I've mentioned before that Firestorm of Dragons will be participating in a book tour in November. I've been busy the last couple of days finishing up interviews for different blogs. It's tougher than you'd think, but I think I managed to fill out all of the interviews. (There were three total, but I overlooked one of them until yesterday--and of course the deadline for finishing it was today.) I'll keep you updated with links to the host blogs once I learn what the schedule is.
Other than that, we've been getting ready for our annual Thanksgiving dinner with our friends in Madison. Plus there's the usual work and taking care of Alex. I saw two deer this evening as I was heading over to his daycare. The deer were in someone's back yard. I didn't realize how close this subdivision was to forest area. It would be neat sometime if the deer actually came up to the daycare so the kids could see them.
I'm not doing National Novel Writing Month this year; instead, I'm focusing on rewriting my draft from last year. It's tough going, and the only time I've had for it is on my lunch hour. Today I was too busy answering interview questions to even write. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Three Things I Never Thought I'd Say...
1. I need Twinkies.
2. They're for work.
3. I looked all over the grocery store and couldn't find them.
We now return you to your normally scheduled Internet.
2. They're for work.
3. I looked all over the grocery store and couldn't find them.
We now return you to your normally scheduled Internet.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Back on the Blog Chain: How Do You Manage Confidence?
I promised you another Blog Chain post on the 19th, and here it is. This time, Kate chose the topic: How as a writer do you find the balance between being having too much or too little confidence in your work? We've already had some wonderful insights from Kate, Archetype, and Michelle. Feel free to read their posts, as well as the other members of our Blog Chain. As always, links are on the side bar to the right.
This topic reminds me of a Passing the Pen essay I wrote five years ago for my website. It's called, "I Me Mine: Writing and the Ego." In this essay, I discuss the various ways in which writing can help or hurt the ego, as well as help you move past your own sense of self when you're actually writing. But I owe you my current thoughts on this topic as well.
One of my conclusions in my earlier essay is that the best way to keep the frustrations of writing from hurting your self-confidence is not to let your self-confidence depend on your writing. I think the level of confidence you have in your daily life is a major component of your confidence in your writing abilities, and I think feeling competent in some part of life helps improve your confidence. Whether it's being good at your day job or a hobby or parenting, a skill in some part of your life will make you feel more confident about tackling other hard tasks, like writing.
I have to admit I was overconfident at first when I started writing. I wasn't so foolish as to send out my very first draft--I rewrote it completely after taking a writing class--but my first novel was about 170,000 words long with about seven different POV. I did get some interest from a couple of agents, but it never got past the partial stage. An editor at Tor did look at the full manuscript, but I never got the suggestions he had for it. It's been so long he's no longer there, so even though I never got an official rejection, I consider that book dead there.
My confidence in my writing has varied over my career. There are times when I read my work and think it's great; then there are times when I can barely get a sentence to behave. (Or, as I like to put it, you can't write your way out of a paper bag with a sharp knife.) There are times when I read a book and am so impressed by it I feel I can never world-build or describe something as well as that author does. I've had some modest successes, such as an Honorable Mention in an international competition called the UPC Science Fiction Awards. (This was enough to get my name in Locus, the newspaper of the science fiction field.) My short story, "A Reptile at the Reunion," was published earlier this year in the anthology Firestorm of Dragons. Still, I want to sell a novel and see it in bookstores. It's a tough goal to accomplish, given that only a small fraction of books make it out of the slush pile. Are my books ready for that? Perhaps not quite yet, at least that's not how I feel now that I've been reading Flogging the Quill and Miss Snark's First Victim. I still need to capture with words the hook that makes people want to read on. But I think if I keep learning and writing, I will learn that skill, and someday I'll achieve my goal--if not with one of my current novels, then with another project.
So that's my conclusion: confidence is not a fixed quantity. Although it may fluctuate, you can maintain your confidence if you think of yourself as a student of writing. Every new project will teach you something different. If you're always learning, you can encourage yourself by realizing how far you've come but not get too confident and think you know everything.
Before I extend the chain to Abi, I'd like to leave you with a quote from William Blake:
If the Sun and Moon should doubt, they'd immediately go out.
Keep writing, and keep your dreams alive.
This topic reminds me of a Passing the Pen essay I wrote five years ago for my website. It's called, "I Me Mine: Writing and the Ego." In this essay, I discuss the various ways in which writing can help or hurt the ego, as well as help you move past your own sense of self when you're actually writing. But I owe you my current thoughts on this topic as well.
One of my conclusions in my earlier essay is that the best way to keep the frustrations of writing from hurting your self-confidence is not to let your self-confidence depend on your writing. I think the level of confidence you have in your daily life is a major component of your confidence in your writing abilities, and I think feeling competent in some part of life helps improve your confidence. Whether it's being good at your day job or a hobby or parenting, a skill in some part of your life will make you feel more confident about tackling other hard tasks, like writing.
I have to admit I was overconfident at first when I started writing. I wasn't so foolish as to send out my very first draft--I rewrote it completely after taking a writing class--but my first novel was about 170,000 words long with about seven different POV. I did get some interest from a couple of agents, but it never got past the partial stage. An editor at Tor did look at the full manuscript, but I never got the suggestions he had for it. It's been so long he's no longer there, so even though I never got an official rejection, I consider that book dead there.
My confidence in my writing has varied over my career. There are times when I read my work and think it's great; then there are times when I can barely get a sentence to behave. (Or, as I like to put it, you can't write your way out of a paper bag with a sharp knife.) There are times when I read a book and am so impressed by it I feel I can never world-build or describe something as well as that author does. I've had some modest successes, such as an Honorable Mention in an international competition called the UPC Science Fiction Awards. (This was enough to get my name in Locus, the newspaper of the science fiction field.) My short story, "A Reptile at the Reunion," was published earlier this year in the anthology Firestorm of Dragons. Still, I want to sell a novel and see it in bookstores. It's a tough goal to accomplish, given that only a small fraction of books make it out of the slush pile. Are my books ready for that? Perhaps not quite yet, at least that's not how I feel now that I've been reading Flogging the Quill and Miss Snark's First Victim. I still need to capture with words the hook that makes people want to read on. But I think if I keep learning and writing, I will learn that skill, and someday I'll achieve my goal--if not with one of my current novels, then with another project.
So that's my conclusion: confidence is not a fixed quantity. Although it may fluctuate, you can maintain your confidence if you think of yourself as a student of writing. Every new project will teach you something different. If you're always learning, you can encourage yourself by realizing how far you've come but not get too confident and think you know everything.
Before I extend the chain to Abi, I'd like to leave you with a quote from William Blake:
If the Sun and Moon should doubt, they'd immediately go out.
Keep writing, and keep your dreams alive.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
It's Johnny's Birthday....
and I promised my Blog Chain partners I'd share more quirks with them and discuss why I consider John Lennon my patron muse.
It all started a long time ago--1995, to be exact. I was working as a technical writer up in Madison, and as much as I love the city, being there couldn't make up for my dislike of my job and the separation from my then-boyfriend, Eugene. But that November, the Beatles Anthology aired on TV. I was just a casual fan at best, but I was interested enough to watch the first episode. At the end, the song "Free as a Bird" priemered. Although some diehard fans dislike this song, it stuck in my head, especially at work. I watched the rest of Anthology and soon found myself listening to more Beatles music and learning more about the group.
Early in 1996, I lost my technical writing job and had to move back home while I looked for work. My Beatles fascination kept me going through this time. At one point, while reading about the four-fold synergy of the group, I came up with the idea of having a quartet of magicians working together in a similar fashion. That was the beginning of Day of All Seasons, the first novel I finished and submitted to agents. I got a few requests for partials, but ultimately nothing came of it--not surprising, given the book was over 170,000 words. I would still like to pull that one out of the trunk someday and revise it. But in the meantime, I moved on to other stories, including some that had a direct link to the Beatles. And I've been writing ever since. So thanks, John, for helping me become a writer.
Speaking of writing, I submitted the (revised) first two sentences of Across Two Universes at Miss Snark's First Victim today. Reactions were mixed, though I got some useful feedback. Thanks to all of my reviewers! And if you found this blog through one of the comments I left, I hope my comment was useful.
It all started a long time ago--1995, to be exact. I was working as a technical writer up in Madison, and as much as I love the city, being there couldn't make up for my dislike of my job and the separation from my then-boyfriend, Eugene. But that November, the Beatles Anthology aired on TV. I was just a casual fan at best, but I was interested enough to watch the first episode. At the end, the song "Free as a Bird" priemered. Although some diehard fans dislike this song, it stuck in my head, especially at work. I watched the rest of Anthology and soon found myself listening to more Beatles music and learning more about the group.
Early in 1996, I lost my technical writing job and had to move back home while I looked for work. My Beatles fascination kept me going through this time. At one point, while reading about the four-fold synergy of the group, I came up with the idea of having a quartet of magicians working together in a similar fashion. That was the beginning of Day of All Seasons, the first novel I finished and submitted to agents. I got a few requests for partials, but ultimately nothing came of it--not surprising, given the book was over 170,000 words. I would still like to pull that one out of the trunk someday and revise it. But in the meantime, I moved on to other stories, including some that had a direct link to the Beatles. And I've been writing ever since. So thanks, John, for helping me become a writer.
Speaking of writing, I submitted the (revised) first two sentences of Across Two Universes at Miss Snark's First Victim today. Reactions were mixed, though I got some useful feedback. Thanks to all of my reviewers! And if you found this blog through one of the comments I left, I hope my comment was useful.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Back on the Blog Chain: Quirks
Yep, once again I'm participating in a blog chain. We've had some changes in our membership since my last blog chain post; a couple of people left, but we had some more people join us. You can check out the links in my sidebar to find the blogs in the chain.
Mary chose the topic this time: What kind of quirky habits or rituals do you have regarding your writing? (or regarding anything else, if that is more fun.) We've had people discussing everything from Panera sandwiches to alphabetizing spices (the latter is courtesy of Michelle, my precedessor in this chain).
This is supposed to be a fun, "getting-to-know-you" topic, but in some ways it's more difficult for me than the previous topics. Yes, I'm a non-conformist in many ways, but they don't all translate into quirks. Perhaps I should translate them into quarks, but for some odd reason many people don't like to discuss quantum physics. Is that a quirk?
All kidding aside, one of the quirks I have is one I share with my husband. While on our honeymoon, we got the idea from a couple we met to take pictures of a stuffed animal. Since we were on an Alaskan cruise, we bought (on sale) a stuffed orca named Oscar. Since then, he's been joined by Big Oscar and Baby Oscar:
Oscar has his own page on my website to chronicle our travels. He's been to Canada, London, and Las Vegas, which is where we got Big Oscar. Baby Oscar came from The Soap Opera in Madison. (Baby Oscar is actually a bath toy and can squirt water, albeit not through a blowhole.)
During Alex's first year, Big Oscar and the original Oscar posed with him every month, even in the professional pictures.
As for writing quirks, it doesn't matter to me where I write or what my desk looks like. Most of my writing these days is done on my lunch hour at work, actually. The only quirk I could think of applies to the end of my projects, not to my daily writing. Every time I finish a draft, I type the following:
The End
The Very Very Very End!
Amen
A Book Report on Peter Rabbit
A kudo to the first person who can identify these lyrics and their source. And yes, they do come out during the editing stage.
My son just woke up, so it's time to end this post and pass the quirkiness to Abigail. Tune in again on October 19th (sooner if you wish) for another exciting post in our Blog Chain!
P.S. In response to Terri's request for me to show my true wierdness, I'll post a bit more on Thursday about another of my writing quirks--my muse, John Lennon.
Mary chose the topic this time: What kind of quirky habits or rituals do you have regarding your writing? (or regarding anything else, if that is more fun.) We've had people discussing everything from Panera sandwiches to alphabetizing spices (the latter is courtesy of Michelle, my precedessor in this chain).
This is supposed to be a fun, "getting-to-know-you" topic, but in some ways it's more difficult for me than the previous topics. Yes, I'm a non-conformist in many ways, but they don't all translate into quirks. Perhaps I should translate them into quarks, but for some odd reason many people don't like to discuss quantum physics. Is that a quirk?
All kidding aside, one of the quirks I have is one I share with my husband. While on our honeymoon, we got the idea from a couple we met to take pictures of a stuffed animal. Since we were on an Alaskan cruise, we bought (on sale) a stuffed orca named Oscar. Since then, he's been joined by Big Oscar and Baby Oscar:
Oscar has his own page on my website to chronicle our travels. He's been to Canada, London, and Las Vegas, which is where we got Big Oscar. Baby Oscar came from The Soap Opera in Madison. (Baby Oscar is actually a bath toy and can squirt water, albeit not through a blowhole.)
During Alex's first year, Big Oscar and the original Oscar posed with him every month, even in the professional pictures.
As for writing quirks, it doesn't matter to me where I write or what my desk looks like. Most of my writing these days is done on my lunch hour at work, actually. The only quirk I could think of applies to the end of my projects, not to my daily writing. Every time I finish a draft, I type the following:
The End
The Very Very Very End!
Amen
A Book Report on Peter Rabbit
A kudo to the first person who can identify these lyrics and their source. And yes, they do come out during the editing stage.
My son just woke up, so it's time to end this post and pass the quirkiness to Abigail. Tune in again on October 19th (sooner if you wish) for another exciting post in our Blog Chain!
P.S. In response to Terri's request for me to show my true wierdness, I'll post a bit more on Thursday about another of my writing quirks--my muse, John Lennon.
Picnic
The three of us went to a picnic today. It was hosted by an online group we belong to. Although not all of the members have kids, many of them do. Eugene made one of his mile-high apple pies (he got the recipe from Paula Deen) last night, a task made harder by Alex's refusal to go to bed. It was Eugene's turn to put Alex to bed, but Alex wanted to play, leave his room--anything but sleep. Eventually I had to go in there so Eugene could bake. Even so, Eugene didn't finish baking the pie until almost 1:00 a.m. Good thing Alex wound up sleeping in.
The picnic was in the middle of a forested area. We were the first ones to arrive; we were early, but we were surprised the picnic organizers weren't there yet. But soon people started arriving with their families and pets. The main course was chicken from Popeye's and sandwiches from Subway. There were also side dishes and desserts, including a Snickers salad which probably can be classified as both. Too bad I didn't have a chance to try that one!
Alex slept a bit in the car on the way over. He woke up on his own, but he was very Eugene-clingy for a while. He also didn't eat much, although he did help himself to a sugar cookie. It took him a while to warm up to the point where I could carry him or even let him go down on his own. He never did run around as much as the other kids did, but I think he's just going through a stage where he feels more secure with us close by. We should probably enjoy it while it lasts.
We got to meet some people we only knew online, including a couple with a baby and a Great Dane. At one point, the mother had to use the bathroom, and Eugene offered to hold her little girl. As soon as Alex saw that, he started to cry, and Eugene had to give the girl back to her father. Sounds like Alex isn't ready for a sibling any time soon.
Here are a couple of pictures:
Both Eugene and Alex are sleeping right now, so I suppose I should relax too--or at least get ready for my Blog Chain post tomorrow.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I'm It?
Apparently I am. People are fighting to tag me in the latest meme to infect our blog chain. Heather meant to get me first, but Michelle beat her to it. So I guess I'd better post my answers:
Four goals I have in the next 5 years:
Get a novel published and in bookstores
Go on a cruise to celebrate our 5th anniversary
Finish with pregnancy/childbirth--either by having another child or deciding that we're done
Add a deck or patio to our house
Four places I will visit someday:
Liverpool, the Mecca for Beatle fans
The Philippines
Ireland
Vienna, Austria
Four of my favorite foods:
Pizza
Macaroni and cheese
Chocolate
Shrimp
Four jobs I've had:
Crew person at McDonald's
Maid
Teaching assistant in grad school (in the English Department)
Technical writer
Two places I've lived:
Delavan, WI
Rockville, MD
Two places I'd like to live:
Madison, WI
London
Four things I'd do with my spare time (if I had any):
Read
Sleep
Write
Exercise
I will inflict this meme on Russ, Sara, and Maria. Enjoy!
Four goals I have in the next 5 years:
Get a novel published and in bookstores
Go on a cruise to celebrate our 5th anniversary
Finish with pregnancy/childbirth--either by having another child or deciding that we're done
Add a deck or patio to our house
Four places I will visit someday:
Liverpool, the Mecca for Beatle fans
The Philippines
Ireland
Vienna, Austria
Four of my favorite foods:
Pizza
Macaroni and cheese
Chocolate
Shrimp
Four jobs I've had:
Crew person at McDonald's
Maid
Teaching assistant in grad school (in the English Department)
Technical writer
Two places I've lived:
Delavan, WI
Rockville, MD
Two places I'd like to live:
Madison, WI
London
Four things I'd do with my spare time (if I had any):
Read
Sleep
Write
Exercise
I will inflict this meme on Russ, Sara, and Maria. Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
A Hard Day's Half-Week
Sometimes I don't blog when the day has been too ordinary to inspire me. And sometimes I don't blog when too much is going on. This week has been more like the latter than the former.
It started Sunday afternoon. We took Alex on a play date to Chuck E. Cheese, and he did OK. However, he woke up from his nap with a fever. We took him to Urgent Care and found out he had yet another ear infection. It was a long afternoon at the clinic and getting his prescription filled. Since Alex had a fever, we couldn't take him to daycare on Monday. Eugene and I split the day, with each of us watching him part of the day and working the other time. Alex did OK for a while, but he relapsed in the evening, so we took him into Urgent Care. Alex didn't do too well Tuesday morning, so I stayed home with him. He perked up for a while, but then he had some reactions to the antibiotics. I wound up bringing him to a third doctor, who said his ears were now fine. At least today Alex was consistently well, well enough to go back to daycare.
It was a good thing Alex was better today, since I was scheduled to go on a once-in-a-blue-moon business trip. Eugene had somewhere to be this afternoon, so in case Alex had to leave daycare early, I made arrangements with my parents for them to take my car and pick him up. Happily, that proved to be unnecessary. The trip was not without misadventure, as Chicago traffic was even worse than usual due to a truck that leaked hazardous chemicals onto the highway, shutting off the route we originally planned to take. (Good thing we saw signs and altered our course.) Even so, we were still forced to pass the accident--more like inch past it. "Are all of your business trips this much fun?" I asked my coworkers. What was supposed to be a 10:30 meeting turned into a lunch meeting. Luckily, things worked out, though we did get back a little late. I'm just glad for a chance to relax now.
It started Sunday afternoon. We took Alex on a play date to Chuck E. Cheese, and he did OK. However, he woke up from his nap with a fever. We took him to Urgent Care and found out he had yet another ear infection. It was a long afternoon at the clinic and getting his prescription filled. Since Alex had a fever, we couldn't take him to daycare on Monday. Eugene and I split the day, with each of us watching him part of the day and working the other time. Alex did OK for a while, but he relapsed in the evening, so we took him into Urgent Care. Alex didn't do too well Tuesday morning, so I stayed home with him. He perked up for a while, but then he had some reactions to the antibiotics. I wound up bringing him to a third doctor, who said his ears were now fine. At least today Alex was consistently well, well enough to go back to daycare.
It was a good thing Alex was better today, since I was scheduled to go on a once-in-a-blue-moon business trip. Eugene had somewhere to be this afternoon, so in case Alex had to leave daycare early, I made arrangements with my parents for them to take my car and pick him up. Happily, that proved to be unnecessary. The trip was not without misadventure, as Chicago traffic was even worse than usual due to a truck that leaked hazardous chemicals onto the highway, shutting off the route we originally planned to take. (Good thing we saw signs and altered our course.) Even so, we were still forced to pass the accident--more like inch past it. "Are all of your business trips this much fun?" I asked my coworkers. What was supposed to be a 10:30 meeting turned into a lunch meeting. Luckily, things worked out, though we did get back a little late. I'm just glad for a chance to relax now.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Feeling Like Royalty...
Or should I say, royalties.
I got my first royalty payment today for my short story in the Firestorm of Dragons anthology. It's quite a heady feeling, though I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon. And considering Alex has been having some rough times today due to his ear infection--not to mention he's currently Resisting A Rest--it's good to have something good happen today.
I got my first royalty payment today for my short story in the Firestorm of Dragons anthology. It's quite a heady feeling, though I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon. And considering Alex has been having some rough times today due to his ear infection--not to mention he's currently Resisting A Rest--it's good to have something good happen today.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Alex and Apples
Today we decided to go apple picking. Eugene and I have been doing this for several years, although we skipped last year since Alex was so young. This year we decided to try a new orchard. Although it's in Woodstock (same as our old place), it's a little closer to us than our usual place. Plus it also offers Honeycrisp apples and Asian pears. So we packed up Alex and the half-ton of supplies we need to leave the house with him, stocked up on gas and cash, and drove to All Seasons Orchard.
When Alex is in the car at certain times of the day, he tends to fall asleep. This drive was no exception:
But he soon woke up when he saw all of the new things. The general store was very busy; we had to go there first to buy a half-bushel bag. (They make you tell them what you want to pick and pay for the bag first.) We gave Alex his lunch and snacked on a couple of apple donuts while we waited for a wagon to take us to the orchard. The setting was very beautiful, and there were plenty of games for kids, though we thought Alex was a bit young for some of them.
We ate lunch next to this waterfall and pond. A bunch of bees wanted to join us, so I had to lure them away with peach juice.Finally we rode out to the orchard on a hay wagon. We had to fold up the stroller, but Alex took the trip in stride. Then we picked Gala apples, Honeycrisp apples, and Asian pears. We had to pay extra for the Honeycrisp and pears, but they were worth it. Alex reached for some of the apples, so we gave him two small Galas. I thought he just wanted to hold them, but he actually bit into them and ate about half of each apple. I had no idea he could eat whole apples so well:
We were done picking in about half an hour, just in time to catch the next wagon back to the main farm. I tried buying some apple butter and honey, but the lines in the main store were so slow they were stuck. Someone said they had been having computer problems; someone else said the delay was due to a shortage of donuts (appaprently they could only make two dozen at a time, so people were paying for them and then waiting). I finally gave up so we could leave and let Alex take his delayed nap. Despite those problems, I think we'll be back next year.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Sympathy for a Squirrel
I hit a squirrel on the way to work this morning.
I was on a residential street headed toward the highway. Normally, when you see squirrels in the street, they're half a block away, and they're smart enough to look around before attempting to cross. This one just jumped right out in front of me, only a few feet away. I don't think there were parked cars blocking its view, but it all happened so fast. Maybe something was chasing it. I knew as soon as I saw it that I would hit it, and sure enough, I heard it hit my the underside of my car. Glancing back in the rearview mirror, I saw it curled up in the road.
I drove on--what else could I do?--but I felt a bit shaken up by the incident. At least there doesn't seem to be any damage to my car, and Alex and I were unhurt. I'd rather hit a squirrel than a deer. Still, I felt bad again when I came home and saw the squirrel still on the road. I know there are plenty of squirrels in the trees, and they can be pests, especially when you're feeding birds. But it never feels good to see something die so senselessly.
I was on a residential street headed toward the highway. Normally, when you see squirrels in the street, they're half a block away, and they're smart enough to look around before attempting to cross. This one just jumped right out in front of me, only a few feet away. I don't think there were parked cars blocking its view, but it all happened so fast. Maybe something was chasing it. I knew as soon as I saw it that I would hit it, and sure enough, I heard it hit my the underside of my car. Glancing back in the rearview mirror, I saw it curled up in the road.
I drove on--what else could I do?--but I felt a bit shaken up by the incident. At least there doesn't seem to be any damage to my car, and Alex and I were unhurt. I'd rather hit a squirrel than a deer. Still, I felt bad again when I came home and saw the squirrel still on the road. I know there are plenty of squirrels in the trees, and they can be pests, especially when you're feeding birds. But it never feels good to see something die so senselessly.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Back on the Blog Chain: Storyworld Creation
Time for another Blog Chain Post. This time, my friend Heather picked the topic: How do you as an author choose or create your story-world and give that setting authenticity? You can start with her blog if you wish to follow the entire blog chain link to link, or you can check out all the marked blogs in my Blog List.
The previous poster, Archetype, focused on the laws of fantasy and science fiction worlds. I'm going to continue discussing science fiction; specifically, I'm going to talk about creating future worlds. My novel Across Two Universes has three major worlds: the world of mid-21st century New York (about 60 years ahead of us), the world of the spaceship Sagan, and the world of 1980 Earth, where my hero, Paul, meets the man he was cloned from and attempts to change the fate of that world. Everything in ATU is set up to make that meeting possible.
When I came up with this story world, my initial idea was to send someone back in time to hear the Beatles play at the Cavern in Liverpool. I then had to figure out her motive for doing so, and it turned out to be to clone John Lennon. (The original versions of my novella "Move Over Ms. L." and the first few drafts of ATU did use John Lennon and other real people; there's no denying that. I'm currently changing them, though.) So I had to set up a world where time travel was possible and figure out how that worked. I started with a few Writer's Digest books devoted to time and space travel. I decided that the best time travel method for this story would be to have the time traveler pass through a wormhole into another, younger universe. She would need a spaceship to do so, not to mention a wormhole. I don't want to go into too much detail about the origins of the wormhole, but I will say it's not natural. But I also needed a society capable of making a spaceship, so in my future world, cold fusion is possible and used to power the ship (which still isn't capable of faster-than-light travel, so it travels relatively short distances). The ship itself is used to collect genetic samples and other treasures of the 1980 Earth and bring them back to the 21st century.
In designing the Sagan, I focused more on how people live in it than its technical specs. Although the ship is well-stocked and maintained every time it returns to the 21st century Earth, it has to be able to supply its residents with food independently. I therefore gave it a salmon tank and a hydroponic garden. It also has a psychiatrist to help people cope with space travel and little cubicles where people can seek privacy. Since passage through the wormhole is rough at best, passengers are required to strap themselves into their bunks.
To come up with other technological wonders of my world, I read Scientific American. My heroes wear "smart clothes" that can keep the wearer warm and spidersilk armor that can stop bullets--things already being discussed today. I also extrapolate uses of the technology; holographs aren't just used to replace TVs but to create costumes for actors. I also think about how current events would affect the future. In my world, global warming has caused severe flooding in New York City; the city was saved by building levees.
Research and imagination can help you create your world, but it's the way you use them that makes your world authentic. Instead of telling my readers about my world, I show it to them as Paul would see it. The story starts with Paul using his autoholoprojectors during a play. On the Sagan, he meets with his girlfriend in the hydroponic garden and in a private cubicle, interacting with the settings and experiencing them through several senses. I don't lecture the readers about flooding; instead, Paul mentions in bypassing how he was an extra in the documentary The Floods of New York.
It's time for me to pass the blogging baton to Kristal, but I'd like to sum up in three points: when creating a world, make it multifaceted. Think about the implications of your decisions on other aspects of the world. And don't forget to show it to the reader with sensory descriptions and telling details. No matter what world you write about, the details will make it real.
The previous poster, Archetype, focused on the laws of fantasy and science fiction worlds. I'm going to continue discussing science fiction; specifically, I'm going to talk about creating future worlds. My novel Across Two Universes has three major worlds: the world of mid-21st century New York (about 60 years ahead of us), the world of the spaceship Sagan, and the world of 1980 Earth, where my hero, Paul, meets the man he was cloned from and attempts to change the fate of that world. Everything in ATU is set up to make that meeting possible.
When I came up with this story world, my initial idea was to send someone back in time to hear the Beatles play at the Cavern in Liverpool. I then had to figure out her motive for doing so, and it turned out to be to clone John Lennon. (The original versions of my novella "Move Over Ms. L." and the first few drafts of ATU did use John Lennon and other real people; there's no denying that. I'm currently changing them, though.) So I had to set up a world where time travel was possible and figure out how that worked. I started with a few Writer's Digest books devoted to time and space travel. I decided that the best time travel method for this story would be to have the time traveler pass through a wormhole into another, younger universe. She would need a spaceship to do so, not to mention a wormhole. I don't want to go into too much detail about the origins of the wormhole, but I will say it's not natural. But I also needed a society capable of making a spaceship, so in my future world, cold fusion is possible and used to power the ship (which still isn't capable of faster-than-light travel, so it travels relatively short distances). The ship itself is used to collect genetic samples and other treasures of the 1980 Earth and bring them back to the 21st century.
In designing the Sagan, I focused more on how people live in it than its technical specs. Although the ship is well-stocked and maintained every time it returns to the 21st century Earth, it has to be able to supply its residents with food independently. I therefore gave it a salmon tank and a hydroponic garden. It also has a psychiatrist to help people cope with space travel and little cubicles where people can seek privacy. Since passage through the wormhole is rough at best, passengers are required to strap themselves into their bunks.
To come up with other technological wonders of my world, I read Scientific American. My heroes wear "smart clothes" that can keep the wearer warm and spidersilk armor that can stop bullets--things already being discussed today. I also extrapolate uses of the technology; holographs aren't just used to replace TVs but to create costumes for actors. I also think about how current events would affect the future. In my world, global warming has caused severe flooding in New York City; the city was saved by building levees.
Research and imagination can help you create your world, but it's the way you use them that makes your world authentic. Instead of telling my readers about my world, I show it to them as Paul would see it. The story starts with Paul using his autoholoprojectors during a play. On the Sagan, he meets with his girlfriend in the hydroponic garden and in a private cubicle, interacting with the settings and experiencing them through several senses. I don't lecture the readers about flooding; instead, Paul mentions in bypassing how he was an extra in the documentary The Floods of New York.
It's time for me to pass the blogging baton to Kristal, but I'd like to sum up in three points: when creating a world, make it multifaceted. Think about the implications of your decisions on other aspects of the world. And don't forget to show it to the reader with sensory descriptions and telling details. No matter what world you write about, the details will make it real.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Lakes and Legos
This weekend was one of the rainiest I've seen. I'm not sure how many inches we got in our area, but nearby towns received over eight inches in the last two days. We had plans for a playdate, but our friends not only got water in their kitchen but also had several roads in their subdivision flood to the point of unusability. Luckily, our house stayed dry. I did take Alex out shopping yesterday; he got a raincoat and some new clothes for fall. Eugene's plans to do a photo get-together with some friends at a garden got washed out. Instead, we met another photography couple for lunch and went to Legoland at Woodfield Mall. Here are a few photos:
More to come later....
More to come later....
Thursday, September 04, 2008
More Memes: Books I've Read
I just saw this meme on Sara's blog. My memory is hazy on some of them, but I thought I'd give this a whirl anyway.
This is a list of the top 106 books most often marked unread by LibraryThing users.
bold = ones I've actually completed.
italic = ones I've started and never finished
plain text = ones that I've never read
underline = ones you had to read for school.
CAPS = ones that I really really WANT to read. (what do I do for a maybe read?)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (might like to read)
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses (maybe read)
Madame Bovary (not sure if I finished it or not)
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel (great book!)
War and Peace (I read this over a week while I was sick)
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife (great book!)
The Iliad
Emma (can't remember if I read this one)
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway (I think I read this one, but I'm not sure)
Great Expectations
American Gods
ATLAS SHRUGGED
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (I may have read this one)
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
THE FOUNTAINHEAD
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons (one I never want to read!)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels (I wrote a term paper on the final section)
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere (I may have read this one)
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
DUBLINERS
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (good book)
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
FREAKONOMICS
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values (one of my all-time favorites)
The Aeneid
Watership Down
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
This is a list of the top 106 books most often marked unread by LibraryThing users.
bold = ones I've actually completed.
italic = ones I've started and never finished
plain text = ones that I've never read
underline = ones you had to read for school.
CAPS = ones that I really really WANT to read. (what do I do for a maybe read?)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (might like to read)
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses (maybe read)
Madame Bovary (not sure if I finished it or not)
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel (great book!)
War and Peace (I read this over a week while I was sick)
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife (great book!)
The Iliad
Emma (can't remember if I read this one)
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway (I think I read this one, but I'm not sure)
Great Expectations
American Gods
ATLAS SHRUGGED
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (I may have read this one)
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
THE FOUNTAINHEAD
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons (one I never want to read!)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels (I wrote a term paper on the final section)
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere (I may have read this one)
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
DUBLINERS
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (good book)
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
FREAKONOMICS
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values (one of my all-time favorites)
The Aeneid
Watership Down
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Back on the Blog Chain: How Real Are Your Characters?
It's time once again for another entry in our ever-growing blog chain about writing. The current topic is, "How real are your characters, and how much do you know about them?" Please go here and here to read the previous and next entries in the chain. I also have links to all of the blogs in the sidebar.
Before I start discussing characters, I'd like to discuss briefly the relationship between fiction and reality, as this topic has inspired me to mull about that. We read fiction for various reasons; sometimes we want a mirror of our own reality, and sometimes we want to escape from it. (I've lived in Midwestern suburbs for most of my life, and although the Midwest is my home, there are times when it's so mundane I need to escape from it mentally. That's one of several reasons why I love science fiction and fantasy.) But when we read or watch movies or TV, we want to believe in them, at least as long as we're actively engaged in them. So perhaps it's more important to find out what makes readers believe in the reality of characters. Since writers generally start off as readers, and since both writer and reader are needed to bring a story to life, I'll talk first about the writing side of the equation before going into the readers' perspective.
As Heather pointed out in her own entry on this topic, writers almost always feel their characters are real to them; otherwise, the writers wouldn't feel inspired to write about the particular characters in the first place. I haven't tried to obtain Social Security numbers for my characters and claim them as dependents on my taxes, but they still feel like real people to me, perhaps citizens of the universe next door. My characters have strengths and weaknesses, like anyone you meet on the street. They have their own dreams and interests, even ones not relevant to the story. I also have a fairly good idea of what happens to them before and after the beginning of the book.
As for how much I know about my characters, it changes over time. Although I do get to know my characters in my head before I start writing, I generally don't write out a full-blown character sketch for them before my first draft. Even if I do try to create a mini-biography of the main character, it's often incomplete on paper, as I hold more details in my head. Other things come to me as I write. For instance, I have two incomplete trilogies, one fantasy and one science fiction. In both series, after I finished the first book, a secondary character who already had a love interest "told" me that he or she was bisexual and in love with the main character as well. Talk about a plot twist! I worked that into my fantasy series, but I'm still not sure how I want to handle it with the science fiction series.
Although at times my characters will rebel as described above, at other times, I'll come up with a plot twist that feels right for them. I can change the details from draft to draft, but the end result stays the same. In Across Two Universes, Paul's mother is murdered at the beginning of the story, though I've changed how and where it happens. But I could not start afresh and save her; that would be a different book. I do other cruel things to him in the sequel, enough for me to shed real tears over him. Paul may not be a real person, but he inspires real emotions in me.
This brings me to my final point: no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. (Edit: this line isn't from me; it's from Robert Frost. I should have Googled first before quoting.) How do we convince our readers that our characters are real? I think part of it has to do with the telling detail, using all of the senses to bring the world to life. Small details about the characters, like quirks or favorite things, can also make them seem real. But for me, what gets me involved with my characters is their emotional lives, and those need to be portrayed realistically as well. If you can convince your readers that yes, someone would really react a certain way in a given situation, then they too will start thinking of your characters as real.
Before I start discussing characters, I'd like to discuss briefly the relationship between fiction and reality, as this topic has inspired me to mull about that. We read fiction for various reasons; sometimes we want a mirror of our own reality, and sometimes we want to escape from it. (I've lived in Midwestern suburbs for most of my life, and although the Midwest is my home, there are times when it's so mundane I need to escape from it mentally. That's one of several reasons why I love science fiction and fantasy.) But when we read or watch movies or TV, we want to believe in them, at least as long as we're actively engaged in them. So perhaps it's more important to find out what makes readers believe in the reality of characters. Since writers generally start off as readers, and since both writer and reader are needed to bring a story to life, I'll talk first about the writing side of the equation before going into the readers' perspective.
As Heather pointed out in her own entry on this topic, writers almost always feel their characters are real to them; otherwise, the writers wouldn't feel inspired to write about the particular characters in the first place. I haven't tried to obtain Social Security numbers for my characters and claim them as dependents on my taxes, but they still feel like real people to me, perhaps citizens of the universe next door. My characters have strengths and weaknesses, like anyone you meet on the street. They have their own dreams and interests, even ones not relevant to the story. I also have a fairly good idea of what happens to them before and after the beginning of the book.
As for how much I know about my characters, it changes over time. Although I do get to know my characters in my head before I start writing, I generally don't write out a full-blown character sketch for them before my first draft. Even if I do try to create a mini-biography of the main character, it's often incomplete on paper, as I hold more details in my head. Other things come to me as I write. For instance, I have two incomplete trilogies, one fantasy and one science fiction. In both series, after I finished the first book, a secondary character who already had a love interest "told" me that he or she was bisexual and in love with the main character as well. Talk about a plot twist! I worked that into my fantasy series, but I'm still not sure how I want to handle it with the science fiction series.
Although at times my characters will rebel as described above, at other times, I'll come up with a plot twist that feels right for them. I can change the details from draft to draft, but the end result stays the same. In Across Two Universes, Paul's mother is murdered at the beginning of the story, though I've changed how and where it happens. But I could not start afresh and save her; that would be a different book. I do other cruel things to him in the sequel, enough for me to shed real tears over him. Paul may not be a real person, but he inspires real emotions in me.
This brings me to my final point: no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. (Edit: this line isn't from me; it's from Robert Frost. I should have Googled first before quoting.) How do we convince our readers that our characters are real? I think part of it has to do with the telling detail, using all of the senses to bring the world to life. Small details about the characters, like quirks or favorite things, can also make them seem real. But for me, what gets me involved with my characters is their emotional lives, and those need to be portrayed realistically as well. If you can convince your readers that yes, someone would really react a certain way in a given situation, then they too will start thinking of your characters as real.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
More Links
I've added a few more links to the sidebar.
The first is for an online writing conference in October. The deadline to register is September 1, so if you're interested, better hurry!
Next is Fantasy Book Spot, a site for book reviews and more.
Finally, there's RallyStorm, a site where you can create your own forums to discuss any topic you like. Check it out!
The first is for an online writing conference in October. The deadline to register is September 1, so if you're interested, better hurry!
Next is Fantasy Book Spot, a site for book reviews and more.
Finally, there's RallyStorm, a site where you can create your own forums to discuss any topic you like. Check it out!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
A Day at the Zoo
Finally, for my non-writing friends, something they can relate to!
We took Alex on his first trip to the zoo today since the weather was fantastic. Alex's sleeping/meal schedule got messed up, but although he had a few fits, overall he did OK. We weren't able to see everything, though, and by the end of the day, he was too tired we skipped the carousel. There's always next time. We took him to the Farm in the Zoo, where he got to see various farm animals. (He's still too young to feed them.) Here are some of the pictures:
The swans with their cygnet.
A deer--I can't remember which one.
A flock of birds in a tree.
A real tiger....
and Alex with a stuffed tiger to take home as a souvenir.
We took Alex on his first trip to the zoo today since the weather was fantastic. Alex's sleeping/meal schedule got messed up, but although he had a few fits, overall he did OK. We weren't able to see everything, though, and by the end of the day, he was too tired we skipped the carousel. There's always next time. We took him to the Farm in the Zoo, where he got to see various farm animals. (He's still too young to feed them.) Here are some of the pictures:
The swans with their cygnet.
A deer--I can't remember which one.
A flock of birds in a tree.
A real tiger....
and Alex with a stuffed tiger to take home as a souvenir.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Blog Chain: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
As I mentioned in my last post, I've joined a blog chain created by members of QueryTracker, a site devoted to helping writers keep tabs on their submissions to agents. (I'm a member too, but since Across Two Universes isn't ready for submission yet, I haven't used the tracking feature.) The current topic is, "Where do you get your ideas from?" You can follow the chain by going here and here. I've also linked to all of the chain members' blogs in the sidebar, so go ahead and check them out.
It's interesting that this is my first topic in the blog chain, since I wrote an essay about ideas for my website back in 2002. You can still read it here, if you'd like. In that essay, I talk about how the Beatles, particularly John Lennon, inspired the novels I was working on then. One of those novels got sent around to various agents (and to Tor) before being trunked; another has gone extensive revision and is currently titled Across Two Universes. Of course, I wrote that essay six years ago, and I've had other projects come into my life since then. I'll summarize briefly what inspired them.
Much of my inspiration comes from my daily life. My short story "A Reptile at the Reunion" came about from the combination of an invitation to my grad school reunion (which I skipped) and a writing challenge in a magazine. Other short stories (which I've started but not finished) came from a bout of insomina I had this winter or non-buyer's remorse I felt after passing on a beautiful silk blazer on sale up in Madison. These incidents made me think of ways to lure the "sheep of sleep" (the ones you're supposed to count) back into a person's life or what it would be like to discover a chest full of the things you once wanted but didn't get. Interests such as dealing with the conflict between evolution and science inspired me to create an alien race that has a unique way to handle this conflict--except that for one individual, it doesn't work. Yet another short story I need to finish.
Other times I get ideas from reading. Sometimes I get a little frustrated when I find too much of the same type of story on the bookshelves of my local B&N. There are stories that I think need to be told, even if they don't use "conventional" (i.e., commerically popular) types of heroines or themes. For instance, other than Julie Kenner's Demon series, I don't see too many mothers featured in stories. You could say my NaNoWriMo project from last year, about a working mother who gains the ability to turn into an owl, was inspired partly by a desire to find more stories with heroines I could relate to. Part of this idea also came from everyday life. I often see red-tailed hawks as I drive around, so I wondered what it would be like for one of them to be a human in disguise. I thought at first of a stay-at-home mother, but since the character I came up with is divorced, she has to work to support herself and her daughter. I also changed the bird to an owl so she could go around at night (and interact with werewolves), but I have plans to bring a hawk-person into that story as I re-think the plot.
I mentioned before that one of my short stories was inspired by a writing challenge in a magazine. After Firestorm of Dragons was published, I recieved an invitation from the editor to submit something for another themed anthology. (I don't know what the status of this project is, so I don't feel comfortable sharing the topic here.) This might be one of the hardest things for an author, to find an idea about a topic someone else picked. I did some research and thought about what kind of characters could bring a fresh perspective to this topic. Ultimately I did come up with an unusual take on a stock character, which then helped me determine the rest of the plot for the story. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the story before the deadline, but I may go back to it at some point.
I'll finish this post by repeating a point I made back in 2002; an idea alone isn't enough to make a story. Sometimes you need to combine several ideas before you can create the characters and plot necessary to make an idea come to life; other times, you need to interrogate the idea to generate the characters and plot. But when you learn authors such as Mercedes Lackey can write stories about paper bags (see "Roadkill"), you realize there are more ideas out there than you can ever write about.
OK, I think this finishes the blog chain for this topic. Tune in soon when I go Back on the Chain Gang!
It's interesting that this is my first topic in the blog chain, since I wrote an essay about ideas for my website back in 2002. You can still read it here, if you'd like. In that essay, I talk about how the Beatles, particularly John Lennon, inspired the novels I was working on then. One of those novels got sent around to various agents (and to Tor) before being trunked; another has gone extensive revision and is currently titled Across Two Universes. Of course, I wrote that essay six years ago, and I've had other projects come into my life since then. I'll summarize briefly what inspired them.
Much of my inspiration comes from my daily life. My short story "A Reptile at the Reunion" came about from the combination of an invitation to my grad school reunion (which I skipped) and a writing challenge in a magazine. Other short stories (which I've started but not finished) came from a bout of insomina I had this winter or non-buyer's remorse I felt after passing on a beautiful silk blazer on sale up in Madison. These incidents made me think of ways to lure the "sheep of sleep" (the ones you're supposed to count) back into a person's life or what it would be like to discover a chest full of the things you once wanted but didn't get. Interests such as dealing with the conflict between evolution and science inspired me to create an alien race that has a unique way to handle this conflict--except that for one individual, it doesn't work. Yet another short story I need to finish.
Other times I get ideas from reading. Sometimes I get a little frustrated when I find too much of the same type of story on the bookshelves of my local B&N. There are stories that I think need to be told, even if they don't use "conventional" (i.e., commerically popular) types of heroines or themes. For instance, other than Julie Kenner's Demon series, I don't see too many mothers featured in stories. You could say my NaNoWriMo project from last year, about a working mother who gains the ability to turn into an owl, was inspired partly by a desire to find more stories with heroines I could relate to. Part of this idea also came from everyday life. I often see red-tailed hawks as I drive around, so I wondered what it would be like for one of them to be a human in disguise. I thought at first of a stay-at-home mother, but since the character I came up with is divorced, she has to work to support herself and her daughter. I also changed the bird to an owl so she could go around at night (and interact with werewolves), but I have plans to bring a hawk-person into that story as I re-think the plot.
I mentioned before that one of my short stories was inspired by a writing challenge in a magazine. After Firestorm of Dragons was published, I recieved an invitation from the editor to submit something for another themed anthology. (I don't know what the status of this project is, so I don't feel comfortable sharing the topic here.) This might be one of the hardest things for an author, to find an idea about a topic someone else picked. I did some research and thought about what kind of characters could bring a fresh perspective to this topic. Ultimately I did come up with an unusual take on a stock character, which then helped me determine the rest of the plot for the story. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the story before the deadline, but I may go back to it at some point.
I'll finish this post by repeating a point I made back in 2002; an idea alone isn't enough to make a story. Sometimes you need to combine several ideas before you can create the characters and plot necessary to make an idea come to life; other times, you need to interrogate the idea to generate the characters and plot. But when you learn authors such as Mercedes Lackey can write stories about paper bags (see "Roadkill"), you realize there are more ideas out there than you can ever write about.
OK, I think this finishes the blog chain for this topic. Tune in soon when I go Back on the Chain Gang!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Shadowing Scientists
I normally don't blog about work, but I thought I could share this with you. Today one of my co-workers brought in her niece to do a shadow study in the lab. I only found out about it this morning. In a way, it's too bad that the niece came in this particular day, since it was relatively quiet in the lab. My boss spent a good deal of time talking to her, and I did show her some of my work in the morning. She did say that she got a lot out of it, even if it's not quite what she's interested in (something to do with the polar regions). But it is good to see students who want to pursue science; there just aren't enough of them, IMO. Given how quickly science and technology advance, I think we need to increase scientific literacy in this country so voters can make informed choices.
In other news, I may be joining a writer's blog chain. One of the members is H.L. Dyer. It's already in progress, but apparently there's always room for more. Maybe I'll post some "catch-up" posts about the topics they've already discussed.
In other news, I may be joining a writer's blog chain. One of the members is H.L. Dyer. It's already in progress, but apparently there's always room for more. Maybe I'll post some "catch-up" posts about the topics they've already discussed.
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