Marian Allen's Blog, page 447
January 17, 2012
Striking Challenge
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
Today, I'm posting on Fatal Foodies, as I always do on Tuesdays.
I'm also throwing my hat into the ring in pursuit of a Hugo award for best science fiction or fantasy story written in 2012. Mind you, I haven't written any yet. But I'm working on one. This one is science fiction, and takes place in the future. I have the topic sentence and I've started it, which means it's time to stop and bash out a general outline. I hate that part.
I'm going internet-dark tomorrow in protest against the SOPA and PIPA proposed in Congress. Here are information and arguments on both sides, provided on Wikipedia.
WRITING PROMPT: Open a book at random and pick a sentence. Beginning with that, outline a story.
MA
January 16, 2012
Guest Poster Floyd Hyatt Interviews a Mind
Regular guest (if that isn't an oxymoron) F. A. Hyatt sent me this intriguing self-interview. At least, I think it's a self-interview. It's always possible he has a mind on his something as well as something on his mind.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you F. A. Hyatt:
Q: Do you assume that Science Fiction leads us to discovery, that it really predicts the inevitability of man reaching the stars, finding intelligent life, a life for man abroad in the cosmos?
A. That is three, possibly dozens of questions, at once. I think SF has the same cache' as philosophy does. In fact, philosophers have used the genre to illustrate their ideas. Notably, the existentialists, but they are not alone in that. SF delves, as philosophers do, more than it discovers stuff.
Q: Yes, but again, about the prediction element SF is credited with?
A: Science fiction often takes on the basic cloak of science–the hypothesis, and generates visions that stem from considering what might support one, or refute one, then explores how that might affect what people do. The stories are often very human stories of emotional, personal, or ethical nature, same as are explored in any novel format, usually expressed against the challenge new situations bring. This is sometimes couched as "What If" writing.
As far as prediction and discovery go, I don't think there is any such thing as a bad hypothesis, or prediction. Science learns as much from disproving them as it does from affirming them. Most SF attempts to start from science that is known or already under study and takes the leap to new guesses from there–which is, in fact, one of the processes we use to advance science. So, it is not odd to find that a percentage of these test out well, over time. No. I do not think it is predictive, but it is obvious that some amount does become affirmed as science moves forward. Both start by extrapolating from what is known. SF is very good at mimicking this process.
Q: So, about all that Alien encounter literature, life in space?
A: Intelligent life? Alien people zooming through space? We haven't found as much as a microbe off-planet so far. Without the bizarre events that lead to what is called Earth 2, there would not be life here. When we got our moon, a stable 27-degree tilt, a 24-hour rotation, and an enlarged liquid iron core, life became feasible on Earth. These conditions were spawned in a chain of freak circumstances, not by "normal" planetary development, if there is such a thing. Still, the universe is a big place.
Perhaps that is more the point. If life is a one-in-a-trillion happenstance, as many believe likely, humanity is less likely to encounter it elsewhere. The odds vs distances involved, start to massively overshadow those of an individual winning a state lottery, or being struck by lightning. Between stars, the distances are so huge as to be sheerly theoretical, insofar as the human mind can comprehend. The amount of energy alone, never mind the sheer number of years, it would take to reach the most likely candidate is incomprehensible under the rule of physics as we know it.
Regardless of tech, it all comes down to energy. We need to have access to a lot more of it than we do. Theoretical Calculus suggests that to "fold space", even on paper, costs about all the available energy in the universe to do–once. Bottom line, even if you could do it once, there would be no universe left afterward to explore, you would have burned it all for fuel.
We are the aliens–we may always be the aliens. Look at what is needed to inhabit even the most condign other bodies in our solar system, or even stay in space for more than a few weeks.
It looks to be our biology that must be radically changed. Conditions elsewhere have different ecologies. More so than any terraforming or special environment could be expected to overcome in a reasonable term. Likely, we would have to change to fit their ecologic reality. Bones and immune systems that weak gravity does not destroy. DNA and cell coding which radiation does not ruin. Tolerances for gases, temperatures, pressures, well outside the current human range.
We tend to forget that we are custom cogs in the clock of a very strange planet, highly specialized to do well here, not elsewhere. If we ever do meet bug-eyed aliens in our far future, the highest probability is that they would be relatives–offspring of genetically altered ancestors. This, just to establish permanent settlements in-system, which would happen long before anything interstellar occurred. But, anything is possible.
Q: So, the ultimate purpose of man in the universe?
A: Now you're getting the idea. It's about philosophy, in the end, isn't it? Not when, but what if. Throwing dice, hope, curiosity, reaching out for things further away than our arms are long. That's the essence of what we are. We will dream on that question, will write about it. We will call it speculative fiction, science fiction, Philosophy, whatever. Who knows what the future brings? Were you there?
Have you peered into it like Nostradamus? Then, maybe you are a science fiction writer.
Mr. Hyatt sent an excerpt illustrative of what he calls "this rant", which I will share on Sample Sunday.
WRITING PROMPT: Someone who has never been able to see the future suddenly can. Is it the far future? His or her own future or someone else's? Is the ability permanent or temporary? Are they the shadows of what will be, or what may be only?
MA
January 15, 2012
#SampleSunday – Rose of Kashmir
I think I posted this before on my old blog, but I don't find it when I search this one, so here it is.I did post ABOUT it, and here's a link to that post.
In my bio, I like to claim that I've been published on the wall of an Indian restaurant. I wrote this story in response to an exercise in which scent was the featured sense. When I had polished it, I printed it and had Charlie frame it, and I gave it to the manager at the Shalimar in Louisville on Hurstbourne Parkway. The next thing I knew, it was hanging on the wall in the waiting area and, if they haven't taken it down, it is hanging there still.
Rose of Kashmir
by Marian Allen
I kept my eyes straight ahead, seeing suit-coat sleeves, shirt cuffs, broad hands, steering wheel, dashboard, hood, asphalt, car after car ahead. Eyes on the road was always a good idea on Hurstbourne, an eight-lane anthill at any hour. I had usually risked a happy glance to the side anyway, up to four months ago.
The Shalimar Indian Restaurant was what my glance had saluted: the best food in town, our special place. Dolores and I had met on the buffet line, had gone there on our first date — most dates — and back for all our wedding anniversaries. There had been ten of them before the blonde in my computer-users group got drunk and called me at home.
I tried not to remember Dolores' face, puffed and red and shining with tears.
"I don't know what I was thinking, Dodie. I was stupid. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
But it hadn't been enough. How could it be enough?
"I hope it was worth it!" Those had been her final words before she filled two suitcases and left our apartment. My apartment, suddenly.
Worth this loss? No, it had not been worth it.
Dolores' mother knew where she was, but she wasn't telling. I sent messages through her. There was no reply except to the most practical questions: Your summer clothes are in the spare room closet, the dentist is listed under Preventive Partners in the white pages.
"Tell her I love her. Tell her I'm sorry."
"I will."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Work that day was the same as work every day.
"How's it goin'?"
"Fine."
A.M., lunch I hardly tasted, P.M., back to the car, back onto Hurstbourne.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The drive home was grinding. Traffic glared and blared. A fender-bender somewhere ahead stalled me for half an hour within sight of the big yellow letters: SHALIMAR. I crawled past, radio tuned to a station playing music Dolores and I had never loved, while the ghosts of curry and hot mango chutney leaked into the car from my memory.
Still clinging to remembrance, I wasn't surprised that the rich, exotic, familiar scents seemed to color the air of the apartment. So, when Dolores stepped out of the kitchenette, her wary face floating like a dream over a tray of steaming dishes, it took a moment for me to realize I wasn't hallucinating.
She put the tray on the sideboard. "I… thought we should talk. Mom gave me your messages. I stopped by the Shalimar and got some carry-out…."
I should have been afraid to open my arms, I should have been ashamed, but the power of our past made me stupid. She came to me in a brief and awkward embrace.
Evening stretched into morning as we ate and talked and cried, a night that was painful the way setting a broken bone is painful.
When I die, I know I'll go to heaven. It'll be easy to find. It smells like basmati rice and chicken tikka masala.
WRITING PROMPT: Write a scene in which scent is the featured sense.
MA
January 14, 2012
More About Worldiness
That's world-i-ness, not world-li-ness.
I posted yesterday (supposed to be today, but I zigged when I shoulda zagged) at Echelon Explorations on the topic of making differences count.
In that post, I referenced other people's work. This is my dang blog, and Imma use my own novels as examples, taking one example from each.
EEL'S REVERENCE
This takes place on an alternate Earth-type planet, and most of the natural world is the same. The only difference in the natural world, in fact, is that merfolk are an evolved sentient species. With the use of gillbands, they can function on land, balancing on their very long tails and moving like erect cobras. I didn't just stick that in because I thought it would be cool. One of the central conflicts in the book is whether or not merfolk are people within the landfolk's definition of the term and, if they aren't, how they can and should be treated.
The first of the merfolk we meet is beaten, stripped of his gillband, given a cheap and inefficient one, and exiled into the desert. This is not the same level of danger to him as it is to the landfolk exiled with him.
Merfolk mature at a faster rate than landfolk, so Loach, a young adult from the sea, is much younger, experientially, than he appears. It makes him more foolhardy, more vulnerable and more resilient than expected.
FORCE OF HABIT
The people of the planet Llannonn look exactly like Earth people. This isn't laziness on my part — Whaddya mean "isn't just laziness"? Shut up! — IT'S VITAL TO THE PLOT, which is one of mistaken identity.
An important cultural difference is the centrality of courtesy to the Llannonninns. People from other planets mistake the courtesy for gentleness, and are … let us say surprised … by the swiftness and harshness of Llannonninn justice. It isn't pleasant to contemplate being placed, naked, into a nail-studded barrel drawn through the street by maddened beasts, even if the sentence is proposed over a nice cup of tea.
How do cultural differences play a part in your work or in your favorite books set in other places and/or times from your own?
WRITING PROMPT: There used to be a show on TV in which women were dominant and men were subservient. I found it sickening, because it was exactly like a stereotyped version of the real world at the time, with the genders reversed. How might the world be different in a matriarchy?
January 13, 2012
Friday Recommends – Pogo, etc.
Friday the 13th falls on a Friday this month, so it behooves us to beware lest we be befuddled. If you don't know Pogo, my first recommendation to you is to read the Wiki on Pogo and then read some of the strips. You're welcome.
flag by Nick Piche
I can't remember if I recommended this guy before, but I'm recommending him now: Nick Piche. Besides being a fan of the Oxford comma (a comma after EVERY "and" and "or" in a series), he writes killer fiction.
If you're seriously locavore and have the room for some structures (and your neighborhood codes allow it), have a look at Suburban Hobby Farmer by Bill Brikiatis. Lots of good stuff there!
Our #4 daughter showed me this video and I have to share it:
It snowed here overnight, so I went looking for programs to make my own snowflakes. Here's a fun one. Or, if you're old-skool, you can cut some out of paper with Martha Stewart. With Martha Stewart's instructions, I mean. You wouldn't actually use Martha Stewart in place of scissors. If she were that sharp, she wouldn't have done time, am I right? (Sorry, Martha! I love ya, gal!)
WRITING PROMPT: If you love cold weather, write a character who hates it. If you hate it, write a character who loves it.
MA
January 12, 2012
The Sadness of the Shells
I recently went to Tybee Island, Georgia (USA) for a writing retreat. There, I collected sea shells, which I brought home. The following sadness ensued.
THE SADNESS OF THE SHELLS
by Marian Allen
I walked on the beach in December
And picked up some shells from the beach.
I made it a point to remember
What posters endeavor to teach:
Do not collect living crustaceans
But only the ones that are dead.
Inspect each with infinite patience.
Yes, that's what the posters had said.
I thought I had followed the order
In gathering gifts from the foam
And socked away shells like a hoarder
And packed them and carried them home.
I showed them to this one and that one
Who "ooh"ed o'er each lovely shell
Including one wonderful flat one.
And then the shells started to smell.
I washed them in hot soapy water
And put them to drain on a rack.
"They stink the place up!" said my daughter,
So I packed them back in a sack.
I soaked them in bleach and the flat one
Came open. My sorrowing eyes
Beheld the sad truth, which was that one
Was not a legitimate prize.
It had, in fact, contained two living creatures
With gooshiness and stinkiness their features.
So I'm repaid for taking what was living.
The smell is everlasting, unforgiving.
Oh, Mortal! take a lesson from this telling!
Be very, very careful in your shelling.
Okay, so I rinsed all the shells off, threw away the stinky one, washed the remaining ones in hot soapy water again … And they STILL smell. Is it residue from having been packed with Neptune's Vengeance, or do I have another Hideous Surprise lurking? Time will tell. Time. Will. Tell.
WRITING PROMPT: An innocent mistake rebounds disastrously.
MA
January 11, 2012
Strata Rocks: A Post NOT About Geology
This is Food Day on the blog, you you know Strata is going to turn out to be edible. Appropriately enough, today's Google Doodle celebrates Nicolas Steno, the father of stratigraphy (the geological kind).
Strata means layers, and the kind of strata I'm writing about today is another term for "layered casserole". They're very good and they're very easy, which is why I say they rock, although you can make them as complex and difficult as you choose. I'm sure Nero Wolfe and Fritz Brenner would take three days to plan one, a month to gather the ingredients and a week to construct it. And Archie would call it a relapse and get disgusted and quit and …. If you haven't read any Nero Wolfe mysteries, do so.
ANYWAY, the strata I make has a bread base, an egg-and-milk body and something else. Very versatile. Here's the one I made the other night:
CHEESE STRATA
two pieces of leftover, stale bread, broken into small pieces
two eggs, lightly beaten, in a measuring cup
milk added to bring liquid level up to 1 cup
spicy brown mustard to taste
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheese
Butter a small casserole. Put in the bread. Thin the mustard with a little of the egg mixture, then re-combine with the rest of the egg and milk. Add salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Sprinkle on the cheese. Let sit until the liquid is absorbed by the bread. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. [NOTE: The knife should be clean when it goes in, of course.]
Now, you could put a layer of mushrooms, spinach and/or other vegetables over the bread and egg/milk. You could use spices or herbs to vary the flavor. You could do a layer of sausage or ham or bacon or chicken.
You could make a sweet strata by starting out with sweet bread and adding fruit and/or nuts and cinnamon or nutmeg or any favorite spice.
Here's a link to a collection of strata recipes at AllRecipes.com. Enjoy!
WRITING PROMPT: A character finds something unexpected while digging.
MA
January 10, 2012
Whaddya Wanna Know?
Yesterday, semi-regular guest poster F. A. Hyatt talked about Point of View. In the course of comments and responding to comments, two topics came up:
grammar
tense
What other Basics would my fond readers like clear information about on Writerly Monday? Or, come to that, Foodie Wednesday or Friday Recommends?
I'm posting today — This is Tuesday, right? — at Fatal Foodies, giving my recipe for Honey Glazed Carrots.
WRITING PROMPT: A character is tense about something. What is it? Why does it make him or her tense? Add another character who is not tense. Is the second character courageous, clueless or in control of the situation?
MA
January 9, 2012
Guest Post by F. A. Hyatt on POV
POV, of course, stands for Point Of View or "Whose head are we in?" Here's what regular guest poster Floyd Hyatt has to say about this element of fiction:
POINT OF VIEW
What you must know
by F. A. Hyatt
I have been reading several misleading (not to say ridiculous) "Guides" to Point Of View. While the subject can get complex, the important basics about Point Of View are simple.
Point Of View indicates who the storyteller or narrator is in a particular work, or fraction of a work. That is, whose NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE the story is told from. It is uncommon for this perspective to change during a course of a novel. Usually, the entire work will be effected within at least the same CLASS of perspective, and common editorial advice is not to change perspective unless needed, nor more than once per chapter.
This is to keep the continuity of the reader consistent, and keep from popping him out of the story. It is not a rule of English grammar; it is a style convention of novel and story writing. The general classes of POV are below:
First Person POV
The narrator is some agent detailing what he sees. The pronoun 'I' features here: I said, I looked, It was apparent to me- these are all hallmarks of First Person Point Of View. Narrative voice may be that of an observer, or of a character, (lead character or not; in the Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald, the first-person narrator is Nick Carraway and not the title character Jay Gatsby himself). The fundamental feature is that this puts the reader behind only one set of eyes. Narration may only disclose what is put before the narrator's view, or reported to the narrator, and tagged as such. For example, a first person narrator would not be able to recount what is around some blind corner he is not in a position to see, or to report on what is behind a door that is closed to him. It cannot skip from head to head , to disclose the thoughts of others. (Unless of course the narrator is say, introduced as a telepathic being, but in order to be still considered First Person Viewpoint, this would have to be rigidly limited, and the character voiced very strongly — this variation is sometimes called First-person Omniscient view.)
Second Person POV
This is the point of view used in text adventure games and children's Halloween tapes. "You walk into a room. You see a jar on the table. You begin to sweat." It is the voice of a narrator who walks behind only one person, and reports to that person his actions, or visualizations. Because it is a clinical and abstract viewpoint, its place in the novel is very confined, and for good reason, not normally employed.
Third Person POV or Omniscient POV
This type of narrator can flit from character to character, describing scenes viewed by multiple characters, detailing their private thoughts and emotional states, even if not apparent to other onlookers. It can report on the contents of locked chests, the positions of assassins waiting hidden behind closed doors, and so forth. This is usually formal narrative. Rarely can this type of narrator be characterized. The voice is therefore largely neutral. It does not normally belong to a character, save when the narrator is cast as a storyteller, 'Once upon a time' fashion. It is a neutral commentator in the root form. It allows an author to detail actions that happen simultaneously in different story locations and to different characters from one consistent viewpoint.
Novels are commonly written in third person, some in first, almost none in second.
There are several variations on these classes, often called VOICES. There is the Unreliable Narrator voice, for instance. – A narrator whose reporting is skewed by prejudice or belief, and who the reader understands to be making narration colored, biased, misinterpreted or wrong in perspective.
Choice of Perspective, or POV
One approach is to decide if your story requires knowing of simultaneous events occurring in different places. If it does, First Person POV would mean having to use multiple narrators, possibly changing the narrating character too often. This causes reader disruption, what is called "Head hopping". Alternately, it could mean writing much of the story in past tense, with the POV character reminiscing about things he learned of only later. Often this could require frequent scene changes or short chapter sections. Third or Omniscient would commonly be the best choice of POV for such a work.
If you are writing a text adventure (quite out of fashion in gaming, these days) then you will undoubtedly be writing in second.
If your story can be easily written from behind one set of eyes, such as is common in romances and detective stories, where identification with one hero or heroine is paramount, or where most events come before, or can be arranged to come before, one person, then First Person POV can be a plus, making for an easier identification with a particular character. Keep in mind that novels might be planned ahead to take advantage of multiple first person POV's by making each Narrator's section long enough to prevent head hopping.
The author should be aware that POV does not affect the necessity to be tense aware. Nor should the author confuse tense with POV. Besides POV, most novels tend to be consistent in narrative TENSE, as well. Books that begin in a very immediate, present tense, will attract comment if the voice passes into another, more reflective tense. Tense, unlike POV, is also a matter of grammar however, and must be adhered to as the prose dictates.
POV does not affect dialog. Dialog is what is quoted, or spoken aloud, regardless of who reports it, or what POV a story uses. In terms of dialog, think of the narrator's commentary as an unquoted, disembodied voice announcing the commercials on the Price is Right. Always consistent in tone throughout the show, but not necessarily involved in the game, or with the character's interjected quotes. Even when writing in pure First Person POV, spoken character dialogs including the POV character's dialogs, must be quoted,("") set off in their own paragraphs, and tagged as needed to identify the speakers.
Below is just one of any number of easily available descriptions of Point of View, and included here because it links to very good lists of classic works performed in each of the common styles, and validates to some extent, this summary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrativ...
Terminology Generally:
It is common, in a critique, to point out unusual shifts in the narrative mode, or POV. While important, be aware that not every reviewer will be a informed adviser in regard to POV. One common mistake is to routinely confuse TENSE with VOICE, or either with POV. Some may even confuse a change in writing style (another kind of problem) with a POV shift. In order to take advantage of review, it is important to know what these root terms are, and how they are used, in order to evaluate what corrections to your work are needed.
Look up these terms and their full descriptions, and be sure you understand them, before abiding by the "will" of your critiques. Then you will be more enabled to use the opinions garnered to correctly guide your work, and offer better help to others.
Critiquing POV:
The point of establishing a consistent narrative, or storyteller, is to provide clarity for the reader, to minimize logical inconsistencies, and provide an uninterrupted, believable reading experience. Some authors can achieve this without severe POV interpretation. There are many sub-categories of POV, and many "gray" area uses overlap. I am not overly mechanical when considering POV. My standard is, "Does it work in the story?" Does it bother, or confuse me? If not, I may point out the mechanical problem, but admit it didn't affect my experience of the story. Give a corrective example when citing a POV error.
These tips are offered to help establish some common basis for traffic between critique participants, not to limit the breadth of a critique. Look at them as a sort of basic vocabulary that can help you to better communicate what you see in a work to others.
Thanks, Floyd! I'm sure you'll have comments and questions, as always. Readers, if you leave a question or comment, please allow Mr. Hyatt a few days to respond. I promise you, he will. 
WRITING PROMPT: Write a paragraph from First Person, Second Person and Third Person.
MA
