Halloween Weekend

I suppose I should state this up front: I am one of the few blogging writers who is not doing NaNoWriMo this year. (That's National Novel Writing Month to those of you unfamiliar with the term; the challenge is to write 50,000 words on a new project in one month.) My main focus right now is finishing Across Two Universes; once that's ready (hopefully next year will be the year!), I'd like to go back to another project I started back in 2007.

Anyway, Alex got to celebrate Halloween for three days this weekend. His daycare center had a parade Friday afternoon; I left work early to see it. As soon as Alex saw me, he clung to me so much I wound up having to carry him in the parade. He was a dinosaur:

(We wound up leaving the hat off most of the time since it flopped over into his face.)

After the parade, we stayed a bit longer and played some games at the daycare center.

Saturday was the big day. I got dressed in my own costume -- a queen -- during Alex's nap. When Eugene came home, we got Alex dressed and took him around. It was cold and windy, but we went around for about an hour. Alex wanted to be carried again; he doesn't believe in using his legs if he can make me carry him. So I had to walk around our neighborhood holding up my long dress with one hand and balancing a toddler and his bag of goodies in the other. A piece of costume jewelry broke during our trek, and we lost a little toy we got from one of our neighbors. At least I didn't fall. Alex did pretty well, saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" when prompted. He did get spooked at some of the decorations people had up; the worst one was a talking Darth Vader. When we came home, he turned over his bag and kept looking at all of his candy. I think he likes looking at the wrappers almost more than he does eating the candy. Unfortunately, he does like eating it too; I thought he was going to become a strict saccharidevore when he didn't want dinner last night. Today he ate other types of food.

Today we had a party with some other local parents. It was held at a place called Little Monkey Business, which is a combination indoor playground/coffee shop. Alex brought his bag of candy with him into the playground area; he was lucky enough not to lose any, though he did wind up giving a sucker to one of the little girls. His favorite toy was a little house; we joked he was going to take out a mortgage on it. While he did fuss here and there, overall he did very well. Now it's back to the regular routine tomorrow.

Back on the Blog Chain: The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is...

Fear itself. (FDR)

I've been a bit busy to blog lately, and I haven't had much to blog about in my daily life. Writing is going slowly, as usual. But of course I'm going to make time for the Blog Chain. This time around, Kat picked a suitable topic for this time of year:


What are the primary fears that drive your characters? Do they battle aliens or gangsters or monsters? Or do they battle unreconciled issues in their lives? Which do you prefer writing about? What do you fear?

Amanda posted before me, and Eric will finish the chain tomorrow.

As I thought about this topic, I realized the main character of Across Two Universes has two main fears: that he will lose someone else he loves (since his mom was murdered at the beginning of the novel), and that he will lose his own identity and be forced to permanently play the part of Sean Quinn, the rock star Paul was cloned from. The monsters he faces are human, however. One is his great-uncle, whom Paul believes had his mother killed to make his life like Sean's. The other is Sean's own murderer. (Paul travels to an alternate universe where Sean is still alive in order to create a hologram of Sean, which Paul will need when he confronts his great-uncle.) Throughout the story, Paul tackles his fears head-on. By meeting his genetic twin, he confronts his own issues with being a clone and realizes he's still a unique person. As an actor, Paul is experienced in playing different roles. He learns to regard Sean's character as another role; the trick is keeping control in his own hands. But his weakness is his love for his friends; a threat to them could make him follow his great-uncle's wishes.

Many of Paul's actions are driven by the guilt he feels over his mother's death. His friends, however, fear more for his safety. They view Paul's attempt to save Sean from the man who wants to knife him as a suicide attempt. Their fear for him drives them to do things they wouldn't do under normal circumstances. One will face her own fear, one will acknowledge her true feelings for Paul, and one will betray him--for his own good.

I think external threats to characters often serve as a metaphor for internal fears, so by writing about one, you're also writing about the other. While I'm more interested in the internal lives of my characters, they often need something external to challenge them so they develop. Fear is not a bad thing in and of itself; it's a way of making sure we protect ourselves. It becomes a problem when we overreact to the point where we can't lead a normal life.

As for my own fears, I've commented on other people's posts about my fear of driving in ice and snow. I also don't like heights, although I can face them. I climbed to the top of Saint Paul's when we were in London a few years ago; I just clung to the walls when I reached the top (which is outside). But my biggest fear is something that's too nebulous to provoke a physical reaction. I fear for my son's future. When I read reports about global warming, overpopulation, and concerns about the future food supply, I worry what life will be like when he grows up. Will the climate be stable? Will there be enough food and clean air and water? How will instability in other regions of the world affect us here? Is what we're doing right now enough to head off a catastrophe?

Perhaps it's too bad we can't be afraid of global warming in the same visceral way we're afraid of heights.

Scribblerati

I was looking at Facebook when I saw someone mention a social network for writers. Naturally, I joined. It's called Scribblerati, and you can check it out at the link. It was just started a few days ago, so membership is still pretty small. If you feel so inclined, help spread the word!

First Paragraph Contest

Like the rest of the writing blogosphere, I entered my first paragraph in Nathan Bransford's First Paragraph Challenge. The good thing about this contest is that it forced me to take a closer look at my first paragraph. Here's my original version:

As soon as Paul Harrison left the stage, he ripped the holoprojector bands off his arms. His skin had been itching since noon, but it appeared normal. The sensation reminded him of the way his skin tingled whenever he crossed between the two universes through the wormhole. This time, however, the prickling was disturbing, not invigorating. He couldn’t referee Hamlet’s final duel while scratching himself till he bled.

As I looked at it, I decided that 1) it wasn't deep enough in Paul's POV, and 2) while the wormhole mention was supposed to provide some intriguing background, it felt forced here. So here's the final version, simpler and more direct:

As soon as Paul Harrison left the stage, he ripped the holoprojector bands off and rubbed his arms. Why were they itching so much, and how could he make it stop? It would spoil the show if he scratched himself like a monkey during Hamlet’s final duel.

I don't know how it'll fare in the contest, but I think it's better. If you're interested, it's entry #814.

Japan: The Final Days

I just realized I haven't blogged since the typhoon. That wasn't intentional; I just got lazy.

Friday was my final day in Japan. I didn't do any lab work that day; instead, I got to tour two of my company's facilities. In the morning, I got to see the production and processing areas. In the afternoon, the manager drove me to the R&D site. It was about an hour away, but he bought a Beatles CD to help pass the time.

In the evening, two of the people I've been working with took me out for dinner to a hibachi-style place. The chef wasn't as flamboyant as one you might find at Ron of Japan, but the food was good, and that's more important.

The trip back home went fairly smoothly. Eugene and Alex picked me up from the airport. Alex just looked at me at first, but it didn't take long before he warmed up. And since we got home, I've been "the chosen one." The jet lag hasn't been as bad as it was when I got to Japan. I think it helped that I didn't sleep on the flight but was still able to stay up until bedtime. I took the next few days off to adjust, though. Alex is home with me tomorrow since daycare is closed with training. I have a spa day on Tuesday, and I'm visiting my best friend Wednesday; unfortunately, she lost her father while I was in Japan.

Anyway, I learned a lot while I was in Japan and got to experience new things. Still, I'm much happier being back home with my family.

Typhoon!

I think I may have mentioned how rainy it's been in Japan. Just about every day (except for the weekend), we've had some. Sometimes it's nothing more than a light drizzle, scarcely worth putting up the umbrella for. But last night they predicted a typhoon, and it was heavier than normal. As the manager drove me from work to the subway station, he told me I should call him in the morning if I had problems getting into work.

I woke up around 5:00 this morning to hear winds whipping outside my hotel window. It sounded like it raining pretty hard, too. But by the time I finished breakfast, the rain had stopped. Assuming I'd get to work without any problems, I lugged my bag to the subway station. I noticed right away there were fewer people than normal. But what I also noticed from the signs on the trains is that they stopped a station before mine. I had a feeling there was going to be a problem, but I took the train anyway. Sure enough, the train terminated a station too early, and there were no trains running in the other direction. I waited a bit to see if things were going to change, but then I called the office and explained the situation. Someone told me to take a taxi from my hotel, so I rode the train back to my station, walked back to the hotel, and found a taxi. It was definitely more expensive than the subway, but I got to work.

This was my last day doing lab work; tomorrow I have a meeting in the morning and a couple of tours in the afternoon. Some of the ladies from the QC lab decided to treat me to sushi. They brought me to a place where the sushi came out on conveyor belts and you were charged for how many plates you took. (We actually have something similar by work.) I tried a couple new things, including an egg custard. And after dinner, the subway station was back to normal.

Work In Progress Wednesday

It's just about bedtime for me in Japan, so here's my current progress on Across Two Universes:

Currently On: Chapter Fourteen, Page 148
Total Pages: 292
Total Word Count: 93,000