Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 177
October 2, 2011
Scrivener
I bought Scrivener shortly after getting my iMac computer. For those who've never heard of Scrivener, it's software for writers. Along with the word processing, it has features to help organize the work and research. It used to only be available for Mac, but now there's a Windows version being made. It was in beta testing the last time I checked, but it's expected to be released soon. The program isn't only for fiction novelists. It also has templates for short stories, nonfiction, screenplays, research papers and so on.
Anyway, I'd heard a lot of awesome things about Scrivener, but I didn't find the program to be intuitive. At least not the way my brain works. Every now and then I'd open it, look at, mess around a little, and close it again. When the beta Windows version came out, I gave it another try. I could see the potential, but I just couldn't figure it out on my own and I'm not big on reading instructions. I did watch the video tutorials, but it wasn't enough.
Then I heard about a Scrivener class, and despite my killer schedule, I signed up for it. It was awesome! If you want to use Scrivener and are having trouble figuring out how to wrap your arms around it like me, I highly recommend checking it out. To find out when it will be taught again, visit Gwen Hernandez's website. She's the instructor. Course material was posted every weekday and it was broken down into small enough pieces that nothing felt overwhelming. It was also presented clearly and concisely with screenshots to aid comprehension. I highly recommend the class.
There were some features that really sold me on Scrivener as a writing tool. There's counters available. More than one. It has one that allows you to set word count, due date, days of the week when you'll be writing, and then it keeps a running tally of how many words you need to write each day to make the deadline. How cool is that? So I can tell Scrivener I want to write 100,000 words by June 1 and I won't write on Mondays and it gives me goals.
The second counter is just as awesome and I think it's really going to help me on my daily word/page count goals. You set how many pages/words you want to write, and as you go along, it lets you know your progress. When I was working on a fight scene for Enemy Embrace I set it for 2,500 words. The visual line at the bottom starts red, goes to orange, lighter orange, yellow, pale green and then darker green as you progress. It worked as motivation for me to keep going because that red/orange color is kind of, well, mocking. :-)
Another Scrivener feature that I'm excited about is the ability to import a web page. This is great for me on the research front. The page is static so if it updates, I won't see that, but for 99% of my research that isn't a problem. One of my biggest frustrations is when I'm writing at work during lunch, need to reference information and can't because I do not have access to the net. This way if I need to reference something, all I'll need to do is jump down to the Research folder and everything will be there.
It has a corkboard feature with index cards on it, allowing those writers who like those cards to have that. I still have horrible flashbacks to when I was in junior high, but maybe I'll get over that. Some day. But on those index cards is color coding. I set mine up like we did in class with Point of View (POV) characters because that's helpful. Too much heroine POV? I can tell in a glance because it can be setup to actually color code the scenes names in the file tree.
For my Blood Feud world, I setup the color coding to keep track of what the hero and heroine are--Demon? Vampire? Vampire hunter? It's a quick, visual way for me to keep track of a world that's quickly becoming filled with stories.
And previous versions? Instead of doing a "save as" before making major revisions, Scrivener allows me to take a snapshot. One click instead of the cumbersome process I use in my word processing software. I can go back to a previous version, too, if I decide the original was better.
There are many, many other features. Some of them I might not use, but that's okay--I don't have to use everything, just the parts that work for me.
I've moved my active, to be written projects over, but not everything I want to be there is there. There are just a few too many extra files that I don't really need, it would be nice to have them there going forward. Once the transition is complete and I'm starting new projects in Scrivener rather than importing them over, I think that's when I'll really know just how awesome this program is. It's already pretty dang cool.
Anyway, I'd heard a lot of awesome things about Scrivener, but I didn't find the program to be intuitive. At least not the way my brain works. Every now and then I'd open it, look at, mess around a little, and close it again. When the beta Windows version came out, I gave it another try. I could see the potential, but I just couldn't figure it out on my own and I'm not big on reading instructions. I did watch the video tutorials, but it wasn't enough.
Then I heard about a Scrivener class, and despite my killer schedule, I signed up for it. It was awesome! If you want to use Scrivener and are having trouble figuring out how to wrap your arms around it like me, I highly recommend checking it out. To find out when it will be taught again, visit Gwen Hernandez's website. She's the instructor. Course material was posted every weekday and it was broken down into small enough pieces that nothing felt overwhelming. It was also presented clearly and concisely with screenshots to aid comprehension. I highly recommend the class.
There were some features that really sold me on Scrivener as a writing tool. There's counters available. More than one. It has one that allows you to set word count, due date, days of the week when you'll be writing, and then it keeps a running tally of how many words you need to write each day to make the deadline. How cool is that? So I can tell Scrivener I want to write 100,000 words by June 1 and I won't write on Mondays and it gives me goals.
The second counter is just as awesome and I think it's really going to help me on my daily word/page count goals. You set how many pages/words you want to write, and as you go along, it lets you know your progress. When I was working on a fight scene for Enemy Embrace I set it for 2,500 words. The visual line at the bottom starts red, goes to orange, lighter orange, yellow, pale green and then darker green as you progress. It worked as motivation for me to keep going because that red/orange color is kind of, well, mocking. :-)
Another Scrivener feature that I'm excited about is the ability to import a web page. This is great for me on the research front. The page is static so if it updates, I won't see that, but for 99% of my research that isn't a problem. One of my biggest frustrations is when I'm writing at work during lunch, need to reference information and can't because I do not have access to the net. This way if I need to reference something, all I'll need to do is jump down to the Research folder and everything will be there.
It has a corkboard feature with index cards on it, allowing those writers who like those cards to have that. I still have horrible flashbacks to when I was in junior high, but maybe I'll get over that. Some day. But on those index cards is color coding. I set mine up like we did in class with Point of View (POV) characters because that's helpful. Too much heroine POV? I can tell in a glance because it can be setup to actually color code the scenes names in the file tree.
For my Blood Feud world, I setup the color coding to keep track of what the hero and heroine are--Demon? Vampire? Vampire hunter? It's a quick, visual way for me to keep track of a world that's quickly becoming filled with stories.
And previous versions? Instead of doing a "save as" before making major revisions, Scrivener allows me to take a snapshot. One click instead of the cumbersome process I use in my word processing software. I can go back to a previous version, too, if I decide the original was better.
There are many, many other features. Some of them I might not use, but that's okay--I don't have to use everything, just the parts that work for me.
I've moved my active, to be written projects over, but not everything I want to be there is there. There are just a few too many extra files that I don't really need, it would be nice to have them there going forward. Once the transition is complete and I'm starting new projects in Scrivener rather than importing them over, I think that's when I'll really know just how awesome this program is. It's already pretty dang cool.
September 29, 2011
Story Three
Couple three in my Blood Feud trilogy are the sketchiest of the couples. Which doesn't surprise me since they're the final pair.
Michael Lassiter is a wizard. You're thinking, what? There are no wizards in the Blood Feud world. Ah, but there are. They've kind of been skulking in the background, but none of the stories released so far have had them involved in anyway. That changes with Enemy Embrace which comes out in October in Crave the Night.
This world is interesting to me because there are so many groups with so many different agendas. A hero and/or heroine can come from any group at any time. A villain can come from any group at any time.
So Michael is a wizard and a powerful one. He's not thrilled to be in this position because he doesn't want the obligations to his people that come with this power, but he doesn't have a choice about it. I'm honestly not sure at this point how the wizards get involved in the trilogy. More pieces of the puzzle that I don't have yet. Maybe (and this is only a guess on my part) he gets dragged in because of his heroine? Definitely unsure about this.
His heroine's name is Honor. She's a human with power, too. I'm not sure what--exactly--she is yet, though. I also don't know even the vaguest basics about the storyline. All I know is that this is the book where the story wraps up and the bad guy defeated. Beyond that? It's all nebulous.
If you read my post about puzzle pieces from last week, then you know how frustrated I am with how little I've been given. I just have to trust that it will all work out when I do get those pieces.
Michael Lassiter is a wizard. You're thinking, what? There are no wizards in the Blood Feud world. Ah, but there are. They've kind of been skulking in the background, but none of the stories released so far have had them involved in anyway. That changes with Enemy Embrace which comes out in October in Crave the Night.
This world is interesting to me because there are so many groups with so many different agendas. A hero and/or heroine can come from any group at any time. A villain can come from any group at any time.
So Michael is a wizard and a powerful one. He's not thrilled to be in this position because he doesn't want the obligations to his people that come with this power, but he doesn't have a choice about it. I'm honestly not sure at this point how the wizards get involved in the trilogy. More pieces of the puzzle that I don't have yet. Maybe (and this is only a guess on my part) he gets dragged in because of his heroine? Definitely unsure about this.
His heroine's name is Honor. She's a human with power, too. I'm not sure what--exactly--she is yet, though. I also don't know even the vaguest basics about the storyline. All I know is that this is the book where the story wraps up and the bad guy defeated. Beyond that? It's all nebulous.
If you read my post about puzzle pieces from last week, then you know how frustrated I am with how little I've been given. I just have to trust that it will all work out when I do get those pieces.
September 27, 2011
Story Two
Last week I promised I'd continue talking the couples in my Blood Feud World trilogy idea and mention couple number two.
This hero is another of Malachi's friends whom he mentioned in Shadow's Caress. His name is Jet and yes, that is short for something which I won't mention here because it might (or might not) end up being something I use in his story. Jet is an enforcer for all the vampire clan lords, not only one.
If you read Blood Feud, you know Isobel was an enforcer for her clan lord. That puts her in an elite category, but Jet goes beyond that working for all of them. That means he's the elite of the elite, like special forces of the vampire world. He's been assigned by the clan lords to tail his heroine.
Rachel (I'm reasonably sure this is her name) is a rogue vampire. In the Blood Feud world, rogue means unaffiliated with any clan lord. There used to be no rogues until a clan lord died in the demon wars. Since then, many vampires re-affiliated themselves by sharing blood with members of other clans, but there is a large group that didn't do this. This dead clan lord was not a kind and benevolent vampire and none of his now-free constituents want to risk being tied to another clan lord like that. The bad guy in the trilogy is the leader of the rogues, but Rachel has no interest in following him either.
Jet is the one who came in a while ago and was kind of skulking in the shadows. Really. I just had this sense that he was stalking someone. It turns out, he was stalking Rachel. On orders.
This is about all I have about this story. I'm still waiting for more puzzle pieces to show up here.
Tune in Thursday for couple three.
This hero is another of Malachi's friends whom he mentioned in Shadow's Caress. His name is Jet and yes, that is short for something which I won't mention here because it might (or might not) end up being something I use in his story. Jet is an enforcer for all the vampire clan lords, not only one.
If you read Blood Feud, you know Isobel was an enforcer for her clan lord. That puts her in an elite category, but Jet goes beyond that working for all of them. That means he's the elite of the elite, like special forces of the vampire world. He's been assigned by the clan lords to tail his heroine.
Rachel (I'm reasonably sure this is her name) is a rogue vampire. In the Blood Feud world, rogue means unaffiliated with any clan lord. There used to be no rogues until a clan lord died in the demon wars. Since then, many vampires re-affiliated themselves by sharing blood with members of other clans, but there is a large group that didn't do this. This dead clan lord was not a kind and benevolent vampire and none of his now-free constituents want to risk being tied to another clan lord like that. The bad guy in the trilogy is the leader of the rogues, but Rachel has no interest in following him either.
Jet is the one who came in a while ago and was kind of skulking in the shadows. Really. I just had this sense that he was stalking someone. It turns out, he was stalking Rachel. On orders.
This is about all I have about this story. I'm still waiting for more puzzle pieces to show up here.
Tune in Thursday for couple three.
September 25, 2011
Bad Astronomy
My latest audio book was Bad Astronomy by Philip Plait. I'd seen retweets from a Twitter account called Bad Astronomer, but I'd figured it was a parody account like Bronx Zoo Cobra or Fake AP Stylebook, but whenever I clicked on the links, the articles were to legitimate astronomy sites/articles. When I spotted this book on Audible, the pieces fell into place.
The book is written by an astronomer and he debunks common misconceptions about his profession, the stars, planets, meteors, etc. He covers a fairly wide range of topics including Hollywood and what moviemakers get wrong. Like small meteorites (they only go from meteor to meteorite if they hit the ground) almost never start fires when they hit Earth. They're too cold. Big ones, however, are another story and he cites an impact that happened in Russia in the 1800s. I'd seen pictures of that in the past and knew exactly what he was talking about.
We also learn that there is no dark side of the moon. There's the far side of the moon. We don't see it because of orbits and rotation, but all sides of the moon are exposed to sunlight, we just never see it when it happens on the far side.
There's an entire chapter on the Hubble telescope which gave me a lot of new information. Like the telescope doesn't have a lens, it has mirrors. The telescope has a restricted zone where it won't be utilized because sunlight is too bright for a lot of the instruments on board. Every year, astronomers put in proposals for time on the telescope. Six times more applications are received than slots available.
Many of the common misconceptions he covered were things I hadn't heard of before. For example, apparently many people believe you can see stars in the middle of the day if you stand in the bottom of a well. It's not really true, although the answer is a bit more complicated than that. This was the first time I'd heard of it, though.
Sometimes I knew the right answer already. Like Earth has seasons because of it's tilt and how that changes as we orbit. Apparently many people think it's related to our distance from the sun, but that doesn't account for the southern hemisphere whose seasons are opposite of the northern hemisphere.
I learned a lot from the book and this is despite having an astronomy class in college and an interest in the topic. The author gives the information in an interesting manner and the voice actor read well. He did a kind of Superman voiceover kind of thing for the Hollywood chapter that was kind of amusing.
If you have even the slightest interest in astronomy or curiosity about what you think you know that's wrong on this topic, I recommend this book. I found it entertaining and worthwhile.
The book is written by an astronomer and he debunks common misconceptions about his profession, the stars, planets, meteors, etc. He covers a fairly wide range of topics including Hollywood and what moviemakers get wrong. Like small meteorites (they only go from meteor to meteorite if they hit the ground) almost never start fires when they hit Earth. They're too cold. Big ones, however, are another story and he cites an impact that happened in Russia in the 1800s. I'd seen pictures of that in the past and knew exactly what he was talking about.
We also learn that there is no dark side of the moon. There's the far side of the moon. We don't see it because of orbits and rotation, but all sides of the moon are exposed to sunlight, we just never see it when it happens on the far side.
There's an entire chapter on the Hubble telescope which gave me a lot of new information. Like the telescope doesn't have a lens, it has mirrors. The telescope has a restricted zone where it won't be utilized because sunlight is too bright for a lot of the instruments on board. Every year, astronomers put in proposals for time on the telescope. Six times more applications are received than slots available.
Many of the common misconceptions he covered were things I hadn't heard of before. For example, apparently many people believe you can see stars in the middle of the day if you stand in the bottom of a well. It's not really true, although the answer is a bit more complicated than that. This was the first time I'd heard of it, though.
Sometimes I knew the right answer already. Like Earth has seasons because of it's tilt and how that changes as we orbit. Apparently many people think it's related to our distance from the sun, but that doesn't account for the southern hemisphere whose seasons are opposite of the northern hemisphere.
I learned a lot from the book and this is despite having an astronomy class in college and an interest in the topic. The author gives the information in an interesting manner and the voice actor read well. He did a kind of Superman voiceover kind of thing for the Hollywood chapter that was kind of amusing.
If you have even the slightest interest in astronomy or curiosity about what you think you know that's wrong on this topic, I recommend this book. I found it entertaining and worthwhile.
September 22, 2011
Story One
To continue the conversation about the Blood Feud trilogy I mentioned on Tuesday, I wanted to talk about the characters a little. The first two heroes were mentioned in Shadow's Caress and they're Malachi's friends, the two men he trusted to help him protect Cass.
The first has been with me the longest--Laurent de Brinay. Laurent was French aristocracy before becoming a vampire. He's very much into the finer things in life, but he's starting to feel dissatisfied. Laurent, you see, has a career. He's a businessman, but he's not finding the pleasure in it that he did in the past. It's been eating at him for a while before his story starts and you know I won't let him ignore it once I get my hands on him. Torture them early, torture them often because they always torment me.
His heroine is a demon named Kerris. She's going to be interesting for me to write, I think. At least from what I'm getting of her personality so far. She's a little spoiled, a bit of a manipulator, and she's used to men doing what she wants. She has a problem and Laurent is the one who can help her. Kerris (somehow) knows Isobel, the heroine from Blood Feud and Iso is the one who told Kerris about Laurent.
I'm trying to figure out why Laurent decides to help her. That I don't know yet, but I think it has more to do with his past than with Kerris or even Isobel. I think (and I don't know if this is true or not), but I think he had a romantic interest in Isobel. That could definitely add another layer of difficulty. Not only does he not like demons because of the war vampires fought with them centuries earlier, but he's also not fond of demons because Iso choose a demon prince (Seere) over him. Kind of. Because Laurent didn't really make his interest known to Iso because he realized she was carrying a torch for Seere. But notice how many times I used the words I think. I don't have enough pieces yet to be sure of this.
Anyway, I can see part of the opening scene clearly. Laurent comes out of his office building in the middle of the night and finds Kerris at his car. He's not happy to see her and he's not happy with her attempt to manipulate him.
And since this went longer than I planned, I'll mention couple two on Tuesday.
The first has been with me the longest--Laurent de Brinay. Laurent was French aristocracy before becoming a vampire. He's very much into the finer things in life, but he's starting to feel dissatisfied. Laurent, you see, has a career. He's a businessman, but he's not finding the pleasure in it that he did in the past. It's been eating at him for a while before his story starts and you know I won't let him ignore it once I get my hands on him. Torture them early, torture them often because they always torment me.
His heroine is a demon named Kerris. She's going to be interesting for me to write, I think. At least from what I'm getting of her personality so far. She's a little spoiled, a bit of a manipulator, and she's used to men doing what she wants. She has a problem and Laurent is the one who can help her. Kerris (somehow) knows Isobel, the heroine from Blood Feud and Iso is the one who told Kerris about Laurent.
I'm trying to figure out why Laurent decides to help her. That I don't know yet, but I think it has more to do with his past than with Kerris or even Isobel. I think (and I don't know if this is true or not), but I think he had a romantic interest in Isobel. That could definitely add another layer of difficulty. Not only does he not like demons because of the war vampires fought with them centuries earlier, but he's also not fond of demons because Iso choose a demon prince (Seere) over him. Kind of. Because Laurent didn't really make his interest known to Iso because he realized she was carrying a torch for Seere. But notice how many times I used the words I think. I don't have enough pieces yet to be sure of this.
Anyway, I can see part of the opening scene clearly. Laurent comes out of his office building in the middle of the night and finds Kerris at his car. He's not happy to see her and he's not happy with her attempt to manipulate him.
And since this went longer than I planned, I'll mention couple two on Tuesday.
September 20, 2011
Jigsaw Puzzle
Last week, I talked about all these ideas that appear between stories and trying to decide which one to work on next. Part of having new ideas is that in the beginning it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle and the pieces are kind of strewn everywhere, not just on top of the table where I want to work and I don't have the box cover to work from.
The hunt it down stage, when I try to find the critical pieces--let's call them the edge pieces--is both frustrating and exciting. The frustrating part is not knowing what the puzzle is supposed to look like. So I have these few pieces in my possession and I'm kind of looking at them and going, hmm. I turn them this way and that, trying to decide where they go, but not really figuring that out.
The exciting part, though, is when I find one of those edge pieces. It gets my brain whirring faster and suddenly some of those pieces I had earlier fit! I love that. It erases the frustration as if it never existed.
And the more edge pieces I get, the less frustration I experience because answers come more quickly as more and more of the framework is there to work with.
Right now, I'm mostly in the frustration part of the equation. I'm starting to get an edge piece or two, but not really enough to know what I'm working with yet. I know it's a trilogy. I know it's in the Blood Feud world. I know who my three couples are, although I'm not sure what the third heroine is yet. I know who the bad guy is and what his goal is, but I'm not sure how this unfolds over the three books. That's the part making me the most nuts.
But I'm starting to get a small glimmer. Not enough to leave the frustration behind--not yet--but I have no doubt that it won't be much longer before things start falling into place. I can't wait!
The hunt it down stage, when I try to find the critical pieces--let's call them the edge pieces--is both frustrating and exciting. The frustrating part is not knowing what the puzzle is supposed to look like. So I have these few pieces in my possession and I'm kind of looking at them and going, hmm. I turn them this way and that, trying to decide where they go, but not really figuring that out.
The exciting part, though, is when I find one of those edge pieces. It gets my brain whirring faster and suddenly some of those pieces I had earlier fit! I love that. It erases the frustration as if it never existed.
And the more edge pieces I get, the less frustration I experience because answers come more quickly as more and more of the framework is there to work with.
Right now, I'm mostly in the frustration part of the equation. I'm starting to get an edge piece or two, but not really enough to know what I'm working with yet. I know it's a trilogy. I know it's in the Blood Feud world. I know who my three couples are, although I'm not sure what the third heroine is yet. I know who the bad guy is and what his goal is, but I'm not sure how this unfolds over the three books. That's the part making me the most nuts.
But I'm starting to get a small glimmer. Not enough to leave the frustration behind--not yet--but I have no doubt that it won't be much longer before things start falling into place. I can't wait!
September 18, 2011
Nonzero
Nonzero by Robert Wright is a nonfiction book that looks at how human society has evolved from small hunter/gatherer bands to large nations and beyond to alliances among nations. The title comes from gaming. In a non-zero sum game, people work together because they're in the same boat. A zero sum game is when someone has to lose for someone else to win.
The theory that the book proposes is that because of human nature and the advantages to non-zero sum behavior that our societies and cultures were destined to head from small bands to multi-state nations. He further proposes that cultural evolution and physical evolution drive each other forward until a certain point and that we've passed this time. That now cultural evolution is the driving force and that we are controlling the evolution of other creatures by tinkering with their genes. For example, crops are being genetically engineered.
We are geared toward complexity. That while our massive and complicated nations weren't inevitable, they were so probable that it's incredible. He also speculates on what further cultural evolution portends for our future.
I listened to this book on my iPod, which is a different experience than actually reading. At first, I had some trouble getting used to the narrator, but once we got going, he was fine. Sometimes, though, the way he chose to emphasize a word or sentence conveyed a kind of attitude. It's difficult for me to guess whether the author meant some of this to be taken the way the narrator spoke the information.
I can tell you from personal experience that the reader for my Through a Crimson Veil story didn't check with me about anything. Consequently, my heroine's name is pronounced incorrectly through the entire audio. Yes, the narrator is saying it the way it's normally pronounced. Mika doesn't pronounce it that way. You would have guessed I'd at least be asked how to pronounce the various branches of demons since those were made up. I wasn't. Given this, I always assume the reader is doing his or her own thing and try not to ascribe attitude to the author.
That said, I found Nonzero to be largely fascinating. I will confess there was a section that was less than riveting, but it picked up again after a couple of chapters. It was particularly interesting to hear his arguments about history and how/why things played out the way they did. We cover everything from Polynesian "big men" to Medieval lords. Seeing history from this angle was interesting and I found the arguments to be compelling.
The predictions of the future were also interesting. Some of it didn't exactly leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy, but unfortunately all too believable. One of his predictions was for more terrorism because of more "unhappy campers" at least in the short term as we transition from where we are now to what he sees as the next level.
Overall, I found the book to be well worth the time it took to listen to it. Not all of it held my attention, but that could easily be because of my personal interests. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in cultural anthropology or who finds the author's premise interesting enough to learn more.
The theory that the book proposes is that because of human nature and the advantages to non-zero sum behavior that our societies and cultures were destined to head from small bands to multi-state nations. He further proposes that cultural evolution and physical evolution drive each other forward until a certain point and that we've passed this time. That now cultural evolution is the driving force and that we are controlling the evolution of other creatures by tinkering with their genes. For example, crops are being genetically engineered.
We are geared toward complexity. That while our massive and complicated nations weren't inevitable, they were so probable that it's incredible. He also speculates on what further cultural evolution portends for our future.
I listened to this book on my iPod, which is a different experience than actually reading. At first, I had some trouble getting used to the narrator, but once we got going, he was fine. Sometimes, though, the way he chose to emphasize a word or sentence conveyed a kind of attitude. It's difficult for me to guess whether the author meant some of this to be taken the way the narrator spoke the information.
I can tell you from personal experience that the reader for my Through a Crimson Veil story didn't check with me about anything. Consequently, my heroine's name is pronounced incorrectly through the entire audio. Yes, the narrator is saying it the way it's normally pronounced. Mika doesn't pronounce it that way. You would have guessed I'd at least be asked how to pronounce the various branches of demons since those were made up. I wasn't. Given this, I always assume the reader is doing his or her own thing and try not to ascribe attitude to the author.
That said, I found Nonzero to be largely fascinating. I will confess there was a section that was less than riveting, but it picked up again after a couple of chapters. It was particularly interesting to hear his arguments about history and how/why things played out the way they did. We cover everything from Polynesian "big men" to Medieval lords. Seeing history from this angle was interesting and I found the arguments to be compelling.
The predictions of the future were also interesting. Some of it didn't exactly leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy, but unfortunately all too believable. One of his predictions was for more terrorism because of more "unhappy campers" at least in the short term as we transition from where we are now to what he sees as the next level.
Overall, I found the book to be well worth the time it took to listen to it. Not all of it held my attention, but that could easily be because of my personal interests. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in cultural anthropology or who finds the author's premise interesting enough to learn more.
September 15, 2011
Ooh, Look! Shiny!
The time after I finish a project is always interesting. I'm generally too mentally exhausted to write, but my brain hops between the just finished story to other stories that are in various stages of existence. Like on Tuesday, I mentioned Zach and working out his last name, but that's not the only character or story making an appearance.
My writing buddies might possibly think I'm insane. One day I'll send them an email about one project (usually a pretty lengthy, epic, in-depth email), and the next, they'll get another email on a completely different book. They're lucky they're not in my head. I can switch ideas in the middle of a thought.
I can also get new ideas in the middle of a thought about another project.
It's actually a kind of fun time. Maybe because I'm used to it, the fragmentation of thought doesn't bother me. I can't bounce between ideas when I'm actually writing, so this is my opportunity to indulge my Oh, shiny! writer's brain.
The drawback is that I know I have to choose one of these stories to focus on and let the others continue to percolate in the background. I wish I could project hop like some authors do and work on multiple stories at the same time, but I can't. I've tried and I end up getting nowhere with any of them.
This time, I know which project I'll be working on next. It's the one I put aside to start Enemy Embrace. It also happens to be a story I'm wild about, so it's going to be fun once I can get my head back inside it and the characters.
My writing buddies might possibly think I'm insane. One day I'll send them an email about one project (usually a pretty lengthy, epic, in-depth email), and the next, they'll get another email on a completely different book. They're lucky they're not in my head. I can switch ideas in the middle of a thought.
I can also get new ideas in the middle of a thought about another project.
It's actually a kind of fun time. Maybe because I'm used to it, the fragmentation of thought doesn't bother me. I can't bounce between ideas when I'm actually writing, so this is my opportunity to indulge my Oh, shiny! writer's brain.
The drawback is that I know I have to choose one of these stories to focus on and let the others continue to percolate in the background. I wish I could project hop like some authors do and work on multiple stories at the same time, but I can't. I've tried and I end up getting nowhere with any of them.
This time, I know which project I'll be working on next. It's the one I put aside to start Enemy Embrace. It also happens to be a story I'm wild about, so it's going to be fun once I can get my head back inside it and the characters.
September 13, 2011
Serendipity
I love how things fall into place sometimes.
The latest example happened last week. I've had these heroes kind of hanging around since I wrote Eternal Nights. They're the other members of Wyatt's team. They come and go because their stories aren't active projects, but since I wrote Troll's story, they've hung around more than they did before that.
One of these guys is Zach. If you read Troll's story, you might remember him mentioning Z-Man. That's Zach.
For the longest time, he didn't gel for me. That normally means I don't know something important about the character yet. If I wrote more J9 books, he'd be the third, so I haven't worried much about it. And I've had characters that I was vague about before and it's all worked out fine, so why stress? Then the pieces began to fall into position. The first came with Zach's ethnicity. He's part Japanese. I think he's part Hawaiian, too. Learning this was key.
More information followed, but I remained stymied on his last name. Then I started hearing in my head: Zach Nishikawa.
I dismissed it at first, but it didn't go away, so I Googled Japanese surnames. No Nishikawa listed on any of the sites I visited and I probably checked out half a dozen. Ergo, not a real name. My next assumption was that I was getting part of it wrong and wrote down a list of all the surnames that ended in -kawa. None felt right. And I still kept hearing Zach Nishikawa.
Sometimes I'm a little slow. I finally decided to Google Nishikawa instead of Japanese surnames and see if I got any hits that proved it was a real name. And guess what? It is. There are lots of Nishikawa hits--more than 3 billion.
It is a real name!
See what I mean about things falling into place? A skeptic will tell me that I probably heard the name sometime in the past and my subconscious dredged it up now. It's possible. But I like to believe that Zach was talking to me and that serendipity was involved.
The latest example happened last week. I've had these heroes kind of hanging around since I wrote Eternal Nights. They're the other members of Wyatt's team. They come and go because their stories aren't active projects, but since I wrote Troll's story, they've hung around more than they did before that.
One of these guys is Zach. If you read Troll's story, you might remember him mentioning Z-Man. That's Zach.
For the longest time, he didn't gel for me. That normally means I don't know something important about the character yet. If I wrote more J9 books, he'd be the third, so I haven't worried much about it. And I've had characters that I was vague about before and it's all worked out fine, so why stress? Then the pieces began to fall into position. The first came with Zach's ethnicity. He's part Japanese. I think he's part Hawaiian, too. Learning this was key.
More information followed, but I remained stymied on his last name. Then I started hearing in my head: Zach Nishikawa.
I dismissed it at first, but it didn't go away, so I Googled Japanese surnames. No Nishikawa listed on any of the sites I visited and I probably checked out half a dozen. Ergo, not a real name. My next assumption was that I was getting part of it wrong and wrote down a list of all the surnames that ended in -kawa. None felt right. And I still kept hearing Zach Nishikawa.
Sometimes I'm a little slow. I finally decided to Google Nishikawa instead of Japanese surnames and see if I got any hits that proved it was a real name. And guess what? It is. There are lots of Nishikawa hits--more than 3 billion.
It is a real name!
See what I mean about things falling into place? A skeptic will tell me that I probably heard the name sometime in the past and my subconscious dredged it up now. It's possible. But I like to believe that Zach was talking to me and that serendipity was involved.
September 11, 2011
Ten Years Ago
Not blogging today is my way of offering moment of silence to honor the victims of 9/11 and the other victims of terrorism around the world.
