Suffer the Children

All I can say is that I would NOT want to play here.

Don't Do It Bro!

I recently got a spam comment on this post.  It was pretty well done so I didn't recognize it as spam until I had clicked on the "Publish Comment" button.  This brought to light two things.

1.  We all do foolish things

2.  I had started talking religion quite a bit here and then I stopped.  There is a good reason I stopped, but I never gave it here.  The reason is because I found a forum where that type of discussion is common and the members have similar views to mine.

Actually their views are not necessarily similar, but their method of discussing their views is similar to my method.  In other words, although we all have different opinions we all speak the same language there.

The site is Positive Deism.  The people there are very nice (that is the positive part, they are positive, friendly, and constructive in their discussions).  The concept is that mostly when you hear people talk about Deism it is in negative.  Deist's don't believe that God reveals himself, they don't believe this they don't believe that.  Also, most Deists are formerly from other churches and became fed up in those churches.  They are angry and sometimes lash out.  That is not the way of Positive Deism.  They may disagree, but they never lash out.

It is worth a look and if you were interested in my posts on that subject you can find that I have expounded on the issues to a great length there.

"You fool, Warren is DEAD!" from "Statement of Randolph Carter" by H.P. Lovecraft

Happy Birthday Mac

Happy Birthday

ugnh

Happy birthday

ugnh

Misery is in the air

People dying everywhere

Happy birthday

ugnh

Happy birthday

ugnh

PS.  I guessed on the age

Waters of The Deep

Do you know what vodka means in Russian?  It means, "little water."

How appropriate that the Great Old One imprisoned beneath the seas would have his own brand of this devil's brew.

Writing Conversation Part 7 and Final

I'm going to cover the last two points that Mac made in his very thoughtful and helpful comment from a while back.

Mac wrote:

6. If you do want to create a complete world/universe with loads of detail, maybe you’re pursuing the wrong avenue. How about finding some players and you become the “DM” of your own designed and flushed out world. I bet you can find players on the Internet, and there are numerous game systems already made that you could use. Keep notes on the adventures that you run, and then turn them into written sci-fi stories?


7. Life is short, be sure to spend time doing what you love.

The main problem with #6 as Mac should know better than most is that players very often do not do what you expect or want (see today's pic).

Role Playing Games are often described as cooperative story telling.  I HATE cooperative story telling.  I mean that I don't like those exercises (or games) where one person starts a story and then hands it off to the next person and it goes around the room with everyone telling part.  This is not exactly what RPGs are because it is more of a give and take, but the point stands.

When I write or tell stories I want complete control.  The only one I want to influence me when I tell stories is the characters themselves.

It is a fault of mine, I know.  Almost exclusively I cannot use story ideas from others.  When someone says, "You know what you should write about, you should write about..." I just simply cannot write that story.  There is something in me that shuts down when I get intended input.  I can take random input, in fact that's often how I work, but when someone deliberately suggests something I have a very difficult time taking that and working with it.

This is not to say I don't like RPGs.  I do, but it is from the other side.  I like being able to influence someone else's story.  That's something in my makeup as well.  When I experience someone doing something and I think I could do it too, or do it better, I have a very strong drive to jump in and do it.

Actually RPGs are great because I use their material all the time to do world building and character building.  That was always my favorite part of playing RPGs when I did.  I use that material, but I'm reluctant to hand what I have built over to someone else.

I know that often the group is greater than the sum of the parts and I could get things from group input that I never could on my own, but if I am unable to use that material no matter how good it is, simply because it came from someone else, then what good is it to me.

On the other, and final hand, I do find great inspiration from doing the opposite of what people tell me.  If they say that you can't tell a story a certain way then I want to tell it that way.  I remember at least two times in school that I wrote papers exactly on the subjects that were forbidden by the teacher.  The first was when my professor said that we could not write a paper on museums on Mars and the second one was when I had to design a camping program and we were told not to base it on Elvis.

So, thank you so much Mac.  You made many comments and observations that I did not agree with, at least at first blush.  It made me think, it made me write.  You helped me do one of the many many things I love and life is far far too short.  Thank you very much.

Moving AGAIN!

I have to move at work again.  We were temporarily moved to a room while they did some mechanical repairs to our old room.  Supposedly they were updating the sprinkler system in the ceiling.

I certainly hope that is all they put in the ceiling.  I would not want something unspeakable to fall on my head.

Writing Conversation Part 6

I want to continue with my discussion about writing, as prompted by my friend Mac.


5.      KISS – Keep it simple stupid. You seem to spend a lot of time on detail and historical background, like you’re making a complete role-playing game world/universe. I’d suggest keeping your writing short and simple for now, especially if the story is in a genre that is not interesting to the reader. I would be more likely to read something that I’m not very interested in if it was short. Also, there are many very fine stores that are short (Shane, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, most of Howards “Conan” stuff, ect.). I think a very good example of what I’m driving at is “Beau Geste” by P.C. Wren. If you haven’t read this book, look it up and give it a go. It’s pretty short, a very easy read, but well written, good plot twists, and with interlocking characters in a unexpected fashion. I think it was written in a society and place that the author knew very well. Very much KISS in my opinion. One of my favorites. By the way, don’t read the Wikipedia or other reviews, they have spoilers in them. Just read the book first.

 Good main point always.  It isn't bad to think of that as a life lesson.

Another thing I want to say is that I have not read the work he suggested, "Beau Geste" by P.C. Wren and I probably should.  I cannot comment on that work at this time, but I will take his advice and read it.

Now, my contention with this comment is that he has missed an important point, two points really.  The first is that what you see here in this blog is not a balanced representation of my writing.  Mostly what you see here is the guts of the machinery.  The finished product, the outer shell, the ready for public consumption part is not what you find here.  I usually try to send that off to be published elsewhere.

The second and probably more important point that he missed is that I enjoy world building.  I would and do, world build even when there is no story to put in that world.  In fact I often have to admonish myself to find some story to put in the worlds I like to build.

On top of the fact that I just like it, world building gives me a certain power that even writing does.  In world building at this level I get to decide everything.  I have the power to make the worlds that I create obey me absolutely.  I enjoy that.

This is certainly not to say that I am megalomanical, but there are some things in the world that just can't be fixed and it is because that is not the way this world works.  I like to play in worlds where that IS the way they work.

It is not that I want all the power, but that I want to be able to fix things.  I want us to go back to the moon, I want people to realize that 2% of the US Federal budget is not too much to pay for space exploration.  I want to play in a world that has cured cancer.

Those are two sides to the same coin I use for world building.  There is another coin that I use and it too has two sides.  It is a negative coin. 

First, I never feel confident that I know enough about a real place, person or thing to not be caught being wrong.  If I make a whole world up who is to say I'm wrong.

Lastly, most of the time I don't want to sully the things I love in the real world with my own silly meanderings.

I will agree that I too often suffer from what's called Analysis Paralysis.  I get to much pleasure, to apprehensive about production, to actually bring the story itself to fruition.  I should take note of that and take it very closely to heart.

Hot Lunch Planet

They found a new planet right up close to Alpha Centauri B.  It's so close -
How close is it?
Glad you asked.  It is so close that the surface on the star side is probably about 1200oC.

I know that's not a joke, but consider this, if there are Great Old Ones out there and some of them devour planets doesn't it make sense that sometime they might want them to be cooked a bit?

Uh, No, Just No

I found this here.  I HATE that thing where people add crazily misspelled captions to pictures.  I have trouble enough spelling myself without someone making fun of misspelling and deliberately doing it.

So, my last act of defiance (though it's certainly not my last) is to scratch off the caption, which Blognomicon did not add (but did perpetuate).

I know it is fruitless and hopeless.  I will never turn the tide in the vast ocean of the Internet, but like fighting unnameable horrors from beyond, I can't help myself and it does give my soul a bit of a lift to know that I went down fighting.

Not to say I've gone down, or that I'm done for.  One of my favorite admonitions is a quote from Jack Dempsey: "A champion is someone who gets up when he can't."

Surely it was that kind of thinking that went through the mind of Norwegian sailor Gustaf Johansen wen he turned and rammed the Alert into Cthulhu.  Sure it was futile.  I think he knew it would be, but it was the only thing he could do and in the end it bought him the time he needed.  We are all still doomed, but as Buzz Lightyear says, "Not today, Zurg."

I'm doomed by these stupid captions, and facebook and reality TV.  Oh well, full steam ahead!

Happy Birthday Moby Dick

Google says that today is Moby Dick's 161st birthday.

Well good luck buddy.  All you had to worry about was a one legged man while some of your brother whales had to contend with other challenges.

Don't we all get a little hungry after sleeping a while.  Consider this Cthulhu's midnight snack.

Halloween in Innsmouth

Since my oldest is at school in Boston and won't be able to come home for the holiday (All Hallows' Eve that is) I thought she might like to check out the festivities in Innsmouth.

She always was a good swimmer.

World Food Day

Today is World Food Day, but who will be eaten and who is the eater?

The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil

If this adage is true then no wonder the Great Cthulhu has gotten into merchandising.

Eat your heart out George Lucas!

Who Is Cthulhu?!

Anynomous asked, "Who is Cthulhu?"

Well!  I'll show you:
 Cthulhu is a character created by H. P. Lovecraft in one of his best, most seminal and most Lovecraftian short story, "Call of Cthulhu."

I've included some links above.  If you look at all my other posts you will get a sense of what he was supposed to look like, or so.

This picture is just a joke.

Not this

This one from Summer of Lovecraft is probably more accurate.

Welcome

Welcome to the Bahamas Mr. Columbus.

On this day in 1492 Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas.  Of course he didn't call it that though.

I'm not a Columbus basher, I think the guy did something that needed to be done.  I am sorry that so many people caught the short end of the stick.

Isn't it interesting that desease was the greatest killer of the peoples living in the Americas in the 16th century?  I heard on the Discovery channel last night that 95% of the population died.  That sounds like just the kind of pain and suffering that Cthulhu would have loved.

Happy Anniversary Apollo 7

This image of Cthulhu has nothing to do with the Apollo program, but it does remind me that I have to spin a giant web on the front of my house so I can be sure to capture entertain those little morsels children who wander around on the eve of All Hallow's Day.

Maybe we should carve a gourd to gather more children, I hear they are attracted to light.

Happy Double Ten Day!

Today is Double Ten Day in the Rebublic of China. 

Well, it's actually double ten day everywhere (10/10) except New Zealand who apparently are never on the same day as the rest of the world somehow (international date line or something).

However in ROC October tenth is celebrated as independance day.  Hooray.

The symbol for Double Ten Day is fairly inoccuous, here it is:

But what I find truly disturbing is that Google Translate says that there is a Traditional Chinese spelling for Cthulhu (I hope this stays in-font on everyone's browsers):

邪神

The Chinese came up with everything first!

Anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire

On this day in 1871 the City of Chicago began burning.  Some say it was Mrs. O'Leary's cow, but I have a different hypothesis.

What do you think?

Camping Plans

My youngest Prop and I are planning on going camping tomorrow with her Girl Scout troop.  I don't know if we will have a car capable of getting us there, but we are going to try.

Being out in the wilderness with my daughter's Girl Scout troop, I may not be able to post and get you the Cthulhu content you have come to expect and frankly deserve.  I will try to make up for that before and after the trip (if we make it).

At least I'm pretty sure we won't be stopped by these guys:

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

Good Morning Mr. Lovecraft

A nice person from the HPPodcraft.com forums told me that I could use some of the images from his photobucket.

One of our trips to Boston I have got to make time to run over to Providence my self, but for now I can look at the things I'd like to see.

I had thought that there was a tree growing very near this headstone.  Maybe there is and we just can't see it.

Speaking of headstones, I have written down, "The Night of the Purple Fog" and as we get closer to Halloween (or the anniversary, somewhen between October 16–28, 1962) I will post it.

School Daze

With my oldest "little" Prop off to school in Boston (Boston University) and my much more serious thoughts about getting a Masters in order to further my career, the idea of Miskatonic University is even more prescient.

I've found a web comic about just that very thing.  It is called Miskatonic U an it follows the school career of a very nervous young man and these two adorable abominations.

From the web comic we learn that, "Yithro, a member of the Great Race possessing an observitor species, is mostly eyes, and his 5 tentacles get to be arms, cheeks, an elephantine trunk, whatever! And there are even more options for ... Shog the shoggoth..."

I certainly hope BU is nothing like this, and I'm quite sure there are none of those kinds of things on the Internet, "where" I would be "going" to school.  Of course there are no terrifying, abhorrent, unnameable monsters lurking the Internet, how could there be.  Right?

So anyway, I'll tell you more about my career plans in later posts.  I think I have nailed down a medium range career goal.

Writing Conversation Part 5

4.      I’d suggest that you write about something you are extremely familiar with, maybe scouts or military, and keep it in the present day. Make up and develop a couple of interesting characters, come up with a plot twist that takes the reader in a direction they didn’t expect. If you get something good going, then maybe modify it into the future or into a alien world (Boy Scout camping trip in the future to an unexplored planet?). Or add the horror twist. Or both. Also telling the story non-linear might be a good gimmick (the movie “Pulp Fiction” or “Reservoir Dogs” style), an outline help’s this style to work. I think you’ll really need a twist or gimmick…

What is interesting here are three points:

1. Write what you know
2.  Write common place things and then develop them into uncommon things
3. Have a twist or gimmick.

 Write what you know is an well known adage in writing.  In Fantasy, SF and Horror is write what you know or write what you know no one knows.  In other words you can write speculative fiction if you write about things that MIGHT be true and about things that ARE true.  You can't write about things that CANNOT be true (or at least not about too many things that cannot be true).

What is important is to not limit yourself to only what you have personal experience in.  Case in point is Tom Clancy.  When he wrote Hunt for Red October he was a truck driver.  He had never been in the CIA or Navy and had never even set foot on a sub.  What he did was read and research.  I've heard that he researched so well that the CIA did approach him to ask how he got all that information.  It turns out that it was all on the web. 

The second point is just wrong thinking.  I'm sorry to be so blunt, but it is.  There are reasons I write in a particular genre.  I choose a genre not just because it seems cool, but because of the story I want to tell.  For instance, I wanted to explore the idea that sports really don't affect our lives as much as we think, but what if they did?

I took that idea and created a world and an intelligent alien that could only reproduce under certain sport related conditions.  I suppose I could have made it a fantasy story as well, but I was thinking about the REAL impact and therefore I didn't want to introduce any elements of magic.

The last point is wrong too.  Gimmick writing is old fashioned and most submission requirements warn against it's use.  Twist endings and gimmicky writing is just not marketable (Pulp Fiction not withstanding, but of course now that's been done and over done too). 

The thing that stories must have is a HOOK.  Stories must be able to grab you and pull you in.  This is different from a gimmick .  Stories should also be original or have an original twist on an old story.  This is different from a twist ending.

Star Wars is a very old story, but it certainly had a new twist on it. 

Bottom line, at least for me is, these are certainly all things to think about and to learn about.  I have, I know the rules and the standard modern forms.  The trick is to know how and when to break the rules.

Also, it is very good to go back and look at the rules you think you know, refresh them in your memory, relearn why they are rules and recommit yourself to them.

For that I thank you very much.

Καλή Μήνας Cthulhu!

I must appologize that I am a few hours late on this first post of the first of Cthulhu Month.  The excuse I'm going to go with is that the Bears game had me discombobulated.

So my friends, we kick off another month full of elderitch goodness [no]badness [no] chaos.

How fitting that in 2012, the year of ultimate doom, that we find Cthulhu at the center of it all!

I am going to post a Cthulhu / Lovecraft image and/or story each day this month, as I have for the past several years.  To make up for missing the first day I am going to double up today, so be prepared for another dose of cosmic horror.

Be afraid, be very afraid (and go Bears)!

Writing Conversation Part 4 and Poll Results

The Muse poll is over and I only really got one vote.  The vote was to share my ideas as well as full stories.  It looks like there are two votes, but the other one is mine.

Based on the very very few that voted the rest of you will have to put up with my sharing all my ideas.  If those of you who don't want that, and want to let me know, I'm open to that as well.

The next poll will be to ask if you actually read the stories, and how many.

Back to my conversation with Mac.

"3. If you do write sci-fi, I wouldn’t be too concerned with making the science too real, that’s why it’s called fiction, make it up. Sometimes the made up science can be the real driving force in the story. Or take “Starship Troopers”, really has no science, just a good story with good characters."

I dabble in Fantasy and I dabble in SF, but it is one of my biggest pet peeves when the two are crossed.  Science Fiction is SCIENCE based.  My SF, by the nature of my training and inclination is Soft SF as opposed to Hard SF, but that doesn't mean it is less science based.  I think Mac is confusing Soft SF with Fantasy.

From Analog's submission page:  "...we publish science fiction stories. That is, stories in which some aspect of future science or technology is so integral to the plot that, if that aspect were removed, the story would collapse....The science can be physical, sociological, psychological. The technology can be anything from electronic engineering to biogenetic engineering. But the stories must be strong and realistic..."

Miriam Allen deFord says (by Aldiss and Wingrove, op. cit.), "Science fiction consists of improbable possibilities, fantasy of plausible impossibilities."

"The major distinction between fantasy and science fiction is, simply, that science fiction uses one, or a very, very few new postulates, and develops the rigidly consistent logical consequences of these limited postulates. Fantasy makes its rules as it goes along...The basic nature of fantasy is "The only rule is, make up a new rule any time you need one!" The basic rule of science fiction is "Set up a basic proposition--then develop its consistent, logical consequences." "
-- John W. Campbell, Jr.

Introduction, Analog 6, Garden City, New York, 1966

 "Science fiction is something that could happen - but you usually wouldnt want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn't happen - though you often only wish that it could." (emphasis original)

--Arthur C. Clarke. 2000.

"A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method..."
--  Robert A. Heinlein (author of Starship Troopers) from: Science Fiction: its nature, faults and virtues, in The Science Fiction Novel, Advent, Chicago:1969

Muse-ings Poll

Should I report my muse-ings?


I usually have a feeling, a hankerin', a desire, an itch, to write a particular KIND of thing. My mood changes between things and changes in intensity, but I don't remember a time when I didn't have that feeling.

For instance, right now I'm really interested in writing some sort of SPY story. I know the kind I want to write, but not necessarily what story I want to write.

Before this (about a week ago the spy thing started, I don't know when this one started) I wanted to write a SCIFI story (specifically Space Opera).

Before that it was a HORROR. In the past I've wanted to write all sorts of things. An image, concept or just a feeling would get in my head and pound on me. Except that it's not so much a pounding as a sort of lust.

I usually anthropomorphize it as my Muse. She dances in a gossamer gown and entices me. I can't take my eyes off her, can't ignore her, can't get her out of my mind, but she never satisfies. She never delivers on the goods, not as such. She leads me to the stream but I have to cross, or drink, or whatever metaphor is appropriate for the mix here.

I have often followed her and written stories, and even books, but as often as that, she appears and before she can effectively lead me anywhere, she's gone with the wind.

What I'd like to know is if you are interested in knowing when she appears and where she seems to be leading me. For example, right now I'm listening to Tom Jones sing Thunderball, I have spy books checked out of the library, I'm building two fictitious countries (ConLands in my parlance), and I have Goldeneye cued up on the VCR (hey, it is a 90s movie). I hope to have a story out of it, but I won't tease you with it until I have it finished. Do you want to know what I'm compelled to work on?

Writing Conversation Part 3

I believe that Mac’s point is that there are few people who care. I don’t want to be argumentative, but the sales of eReaders (Kindle Fire etc.) and the explosion of Blogs would indicate that there are readers out there, and some writers are getting them.


What kinds of writers are getting readers? Mac argues that SciFi and Fantasy are what I write and those types of stories are getting read.

I didn’t think that was correct, but I wanted to get some numbers so I wouldn’t just be arguing ala Monty Python’s Argument sketch.

Amazon editors' picks in over two dozen categories in our Best of 2011 Store.

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
-Biography
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey
-Autobiography
3. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
-Autobiography
4. Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan
-Novel
5. In the Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larsen
-Historyical political thriller.
6. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
-Fantasy
7. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
-Biographical
8. The Litigators by John Grisham
-Law stuff
9. The Abbey by Chris Culver
-Mystery
10. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
-Fantasy

USA Today’s list of top sellers of 2011:

1. The Help Kathryn Stockett
- A young white woman tells the story of black maids in 1960s Mississippi (F)
2. The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
- Youth: Girl takes sister's place in a real world survivor game in a post-apocalyptic U.S. (F)
3. Heaven is for Real Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent
- Subtitle: "A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back" (NF)
4. Water for Elephants Sara Gruen
- Love, drama in a circus in the 1930s (F)
5. Catching Fire Suzanne Collins
- Youth: Katniss and Peeta are targeted as rebels after winning the Hunger Games; second in series (F)
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Jeff Kinney
- Youth: Greg is trapped with his family during a blizzard after he is accused of damaging school property (F)
7. Mockingjay Suzanne Collins
- Youth: Katniss must give herself completely to the rebellion for it to succeed; final in series (F)
8. Steve Jobs: A Biography Walter Isaacson
- Biography recounts the life of the late founder of Apple (NF)
9. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
- Journalist is hired to investigate the disappearance of an heir to a wealthy family (F)
10. Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand
- Subtitle: "A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" (NF)

Three of each of these lists are the type of stories I write. I like to write mystery and YA as well as Fantasy and SciFi, plus I like to mix genres.

None of that really matters though. If something is written well enough then there will be readers, BUT, things that are written poorly are well read too. It’s very frustrating, but fashionable topics are the best of best sellers.

I think the size of the audience is bigger than Mac thinks, but that is beside the point really. Whatever the size of my audience is, I want a piece of it.

Another View from a Friend

I have a web-friend who has a blog called Spockgirl Musings.  She has commented on several posts and has claimed to have read the whole blog (a feat I don't think that even I have done).

A while back when I was asking about Ferris Bueller she sent me an email with a little bit of art she did.

She Southparked me and challenged me to post the pic.  Well, I'm certainly not one to back down from a challenge (ask my inner prop).  Here is her image of me as a Southpark character.

What do you think?

Writing Conversation Part 2

To continue Avoidance Avoidance.

I totally agree that “the only way to succeed in the writing business is to write all the time…” I wrote that Avoidance post in part as a catharsis. I often need to “talk” through problems. The act of organizing a problem in my mind so that I can share is usually enough to help me analyze the situation to a solution.

My complaint to myself was that I wasn’t writing. My writing the post itself I broke through that dam.

I must ask that you to keep in mind that I have had some success writing. Not only have I written quite a bit, I have actually won some contests and gotten paid for some stories. I do have a method that has worked, if not as well as I would like. Also, I would like to improve my method. I think I need to kick-start my writing more than revamp entirely.

I like and agree with the idea about outlines. I do write outlines and extensive notes; sometimes too too much. While this is an almost indispensible method for me, it has two extreme dangers. The first is something called, “analysis paralyasis.” It means you spend all your time in research. This could be because of a fear of actually starting, or because you get too caught up in the fun of learning new things.

The second danger is much more insidious, and maybe more individually my own. I often get a drive, desire, itch to write something. It must be satisfied. I often call it my muse. The danger is that I could satisfy the urge simply by writing that outline, or taking those notes.

That’s the real trick, the real problem that must be solved, how to take that natural urge and hold it after the initial satisfaction until I get it completed.

One more post against the absence of writing. “Just keep hammering,” indeed. I’ll be like Nemo and, “just keep swimming.”

Writing Conversation Part 1

Someone very near and dear to me "recently" tried to respond to my post entitled "Avoidance."  He had trouble so he emailed me the response and I tried to post it.

It is a very good post with many valid points which I really should address, but I too could not post it because it exceeds the character limit of the comment section.

Because I would really like to share the concerns/suggestions and respond I am going to share the comment in this post.  I have named this post "Part 1" because I don't intend to answer his concerns in this post.  It may take several posts to answer everything and or act on some of the suggestions.  For not I'm just going to share what he wrote:

"This makes me so sad. I’d like to see you go on with your work/hobby/pastime as I think the only way to succeed in the writing business is to write all the time, just keep hammerin’ away at it until something breaks. And even if it never materializes, at least you spent time doing something that you enjoy. So never give up, even if nobody reads your work, or responds to it, do it for yourself first!

Now, for my constructive criticism:

1.      I always would have liked to become a writer as well, but I have never had a good enough idea of a story with a twist or grabber in it to be worth the time to me it would need. However, as I have an organized/logical personality, I thought the way for me (and possibly might work for you) on how to write would require an excellent idea for a story and/or character (or gang of characters) and set out at first a general outline, and then flesh out the outline into more detailed layers, and then write the various sections (chapters?) as I felt it while following the detailed outline. Then keep reworking the story and outline until a good first draft is completed. Then have a few readers/editors go over it and offer suggestions and thoughts to be incorporated as revisions, then rewrite as many times as needed until the final draft is done. The story doesn’t need to be written in order, you can write the main scenes first, and then go back and flesh out the development of the story as needed, or whatever order works best for you and the story itself. I don’t know what method you use to write but if it has been just start and then go along in a linear direction until the story is completed, maybe a change to your method might help?


2.      Most adults I know don’t read very much. Shame on them. Most adults will take care of their kids, work, maintain their homes, and finally when they have free time to relax, watch the tube, not break open a book. Even most of the guys at the firehouse, with loads of free time, will veg in front of the TV when I am kicked back somewhere reading. And, the people who do read regularly with most likely not be interested in your subject’s. I don’t know anybody who reads sci-fi or horror other than maybe you and Ryan (?). I don’t read too much sci-fi anymore (although “Game of Thrones” is the best I’ve ever read and you don’t like it much?) and I have never read Lovecraft or any of that kind of horror. So your audience is very very limited.


3.      If you do write sci-fi, I wouldn’t be too concerned with making the science too real, that’s why it’s called fiction, make it up. Sometimes the made up science can be the real driving force in the story. Or take “Starship Troopers”, really has no science, just a good story with good characters


4.      I’d suggest that you write about something you are extremely familiar with, maybe scouts or military, and keep it in the present day. Make up and develop a couple of interesting characters, come up with a plot twist that takes the reader in a direction they didn’t expect. If you get something good going, then maybe modify it into the future or into a alien world (Boy Scout camping trip in the future to an unexplored planet?). Or add the horror twist. Or both. Also telling the story non-linear might be a good gimmick (the movie “Pulp Fiction” or “Reservoir Dogs” style), an outline help’s this style to work. I think you’ll really need a twist or gimmick…


5.      KISS – Keep it simple stupid. You seem to spend a lot of time on detail and historical background, like you’re making a complete role-playing game world/universe. I’d suggest keeping your writing short and simple for now, especially if the story is in a genre that is not interesting to the reader. I would be more likely to read something that I’m not very interested in if it was short. Also, there are many very fine stores that are short (Shane, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, most of Howards “Conan” stuff, ect.). I think a very good example of what I’m driving at is “Beau Geste” by P.C. Wren. If you haven’t read this book, look it up and give it a go. It’s pretty short, a very easy read, but well written, good plot twists, and with interlocking characters in a unexpected fashion. I think it was written in a society and place that the author knew very well. Very much KISS in my opinion. One of my favorites. By the way, don’t read the Wikipedia or other reviews, they have spoilers in them. Just read the book first.


6.      If you do want to create a complete world/universe with loads of detail, maybe you’re pursuing the wrong avenue. How about finding some players and you become the “DM” of your own designed and flushed out world. I bet you can find players on the internet, and there are numerous game systems already made that you could use. Keep notes on the adventures that you run, and then turn them into written sci-fi stories?


7.      Life is short, be sure to spend time doing what you love.

Good luck!

M"

Detour by Bike

I was forced into a new route this week.  They shut down Atkinson and I am very limited in what alternate road to take over the train tracks and expressway.

I decided to continue heading east on the North Shore Bike Path to Waukegan (IL Rte 43) and head north on the sidewalks.  This takes me at least two additional miles and about 10 more minutes.  Some how I'm going to have to get my butt on the road that much quicker.

It is a nice ride though.  East of the expressway it climbs to rooftop level so you can cross all the streets and train tracks.  It is sort of like flying.

Where WAS Deckard Going?

In the movie, "Blade Runner" there is a scene that always made me wonder.
Deckard is in Sebastian's place and he's hunting Roy, just after he had killed Pris.

Roy punches through the wall and grabs his hand.  He takes the gun away, breaks two fingers (one for each of the Nexus 6 females he has "retired") and puts the gun back into Deckard's hand.

Then for quite a while Deckard seems to be going somewhere.  He's not really hunting Roy after a while because he is clearly afraid of him and he loses the gun.  He climbs up a bookcase, through some rotting ceiling and out on to the roof.  Somehow he is in a bathroom next where he sets his fingers and ties them off.

Roy surprises him by putting his head through the bathroom wall.  Deckard hits him with a pipe and goes out the window.  He tries to climb onto the roof.

Roy leans out the window and finally asks him the question I had been wondering, and the question I ask you.  Roy said, "Where are you going?"

Eventually Roy saves Deckard from falling off the building and tells him about tears in rain, then dies.

I never understood Deckard's thinking at the time.  Was he hunting or running away?  Was he hiding, or trying to confuse?  Was he just out of his mind or did he have a plan that just wasn't working out?  Was he trying to bide his time until he could get to Roy, get away from him, or until Roy died?

What do you think?

I'm not going to put up a poll because I don't think this is a multiple choice question.

The Play Was the Thing

I was in a Greek play this last Thursday.

It wasn't a tragedy, it was supposed to be a comedy.  There were many laughs, mostly intended.  It frustrated me, and I wish there had been a chorus (which there wasn't).

I've been taking Greek classes this year (my second year, after I skipped a year) on Thursday evenings at our Greek Orthodox Church (Ascension of Our Lord, Lincolnshire, IL).  The culmination of the school year was a play.

I had the biggest part and I was certainly was NOT the best student.  We had about 5 adults and 6 or 8 teens in the class and I was the only adult male so I got the part of the family's father.

I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad I did it.  I spent the last month studying the play.  The two days prior to the play I put the recording of the teacher reading the lines on my computer and listened to her all day.  I think I learned some phrases that will serve me well going forward.  On the other hand I didn't really learn the mechanics of Greek any better and I know I'll lose a lot of what I managed to hold temporarily in my poor, slow brain.

Oh well.  I'm going to check with the Rosetta Stone people and see if I can't upgrade my copy of Greek for less than a new copy.  I'll try to keep what I have and build on that.

So, in the final words of the play, καλό καλοκαίρι!