S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 192
June 9, 2011
Gumball Wars
Call me a kid, but I absolutely adored the storytelling in this.
Video link swiped from Kuriositas.
Gumball Wars from Scott Thierauf on Vimeo.
Video link swiped from Kuriositas.
June 8, 2011
Facebookless
I can't seem to escape the clutches of In order to obtain a Vanity URL, you must first have 25+ "Likes" on your page.
Aside from the fact that I'm not so vain that I would even consider setting up my own fan page, I'm stumped. Likes? Likes what? My books? My hair? My sparkling personality? I never got the Likes memo. Anyway, I keep reading, and find this:
Spread the word! Friends and family are included! It's okay to ask your friends, family, and co-workers to "Like" your page.
So they don't think 25 complete random strangers would like my page? Maybe they're right. Only a very few friends I know in real life visit here occasionally, so maybe the rest of you 6,993 people stop by here every day because you don't like me. Go on, tell me, I can take it. I know my Mom still likes me. Sniff.
Kidding. I get what they're trying to do. Fortunately I'm off the hook: according to my kids a fan page for me already exists on Facebook. I can't look at it because (rimshot) I'd have to first join Facebook. But apparently these nice people like my books enough to create a genuine fan page, so that should get me excused from faking one, the thought of which to be honest makes my skin crawl a bit. All's well etc.
Since last year I've also been getting these be-my-friend gems e-mailed to my fan e-mail account every week:
This kind of Facebook SPAM that disturbs me because I know at least one of these people is an author. Not that I think he's a fan or actually wants to be my friend, but I can't even send the professional courtesy of a polite no-thanks unless -- you guessed it -- I first join Facebook.
Which brings me to this practice of using the word friend to connect people via social media. I find it a bit troubling. One of the reasons I never considered using LiveJournal (aside from the fact that I'm not cool enough for it) is because they employ friend as means of linkage coercion. I friend you, you friend me, and we're all friends. My (obviously picky) belief that the word friend should have more meaning than simply the right to use reciprocal links is definitely not in step with the times.
Also, if someone asks to be your friend, they're paying you a compliment, right? Unless they just want a link so they can boost their traffic, in which case, maybe not. Of course if you say no for any reason, you're behaving like a snotty unfriendly jackass, which encourages negative backlash, expecially from those who for whatever reason expect to be friended. Every time I think about the friend thing I give myself a headache.
I realize social media offers many obviously irresistible marketing opportunities. I respect the working writers out there who take the time to do all this stuff, too; frankly I don't know how you guys handle it and keep up with the work. I'm just concerned that it all seems to be heading in a direction that is self-defeating and devaluing.
Thus I will continue to be Facebookless, and do my own thing, and see what happens.
June 7, 2011
The Bruised Muse
A quick heads-up for anyone thinking of mailing something to me via the postal service, UPS, FedEx or any other snail mail avenue: for the time being, please don't. The service that provided the mail-drop I've been using suddenly went out of business, and I am still in the process of making new arrangements. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.
This is a peek at bluebird babies batch #2, as the parents of the quadruplets born back in April came back to nest again in the same house. This time they had triplets (at least I think there are three; I'm only seeing a trio of little faces whenever I take pictures.)
I'm impressed by this species, which is not only way fertile but very focused on care giving. Both parents go back and forth all day every day to the nest to bring bugs, check on the youngsters and clean the nest (in my opinion you have not lived until you've watched a father bluebird fly off with a big white pellet of baby bird poop in his beak.)
This is the first deadline week I've had all year where I haven't felt as if I'm trying to keep up with the bluebirds. In part the extra work I did in April and May is responsible for unloading a lot off my schedule, but I'm also making a renewed effort to simplify as much as possible, not sweat the small stuff, etc. It does make a difference in my attitude every time I go to work, although I could use a couple days off to recharge the batteries.
Until I have the chance for some downtime, I've grabbed my first edition copy of Judy Reeves's The Writer's Book of Days to re-read a little each morning. This book always sprinkles a little writing fairy dust on my muse when it's bruised. I know the minute I stomp this final spring deadline I am also heading for the sewing machine, too. I am in great need of doing some serious needlework.
How do you deal with a bruised muse? Got a secret source of writing fairy dust you want to share? Let us know in comments.
This is a peek at bluebird babies batch #2, as the parents of the quadruplets born back in April came back to nest again in the same house. This time they had triplets (at least I think there are three; I'm only seeing a trio of little faces whenever I take pictures.)
I'm impressed by this species, which is not only way fertile but very focused on care giving. Both parents go back and forth all day every day to the nest to bring bugs, check on the youngsters and clean the nest (in my opinion you have not lived until you've watched a father bluebird fly off with a big white pellet of baby bird poop in his beak.)
This is the first deadline week I've had all year where I haven't felt as if I'm trying to keep up with the bluebirds. In part the extra work I did in April and May is responsible for unloading a lot off my schedule, but I'm also making a renewed effort to simplify as much as possible, not sweat the small stuff, etc. It does make a difference in my attitude every time I go to work, although I could use a couple days off to recharge the batteries.
Until I have the chance for some downtime, I've grabbed my first edition copy of Judy Reeves's The Writer's Book of Days to re-read a little each morning. This book always sprinkles a little writing fairy dust on my muse when it's bruised. I know the minute I stomp this final spring deadline I am also heading for the sewing machine, too. I am in great need of doing some serious needlework.
How do you deal with a bruised muse? Got a secret source of writing fairy dust you want to share? Let us know in comments.
June 6, 2011
Novel Series Outlining
My newest editor gave me an interesting task last week that I thought I'd share. First, the backstory: In January the editor I'd worked with for the last seven years decided to quit the business. When something like this happens, most writers quietly have a cow (and I admit, for a day or two I had a small calf) but it can also be a good thing. Shortly after the bomb dropped I recognized the sterling opportunity peeking out from under the rubble, and moved quickly to request reassignment to an editor I've wanted to work with for some time -- and got it.
The only pickle still floating in the party punch was what the new editor inherited along with me: the new Darkyn trilogy. Since my new editor hadn't worked on the original series, she doesn't have first-hand knowledge of all the characters, plot lines and world-building in those books. And while I always try to include enough history in every book to keep new-to-me readers from getting lost, an editor needs to know a lot more. When she asked me to write up an overview of the characters and stories from the original series, I jumped right on it.
Outlining an entire series after you've written it might sound easy, but for me it meant condensing over 1700 pages of notes, plots, synopses, character outlines, research etc. into a reference document that someone with no knowledge of my novels could understand and use. Basically I put aside all my notes, wrote up what I would say if we were talking about my books in person, and then edited that first draft down to the simplest details.
A series outline can include, but is not limited to:
A series premise -- the tag or hook line for the entire series.
Titles in reading order
World-building outline -- this is often difficult to summarize, especially if you've built your world(s) from scratch. My advice is to map it out as briefly as you can using broad points to illustrate only the most important elements.
Plot summaries for each book -- to avoid writing full synopses, try to limit your summaries to one paragraph.
Character outlines -- major facts only. You may want to add appearance references (i.e. which book(s) does this character appear.)
There are also some genre-specific details you may want to include, such as a timeline of story and historic events, an explanation of a magic system, family or relationship trees, planetary or technological features, or any element of your invention that contributes significantly in some way to the series. Just remember to avoid getting caught up in TME (too much explanation.)
Depending on what information is needed there are a couple of ways to do a series outline, so it's also a good idea to ask for specifics as to what the editor wants to see. I did, and my editor requested just the major players and their story lines, so I focused my overviews accordingly, and distilled the series down to eleven pages, which I think is pretty decent given the mountain of information involved.
If you're considering writing a series, this is also a good way to figure out your ideas in advance. This comes in very handy when you sell the first novel and the editor asks, "Are you planning to write a sequel or a series?" Having your series outline prepared can even result in an offer for multiple books versus one.
To show you how I wrote my outline, I've uploaded some samples from it, which you can read here (warning, this includes spoilers for If Angels Burn.)
The only pickle still floating in the party punch was what the new editor inherited along with me: the new Darkyn trilogy. Since my new editor hadn't worked on the original series, she doesn't have first-hand knowledge of all the characters, plot lines and world-building in those books. And while I always try to include enough history in every book to keep new-to-me readers from getting lost, an editor needs to know a lot more. When she asked me to write up an overview of the characters and stories from the original series, I jumped right on it.
Outlining an entire series after you've written it might sound easy, but for me it meant condensing over 1700 pages of notes, plots, synopses, character outlines, research etc. into a reference document that someone with no knowledge of my novels could understand and use. Basically I put aside all my notes, wrote up what I would say if we were talking about my books in person, and then edited that first draft down to the simplest details.
A series outline can include, but is not limited to:
A series premise -- the tag or hook line for the entire series.
Titles in reading order
World-building outline -- this is often difficult to summarize, especially if you've built your world(s) from scratch. My advice is to map it out as briefly as you can using broad points to illustrate only the most important elements.
Plot summaries for each book -- to avoid writing full synopses, try to limit your summaries to one paragraph.
Character outlines -- major facts only. You may want to add appearance references (i.e. which book(s) does this character appear.)
There are also some genre-specific details you may want to include, such as a timeline of story and historic events, an explanation of a magic system, family or relationship trees, planetary or technological features, or any element of your invention that contributes significantly in some way to the series. Just remember to avoid getting caught up in TME (too much explanation.)
Depending on what information is needed there are a couple of ways to do a series outline, so it's also a good idea to ask for specifics as to what the editor wants to see. I did, and my editor requested just the major players and their story lines, so I focused my overviews accordingly, and distilled the series down to eleven pages, which I think is pretty decent given the mountain of information involved.
If you're considering writing a series, this is also a good way to figure out your ideas in advance. This comes in very handy when you sell the first novel and the editor asks, "Are you planning to write a sequel or a series?" Having your series outline prepared can even result in an offer for multiple books versus one.
To show you how I wrote my outline, I've uploaded some samples from it, which you can read here (warning, this includes spoilers for If Angels Burn.)
June 5, 2011
Freeware Ten
Ten Things You Can Have for Free
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
is "Digital Transcription Audio Player Software" that is "free professional audio player software for PC, Mac or Linux designed to assist the transcription of audio recordings. A typist can install it on their computer and control audio playback using a transcription foot pedal or keyboard (with 'hot' keys). This computer transcriber application also offers valuable features for typists including variable speed playback, multi-channel control, playing video, file management, and more: (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7, Mac, Linux)
HandyFind lets you "find words as you type in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Notepad, and more. You'll find what you're looking for as soon as you enter enough letters. Don't scroll around. Don't use the Find dialog. Just type where you want to go" (OS: Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT)
InfohesiveEP was "designed to be an easy to use digital content conversion application and ePublisher suite for individuals, publishers, authors, educational institutions, and commercial businesses. Import and Export to a wide range of formats including CHM, HTML, and ePub. Easily create professional level eBooks, Help Files, ePublications, and PDFs with the feature-rich editor. Build trial versions and generate serial numbers so your ePublications are protected from piracy and illegal copying. Superb Outliner functions including drag and drop to easily change the structure of your work, and automated creation of Contents and Index pages. Reuse your favorite layouts by defining your own Outliner Templates. Quickly categorize and recognize Articles according to user-defined Tab labelling. Lifetime Royalty-free distribution of InfoHesiveEP publications: Windows eBook, PDF, HTML, CHM Help File, RTF & more. Powerful onboard search capability. Version backups allow you to quickly revert to an earlier draft. WorkSpace and ePublication encryption and security functions. Create content with rich text, images, links, tables, anchors etc. Create File Items that point to a File and URL Items that point to a remote web address. Drag and Drop functionality. Spell Check and on-board Thesaurus. Extensive InfoHesiveEP Help File" (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
MemoMaster serves as a "structured filing system for text information of all kinds that is based on hierarchies. Notes, calculations, tables, forms, pictures, links and files are stored in the Memos. The layout of a Memo database can be created by using folders, sub-folders and Memos in a tree structure. The integrated full-text search allows you to do research quickly and effectively. The usage of MemoMaster is universal. MemoMaster allows you to administer non-fictional texts or useful descriptions, ideas, scrap texts, charges, addresses or recipes. You may also arrange organizational instructions, archive support databases or entries according to date. Create own entry forms with a few mouse clicks only and use them as a database within the database" (OS: Win9x, Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
Noah is "the first application to free your information from the separate "data islands" of your browser, email client, contact manager, file folders, schedule and RSS feeds. Noah bridges these currently divided data sources and makes it all accessible from a single interface. And your data is always available, online or offline. Emails, website bookmarks, desktop files, contacts, it's all in there somewhere. In Noah you never have to spend hours searching for this stuff again, it's all in one place arranged by date and time. If you can roughly remember when something happened, you can find it with a few clicks, and you will find everything else that was happening during the same day, hour, or minute. Because Noah arranges all of your information automatically, exactly the way you want it" (OS: WinXP)
NotesLogExp allows the user to "take your notes & documents anywhere, no setup, no registration, use on any computer. Use NotesLogExp to store, catalog, manage, secure, search, sort, or export . Notes, documents & various pieces of information, phonebook, tasks, links, are stored in a password protected data base. Items are searched by any field. Internet sites, downloads links, documents, files, pictures, programs, and folders can be stored and opened directly from within NotesLogExp" (OS: Win9x, Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
Photobie is "an Image Editing software with most features similar to Photoshop plus advanced screen capture and photo frame editing features. With photobie screen capture you can prepare presentation very simply. Photobie has simple user interface. Furthermore, if you have MS Word and other software that create specific graphics or art fonts, then with Photobie you can simply capture it and paste it to any image. Photobie supports multiple-layer image retouching for advanced image editing. Starting at version 2.8, Photobie now supports thousands of Photoshop filter plugins" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)
Read This! is "a TTS (Text-To-Speech) engine. It speaks your words! You can make your text become auditory from many languages, furthermore you can save the resulting audio to a Wave file (*.wav) on the disk as well, then use it in your video tutorials, or redistribute it as you like it" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)
Scribus is "powerful software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best result. There is an enthusiastic and friendly community around Scribus that assists beginner and pro alike through our mailing list, IRC channel, wiki, contracted support, and the bugtracker" (OS: Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Win NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7)
The Guide "evolved from the need to have an application that could organize information and ideas in a hierarchical, tree-like structure. Tree-based structures are frequently employed to manage information through a "divide-and-conquer" approach, wherein each level of the tree represents a further level of specialization of the parent-level topic — the best example of this being a book. The Guide is an application that allows you create documents ("guides") which inherently have a tree (which you can modify as you please) and text associated with each node of the tree. The text itself is of the rich-text variety, and the editor allows you to modify the style and formatting of the text (fonts, bold, italics etc). For the initiated, the Guide is a two-pane extrinsic outliner. This concept is similar to mindmapping in some ways" (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
is "Digital Transcription Audio Player Software" that is "free professional audio player software for PC, Mac or Linux designed to assist the transcription of audio recordings. A typist can install it on their computer and control audio playback using a transcription foot pedal or keyboard (with 'hot' keys). This computer transcriber application also offers valuable features for typists including variable speed playback, multi-channel control, playing video, file management, and more: (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7, Mac, Linux)
HandyFind lets you "find words as you type in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Notepad, and more. You'll find what you're looking for as soon as you enter enough letters. Don't scroll around. Don't use the Find dialog. Just type where you want to go" (OS: Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT)
InfohesiveEP was "designed to be an easy to use digital content conversion application and ePublisher suite for individuals, publishers, authors, educational institutions, and commercial businesses. Import and Export to a wide range of formats including CHM, HTML, and ePub. Easily create professional level eBooks, Help Files, ePublications, and PDFs with the feature-rich editor. Build trial versions and generate serial numbers so your ePublications are protected from piracy and illegal copying. Superb Outliner functions including drag and drop to easily change the structure of your work, and automated creation of Contents and Index pages. Reuse your favorite layouts by defining your own Outliner Templates. Quickly categorize and recognize Articles according to user-defined Tab labelling. Lifetime Royalty-free distribution of InfoHesiveEP publications: Windows eBook, PDF, HTML, CHM Help File, RTF & more. Powerful onboard search capability. Version backups allow you to quickly revert to an earlier draft. WorkSpace and ePublication encryption and security functions. Create content with rich text, images, links, tables, anchors etc. Create File Items that point to a File and URL Items that point to a remote web address. Drag and Drop functionality. Spell Check and on-board Thesaurus. Extensive InfoHesiveEP Help File" (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
MemoMaster serves as a "structured filing system for text information of all kinds that is based on hierarchies. Notes, calculations, tables, forms, pictures, links and files are stored in the Memos. The layout of a Memo database can be created by using folders, sub-folders and Memos in a tree structure. The integrated full-text search allows you to do research quickly and effectively. The usage of MemoMaster is universal. MemoMaster allows you to administer non-fictional texts or useful descriptions, ideas, scrap texts, charges, addresses or recipes. You may also arrange organizational instructions, archive support databases or entries according to date. Create own entry forms with a few mouse clicks only and use them as a database within the database" (OS: Win9x, Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
Noah is "the first application to free your information from the separate "data islands" of your browser, email client, contact manager, file folders, schedule and RSS feeds. Noah bridges these currently divided data sources and makes it all accessible from a single interface. And your data is always available, online or offline. Emails, website bookmarks, desktop files, contacts, it's all in there somewhere. In Noah you never have to spend hours searching for this stuff again, it's all in one place arranged by date and time. If you can roughly remember when something happened, you can find it with a few clicks, and you will find everything else that was happening during the same day, hour, or minute. Because Noah arranges all of your information automatically, exactly the way you want it" (OS: WinXP)
NotesLogExp allows the user to "take your notes & documents anywhere, no setup, no registration, use on any computer. Use NotesLogExp to store, catalog, manage, secure, search, sort, or export . Notes, documents & various pieces of information, phonebook, tasks, links, are stored in a password protected data base. Items are searched by any field. Internet sites, downloads links, documents, files, pictures, programs, and folders can be stored and opened directly from within NotesLogExp" (OS: Win9x, Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
Photobie is "an Image Editing software with most features similar to Photoshop plus advanced screen capture and photo frame editing features. With photobie screen capture you can prepare presentation very simply. Photobie has simple user interface. Furthermore, if you have MS Word and other software that create specific graphics or art fonts, then with Photobie you can simply capture it and paste it to any image. Photobie supports multiple-layer image retouching for advanced image editing. Starting at version 2.8, Photobie now supports thousands of Photoshop filter plugins" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)
Read This! is "a TTS (Text-To-Speech) engine. It speaks your words! You can make your text become auditory from many languages, furthermore you can save the resulting audio to a Wave file (*.wav) on the disk as well, then use it in your video tutorials, or redistribute it as you like it" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)
Scribus is "powerful software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best result. There is an enthusiastic and friendly community around Scribus that assists beginner and pro alike through our mailing list, IRC channel, wiki, contracted support, and the bugtracker" (OS: Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Win NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7)
The Guide "evolved from the need to have an application that could organize information and ideas in a hierarchical, tree-like structure. Tree-based structures are frequently employed to manage information through a "divide-and-conquer" approach, wherein each level of the tree represents a further level of specialization of the parent-level topic — the best example of this being a book. The Guide is an application that allows you create documents ("guides") which inherently have a tree (which you can modify as you please) and text associated with each node of the tree. The text itself is of the rich-text variety, and the editor allows you to modify the style and formatting of the text (fonts, bold, italics etc). For the initiated, the Guide is a two-pane extrinsic outliner. This concept is similar to mindmapping in some ways" (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)
June 4, 2011
29 Ways
This could be a creativity barometer for anyone out there (warning for those at work, there's some background music):
For those of you who are having problems watching these videos, here's the list of the 29 ways to stay creative as mentioned in the video:
1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower.
8. Drink coffee.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.
11. Surround yourself with creative people.
12. Get feedback.
13. Collaborate.
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.
I never do memes, do I? Facebook and Twitter kind of killed the meme, I think. Okay, just this once: if you're looking for something to blog about, copy the video and the list, bold the items on the list that you're already doing, cross off the ones that don't work for you, and star the ones you'd like to try.
Here's my meme version of the list:
1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.*
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower.
8. Drink coffee.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.*
11. Surround yourself with creative people. (well, I do virtually)
12. Get feedback.*
13. Collaborate.
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.*
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.*
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.
Video link brazenly swiped from Kuriositas.
29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.
For those of you who are having problems watching these videos, here's the list of the 29 ways to stay creative as mentioned in the video:
1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
3. Try free writing.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.
6. Take breaks.
7. Sing in the shower.
8. Drink coffee.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.
11. Surround yourself with creative people.
12. Get feedback.
13. Collaborate.
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.
I never do memes, do I? Facebook and Twitter kind of killed the meme, I think. Okay, just this once: if you're looking for something to blog about, copy the video and the list, bold the items on the list that you're already doing, cross off the ones that don't work for you, and star the ones you'd like to try.
Here's my meme version of the list:
1. Make lists.
2. Carry a notebook everywhere.
4. Get away from the computer.
5. Quit beating yourself up.*
6. Take breaks.
9. Listen to new music.
10. Be open.*
11. Surround yourself with creative people. (well, I do virtually)
12. Get feedback.*
14. Don't give up.
15. Practice, practice, practice.
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
17. Go somewhere new.
18. Count your blessings.
19. Get lots of rest.*
20. Take risks.
21. Break the rules.
22. Don't force it.
23. Read a page of the dictionary.*
24. Create a framework.
25. Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.
26. Got an idea? Write it down.
27. Clean your workspace.
28. Have fun.
29. Finish something.
Video link brazenly swiped from Kuriositas.
June 3, 2011
Noun Names
Recently I picked up a mid-series novel (which was not written by anyone who visits here, but we'll let the author remain nameless anyway) that I was pretty interested in reading from a technical standpoint. Often I like to see how other writers handle some problems that are inherent to writing series stories. This one did an okay job with the problem in question; a little on the soft-serv side but not anything that chased me out of the book.
There was one thing the author did have in the story that just about drove crazy me, however: a character with a noun name.
Using a random noun to name a character in a story is a tricky business for a bunch of reasons. Prevalence of use is the first hmmmm on my list; since we got over the sixties there just aren't that many people walking around with names like Dancer, Starlight, Saffron or Journey. Of course noun names make terrific nicknames, and as such I use them all the time, but as proper names? No.
Then there is reader reaction, which can't always be predicted or anticipated. The noun name in this case happened to be something that I personally intensely dislike, so you can understand why I wanted this otherwise very nice character dead by page ten. You can't assume that everyone is going to share your enthusiasm for any noun names you use in a story.
If you are determined to use a noun name, consider having it fit the story as well as the character. A cowboy in a romance named Nevada or Buck would not be as glaring or jarring as one named Neptune or Metro. Also, if you don't know what a noun means, look it up. Peyote may sound cool to you, but it's a botanical from which the hallucinogen mescaline is derived. Not really something you'd want to name a DEA agent.
Other things to consider when contemplating the noun name:
Hateful nouns: Of course there is always some dingbat out there who thinks it's funny to name their child Booze, Wifebeater or Zombie. But most parents generally welcome a child into their lives, and choose a name that has both meaning and love attached to it.
Nouns in other languages: be sure you know what that very cool word you spotted during your European vacation translates to in English. This avoids multi-lingual readers being jolted out of a story by characters whose names mean Vomit, Abortion or Toxic Waste.
Pop culture nouns: What is a fad today will be a joke (or worse) tomorrow. Just ask Pop Rocks Smith, Mood Ring Jones and Cabbage Patch Perkins.
Date nouns: Days of the week and months of the year are probably the least offensive noun names, but often they can become visually confusing for the reader, ala On Tuesday Thursday went to the store or "Do you have an opening in July, April?"
If you are determined to use a noun name for your character, first do a search of the noun to see what meanings and connotations are already attached to it. If any celebrities have used it to name their kids that's usually a sign that it's a terrible choice. Another litmus test is to consider if you would use it to name one of your own children in real life. Whatever objections you think up are probably going to be mirrored by at least some of your readers. If you have a trusted writer friend (aka someone who won't steal the name from you) ask them what they think of it.
One final thought: employing noun names for characters is like cooking with cilantro. Don't expect your choice to be popular with everyone; some people will love it, but others will think it tastes like soap.
There was one thing the author did have in the story that just about drove crazy me, however: a character with a noun name.
Using a random noun to name a character in a story is a tricky business for a bunch of reasons. Prevalence of use is the first hmmmm on my list; since we got over the sixties there just aren't that many people walking around with names like Dancer, Starlight, Saffron or Journey. Of course noun names make terrific nicknames, and as such I use them all the time, but as proper names? No.
Then there is reader reaction, which can't always be predicted or anticipated. The noun name in this case happened to be something that I personally intensely dislike, so you can understand why I wanted this otherwise very nice character dead by page ten. You can't assume that everyone is going to share your enthusiasm for any noun names you use in a story.
If you are determined to use a noun name, consider having it fit the story as well as the character. A cowboy in a romance named Nevada or Buck would not be as glaring or jarring as one named Neptune or Metro. Also, if you don't know what a noun means, look it up. Peyote may sound cool to you, but it's a botanical from which the hallucinogen mescaline is derived. Not really something you'd want to name a DEA agent.
Other things to consider when contemplating the noun name:
Hateful nouns: Of course there is always some dingbat out there who thinks it's funny to name their child Booze, Wifebeater or Zombie. But most parents generally welcome a child into their lives, and choose a name that has both meaning and love attached to it.
Nouns in other languages: be sure you know what that very cool word you spotted during your European vacation translates to in English. This avoids multi-lingual readers being jolted out of a story by characters whose names mean Vomit, Abortion or Toxic Waste.
Pop culture nouns: What is a fad today will be a joke (or worse) tomorrow. Just ask Pop Rocks Smith, Mood Ring Jones and Cabbage Patch Perkins.
Date nouns: Days of the week and months of the year are probably the least offensive noun names, but often they can become visually confusing for the reader, ala On Tuesday Thursday went to the store or "Do you have an opening in July, April?"
If you are determined to use a noun name for your character, first do a search of the noun to see what meanings and connotations are already attached to it. If any celebrities have used it to name their kids that's usually a sign that it's a terrible choice. Another litmus test is to consider if you would use it to name one of your own children in real life. Whatever objections you think up are probably going to be mirrored by at least some of your readers. If you have a trusted writer friend (aka someone who won't steal the name from you) ask them what they think of it.
One final thought: employing noun names for characters is like cooking with cilantro. Don't expect your choice to be popular with everyone; some people will love it, but others will think it tastes like soap.
June 2, 2011
Palettes with Color Names
Flickr toy box Big Huge Labs has a very neat color palette generator that not only gives you swatches and codes based on any image you upload, it provides names for most of the colors it swatches (click on image to see larger version):
The generator also allows you to download the swatches " in Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE) format for Photoshop or compatible applications":
Finally it also provides sample CSS coding, which looks like stuff you would need if you were using the colors for an online project:
I don't know where BHL is getting these names for the color swatches, but some are quite inventive and make you think in different directions, which can be very useful when you're trying to write description.
Related links:
My posts on how I create Story Palettes and Character Palettes
The generator also allows you to download the swatches " in Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE) format for Photoshop or compatible applications":
Finally it also provides sample CSS coding, which looks like stuff you would need if you were using the colors for an online project:
I don't know where BHL is getting these names for the color swatches, but some are quite inventive and make you think in different directions, which can be very useful when you're trying to write description.
Related links:
My posts on how I create Story Palettes and Character Palettes
June 1, 2011
The Disappointed Book
I'd like to see something like this done in secret with an actual reader and one or more of their books over the course of a year (warning, has some background music):
My books live a much more privileged, pampered life. How about yours?
The Diary of a Disappointed Book from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.
My books live a much more privileged, pampered life. How about yours?
May 31, 2011
Name Clouds
I have long been looking for a source of names for people of different ages, and I found one surprising source: The Social Security Administration. Using their
Finding this site also helped me solve another naming problem that frequently plagues me: what to name married couples. First I just pulled the 100 most popular names of their respective gender and birth year and ran two columns side by side, but I wanted to mix them up and see them in different combinations. Which gave me an excuse to go and play with Wordle.
Here's a cloud that contains the most popular boy and girl names from 2010 (click any image to see a larger version):
Here's another cloud, using the most popular names from fifty years ago:
Finally I Wordled the most popular names for babies born in 1880:
The best thing about feeding my potential lists to Wordle is that I can keep switching around the name cloud to get different combinations if I don't like the first results. This would probably work great with pairing first and last names, too.
Btw, for you folks who love to play with words, art and phone apps, Wordle creator Jonathan Feinberg mentioned on his blog a new app called WordFoto which reimages your photos into photo/word art. Although I can't personally test it out (my mobile phone is the throwaway kind that only makes phone calls), I meandered over to the app store and checked the price. It's $1.99, which seems quite reasonable.
Finding this site also helped me solve another naming problem that frequently plagues me: what to name married couples. First I just pulled the 100 most popular names of their respective gender and birth year and ran two columns side by side, but I wanted to mix them up and see them in different combinations. Which gave me an excuse to go and play with Wordle.
Here's a cloud that contains the most popular boy and girl names from 2010 (click any image to see a larger version):
Here's another cloud, using the most popular names from fifty years ago:
Finally I Wordled the most popular names for babies born in 1880:
The best thing about feeding my potential lists to Wordle is that I can keep switching around the name cloud to get different combinations if I don't like the first results. This would probably work great with pairing first and last names, too.
Btw, for you folks who love to play with words, art and phone apps, Wordle creator Jonathan Feinberg mentioned on his blog a new app called WordFoto which reimages your photos into photo/word art. Although I can't personally test it out (my mobile phone is the throwaway kind that only makes phone calls), I meandered over to the app store and checked the price. It's $1.99, which seems quite reasonable.
S.L. Viehl's Blog
- S.L. Viehl's profile
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S.L. Viehl isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
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