! An exit strategy appears for the first novel of XIII, which, by the way, needs a better title. Any suggestions?
How did I do this, you ask. I will tell you. I read. I read a lot. I read George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, Steven King's The Drawing of the Three and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. I watched my favorite episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. I watched and read and observed, making notes. And the method in which they plotted out long-standing story lines and character arcs became increasingly clear and not so amazing. I could see the mechanics behind the writing and applied those same observations to my own outlines of XIII.
Tension created by additional complications ("Bushwacked" episode of Firefly), foreshadowing given frequently, subtlety and early (Drawing of the Three), and the methods of creating interesting political scenarios and intrigues (Battlestar Galactica, A Game of Thrones and Children of Dune) were all things I added to XIII's first book.
The result was amazing. The story took on a new life and the scenes where I felt the action dragged had a way in which to improve. I'm not saying that the story is perfect, at all. But I am standing in the middle of a faster paced, more tightly woven story than I was a week ago.
Other news, not from the front. Our neighbor across the street has a giant black male cat. I have named him Erebus. While, Erebus is not so fearsome as his name would suggest (he let me pick him up and he flopps around on my driveway), he is very dark and very fat. Which had nothing at all to do with him being fierce or like Erebus. That's all.
Last thing: DC is probably bringing back Barry Allen as The Flash. And while this fills me with glee, at the same time I wonder if this does not cheapen his death and his character from the late 1980s.
Well, dear readers, let me explain something. Trying to plot out an entire series is, at times and quite possibly, the most infuriating thing I've ever done. But don't worry. Now that I've gotten the writing bug back, I will find a path through this horrid Wasteland of Not-Knowing. Despite this determination, most of my current lists of how to finish the entire story end with "WTF." So, I shamelessly admit it. I have no fracking idea where this metaphorical beast is going and just hope that it is going someplace fabulous.
Sunday night, I stayed awake reading a new book called The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. I stayed up reading until 6:45 AM on Monday morning, slept until 12:00 in the afternoon then woke and read to the end.
At first, it was compelling and beautiful and heartbreaking, and then the last three chapters seemed like someone threw on the brakes and decided to end the book. The ending was rushed, the characters became suddenly not-themselves, the level of detail and realism was lost. The book is a science fiction novel written by a woman, about religion and what it means to lose touch with being human. Right up my ally. And then the I got to the end.
On this note I will leave you as I mosey toward bed. Writers who promise endings as either horrific, revelatory, life-shattering, or earth-altering should deliver after I have stayed up more than twenty-four hours to read their books. For serious.
Well, after a day or two of thinking over the novel and wading through a cast of about thirty, I have divided my story into three main themes, and parred number of characters down to twenty-two. Don't get me wrong - it broke my heart to do that. Some of those characters have been in the since before I knew the story. But it was necessary. While the plot still remains a bit of a mystery to me, I have plenty of threads because of the overlapping themes. The idea to try the three themes came from a little book called Chapter After Chapter, thanks to Dr. V.
The two other science fiction short stories are coming along, evolving slowly, but steadily. All I can tell you is that one has something to do with a young man named Yuri, going faster than the speed of light, and madness. The other involves a young woman trying to find her way back to earth once we move out of our Solar system and lose our roots in the vastness of space. No titles exist yet, but I'm still running the ideas around in my head.
Last note on writing: my dear friend from Virginia called me tonight and we discussed her long-running novel. Mainly we talked about how she could restart the project by changing her point-of-view and narration styles. It was a fascinating chat about the actual technicalities of writing - why an author would use first person over third, or why a writer would show a certain scene from a certain character's perspective. It's been so long since I've had one of these conversations, I was terribly engrossed. Much fun was had by all.
On to much more light hearted subjects.
Comics: DC's Countdown #51 just about blew my socks off. It was so much fun. Written by Paul Dini (the guy who wrote Batman: The Animated Series, Superman, Justice League, and JLU for a mazillion years) is the head writer of this series. The story they've set up looks great.
Battlestar Galactica (yes, it gets its own section): I started watching Battlestar Galactica again, and that first season is just about enough to make your head explode. One of the things I noticed was that the writers began all the major plot lines of the next three seasons in that first episode. Pretty impressive.
I am afraid that my novel has crept away from me. I have not managed to work on it for the past few weeks because of classes and various other projects and hurtles, throwing myself ever closer to the end of the year. Short stories, in legion, have flooded my head and found their way onto paper in scraps and frazzled sentences, but all the while, I worry over the novel.
All of my characters are on hold, all the plot lines, drawn with so much momentum two months ago, shuddering under the strain of waiting for my return. Nice metaphor, no? I thought so. But in all seriousness, I am worried about the "spirit" of the work slipping out of my fingers, that I might lose inspiration to write or my love of the characters.
I am currently reading Chapter After Chapter on the recommendation of one of my professors, and the author discusses this directly. Her ideas are inspiring, but at the same time, I hear that quiet little voice hissing, "What are you doing?! Fantasy writers all fall into the same cliches, they always create stupid senseless stories, which no one will ever remember or enjoy! I like to talk over every other character trying to find his way onto a page! I like to use exclamation points!" This small but irrationally irritating cretin is an amalgamation of varying people in my own life and my own worries and doubts.
So with that recognition, I decree: Begone foul beastie of cruel intentions and subtly malicious words! Begone!
