tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-138283002024-03-06T23:30:38.177-07:00Musings on MusesThoughts on writing and more.Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.comBlogger258125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-73863860604015044932015-07-05T19:36:00.002-07:002015-07-05T19:36:55.893-07:00MigratingHah! I finally was able to recover the password for this blog! As you can see, I haven't been able to post here for a long time. I had been writing a private blog for a while, but with all the recent activity developing "E Pluribus Hugo" (our proposed new nomination system for the Hugo Awards), I had wanted to transfer some of those posts and get started back up on the blog. <br />
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Since this account technically no longer exists, I'm going to just restart on the new blog. I'll be changing the name of this blog to something else once I get the new blog up and running, and then I'll post a link to the new version.<br />
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See you soon!Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-79014733682174173022011-06-16T09:42:00.001-07:002011-06-17T14:41:25.690-07:00Breakout Novel Workbook CompleteYesterday I made a final push and completed all the exercises in Don Maas' <i>Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.</i> Essentially, these are the exercises that Maas uses in his live "Breakout Novel Workshops." There are nearly 600 different tasks that the workbook calls for, most of which each involve writing two to three paragraphs for your novel. All told, I ended up writing almost 100 pages of text, some of it in note form, but much of it in narrative form that I can directly use in the book.<br />
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And most of it <i>is</i> usable. Maas' books aren't about writing technique; they are more writing prompts that get you thinking about your story in ways you hadn't considered. Some of the results of his exercises were, in my opinion, not as good as the way I originally approached the topic under study, but by far the majority of the paragraphs I wrote for these exercises are better than what I had before.<br />
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In short, it's a huge amount of work, but is time well spent. The only challenge is maintaining your critical eye so that you can see when what you had written previously is better and when you just <i>think</i> it's better.Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-87365371529321455022011-06-08T09:26:00.000-07:002011-06-15T23:08:37.047-07:00"Science Fiction May Be a Twentieth Century Literary Form"<div>I went to Comicon with a friend this year, mostly attending various panels on writing. On of the speakers was Robert Sawyer, who is one of the big names in science fiction right now. He wrote the novel Flash Forward, on which the ABC television series was based, as well as a number of Hugo- and Nebula-winning novels. I have had a suspicion for some time that the science fiction market is dead. What I haven't been sure about is whether this is a temporary lull fueled by Harry Potter and Twilight mania, or if it's a permanent thing. I posed the question to Sawyer, asking, "Given that Americans seem to have turned their backs on science in general, do you think science fiction will ever make a come-back?"<br />
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He paused and thought about it, then said, "No. I think science fiction may turn out to be a twentieth century literary form, much in the same way that Victorian fiction was a nineteenth century literary form." We aren't likely to see a resurgence of Victorian fiction -- no one wants to read that style anymore. Sawyer doesn't think that science fiction will rebound, either. His main reason for his belief is that during the middle part of the twentieth century, technology was making huge strides and filling us with wonder every day. Anything seemed possible. Today we aren't impressed by it. We take it for granted that "someone" is making our new technological devices, but as a people, we have zero interest in developing or exploring that technology. It doesn't fill us with wonder, the key ingredient to science fiction.<br />
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I watch trends. With practice and experience, you can start to see how threads are tied together and the pattern they will likely form (as an aside, this is the inspiration for Elisia's Fate Spell in my novel). I've seen this coming for a while, which is why two years ago I abandoned my science fiction series in favor of the modern fantasy trilogy I'm writing now. We are always told as writers that we should not write to the latest "hot trend," and the Wise are correct in that advice. By the time you finish your book, that hot trend will be lukewarm at best. But if the market for your book is <i>already</i> dead and isn't likely to return, then you're foolish to try to make a career out of that genre.<br />
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I'd like to think that I could write the "science fiction Harry Potter" that would turn the nation back to science and science fiction. I may yet try someday. But I'm not going to bet my career on it.Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-43955144747421328672011-06-06T09:57:00.000-07:002011-06-06T09:57:21.464-07:00What's Up With the Book?I'm making some fairly major changes to the novel, but I think the payoff is going to substantial. One of the biggest changes is that I'm adding another POV, that of the antagonist. The antagonist in this story is not the "bad guy" -- in fact, as ruthless as his plan is, you may be wondering if he has a point by the time it's all over. Regardless, we need to get to know him as more than a shadowy figure in the background. We also need to see more of the preparations for war that the antagonist is making. These preparations are largely hidden from the protagonist, so I felt some of the tension of that plotline was lacking. Showing events for the antagonist's point of view will help both issues. This gives me a total of three POV's for the two main story lines (one during the firebombing of Dresden in WW2 and one in the present day), but I think the interlocking between the three POV is solid. We'll see how it goes.<br />
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I'm also focusing events more on the internal conflicts that the protagonist is having to deal with, as well as highlighting the theme a bit more throughout. There are the same basic plot events, but I'm strengthening the connections and meanings associated with them. I'm pleased with how that's turning out so far.<br />
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There are a multitude of other changes that aren't quite so major (for example, the protagonist's love interest now hates him through most of the book -- and with good reason). So, lots of work to be done, but it's all good work -- and it's good to be working.Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-37558016122010887462011-06-05T14:38:00.004-07:002011-06-05T20:04:17.777-07:00Back OnlineI was just looking at the date of my last post here. Has it really been almost three years? Amazing. This blog was tied to my old GMail account (which I haven't used in, oh, three years), and I no longer had the password for it -- which isn't tragic, since I was really too busy to keep up with the blog.<br />
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I just today managed to transfer the blog to my new GMail account, so I started playing around with settings. The background is what I see when I'm sitting at my desk writing, which I thought was kind of cool. As you know from the previous post, our dog died in 2008. About a year ago we had finally gotten to the point where we were ready to get another dog. We had almost settled on a sweet female beagle, when we discovered that my oldest daughter is violently allergic to dogs. (Her eyes swelling shut was a pretty good clue.) Since I'm allergic to cats, we decided to get a parrot. Cosmo is now a constant companion. He loves the girls and REALLY loves his mama. He also enjoys sitting on his T-stand chattering to me while I write, as you can see here. He talks quite a bit ("Hello!", "Whatcha doing?", "I love you!", "Hi good boy!", "Mmmmm-wah!") but is definitely a goofy bird who loves to show off his acrobatic skill for attention. He's also a beagle bird -- he'll do anything for a treat. He's a very good boy. My daughters' friends think he's pretty awesome, too.<br />
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I have been teaching part time at our community college as well as at one of the state universities. I quickly managed to amass a full-time teaching load between the two colleges, but still managed to find time to keep working on the novel. A year and half ago, however, one the astronomy teachers at the community college passed away suddenly from an undetected brain tumor. My wife and I took all of his classes in addition to our own -- that was the end of writing for that semester. <br />
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The following fall I decided to interview for the one-year-only job in astronomy, which I got, so I have been teaching full time since fall 2010. I was also asked to develop a new physical science class in addition to teaching an overload, so again, essentially no writing got done. This past spring, I was teaching seven <i>different </i>courses (and multiple sections of some courses), as well as writing a new lab book and developing a second lab book for a blind student who was taking my course. I was barely getting my lesson plans made and quizzes graded for the next day, so again, not much writing!<br />
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This spring I also interviewed for the permanent position and managed to beat out twenty-three other candidates, so I will continue to be full time next fall. I did, however, negotiate a reduced number of class preps (same number of classes, but multiple sections of the same courses), so things will be dramatically easier from here. Since I will be working full time in the fall, I decided that I had earned the summer off -- this is the first time I haven't worked during the summer in over fifteen years. So, this summer is entirely devoted to writing, and it has been wonderful. I'm making huge progress on the next re-write of the novel. I'll post more about that another time. <br />
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I'm still not going to be posting every day, but you should see more updates from now on. I'll try to tweet more of what I'm working on as well (since my good friend Amy keeps bugging me to do so!). It's good to be back writing!Keith "Kilo" Watthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224717834456681585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-23978380965639794562008-09-22T02:17:00.000-07:002008-09-22T02:18:04.479-07:00Goodbye PuppyA bit of bad news to report. Nikolai, our beagle, died tonight. He's been having some serious pain in his back left leg for several weeks now. We've been increasing the dosage of pain meds over the past week or two, but it just hasn't had any effect. It turns out he had bone cancer, which according to the doctor is one of the excruciatingly painful forms of cancer for dogs. Tonight he couldn't stand up, couldn't lay down, couldn't poop -- he was just in agony. We took him to a veterinary emergency room about 11:30 tonight and the doctors said there just wasn't anything more they could do for him -- he was already on the maximum dose and it wasn't having any effect at all. They brought him back to me, and he didn't even wag his tail or lift his head up to see me because he was hurting so bad, so I knew it was time. He died at 12:45 AM. I held him and told him everyone loved him right up until the end.<br /><br /> He was 14, so he had a good long run with us. He's been with us a long time, a lot longer than anyone thought he would (especially since he was a purebred, which don't live as long -- he was also the runt of the litter). He was a very good boy, the world's smartest beagle. We're going to tell the girls in the morning and will call my son tomorrow afternoon. <br /><br /> Sigh.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-48183748697100891502008-09-01T07:46:00.002-07:002011-06-15T19:03:34.244-07:00The End (again)<div>Yesterday I finished the second draft of my novel -- much rejoicing! This is the first version to be a functionally complete story, the first that can actually be read. It has the new 1945 storyline intertwined with the main storyline, with both arcs reaching climax at the same point. I was able to draw parallels throughout the book between the two arcs, and as a result, I think the book is much deeper and richer than it would be otherwise.<br /><br />What I don't know at this point is whether the writing is any good!<br /><br />Now, normally, I know when I've been writing well. I can re-read a turn of phrase and say to myself, "Damn, that's pretty good!" But with this latest revision, I'm way too close to it to even know. I was focused on getting the plot written and the characters illustrated through the text. As a result, while the book is probably okay, it's almost certainly not at the "breakout level" of fiction that it <span style="font-style: italic;">must</span> be before it can go out. Sending out a publishable, but not breakout book can kill your career. If you don't get the sell-through on this first book, you probably will not sell a second one. "Good enough" is actually worse than not publishing at all!<br /><br />So, even if the book reads fairly well now (and I have no idea if it does), it's nowhere near done. On the plus side, I now have a complete manuscript that I can start applying Maass' Breakout Novel Workbook exercises to -- which long-time readers of this blog may recall is what convinced me to start writing a novel in the first place! At any rate, I loaded the draft onto my wife's Sony Reader so that she can be the first reader. I also printed out a paperback-sized version and used the "perfect binding" techniques I saw on the web to make a print version of the book. It's pretty neat to see it actually looking like a novel! I gave this to a very good friend of ours, though I'm not sure this particular genre will be her cup of tea. I'll be very curious to see what they think.<br /><br />So now I'm going to have to get some distance from the book so I can see where I need to go from here. I'm going to start brainstorming the plot for the next one, then in a month or two I'll come back to the current story. I may play around with some of Don Maass' exercises as well -- that should help both this book and the next one.<br /><br />Good progress!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-9719338115337210662008-08-19T19:24:00.004-07:002008-08-19T20:44:33.607-07:00Status ReportI noticed that a few people actually check this blog periodically, so maybe there's a passing interest out there in what I'm doing. Just an update, then: I am working on the second revision of the book now. I've finished Act II and am starting the last Act today. A few days after I finished the first draft, we went to Payson to spend the weekend with my wife's mother at their cabin. I was sitting down for breakfast, and my wife noticed I had an odd look on my face.<br /><br />"Thinking about your book?" she asks.<br /><br />"Yeah."<br /><br />"Got a new idea for it?"<br /><br />"Yeah."<br /><br />"Is it going to be a lot of work?"<br /><br />"Yeah."<br /><br />And sure enough, it is. But I can already see the end result is worth it. Basically I've added in a second storyline set in 1945 around the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, in World War II. It's told from the point of view of the protagonist's wife, Elisia, whose funeral in 2007 starts off the main storyline. The result is that we not only get to know Elisia, we also get to learn about Farmer (the protagonist) from her point of view. I'm drawing strong parallels between the storylines. In fact, the answer to the mystery of the main plotline will actually have its roots in the 1945 plotline. Both plotlines will climax at the same point, even though they take place 62 years apart -- the solution echoes across the two time periods. Pretty neat, assuming I'm pulling it off correctly. So far, so good, though.<br /><br />Obviously that means I have to write the second storyline, so I'm doing that as part of the revision process. All of the continuity problems mentioned in my previous post have been resolved as well, so that's a relief. I'm really enjoying writing about Elisia and letting the reader get to know her directly rather than just through Farmer's memories of her.<br /><br />In other news, I've been in contact with an agent from Donald Maass' agency, which is hands-down my first choice for representation. He critiqued my query letter for me and gave me a few suggestions. He said the final version was "first-rate" and definitely ready to go. One of his notes after the plot hook paragraph was "Wow! I want to read this one!", so that is certainly encouraging. He also encouraged me to query him "for real" when the book is ready. I expect that will be a couple of months, though, in which time he may have completely forgotten who I am. Ah well. I had planned to have this next draft ready for initial critique by the end of the week, but both kids are violently ill right now, so I'm not going to make that goal (and the semester starts next week). Hopefully I'll only be a week or so late, though. We'll see.<br /><br />I'm really stoked about the agent's response, though. Landing <span style="font-style: italic;">any</span> agent at Don Maass would simply be the best possible thing that could happen to me professionally, but I like Stephen personall,y as well. I feel like we could work together very easily. And as long-time readers of this blog know, Don Maass' philosophy towards writing almost exactly matches my own in any event.<br /><br />I'll post more when this draft is in a form that I might actually show to someone...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-33165281691016088062008-06-12T21:56:00.002-07:002008-06-12T22:08:02.186-07:00The EndI just wanted to share that tonight I reached those two magical words, "The End", in my modern fantasy novel, <em>The Farmer Takes a Life</em>. My goal was to reach 80,000 words during the month (I actually started on 16 May); the final total came in at 81,696 words, or about 460 manuscript pages. It took me 28 days to get the first draft done.<br /><br />I still need to fix one major plot hole. I decided that for best dramatic effect, I needed to move a scene from the beginning of Act II to the end of Act II. Unfortunately, an item which appears for the first time in and is critical for the moved scene also needs to appear in the (now) earlier scene. I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that, but I made the decision not to slow down writing the first draft to figure it out. I think it was probably the right choice.<br /><br />I also think I will expand a couple of chapters that focus on the protagonist's friends when they are separated -- they could use the character development. As long as I keep it under 100,000 words total, I should be okay. The story is good, but the writing is, as I believe Nora Roberts put it, words vomited onto the page. That will get fixed in the months to come. I'll be using WriteWay (<a href="http://www.writewaypro.com/">http://www.writewaypro.com/</a>) for the revision process -- great for moving scenes around and organizing research.<br /><br />Some statistics and advice for those who might be interested:<br /><br /><ul><li>I usually wrote between 3000 and 4000 words (15 to 20 pages) a day.</li><li>I wrote every day, including weekends, except for taking my birthday (the 30th) off, and the two days I had a 102 fever from food poisoning (and I managed to write 1200 words each day even then).</li><li>I usually spent between 3 and 4 hours to reach my 3000-word goal each day.</li><li>I took a five or ten minute break every 500 words. This was very, very important -- otherwise I would have been too fatigued to write the next day.</li><li>If you are writing in the present day, get a copy of <em>The Writer's Guide to Places,</em> by Prues and Heffron. It saved me from having to get up to research locations on the Net. I'll still need to do research to flesh it out, but I didn't have to interrupt the writing of the first draft.</li><li>Get an AlphaSmart Neo (<a href="http://www.alphasmart.com/">http://www.alphasmart.com/</a>). Seriously. It's the best writing investment you'll ever make. You can write anywhere and in short snatches. It doesn't require booting up orshutting down, no need to save, and it's always ready when you've goteven five minutes to spare.</li><li>The computer is far too much of a distraction for me. I had to stay away when writing, hence the Neo was absolute godsend.</li><li>Most of my writing was done between 10 AM and 3 PM, though as mentioned, I found I could write pretty much anytime with the Neo.</li></ul><p><br />It's a good feeling to finally have the whole story down on paper. I'm going to be taking a course in writing a query letter from Gotham Writers' Workshop that is supposedly going to be taught by an agent. One of the agents who sometimes teaches the course is actually the very agent who is first on my list, so it's a good opportunity. I've got a long way to go before I'm ready to send anything out, though. </p><p>I do, however, have a marketing plan for the novel. The book just screams for bumper stickers and t-shirts. There are some way-cool sayings that kept popping into my head as I was writing. It'd be fun to see those around town! I have also reserved a domain name, <a href="http://www.peterfarmer.org/">http://www.PeterFarmer.org</a>, which will serve as the home page for the series.</p><p>Much rejoicing!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-90085746606470247712007-12-26T13:26:00.000-07:002007-12-26T21:10:00.456-07:00ProfessionalismRecently, a writing friend of mine just had her first professional sale -- a major milestone in any writer's career. She also ran across a ten-year-old <a href="http://bar.baen.com/MessagePage.aspx?messageid=4a036bc5%24364c5d01%24406%40bar.baen.com">essay</a> by Mike Resnick that basically says anyone who sells to a non-pro magazine (defined as anything under 5 cents a word) is, essentially, a fool (in fairness, he didn't actually use that word, but there is an obvious disdain evidenced in the essay). Now, I don't know if Resnick still feels that way, but I think he's got it fundamentally wrong. I wrote as much in a reply to my friend's frustration, but I think it's worth repeating here.<br /><br />I wrote a little <a href="http://musingsonmuses.blogspot.com/2005/08/writing-speculative-fiction.html">essay</a> about Heinlein's rules for writers in my blog a while back if you want to see that discussion. The key is his last rule:<br /><br />"You must keep it on the market until it is sold."<br /><br />If all the prozines have rejected the story, then you try other markets -- you keep on trying until it is sold. So take heart, you're not just a professional writer, you're a successful professional writer, by definition.<br /><br />Resnick does have point that I think is worth considering, though. It's something I've been putting a lot of thought into. I don't believe that it is true any longer that short stories are the way to break into speculative fiction. In my opinion (and it's only my opinion, but it's a consdered one), the only way to have a career as a writer is to write novels. Think about it: Even if you had a short story published in <em>every</em> issue of <em>Analog</em> every month (a blatent impossibility), you couldn't make enough to live on. And there are lots of SF authors who didn't get started in short stories at all (Holly Lisle and David Weber come to mind -- Weber wrote a few, but that wasn't where he made his break). Now consider the fact that Analog has something like a 98% rejection rate, and you can start to see why living off of short story income is something of a dead end strategy -- even for the acknowledged pros.<br /><br />I think there is a purpose to writing short stories, however. Resnick points out -- and again, I agree with his assessment -- that writing a novel that is good enough to be sold is much harder than writing a short story that is publishable. In my mind, if you are learning to write, you will learn much faster writing short stories simply because you can go through the entire writing process many more times in the same period as you would spend writing a single novel. In short, you have more chances to make mistakes -- and learn from those mistakes -- writing short stories than you do writing novels.<br /><br />So, in my mind, writing short stories is equivalent to an apprenticeship. You're not writing them sell, you're writing them to learn. If someone -- anyone -- pays you money for the product of your learning effort, great! It's all free money, since the purpose of the story wasn't to make money anyway. Seen from that standpoint, Heinlein's rules are spot-on: There's no reason at all not to sell to the minors if the prozines have rejected your story. As a professional writer, you keep it on the market until it sells. As an apprentice writer, you also keep it on the market because learning how to write cover letters and sell pieces is -also- part of what you're supposed to learn.<br /><br />On the other hand, the implicit assumption in all this is that you are learning the craft in order to write novels -- good novels that sell through well and secure your career in writing SF. Not everyone likes writing novels, though. Unfortunately, for all the reasons stated above, I don't see any other way to make your living in the current world of fiction publishing.<br /><br />But, as Heinlein pointed out, just because you don't make your living from writing doesn't mean you aren't a professional. Resnick's opinion to the contrary is the fundamental flaw in his essay.<br /><br /><a href="http://bar.baen.com/MessagePage.aspx?messageid=4a036bc5%24364c5d01%24406%40bar.baen.com"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1158170907633828732006-09-13T11:08:00.000-07:002011-06-15T19:03:43.594-07:00Clarion East in San Diego<div>In case you hadn't heard the news, the original Clarion SF Writers' Workshop will be leaving its long-time home in Michigan and moving to -- San Diego? You can read the official announcement here: <a href="http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/rw-home.htm">http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/rw-home.htm</a>. As you might predict, previous graduates of Clarion are bemoaning the move, saying that while it will still be Clarion, it won't be the same Clarion they all attended. They say they won't feel the automatic bond they do with current Clarionites, much as they don't (according to some posters) feel a bond with the Clarion West graduates. Basically, I get the impression that they see this as the death of the "original Clarion" and the birth of "Clarion California".<br /><br />And they may be right. But I don't think so -- or more specifically, I don't really think it matters one way or the other. The value of Clarion (East, West, or South) is in the experience, the teachers, and the contacts you make. I get the impression that Clarion West graduates felt somewhat like second-class citizens with the Clarion East grads (who, I believe, never refer to themselves as anything other than just "Clarion graduates"). I think in the past decade or so, though, Clarion West has come into its own and proven that it is just as good as -- CW grads predictably argue its better than -- Clarion East. I think the wider recognition of the very term "Clarion <em>East</em>" illustrates that. One could even argue that Clarion West is somewhat better organized (Clarion East has had no end of uncertainty in its financing), but I really think that's more because of the support, or lack thereof, given by the hosting institutions. I would claim that both sets of administrators are top-notch. Given that, then, moving someplace where they can get better institutional support is, in my opinion, exactly what Clarion East needs.<br /><br />So where would I go? Well, up until this announcement, there was no question I would go to Clarion West. First and foremost, <em>all</em> of the instructors and students that I have met attended CW. That doesn't mean it's better, but it's true that graduates of the two workshops don't really intermingle much. Given that the education is the same, why not go to the one my friends have attended? It's not a comment on the quality of either workshop at all. Furthermore, it's a shorter and slightly cheaper plane ride to Seattle than to Michigan, so that would make it easier to visit family and have them visit me during the six weeks.<br /><br />But San Diego? My, my, that is tempting. I've never actually been to SD, but my wife has family and friends there. It has a number of things going for it: 1) It's only a six-hour drive, so I could actually drive myself there, 2) Plane tickets are about half the cost of plane tickets to Seattle, 3) IT'S WARM AND SUNNY (this is no small thing for someone with seasonal affective disorder -- Seattle is very close to Hell for someone with SAD), 4) There's a great beach, 5) Did I mention it was warm and sunny? The instructors for next summer are, in my mind, about equivalent. Both are heavy on the fantasy side, with only one real SF writer (Nancy Kress at West, Cory Doctorow at East). I love Nancy to death and would dearly like to study under her, but since I really want to go to Clarion to stretch my horizons as a writer, having all the fantasy and horror writers as instructors is actually a good thing for me -- maybe better than having SF authors in the long run.<br /><br />So where to apply? In the end, I think San Diego will probably win out. The reason is that no matter when I attend Clarion, it's going to be a huge sacrifice emotionally for my family. I'll have two small children at home who are going to <em>seriously</em> miss their Daddy (my college-age son is less likely to care...). I have a faithful and loving wife who is going to be forced to be the sole caregiver for a month and half, all while teaching astronomy every night. That's not going to be easy. Going to Clarion: SD would allow me to come home one weekend and fly them all out to SD another. Also, my ten year anniversary is coming up and we had plans to go to Disneyland. L.A. is still a pretty good ways from SD, but it's not impossible for me to meet them there (as much as I would rather introduce them to my classmates).<br /><br />And there's one other factor: I actually <em>like</em> being a trailblazer. Next year will be the first class at the new site. It's a chance to start some new traditions and hold a place of honor in Clarion history. That's not to be taken lightly.<br /><br />You may have noticed a fairly significant change in this post from my previous posts of just a few weeks ago. My wife and I have talked about it, and she feels (and I agree) that next summer is simply the one-and-only perfect time (professionally) for me to go to Clarion, particularly in light of my goals. So, we're going to go for it. I'm actually going to apply to Clarion in the spring. I'll definitely apply to both workshops, but if accepted to SD, I'll (with some regret because of my friends) definitely go there. I think my writing is up to Clarion level, so I feel like I have a decent shot of getting accepted (though it's not easy -- Clarion East got 76 applications for a bit over 20 slots last year). I've signed up for the Virtual Clarion Workshop and I think that will be valuable training. I'm also going to see if Marta Randall (past president of SFWA and a simply outstanding teacher) is still teaching SF at Gotham Writers' Workshop. If so, I'm going to take her advanced class in October. Hopefully the prep time will give me a good shot. Even if I don't get in, it will certainly help me make giant strides towards my goals. There's no substitute for good training. That's why I'm going to Clarion in the first place, in spite of the sacrifice.<br /><br />But they really have to figure out what they're going to call the workshop now...</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1157495159546954122006-09-05T15:25:00.000-07:002006-09-06T08:56:25.253-07:00Effortful StudyIt's been a productive day today. I wrote a new draft of my flash fiction story on my Neo while waiting for DMV to tell me that I don't have the paperwork they want (grrr...), did a bit of research for my Ph.D., and wrote a new scene for one of the short stories I'm working on. Not bad at all. The title of this entry comes from the Ph.D. research, actually. I was reading an article in <em>Scientific American</em>* about expertise and how experts remember things. It quotes some research that I already had in my thesis proposal, but one passage I found particularly relevant in light of the previous entry.<br /><br />Anders Ericsson argues that experience <em>per se</em> is not what matters for achieving expert status, but "effortful study." Erricsson defines effortful study as continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's ability. This explains why many people (myself included) show an early large improvement in ability, but this improvement rate rapidly tapers off as soon as the learner achieves an average level of proficiency. This applies to music, driving, golf, almost anything. In fact, Ericsson makes the example that someone can play ten thousand hours of golf and never achieve expert status because they aren't playing against anyone other than amateurs like themselves. Experts-in-training, Ericsson contends, are continually looking at their efforts and trying to figure out how they can improve.<br /><br />I've read many bios of science fiction grandmasters who say they taught themselves how to write by critically examining the works of others. The "Clarion Method" of workshopping fits well within Ericsson's theory as well -- in fact, it's an almost classic example, and certainly explains why students can progress so rapidly in just six weeks at Clarion. it also provides a bit of theoretical justification for my strive to get a Hugo in two years. A concerted effort to work towards that challenge -- well beyond my abilities right now -- is exactly what's needed to improve.<br /><br />It's also seriously making me wish I could go to Clarion next summer as planned. I had everything arranged so that next summer would be the perfect time, both logisitically and professionally. I think by next summer I will be exactly at the place in my professional development where Clarion will do me the most good. My daughter would also be old enough that she can live without Daddy for six weeks without too much hardship. With the new baby due in two months, though, that's going to be just the <em>wrong</em> time to be away. I would never forgive myself if I missed her first steps. Ah well. Life is what happens while we're making other plans, eh?<br /><br /><br /><br />*A side note, all science fiction authors should read <em>Scientific American</em> -- there's a wealth of story ideas there, accessible even to the non-scientist.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1157057050978019262006-08-31T13:44:00.000-07:002006-09-05T09:52:48.896-07:00WorldconIn looking back over this blog, I see that It's now been months since I last made an entry. That seems about proper, since for six months I was posting every day. I'm still not planning to post every day -- I have far, far too many things on my plate right now, most of them, fortunately, writing-related. Recording observations and things I've learned in a blog is good, but the temptation to write an essay every day is quite strong -- and essays are not the kind of writing I want to do just now. So, instead of a daily commentary on writing, I'm just going to use this blog to record any insights I've had that I don't want to lose. Many of these will simply go into the pocket journal I carry around with me everywhere, but when I happen to be near a computer, I'll see if I can't preserve them here instead.<br /><br />As the title of this entry indicates, I just got back from the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, popularly known as Worldcon. Now, I'm not really much of the convention type. I attended a few comic book conventions in college (and was bored out of my mind) and have been to a number of gaming conventions (where the point is to play and run games, not to attend panels). This was my first real exposure to "fandom," however. I found it interesting that while the con is basically a chance for fans of science fiction to get together and have fun, there is a parallel, almost secret track for writers of science fiction going on at the same time. Very few of the fans I met were interested in the writing panels or in meeting "famous writers." Most of fandom was centered on the movies and television shows, and rightfully so. There were some fans of written fiction, of course, quite a respectable number, in fact. But for the most part, the writing panels were attended by neo-professional writers and those that would like to be. What impressed me was how well the two groups got along, like a pair of favored cousins. There was a mutual respect that was evident, even if there was a rather strong separation of interest. It was a really interesting dynamic.<br /><br />Worldcon was an absolute blast, though, mostly because the friend who convinced me to come is friends with a couple who have been on both sides of the house (fan and writer) for over ten years now. <em>Everyone</em> knows them. I had no idea that the real con takes place in the parties, not in the panels (although the panels were interesting and incredibly valuable). As far as I know, this couple attended none of the actual panels. Why should they? Most of the panelists were coming up to them to have lunch and hang out. A case in point: I joined the writer of the couple for breakfast with Connie Willis, master of ceremonies for the Hugo Awards and winner of multiple Hugos herself. She's a delightful and encouraging person. The main thing that I took away from Worldcon, though, was a burning desire to <em>write</em>. To immerse myself in this world, to finally be able to "fellowship with my peers," as the saying goes.<br /><br />I also came out with a resolve to win a Hugo two years from now, or at least a Campbell award (for best new science fiction writer). I met the current Campbell recipient (before he knew he had won) and a couple of past recipients. Their stories are a lot like mine. They are much further along in their craft than I am, as much as two or three years further along. I also realized something I probably already knew, but hadn't let come to a conscious level: Every writer goes through a long (usually three or more year) struggle in which they have no idea if they are any good or not. Nor do they have any idea if they have <em>potential</em> to be good. It is in this latter bit that I find my motivation. Right now, I suck. While it's a notch above amateur, from a professional perspective, my writing sucks (if you'd like to see just how badly I suck, join the <a href="http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/">Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror</a> -- I'm starting to post some pieces there, though nothing I've yet been serious about). On the other hand, I have received two personal rejection letters, one hand-written from the editor of a magazine on par with the <em>New Yorker</em> and one from Stanley Schimdt of <em>Analog </em>(who said my writing was "quite good at times"), and have been told by a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America (she was my instructor in a writing course I took) that I've got a lot of talent. So while I do, in fact, suck, at least I know I've got the <em>potential</em> to be better. Whether or not I realize that potential entirely depends on whether or not I'm willing to sit in my chair <em>every day</em> until my writing finally comes into its own. You see, no one can teach you to write, not really. In the end, you have to teach yourself, and that only comes by, well, writing. I just finished a great book on the writing life by Heather Sellers called <em>Page After Page</em>. Read the book, but the best advice in the entire book is simply this:<br /><br />Give yourself permission to suck.<br /><br />That's it. You're in training, why should you expect to do anything else <em>but</em> suck? I do believe that anyone who writes -- and reads -- every single day for three years will write something good at the end of that time, assuming you have the slightest bit of talent (and most everyone does to some degree). I set a two-year goal for myself for three reasons: 1) I won't be going to Worldcon in Japan next year, but I will go to the 2008 Worldcon in Denver, 2) I am convinced that I have a modicum of (as yet undeveloped) talent and I think I can write something good in less time than the average person, and 3) I firmly believe that in order to succeed you have to shoot high, not with the mindset of "Oh, I'll aim high, but I know I probably won't get quite that close" but instead with the bullheaded drive to achieve that goal. Realistically, some of the best writers who have ever lived have not won a Hugo. What makes me think I can get that well known in that short period of time? Ah, the challenge! I love a challenge. Nothing spurs me on better!<br /><br />So here I am, finally back in training. I spent all summer teaching, all spring working on my Ph.D. thesis proposal. I'll have a baby coming on October 30th. But I've got a priority. I'll be teaching more than full-time after the baby comes, since I'll be teaching my wife's classes in addition to my own. But by that time, I'll be in the habit once again of "running a mile" every day in my writing. Once you get in training, it's a hell of a lot easier to just keep going. I'm counting on that. After all, babies have a habit of not sleeping, so I'll have plenty of time to think about writing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1147746883847754812006-05-15T19:34:00.000-07:002007-05-01T08:20:23.025-07:00It's Done Then!As you can see, I've been much too busy to post here lately. When I was finally completely free of NASA at the end of February, I realized that it was going to be very difficult to get my Ph.D. dissertation proposal finished by the end of the semester (especially since I've been teaching four college classes this semester as well). I decided, reluctantly, to put all of my other writing projects on hold and focus on the proposal.<br /><br />I submitted the first draft to my committee chair today!<br /><br />The proposal is exactly 30 pages, including eight pages of references. This is the third version of this that I've put together so far. Dealing with my committee is like going on a fishing trip. I'd give them a draft, and they'd say, "No, this is not quite what we want." Without, of course, saying it is they do want. This current version is my absolute best work. It's deeply researched, extremely focused, and I've tried to anticipate (and deal with) every possible objection they could come up with. In short, it ain't gonna get no better than this, Hoss. While I'm certainly open to specific suggestions or requests, the fishing expedition is hereby over. If they do to me what they've done the past two times, I'm done. I don't need the Ph.D. for anything. I'm a writer -- a Ph.D. is hardly a job requirement. Is it nice to have? Sure, but there is still a cost-benefit analysis that has to be made. I've made mine. I won't be doing a fourth major rewrite. Honestly, I have gone over and over this proposal. There's nothing, nothing wrong with it. If they don't accept this one, then there's not much hope of ever getting one done. I don't think that will happen, but then again, it shouldn't have happened with earlier incarnations either.<br /><br />Time will tell...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1145044472769681452006-04-14T12:54:00.000-07:002006-04-14T12:55:16.220-07:00WriteWay ProI have been using WriteWay Pro for a few weeks now. Let me just say, this program rocks. I was a bit skeptical that it would be useful, but it really does make the process of writing a long novel much easier. You can have "notecards" that are readily accessible while you are writing text. You can also do full character sketches (including pictures of your character), and have all that info handy when you need it (no more searching for the character's alma mater that you made up on page 9 -- just record it as you write). The printing functions are outstanding. Just by selecting a couple of radio buttons you can choose how much of the story to print (scene, chapter, act, or the entire book), and it will automatically format in draft or manuscript form (for submission) as you choose. In the Pro version (which I have) you can also print galleys, which puts two facing pages on a single landscape page (it looks roughly like a paperback book opened up). The main feature that I find useful, though, is having the outline of scene titles continuously on the left side of the screen. This allows me to really focus on writing a single, independent scene, yet helps me keep in mind its place in the larger whole. A small thing, maybe, but it turns out to be a major boon to have this all in one place. All the formatting options you would expect are there, but my only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be keyboard shortcuts for underline, bold, etc. Also, the spell checker does not run continuously as Word does; you have to run it from the menu. Still, those are pretty minor complaints compared to everything else. The Pro version also allows you to keep up with "research folders," which can include everything from web pages (which will be displayed in the folder) to pictures to text. This is turning out to be pretty useful as well. I've always kept my notes in text files in a folder for each WIP, but it is nice to call something up without having to leave the WriteWay editor. It's probably not worth the $30 difference in price, but it is a major convenience.<br /><br />I'm even using WriteWay to write my dissertation for my PhD. It's turning out to be a great way to organize my thoughts and being able to rearrange whole section by just dragging and dropping is a godsend!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1143268430803579562006-03-24T23:33:00.000-07:002006-03-24T23:34:36.066-07:00HumorI've been thinking about the novel I've been working on, and I think I've finally put my finger on what's been bothering me about the tone of the book. In looking back, all of the memorable characters I've created have been <em>funny</em>. More precisely, they've had a very dry sense of humor, and that's come through in the writing. I'm not saying that I write slapstick or even comedy -- I don't -- but all of the characters that I've truly liked have been able to look at the world and find something ironic or humorous to say about it. In my current story, I've tried to take a very serious approach to the tale. That comes about originally because one of the main sub-themes in the book was going to be that the protagonist (a teenager) would basically have to prostitute herself to make her escape from the world she's on. That's a serious subject, and really isn't something to be kidding around with. So, I've been trying to emphasize the tragic nature of the protagonist, one way to increase the dramatic tension in the story.<br /><br />There's nothing wrong with this, and it can work quite well -- but it's not me. Yes, I can write okay stories in this mode, but they aren't what I consider to be my best work. I think the reason I haven't been as pleased with the plot so far is that I've cast the character with the wrong personality. Yes, she's a reluctant revolutionary. Yes, she is a natural leader whether she wants to admit or not. Yes, she's had a hard life. But she can still maintain a sense of humor about it! Some of the best scenes I've written so far have had that humor come through -- but it was inappropriate for the character I'd been developing. I found myself having to write scenes where she says (essentially), "I can't believe I actually said that!" Ya think she's trying to tell me something? : )<br /><br />So that's definitely going into the next re-write. As most of you know, I've never tried to write a novel before, only short stories. One thing you gotta say for short stories: It's a heck of a lot easier to make major changes like this!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1142917882584789182006-03-20T22:11:00.000-07:002006-03-20T22:13:16.423-07:00A Double Woo-hooSince my computer was in the shop last week, I didn't think to check to see if the latest issue of the <em>Journal of the Traveler's Aid Society </em>(a gaming magazine I read that has gone to an online format) was out. I checked tonight, and sure enough it was -- and not only they, I found not one, but <em>two</em> articles of mine in this issue! And not only did they buy the text to both articles, they bought the artwork I drew for one of the articles as well! This will be a fat paycheck... That means that so far I've sold everything I've submitted to this magazine. It helps greatly that I'm a long-time reader of the magazine (I have, I believe, every issue since it was started in 1977). Because I've been reading the magazine for so long, I know exactly the kinds of things they buy. It definitely pays off to do market research before writing the article instead of the other way around.<br /><br />I can think of a few times when an author has had two articles in the same issue of this magazine, but it doesn't happen very often. I recognize that it has more to do with fitting articles to the available space than anything else, but still, it certainly looks good for me! Time to update the sales page of my author website, I guess. I'm pretty psyched!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1142654630532915802006-03-17T21:03:00.000-07:002006-03-17T21:04:26.130-07:00Back OnlineI finally got my computer back form the repair place today. It took them five days to replace the keyboard and network card (a five minute operation) and reinstall the system software (a one-hour operation). I took it to them on Monday, the first day of our spring break, and got it back on Friday -- the last day of spring break. So much for getting caught up with my projects over the break! Oh well, at least the wireless card works now, which is a major boon. I've restored all of my data to this machine from my wife's computer, so now it's just a matter of reinstalling my software. Hopefully things should go a little more smoothly now. Nevertheless, it's not as bad as it could be. I just picked up the 16" x 20" print of last year's art nude photo from the photographer (8 months late, grumble). She said her whole drive crashed, so she had to take it to a data recovery place. They recovered all 35,000 of her photos, but the file names were nothing but numbers. She now has to sort and rename all 35,000 photos. Ouch...<br /><br />All these computer troubles make me appreciate my Neo even more. It's always ready, doesn't crash, and does nothing but what I need it to do. It really is the perfect writing machine. I highly recommend it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1142484671020730202006-03-15T21:51:00.000-07:002006-03-15T21:52:12.123-07:00Happy Birthday, Sunshine!Today my daughter turned three. We've been playing this up as a big day for several weeks now -- she's a "big girl" now! When she woke up this morning, she was thrilled beyond imagining that it was her birthday. And not, as with most kids (and adults), because she was going to be getting presents. She doesn't remember her second birthday, so really didn't have much of an expectation there. In this case, it was all about status. As a three year old, she's no longer a baby. The first thing she said when she woke up was, "I need to throw away my paci's!" After all, big girls don't use pacifiers. And sure enough, she tossed them one by one into the trash can.<br /><br />She's been a delight all day long. At one point, she just burst out with, "I'm so happy!" What a hoot! Sure, she loved the cake and presents when they finally came, but having a milestone special day was what made it for her. Everyone has commented on how adorable she was today. We brought cupcakes to her school to share with her friends. She took a cupcake and presented it to each of her friends, giving each one a kiss on the cheek as she did so. What a sweetie! She is just too cute for words.<br /><br />Happy birthday, sunshine. I'm glad you came along our way. I love you!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1142311637646096802006-03-13T21:47:00.000-07:002006-09-06T09:02:54.533-07:00I'm Back (more or less)Things are starting to settle down a bit (though that's about to change, see below), so I'm going to try to start posting quasi-regularly again. I've decided that I'm not going to try to post every day, though, but I think once or twice a week is pretty reasonable. I want to keep this blog focused on writing, to the greatest extent possible, and sometimes there's just not much more to say other than, "Yep, wrote some today." I know some writers post their daily word counts, but I've always found that rather dull. I am planning on trying out the Write Way Pro software, so I'll post a review of that later on.<br /><br />The big news, however, is that we found out my wife is pregnant! The baby is due around Halloween. We're cautiously excited. We don't have a terribly good track record with this, as we've lost two out of three babies, so anything could happen. She goes to the OB for the first time on the 27th, so we really won't know much more until then. It's a huge change for our family, but we're well and truly pleased. Here's hoping!<br /><br />In other news, as of 1 March, I'm officially a free agent and no longer employed by NASA or Arizona State University. That's a huge relief to have that particular monkey off of my back. Sadly, my boss at ASU and I have some pretty serious disagreements as to the level of the last activity I wrote for her. She seems convinced that most teachers are incompetent (she doesn't put it quite that way, of course, she calls them "beta teachers", as opposed to the good "alpha teachers") and so couldn't handle anything other than a mindless cookbook-style activity. I like to give teachers a lot more credit than that -- my experience has been that with only a very few exceptions, most teachers are highly-trained, highly-motivated professionals. You have to be to want to teach in today's educational climate. Ultimately, since she is the customer and I'm the consultant, she can do what she wants with the activity, but one would think that as a consultant, she's paying me for my expertise (something she lacks, though she is loathe to admit that). We'll see how they make the final product turn out, but if they change it too much from my original, I may ask that my name be taken off of it. We'll see.<br /><br />And the last bit of news, my computer apparently got a virus (I assume -- neither Norton nor McAfee ever detected anything) that made the machine no longer recognize .exe, .bat, or .com files. Pretty hard to troubleshoot in that case! I was able to access the hard drive over the network, and backed most things up, but I realized this morning I did not get my archived writing folder. That hurts pretty bad. I have hard copies of everything (NEVER rely solely on electronic backups), but that still means a lot of retyping if I ever need that material. One of the pieces I lost is an article I've sent off to a magazine that includes three maps -- each of which took me several days to make. I have the hard copies of those as well, but if the editor decides he wants changes to the maps, I've got a lot of fast work ahead of me. If he does, I'll have to decide whether to ask him to send me electronic copies back. While I realize these happen -- and so does he, I'm sure -- it does seem very unprofessional to me. I'll have to check my old CD-ROM backups to see if I have these, but I doubt I do. My older stuff should be there, though. My current work in progress is safely on my Neo (including my research notes), so I didn't lose anything there, thank goodness. I hate machines. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1140317687847731762006-02-18T19:54:00.000-07:002006-02-18T19:53:59.570-07:00A Sort of "Woo-Hoo"Yeah, I know I said I wasn't going to post for a while, but I thought this was worth sharing. I heard back from <em>Cicada</em> magazine the other day about the story I sent to them. I saw that they had returned the story, so I knew they hadn't accepted it, so I didn't really look through the packet to read the rejection slip. Rejections don't bother me, that's a big part of the writing game. If you can't handle rejections, then you're in the wrong field. So today I was cleaning up the counter and decided to file the rejection letter. I pulled it out of the envelope and realized that the editor had written me a fairly long (half-page) hand-written note praising the writing but saying it was a bit too long and had a bit too much technological language for their magazine. That's about as good as it gets, folks (short of buying the story, of course), so that's call for celebration. Cicada is a top-of-the-line market. They pay about $850 for stories. I sent it out figuring I may as well shoot for the top (see my December 1 blog entry), so I was psyched to get such a positive response. The editor made it clear the writing was great, but the story wasn't quite right for their magazine. More importantly -- and as I understand it, this almost never happens -- she gave me advice on what they <em>are</em> looking for in a story. If she didn't think my writing had potential, she wouldn't have bothered. Much rejoicing!<br /><br />So, I've got two professional editors (here and Stanley Schmidt at <em>Analog</em>) who have written me personal notes saying my writing was good, even if the story wasn't quite right for their magazine. I can't begin to tell you how encouraging that is. Maybe there's hope for a career in this!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1140190501535916412006-02-17T08:35:00.000-07:002006-02-17T08:36:42.386-07:00Still AliveAs you've no doubt noticed, I haven't posted to this blog in a week. I'm coming to the end of my work at NASA (I finish at the end of the month), so I'm scrambling to get all the last-minute stuff done. I'm also embroiled in a strong disagreement with the director of the program about the educational content of the activity I've been writing (essentially, she wants <em>less</em> educational content, if you can believe that -- she feels that teachers are basically lazy and no one but the "alpha" teachers will pick up a lesson that has anything more than blindly -- and mindlessly -- following a cookbook recipe. An attitude that offends me in the extreme...). Ultimately, she is the customer and I'm the consultant, so I'll give her what she wants, but I'm very seriously considering having my name removed from association with the product. One would think that I was hired for my (widely recognized, if I do say so myself) expertise. If she chooses to ignore that expertise, why bother having me write it in the first place?<br /><br />At any rate, in a few weeks I can wash my hands of the whole deal, as disappointing as that is to me. I'm not naïve enough to believe that just because I'm no longer getting paid, I won't be still finishing this up. I probably won't be posting again (unless I get a spare minute) until mid-March or so. When I started this blog, I had planned to see where we were at the six-month mark and decide then whether or not to continue posting on a regular basis. Six months has passed (can you believe it?), but I'll wait until March to decide if there is enough value to keep going. We'll see how it goes.<br /><br />See you in March!<br /><br />*Incidentally, this is my first post using The Journal from a different computer than my own. I installed it to my USB drive (the program has a specific installation option for that), and it seems to be working fine! Gotta love that...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1139630825827693132006-02-10T21:07:00.000-07:002006-02-10T21:08:07.136-07:00Protecting the Innocent (and the Not-So)One of the recurring questions almost all writers have is "How much of my writing can be based on real people?" You see, even if we don't explicitly base a character on a person we know, our friends and family are constantly reading our work and looking for themselves or people they know in it. If they decide a character is based on them, and that character does reprehensible or simply embarrassing things, then you are setting yourself up for major row. It doesn't matter if you really were thinking of the real person or not when you created the character. As I've written before, it is our life experiences that provide the raw material for our stories, but that raw material is very rarely used verbatim. It's just the straw that we spin into gold, and "any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." But our friends and family don't generally buy that line.<br /><br />So, should write to protect your loved ones from controversy? Or to put it another way, would you want your mother to read the steamy and perverse S&M-laden sex scene you just wrote for your protagonist? It doesn't matter if you have never (and would never) participate in such an activity, if it needs to happen with your character, then it needs to happen. But plan on raising a few eyebrows if write a sex scene in which the protagonist has an affair with his sister-in-law. Your brother may start watching you extra closely...<br /><br />So, again, should you shy away from this type of thing? The answer is an unequivocal "no." The minute you tie your hands (no pun intended), you have effectively hamstrung your ability to write moving, meaningful stories. You may end up being the "bad child" as a result of your writing, but if you write to be the "good child" then you've doomed your career before it starts. Sometimes it's best to have a talk with the family about what fiction is and what the creative process is like <em>before</em> the book is written and not try to explain it after the fact. Beyond that, write what has to be written. Only you can be true to your Muse, after all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1139628452725620122006-02-09T20:27:00.000-07:002006-02-10T20:26:11.846-07:00Do You Call Yourself a Writer?Twice this week I've had a casual conversation with a near-stranger. As is often the case, one of the standard small talk lines is "What do you do for a living?" So here's my question to you: Do you call yourself a writer? I've been writing for a long time, but the vast majority of the things I've had published wouldn't be known by Joe Average-On-The-Street. I do, however, write freelance now (or near full time, as I'm still working on my Ph.D. as well). It used to be I could say, "I work for NASA," and that would start up all kinds of interesting conversations, but in about three weeks, I won't be able to say that any more. Many people still consider someone who stays at home and writes all day to be basically a bum who couldn't get a real job. Even some well-intentioned folks betray that subconscious bias sometimes. For example, Betsy Lerner (<em>The Forest for the Trees</em>) reports a story she heard a writer who was seeing a therapist (a subject worth an entry all its own, I guess). The therapist only wanted to schedule the writer for morning appointments, since she saved her after-5:00 appointments for "people who work." The assumption is that since you work at home, you aren't really employed and so can make any appointment during the day -- never mind that your "peak writing hours" may be at midday or even from 9 to 5, the same as people with "outside" jobs.<br /><br />There's no reason why non-writers should understand that writing <em>is</em> a job and that it takes just as much effort and <em>work</em> as any other job. We writers are guilty sometimes of wanting to make it seem like "magic" so we can enhance our mystique, as well. But when you are in casual conversation with a non-writer, you don't really want to take the time to explain all about the writing process and how much work it really is -- and you would be considered a bore if you did. On the other hand, if you call yourself a writer, but they haven't read anything you've written (or seen it published), then their suspicions are obviously confirmed -- you can't be much of a writer if you aren't getting published in the "major" magazines. Never mind that there are many, many very successful professional writers who neither have published in the "majors" nor are they seeking to. My education writing is in a very esoteric market, yet I'm highly respected within that market --but Joe Average has never heard of any of it, so that really doesn't matter, does it?<br /><br />I'm proud to be a writer, and I generally introduce myself as such, particularly since I no longer have another "label" to use in small talk. But I still haven't found a really good, quick way to convey that in the positive sense that it is, and I'll admit to feeling just a tiny bit uncomfortable calling myself a writer to strangers. If I publish a book they can find in Borders, then I think I'd feel better about. But let's face it, that's just silly. You're a writer because of what you do, not because of what and where you publish. And yet...<br /><br />How do you deal with small talk situations?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13828300.post-1139537301230051552006-02-08T19:08:00.000-07:002006-02-09T19:12:16.296-07:00The DemonI'm continuing to read <em>The Forest for the Trees</em>, and while it isn't breathtakingly illuminating, it is at somewhat thought-provoking. I just finished the chapter on how writing and alcoholism seem to often go hand in hand. It starts out innocently enough, a drink to loosen up and inspire before sitting down to write. But in almost every case, as you might expect, eventually the drinking <em>kept</em> them from writing instead of making it possible. As Shakespeare said about sex and alcohol, "It builds you up, but then it ... lets you down."<br />Apparently, the last generation of writers considered being hard-drinking to be a character trait essential to maintain the "image of the artist." Let me just say that I'm glad this at least has changed (or at least is changing very quickly). We're starting to see that no matter how much the alcohol may help to begin with, it the end it always is the main source that ended a career (an sometimes a life).<br /><br />Now, I do drink. I like alcohol, and I don't have any moral compunction not to drink (Jesus drank wine, don't forget). The problem here is not the alcohol itself, it's relying on <em>anything</em> to "get your Muse going." Your Muse should come from you and your love of writing and your desire to communicate, be it a good story or an illuminating piece of non-fiction. I don't care if it's alcohol or pink pajamas, anytime you rely on something other than yourself and your life for inspiration, you're asking for trouble. At best you're hamstringing your talent; at worst, you could be destroying it altogether.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0