Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 191
November 7, 2013
Culture Clash
I'm still plugging away at revisions. One thing I'm struggling with is how much to explain. I did extensive research for this book, reading something like 60 books in the process. That included books on history, books on historical technology, books on the culture and novels written or published in the general time period to get a sense of the language, what words were used, etc. That means I probably know more than the average reader and certainly more than the average teen reader. The editor keeps questioning things that I would have thought were general knowledge -- like there's a question mark every time I mention electricity. The book is set in 1888. The first power generating station that provided electricity to a portion of Manhattan went online in 1882. Not to mention that the book itself is alternate history, so it doesn't have to be accurate to our history. There are things that are different on purpose. My world is actually behind on technology, as they're only just starting to experiment with electricity in 1888. There are some things I can kind of explain in context, but it's impossible to explain the timeline differences in the book because no one in the book knows they're in an alternate timeline. I'm having to find creative ways to explain the situation in this world without having the characters lecture each other. "As you know, Mary, magic is the predominant power supply, which is why people with magical powers are the upper class. It would be like owning all the oil in a world that uses fossil fuels for power, if you can imagine such a thing."
Speaking of alternate realities, I forgot to mention the strangest thing about last weekend's Steampunk convention: At the same hotel, in the adjacent function space, one of those Toddlers and Tiara's-style kiddie beauty pageants was going on. Talk about culture clash! There were all these small kids wearing makeup that made them look like they'd been spray painted, their hair processed, styled and sprayed to the point they looked like they were wearing wigs, dressed like Vegas showgirls. There were even some running around in diapers, with pacifiers in their mouths, with their hair in curlers and the same painted-on makeup. We had to pass through their part of the function space to get from our area to the hotel itself, and they were all out in the halls, practicing their routines. I thought it was a joke for exaggeration in Little Miss Sunshine when the little girl's talent, coached by her sleazy grandfather, turned out to be a burlesque routine, but that actually looked innocent and tame compared to what these girls were practicing. They were doing stripper moves while attempting Shirley Temple levels of dimply cuteness, all while being constantly berated by their mothers and coaches. I couldn't even see what the point was. It didn't look like anyone but the moms was in the audience, and there only seemed to be a few girls competing in each category, so it wasn't like any title they won was meaningful. I saw one of the crowns as they were checking out, and it was cheap plastic, like the kind of thing you'd buy for a Halloween costume.
Meanwhile, there were the women in our group, many of whom were dressed in full Victorian attire. Or else they were dressed as explorers. There was one lady dressed as a frontier doctor, complete with little black bag (I got the impression she was a doctor in real life, as well). I wanted to hold an intervention for the pageant girls. Unfortunately, it seemed like most of them had already been brainwashed, and they were mostly really, really bratty and entitled, like they really thought they were princesses. For a while, they were practicing their routines in the hallway in front of our meeting rooms, and they got snippy if any of us dared walk through where they were practicing on the way to our sessions. They were really bratty at the breakfast buffet, too.
Speaking of alternate realities, I forgot to mention the strangest thing about last weekend's Steampunk convention: At the same hotel, in the adjacent function space, one of those Toddlers and Tiara's-style kiddie beauty pageants was going on. Talk about culture clash! There were all these small kids wearing makeup that made them look like they'd been spray painted, their hair processed, styled and sprayed to the point they looked like they were wearing wigs, dressed like Vegas showgirls. There were even some running around in diapers, with pacifiers in their mouths, with their hair in curlers and the same painted-on makeup. We had to pass through their part of the function space to get from our area to the hotel itself, and they were all out in the halls, practicing their routines. I thought it was a joke for exaggeration in Little Miss Sunshine when the little girl's talent, coached by her sleazy grandfather, turned out to be a burlesque routine, but that actually looked innocent and tame compared to what these girls were practicing. They were doing stripper moves while attempting Shirley Temple levels of dimply cuteness, all while being constantly berated by their mothers and coaches. I couldn't even see what the point was. It didn't look like anyone but the moms was in the audience, and there only seemed to be a few girls competing in each category, so it wasn't like any title they won was meaningful. I saw one of the crowns as they were checking out, and it was cheap plastic, like the kind of thing you'd buy for a Halloween costume.
Meanwhile, there were the women in our group, many of whom were dressed in full Victorian attire. Or else they were dressed as explorers. There was one lady dressed as a frontier doctor, complete with little black bag (I got the impression she was a doctor in real life, as well). I wanted to hold an intervention for the pageant girls. Unfortunately, it seemed like most of them had already been brainwashed, and they were mostly really, really bratty and entitled, like they really thought they were princesses. For a while, they were practicing their routines in the hallway in front of our meeting rooms, and they got snippy if any of us dared walk through where they were practicing on the way to our sessions. They were really bratty at the breakfast buffet, too.
November 6, 2013
The Epic Knitting Project
As promised, I finally have photos of the epic knitting project. It's a lady's circular cape in shell pattern, adapted from a pattern in Weldon's Practical Needlework, circa 1886. It's in the book Victorian Lace Today. That's a whole book of patterns taken from Victorian knitting magazines or books and transcribed (with apparently much testing) into modern knitting terminology. I checked it out of the library and ended up buying a copy because I kind of want to make everything in it.
I made it out of rather cheap yarn because it's a very complicated pattern of a type I'd never tried before, so I didn't want to risk expensive yarn on it. Unfortunately, the only yarn of the proper weight I could find at the local craft store had sequins on it. It would have been fine if the black yarn had had black sequins, but I didn't realize until I started knitting that the sequins were multicolored, which is a little tacky and flashy. I'm considering snipping a few off. Now that I know what I'm doing, I may get some good yarn and do another one because I love the way it came out and I'd like something more usable. But later, much later, as I need a break.
Here it is, as worn. Ignore the frizzy hair. I'd just been out and got caught in the rain.
And here it is spread out so you can see the pattern. With black yarn, the pattern is a little harder to see well.
You cast on with the neckline, then the pattern gradually grows to create the full circle. Then after the body is done in the shell pattern, you go around the edges, picking up stitches and knitting on the border. The interesting thing about this is that you never actually bind off. You just take stitches off the needles to knit the border onto, and then at the very end of the border, you graft the edges together. The only binding off is in the border pattern to create the points, so you start with 16 stitches on each border section, then it grows to the point, then you cast a few stitches off and start again.
I made it out of rather cheap yarn because it's a very complicated pattern of a type I'd never tried before, so I didn't want to risk expensive yarn on it. Unfortunately, the only yarn of the proper weight I could find at the local craft store had sequins on it. It would have been fine if the black yarn had had black sequins, but I didn't realize until I started knitting that the sequins were multicolored, which is a little tacky and flashy. I'm considering snipping a few off. Now that I know what I'm doing, I may get some good yarn and do another one because I love the way it came out and I'd like something more usable. But later, much later, as I need a break.
Here it is, as worn. Ignore the frizzy hair. I'd just been out and got caught in the rain.
And here it is spread out so you can see the pattern. With black yarn, the pattern is a little harder to see well.
You cast on with the neckline, then the pattern gradually grows to create the full circle. Then after the body is done in the shell pattern, you go around the edges, picking up stitches and knitting on the border. The interesting thing about this is that you never actually bind off. You just take stitches off the needles to knit the border onto, and then at the very end of the border, you graft the edges together. The only binding off is in the border pattern to create the points, so you start with 16 stitches on each border section, then it grows to the point, then you cast a few stitches off and start again.
November 5, 2013
Book Report: History and Romance
I haven't talked books in a while, so today I have a Book Report of two very different things. My reading has been diverse lately.
First, there was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which is a kind of book I like about a subject I don't much like. It's what I guess you'd call a historical mystery, in that it's about characters tracking down the events of the past, so that there are multiple stories going on in multiple times. There's the story of what happened in the past, and then there's the present-day story of uncovering that story. I'm a sucker for this kind of book and want to write one someday. I get very testy when a book seems like that type, but then there's no real story in the present, just finding a trunk of letters, or something like that. This book does it the right way, where what's happening in the present is almost as interesting as what's going on in the past. The downside is that the subject they're researching is vampires (one of my "ugh" topics), namely Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula. However, this is far more about the historical mystery than it is about vampires, and the vampires aren't at all sexy or sparkly.
The book is written as a memoir of a historian, remembering something that happened when she was a teenager in the 70s. She found a mysterious old book in her father's study, something that seemed medieval. It was blank inside, except for one page with an illustration of a dragon. She asked her father about it, and he told her the story of that book mysteriously appearing on his desk when he was a graduate student, and how he researched it. Part of his research involved discussing it with his academic mentor, who'd found a similar book on his desk when he was a graduate student. The story has multiple layers, with the mentor's story more predominant at first, while we also learn how the father got the mentor's story. Later, it becomes the father's story, with the "present" story about what the girl is researching about the topic, and that story is the core of the book. Then toward the end, it's the girl's story, as she figures out what's going on in the present. It's kind of a globe-trotting adventure, to the point you find yourself imagining the thing from old movies where they show a map with a dotted line to indicate travel. They travel to Istanbul, Budapest, Romania, Bulgaria, Oxford and the south of France, among other places. It's a long book, but lots of fun for history and geography nuts. There's even a nice bit of romance playing out along the way.
For a change of pace, I read a young adult novel called The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. It's kind of a scaled down teen version of Four Weddings and a Funeral, a rather cinematic-feeling romantic comedy (and according to IMDB, a movie is in development -- but that can just mean an option, so it doesn't mean it's actually happening). It follows a theme I love, the idea of near misses and perfect timing and how things can sometimes come together. A teenage girl is on her way to London from New York for her father's second wedding, something she really doesn't want to do, since it will formalize the fact that her family is permanently broken apart after her father went on a temporary assignment in England, met someone else and decided not to come back. The girl misses her flight by four minutes, but while waiting in the airport for the next one, she meets an English boy who's studying at Yale and on his way home for a visit. They end up sitting together and spend the night on the plane talking, but then lose track of each other in customs. What are the odds of finding each other again?
I suppose it's not necessarily a true romantic comedy in that the things that happen aren't all that funny. It's just that the characters are witty and funny about some dark things, and the dialogue is very snappy. The book actually made me cry, but then I do tend to cry in the best romantic comedies. It's not just about the relationship between the guy and the girl because it's really more about her relationship with her father and coming to terms with the changes while discovering what really matters in all this. I read it in just about one sitting and couldn't put it down.
You know, I never end up next to the cute guy on flights, but when I was flying a lot for work, I remained ever hopeful that on the next flight, I might meet my Mr. Right. He must have missed his flight, or else not missed his flight so he didn't end up on mine.
First, there was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which is a kind of book I like about a subject I don't much like. It's what I guess you'd call a historical mystery, in that it's about characters tracking down the events of the past, so that there are multiple stories going on in multiple times. There's the story of what happened in the past, and then there's the present-day story of uncovering that story. I'm a sucker for this kind of book and want to write one someday. I get very testy when a book seems like that type, but then there's no real story in the present, just finding a trunk of letters, or something like that. This book does it the right way, where what's happening in the present is almost as interesting as what's going on in the past. The downside is that the subject they're researching is vampires (one of my "ugh" topics), namely Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula. However, this is far more about the historical mystery than it is about vampires, and the vampires aren't at all sexy or sparkly.
The book is written as a memoir of a historian, remembering something that happened when she was a teenager in the 70s. She found a mysterious old book in her father's study, something that seemed medieval. It was blank inside, except for one page with an illustration of a dragon. She asked her father about it, and he told her the story of that book mysteriously appearing on his desk when he was a graduate student, and how he researched it. Part of his research involved discussing it with his academic mentor, who'd found a similar book on his desk when he was a graduate student. The story has multiple layers, with the mentor's story more predominant at first, while we also learn how the father got the mentor's story. Later, it becomes the father's story, with the "present" story about what the girl is researching about the topic, and that story is the core of the book. Then toward the end, it's the girl's story, as she figures out what's going on in the present. It's kind of a globe-trotting adventure, to the point you find yourself imagining the thing from old movies where they show a map with a dotted line to indicate travel. They travel to Istanbul, Budapest, Romania, Bulgaria, Oxford and the south of France, among other places. It's a long book, but lots of fun for history and geography nuts. There's even a nice bit of romance playing out along the way.
For a change of pace, I read a young adult novel called The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith. It's kind of a scaled down teen version of Four Weddings and a Funeral, a rather cinematic-feeling romantic comedy (and according to IMDB, a movie is in development -- but that can just mean an option, so it doesn't mean it's actually happening). It follows a theme I love, the idea of near misses and perfect timing and how things can sometimes come together. A teenage girl is on her way to London from New York for her father's second wedding, something she really doesn't want to do, since it will formalize the fact that her family is permanently broken apart after her father went on a temporary assignment in England, met someone else and decided not to come back. The girl misses her flight by four minutes, but while waiting in the airport for the next one, she meets an English boy who's studying at Yale and on his way home for a visit. They end up sitting together and spend the night on the plane talking, but then lose track of each other in customs. What are the odds of finding each other again?
I suppose it's not necessarily a true romantic comedy in that the things that happen aren't all that funny. It's just that the characters are witty and funny about some dark things, and the dialogue is very snappy. The book actually made me cry, but then I do tend to cry in the best romantic comedies. It's not just about the relationship between the guy and the girl because it's really more about her relationship with her father and coming to terms with the changes while discovering what really matters in all this. I read it in just about one sitting and couldn't put it down.
You know, I never end up next to the cute guy on flights, but when I was flying a lot for work, I remained ever hopeful that on the next flight, I might meet my Mr. Right. He must have missed his flight, or else not missed his flight so he didn't end up on mine.
November 4, 2013
Back Home
I'm back from the convention, and now I'm very glad that I didn't give in to the whim to extend my stay so I could relax a night before driving home because yesterday was clear and today it's raining, and I hate driving in the rain. I ended up having a good time at the convention, though I think it was probably better for research than for publicity. I got to examine some vintage clothing and see how clothing from the period has been reconstructed. They also had a traveling technology museum, so I got to see an original Edison phonograph and hear it played. It's amazing to think of how life-changing that must have been. Up to that point, the only way to have music was to play it yourself or be with someone who was performing.
Otherwise, I got to hang out with some friends and meet new people. My cape got a lot of attention. Of course, I forgot to get anyone to take pictures. I'll have to take some today to post. My one encounter with Patricia Wrede, the author guest of honor, was in an elevator, where she examined the cape. She'd seen a photo of the pattern but hadn't seen one made. And I came home with two new hats. I figure I'll need some fun things to wear if I have to do booksignings or school visits with this book.
I was silly and set the appointment for my annual furnace check-up for this morning, so I had to get up early and get the house in enough order that it was possible to have access to the major things they needed to check, but now the guy has come and gone, and that task has been checked off for the year. He discovered that the air vent in my bathroom had been painted shut. That explains so much. I can't believe I never noticed in all the years I've lived here. It was the adjustment knob thing that had been painted over, and he managed to pry it loose to open the vent.
Now that the knitting is done and the convention is over, I really have to dive into the revisions. I'm in the right frame of mind after a steampunk convention, and it's cool and rainy, so it's perfect writing weather.
Otherwise, I got to hang out with some friends and meet new people. My cape got a lot of attention. Of course, I forgot to get anyone to take pictures. I'll have to take some today to post. My one encounter with Patricia Wrede, the author guest of honor, was in an elevator, where she examined the cape. She'd seen a photo of the pattern but hadn't seen one made. And I came home with two new hats. I figure I'll need some fun things to wear if I have to do booksignings or school visits with this book.
I was silly and set the appointment for my annual furnace check-up for this morning, so I had to get up early and get the house in enough order that it was possible to have access to the major things they needed to check, but now the guy has come and gone, and that task has been checked off for the year. He discovered that the air vent in my bathroom had been painted shut. That explains so much. I can't believe I never noticed in all the years I've lived here. It was the adjustment knob thing that had been painted over, and he managed to pry it loose to open the vent.
Now that the knitting is done and the convention is over, I really have to dive into the revisions. I'm in the right frame of mind after a steampunk convention, and it's cool and rainy, so it's perfect writing weather.
November 1, 2013
On the Road Again
Just a quick note before I hit the road to Norman, Oklahoma, for Octopodicon, a steampunk convention. I finished my knitting project last night, and I'm sure I'll find someone willing to take a photo of me wearing it so I can post it when I get home. I have to do some finishing work, like weaving in the ends, but that will have to happen once I get there.
The nice thing about a steampunk convention is that I won't feel like I overpacked when I bring the extra-large suitcase. I had a minor dilemma when I couldn't remember which of my many white shirts and blouses works best with the vest I was bringing, but then I decided to throw both of them in.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen too many people at any kind of convention who worry much about overpacking. That's more a holdover from my Australian boss who thought you were overpacking if you needed more than a backpack for a three-week trip around the world.
Now to throw some things in the car and head off!
The nice thing about a steampunk convention is that I won't feel like I overpacked when I bring the extra-large suitcase. I had a minor dilemma when I couldn't remember which of my many white shirts and blouses works best with the vest I was bringing, but then I decided to throw both of them in.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen too many people at any kind of convention who worry much about overpacking. That's more a holdover from my Australian boss who thought you were overpacking if you needed more than a backpack for a three-week trip around the world.
Now to throw some things in the car and head off!
October 31, 2013
Halloween Costumes
I had to do my pre-trip Target run this morning, which was also an emergency candy run. I never get trick-or-treaters (possibly because you can't see my house from the street and I don't turn on my porch light), but I'm afraid that if I didn't have candy, that would be the one time I needed it, and I'd have had to resort to candy canes from last Christmas. I was lured while I was out by the adjacent TJ Maxx, but that worked out because they had the kind of tights I needed for much less than at Target, and they had a really cute pair of ankle boots that will be perfect wear for a steampunk convention.
In spite of the fact that I was on a Halloween candy run, I momentarily forgot what day it was and was therefore somewhat taken aback to find myself browsing the racks next to a woman dressed as a ladybug, complete with wings.
Last night, I worked at the church's community Halloween carnival. They had to move everything inside because of rain, so instead of the usual "trunk or treat" in the parking lot, they had people set up in the doorways of the Sunday school classrooms. Some of the people still went all-out in decorating their doorways, but it was a shame the police department and fire department couldn't go with their original plans because there's no way to make something indoors cooler than trick-or-treating at a fire engine or police car.
The most interesting cross-cultural costume had to be the Asian Indian little girl wearing a Native American costume, escorted by her mom in a sari. I wondered if there might have been a message in the costume, something like "I'm not that kind of Indian, you idiots," or if she just liked the costume (she might have been Pocahontas, but I didn't get a close enough look to see if it was a Disney princess thing). As large as the Indian population in this area is, and as long as the schools have been using "Native American," I doubt these kids are running into that misconception very often.
Just as there seem to be "sexy" versions of things to be costumes for women, generally done by finding a way to add a corset, the toddler girl version of costumes seems to be to add a tutu. There was a rather adorable Supergirl toddler, with a red tutu for the skirt and a little cape. There were no toddler Minions, much to my disappointment, because that seems like the perfect costume for a toddler -- the walk, language and trail of destruction are all more or less the same.
I think there were almost as many boys dressed as knights as there were girls dressed as princesses, though ninjas were also popular. There was one family where the two older boys were dressed as knights, and their infant sister was dressed as a princess (basically, a lacy nightgown and a pointy hat with a scarf hanging from the top). I think if I were doing a family theme costume like that, I'd have been tempted to dress the baby as a dragon. There was a cute baby Frankenstein's Monster, in a sleeper sort of thing with a hood that made the monster head.
I was working a craft booth, and we also had the station for getting the rub-on tattoos. The pastor teased me about running a tattoo parlor. I wasn't very good even with the rub-ons. I either got them too wet or not wet enough. I mostly volunteer for this thing because it's fun to see all the costumes, and then they usually let the volunteers take any leftover goodies from the cake walk.
And now I have to finish getting ready for this convention. I've reached the point of deleting things from the to-do list. I've edited enough of the book to be able to do a reading, so I'm not going to worry about that today. Mostly, I'll be knitting and putting together promo stuff.
In spite of the fact that I was on a Halloween candy run, I momentarily forgot what day it was and was therefore somewhat taken aback to find myself browsing the racks next to a woman dressed as a ladybug, complete with wings.
Last night, I worked at the church's community Halloween carnival. They had to move everything inside because of rain, so instead of the usual "trunk or treat" in the parking lot, they had people set up in the doorways of the Sunday school classrooms. Some of the people still went all-out in decorating their doorways, but it was a shame the police department and fire department couldn't go with their original plans because there's no way to make something indoors cooler than trick-or-treating at a fire engine or police car.
The most interesting cross-cultural costume had to be the Asian Indian little girl wearing a Native American costume, escorted by her mom in a sari. I wondered if there might have been a message in the costume, something like "I'm not that kind of Indian, you idiots," or if she just liked the costume (she might have been Pocahontas, but I didn't get a close enough look to see if it was a Disney princess thing). As large as the Indian population in this area is, and as long as the schools have been using "Native American," I doubt these kids are running into that misconception very often.
Just as there seem to be "sexy" versions of things to be costumes for women, generally done by finding a way to add a corset, the toddler girl version of costumes seems to be to add a tutu. There was a rather adorable Supergirl toddler, with a red tutu for the skirt and a little cape. There were no toddler Minions, much to my disappointment, because that seems like the perfect costume for a toddler -- the walk, language and trail of destruction are all more or less the same.
I think there were almost as many boys dressed as knights as there were girls dressed as princesses, though ninjas were also popular. There was one family where the two older boys were dressed as knights, and their infant sister was dressed as a princess (basically, a lacy nightgown and a pointy hat with a scarf hanging from the top). I think if I were doing a family theme costume like that, I'd have been tempted to dress the baby as a dragon. There was a cute baby Frankenstein's Monster, in a sleeper sort of thing with a hood that made the monster head.
I was working a craft booth, and we also had the station for getting the rub-on tattoos. The pastor teased me about running a tattoo parlor. I wasn't very good even with the rub-ons. I either got them too wet or not wet enough. I mostly volunteer for this thing because it's fun to see all the costumes, and then they usually let the volunteers take any leftover goodies from the cake walk.
And now I have to finish getting ready for this convention. I've reached the point of deleting things from the to-do list. I've edited enough of the book to be able to do a reading, so I'm not going to worry about that today. Mostly, I'll be knitting and putting together promo stuff.
October 30, 2013
The White-Hat Hero
I've been talking about the various shades of heroes, focusing mostly on those who might not seem like the traditional hero -- the ones who are darker or flawed. These days, though, it seems like it's easier to get audiences interested in these darker heroes than in the traditional good guy. I was recently on a convention panel about bad boys vs. good guys, and someone said that the good guys are boring, which is why people like the darker heroes more. I said that if your good guy is boring, then you're doing it wrong. But how do you write a good guy people will like?
First, you have to like the character. If you think your white-hat hero is a sanctimonious, boring goody-goody, you can't expect your readers to like him. If you're not doing that on purpose because you think it's a twist to have the white-hat guy be a jerk and the darker guy be the real good guy, then think again about why you want this character in your story. If this isn't the sort of character you can write well, then don't try to make it work. Go ahead and write the character who appeals to you.
A nice guy doesn't have to be perfect. Another comment made at that panel was that it's hard to relate to a pure and perfect hero. My response was that the hero doesn't have to be pure and perfect to be good. Even the best people with the noblest intentions can make mistakes or fail. Attempting to do something nearly impossible and having a bad outcome or being misled by someone with evil intentions doesn't even create a shade of gray. Good people can have bad moods, be discouraged or snap at people. Good people can have flaws and blind spots. A generally positive trait can become a flaw in some circumstances. Being too trusting or too self-sacrificing can be a flaw. Good people can have fears and phobias and weaknesses that they try to resist.
It also helps if the hero doesn't see himself as perfect and if other characters recognize his flaws. I think this is the main thing that's turned audiences off of a lot of the traditional heroes. Writers forget to have the hero recognize his own flaws or be at all self-critical. The guy who's noble and righteous and who sees himself that way can come across as a bit of a jerk or holier than thou. In real life, people are often harder on themselves than anyone else can be, and they're more conscious of their own flaws than other people are. You don't want to overdo this, though, where the hero is constantly beating himself up for invisible flaws, to the point where it looks like the hero's biggest flaw is that he doesn't realize how awesome he is. He just needs to be realistic about himself and aware that he isn't perfect while he tries to improve. On the other hand, it can really help gain audience support if the hero is a bit of an underdog, if the other characters underestimate him, dwell on his flaws or misinterpret his motives. That generally works a lot better than if the other characters are full of non-stop praise or if they don't seem to see flaws that are obvious to the audience.
It's okay for the white-hat good guy to have a sense of humor. That seems to be another misconception about this kind of character. I keep seeing the Luke Skywalker vs. Han Solo comparison when the good boys vs. bad boys issue comes up, with the idea that you get the bad boy Han Solo with all the funny quips and boringly earnest Luke Skywalker. But if you really look at those movies, Luke is very funny, as well. I got sucked into one of the marathons on cable a while ago, and I was astonished by just how many of the funny lines or funny reactions came from Luke. He wasn't at all humorless. He was actually quite snarky, he had Han's number from the start, knowing just how to manipulate him, and he gave as good as he got from Han. If you let your good guy have a sense of humor and give him some of the good lines instead of reserving all the fun stuff for the bad boy, you'll go a long way toward making him someone we want to cheer for.
When you're writing a more traditional good guy hero, take advantage of the possibilities inherent in the character. One of these is contrast. You can get a lot of drama and humor out of a contrast between character and situation. A dark bad boy hero in a dark, dangerous world isn't all that interesting. Put an earnest nice guy in that dark, dangerous world, and you've got something you can play with. There's also a lot more potential drama and angst about putting someone with a strong moral compass into an impossible situation. The darker hero may be more of a pragmatist and able to make the rational decision, even if it's a lesser of two evils. The guy who really believes in doing no harm and who has lines he can't make himself cross is going to have a lot more trouble when he's between a rock and a hard place that involves a moral dilemma in a choice between two evils or two mutually exclusive goods. But trying to make a moral choice doesn't mean a good guy has to be stupid or that you have to frame the situation that way -- like the common trope where it's presented that the good guy killing the bad guy who is in the process of killing or hurting multiple people is somehow an evil act, so in order to remain truly good, the good guy can't really do anything. And sure, lots of innocent people died, but the good guy's hands remain clean, and that's good! You have to let your good guy be smart. He can feel bad about being forced to kill someone, even as he recognizes it as the right thing to do, without him turning to the dark side because he killed the villain. Screwy morality is one of the big things hampering the good guys in fiction.
I've been using the masculine pronoun here for simplicity, although it applies to all heroes. However, it's a lot trickier with a female protagonist because it seems like audiences are harder on them, and a lot of the criticism comes from women. A white-hat heroine who's at all competent is likely to be labeled a Mary Sue and dismissed. That's why it's important to let a character have flaws that are recognized. Sadly, it seems like a female character who's at all confident in herself will be labeled a bitch. On the other hand, the dark bad girl generally has to act like a man in drag and will be criticized if she acts at all feminine. I don't really know what the solution is, other than to try to write decent female characters while ignoring the inevitable backlash criticism and support as a reader or audience member the good female characters who are out there.
First, you have to like the character. If you think your white-hat hero is a sanctimonious, boring goody-goody, you can't expect your readers to like him. If you're not doing that on purpose because you think it's a twist to have the white-hat guy be a jerk and the darker guy be the real good guy, then think again about why you want this character in your story. If this isn't the sort of character you can write well, then don't try to make it work. Go ahead and write the character who appeals to you.
A nice guy doesn't have to be perfect. Another comment made at that panel was that it's hard to relate to a pure and perfect hero. My response was that the hero doesn't have to be pure and perfect to be good. Even the best people with the noblest intentions can make mistakes or fail. Attempting to do something nearly impossible and having a bad outcome or being misled by someone with evil intentions doesn't even create a shade of gray. Good people can have bad moods, be discouraged or snap at people. Good people can have flaws and blind spots. A generally positive trait can become a flaw in some circumstances. Being too trusting or too self-sacrificing can be a flaw. Good people can have fears and phobias and weaknesses that they try to resist.
It also helps if the hero doesn't see himself as perfect and if other characters recognize his flaws. I think this is the main thing that's turned audiences off of a lot of the traditional heroes. Writers forget to have the hero recognize his own flaws or be at all self-critical. The guy who's noble and righteous and who sees himself that way can come across as a bit of a jerk or holier than thou. In real life, people are often harder on themselves than anyone else can be, and they're more conscious of their own flaws than other people are. You don't want to overdo this, though, where the hero is constantly beating himself up for invisible flaws, to the point where it looks like the hero's biggest flaw is that he doesn't realize how awesome he is. He just needs to be realistic about himself and aware that he isn't perfect while he tries to improve. On the other hand, it can really help gain audience support if the hero is a bit of an underdog, if the other characters underestimate him, dwell on his flaws or misinterpret his motives. That generally works a lot better than if the other characters are full of non-stop praise or if they don't seem to see flaws that are obvious to the audience.
It's okay for the white-hat good guy to have a sense of humor. That seems to be another misconception about this kind of character. I keep seeing the Luke Skywalker vs. Han Solo comparison when the good boys vs. bad boys issue comes up, with the idea that you get the bad boy Han Solo with all the funny quips and boringly earnest Luke Skywalker. But if you really look at those movies, Luke is very funny, as well. I got sucked into one of the marathons on cable a while ago, and I was astonished by just how many of the funny lines or funny reactions came from Luke. He wasn't at all humorless. He was actually quite snarky, he had Han's number from the start, knowing just how to manipulate him, and he gave as good as he got from Han. If you let your good guy have a sense of humor and give him some of the good lines instead of reserving all the fun stuff for the bad boy, you'll go a long way toward making him someone we want to cheer for.
When you're writing a more traditional good guy hero, take advantage of the possibilities inherent in the character. One of these is contrast. You can get a lot of drama and humor out of a contrast between character and situation. A dark bad boy hero in a dark, dangerous world isn't all that interesting. Put an earnest nice guy in that dark, dangerous world, and you've got something you can play with. There's also a lot more potential drama and angst about putting someone with a strong moral compass into an impossible situation. The darker hero may be more of a pragmatist and able to make the rational decision, even if it's a lesser of two evils. The guy who really believes in doing no harm and who has lines he can't make himself cross is going to have a lot more trouble when he's between a rock and a hard place that involves a moral dilemma in a choice between two evils or two mutually exclusive goods. But trying to make a moral choice doesn't mean a good guy has to be stupid or that you have to frame the situation that way -- like the common trope where it's presented that the good guy killing the bad guy who is in the process of killing or hurting multiple people is somehow an evil act, so in order to remain truly good, the good guy can't really do anything. And sure, lots of innocent people died, but the good guy's hands remain clean, and that's good! You have to let your good guy be smart. He can feel bad about being forced to kill someone, even as he recognizes it as the right thing to do, without him turning to the dark side because he killed the villain. Screwy morality is one of the big things hampering the good guys in fiction.
I've been using the masculine pronoun here for simplicity, although it applies to all heroes. However, it's a lot trickier with a female protagonist because it seems like audiences are harder on them, and a lot of the criticism comes from women. A white-hat heroine who's at all competent is likely to be labeled a Mary Sue and dismissed. That's why it's important to let a character have flaws that are recognized. Sadly, it seems like a female character who's at all confident in herself will be labeled a bitch. On the other hand, the dark bad girl generally has to act like a man in drag and will be criticized if she acts at all feminine. I don't really know what the solution is, other than to try to write decent female characters while ignoring the inevitable backlash criticism and support as a reader or audience member the good female characters who are out there.
October 29, 2013
Emergency Yarn Run, Part 2
I had to make yet another emergency yarn run this morning. I'd already used 300 more yards than the pattern called for, and I wasn't yet done. Now I know to up the estimates for anything in this book.
Meanwhile, I resolved my convention issue. Someone else going to the convention let me know that they actually did want panelists to request more panels. That goes against the grain for me because I'm used to the programming people at the convention I work on having conniptions about problem panelists who start making lots of requests after the program is set. Apparently, this convention had some issues that left them scrambling, so they ended up letting people more or less program themselves. It seems like that would make more work, but on the other hand, it allows panelists to avoid the Law Of Convention Programming and make sure they're not opposite something else they want to do. It's nice to see when something is scheduled and what's opposite it before you say you want to do a panel. So I now have three more panels.
And while I was at the craft shop, I got supplies for making something to give away for promos that I hope might start going viral.
Now to finish the knitting, make promo stuff, and continue with the editing. I got a good start yesterday, then ran into one of those things that was a great concern to the editor but that seemed blindingly obvious to me. When something is blindingly obvious to you, it's difficult to judge how to explain it without going overboard with exposition. Fortunately, my narrator character is a newcomer who needs lots of stuff explained to her, so I think I can work it out, but I had to sleep on it to figure it out.
While I'm off working, I leave you with an impressive halftime show. I was in a military marching band, so all the curves make me twitchy, but I know just how much work had to go into this, so I'm kind of in awe. Though I think the T-Rex should have eaten the drum major, just to make it Art.
Meanwhile, I resolved my convention issue. Someone else going to the convention let me know that they actually did want panelists to request more panels. That goes against the grain for me because I'm used to the programming people at the convention I work on having conniptions about problem panelists who start making lots of requests after the program is set. Apparently, this convention had some issues that left them scrambling, so they ended up letting people more or less program themselves. It seems like that would make more work, but on the other hand, it allows panelists to avoid the Law Of Convention Programming and make sure they're not opposite something else they want to do. It's nice to see when something is scheduled and what's opposite it before you say you want to do a panel. So I now have three more panels.
And while I was at the craft shop, I got supplies for making something to give away for promos that I hope might start going viral.
Now to finish the knitting, make promo stuff, and continue with the editing. I got a good start yesterday, then ran into one of those things that was a great concern to the editor but that seemed blindingly obvious to me. When something is blindingly obvious to you, it's difficult to judge how to explain it without going overboard with exposition. Fortunately, my narrator character is a newcomer who needs lots of stuff explained to her, so I think I can work it out, but I had to sleep on it to figure it out.
While I'm off working, I leave you with an impressive halftime show. I was in a military marching band, so all the curves make me twitchy, but I know just how much work had to go into this, so I'm kind of in awe. Though I think the T-Rex should have eaten the drum major, just to make it Art.
October 28, 2013
Diva Flouncing
The water heater cabinet repairs are finally finished. The time management ended up being as bad as ever. "We'll come by around 10 when we first get on the property" turned into a "we're running late, and it will be about an hour and a half" phone call at 11:45, which turned into a "we have to run by the office, but we'll be back in two hours, tops" phone call at 4:30, which turned into them showing up right before 8 -- at the beginning of the Grimm season premiere. Grrr. But it only took a few minutes, and now I'm free. Until the next thing that has to be repaired.
But I still got my picnic. I finally got smart and was driving to the parking lot near the park I like instead of taking a little more than half an hour to walk there so that I could spend more time walking in the woods and less time walking in the neighborhood. But then once I was in the car, I decided that meant I could drive anywhere, so I went to the lake nearby and sat on a nice, flat rock shelf where I could watch the sailboats. I got some good quality thinking done, so I'm ready to plunge into revisions today. Going out to the lake for the afternoon has long been on my list of things I need to make time to do since I like water and since the lake is so close, but I never manage to do it. This way, I managed to combine a little Fall Fun Fest with some work.
It's going to be a busy week because I'm leaving for a convention on Friday, and there's stuff I have to do to get ready for that, including finishing the knitting so I'll have something semi-costumey to wear and putting together some preliminary promo materials. I also have to do some revision work because I have to get it done and because I need to have a piece ready to read. I got my schedule for the convention yesterday and since I only got scheduled for two programming items (a reading and one panel), I had a moment of contemplating pulling out of the convention and then not having to worry about this stress and having more time to work on the revisions. I'm not sure quite what's up with that because just a week or so ago the con chair had sent me a list of programming she was planning for me, and none of that was on the schedule they sent. The schedule included a list of all programming and a note to let them know if there was anything else you wanted to be on, and most of the panels had at most two or three people on them, so maybe their "final" schedule was more like the programming survey other conventions send out ahead of time, and they actually want you to schedule yourself on other stuff. At the moment, I'm kind of torn between pulling out to get some work done and going and taking advantage of the light schedule to do what I want to do instead of what I'm programmed to do. With so little on the schedule, it's not like I'd be missed, but I think it could be good research and a chance to start building a little buzz. It's probably better to have people wondering why I'm barely on the program than to pull a diva flounce. You should never pull a diva flounce unless you're absolutely certain they won't just say "okay, whatever" instead of meeting your requirements to get you to stay, and I don't think I yet have the stature to make anyone cater to my wishes. Even when you do have the stature, you have to use it sparingly and only in cases where it's truly an issue for you.
And now to start tackling that to-do list so I can maybe someday achieve the stature to where I can say "Two programming items? Um, don't think so. Not worth the trip" and have people say "No, don't leave us! We'll put you on anything you want!"
But I still got my picnic. I finally got smart and was driving to the parking lot near the park I like instead of taking a little more than half an hour to walk there so that I could spend more time walking in the woods and less time walking in the neighborhood. But then once I was in the car, I decided that meant I could drive anywhere, so I went to the lake nearby and sat on a nice, flat rock shelf where I could watch the sailboats. I got some good quality thinking done, so I'm ready to plunge into revisions today. Going out to the lake for the afternoon has long been on my list of things I need to make time to do since I like water and since the lake is so close, but I never manage to do it. This way, I managed to combine a little Fall Fun Fest with some work.
It's going to be a busy week because I'm leaving for a convention on Friday, and there's stuff I have to do to get ready for that, including finishing the knitting so I'll have something semi-costumey to wear and putting together some preliminary promo materials. I also have to do some revision work because I have to get it done and because I need to have a piece ready to read. I got my schedule for the convention yesterday and since I only got scheduled for two programming items (a reading and one panel), I had a moment of contemplating pulling out of the convention and then not having to worry about this stress and having more time to work on the revisions. I'm not sure quite what's up with that because just a week or so ago the con chair had sent me a list of programming she was planning for me, and none of that was on the schedule they sent. The schedule included a list of all programming and a note to let them know if there was anything else you wanted to be on, and most of the panels had at most two or three people on them, so maybe their "final" schedule was more like the programming survey other conventions send out ahead of time, and they actually want you to schedule yourself on other stuff. At the moment, I'm kind of torn between pulling out to get some work done and going and taking advantage of the light schedule to do what I want to do instead of what I'm programmed to do. With so little on the schedule, it's not like I'd be missed, but I think it could be good research and a chance to start building a little buzz. It's probably better to have people wondering why I'm barely on the program than to pull a diva flounce. You should never pull a diva flounce unless you're absolutely certain they won't just say "okay, whatever" instead of meeting your requirements to get you to stay, and I don't think I yet have the stature to make anyone cater to my wishes. Even when you do have the stature, you have to use it sparingly and only in cases where it's truly an issue for you.
And now to start tackling that to-do list so I can maybe someday achieve the stature to where I can say "Two programming items? Um, don't think so. Not worth the trip" and have people say "No, don't leave us! We'll put you on anything you want!"
October 25, 2013
July Flashback
I've sort of revived my old cooking blog with the story of the spaghetti squash. I'll try to post more often there, but that would mean trying new things, and I haven't been cooking a lot lately. But it is fall, and that's when I tend to turn into Betty Crocker.
I spent much of yesterday having a flashback to July. You may recall that I spent much of July dealing with repairs to my water heater closet. The work didn't get entirely finished. There was one part of the water heater installation that wasn't done, there was one section of sheetrock that wasn't completed, and the door wasn't painted. I ran into the contractor when he was working on a neighbor's house back in August and mentioned these things to him. He said he'd get back to me. Wednesday, I was thinking about having to maybe get nasty and get in touch with the HOA to say these things hadn't been done, but before I did anything, I got a call from him yesterday afternoon. He was working on my next-door neighbor's house (the same problem I'd had with the water heater cabinet) and wanted to come by to finish the work. Of course, the "I'll be right over" at three turned into showing up at six, and there was one part he was missing to do one last thing, so he's supposed to come by this morning. He's only an hour late, which is early for him. I'll start nagging in about fifteen minutes (he made the mistake of giving me a phone number).
But then it should all be done! This has really been an epic saga.
Because of all the waiting, I got no work done (it's hard to get into the right mindset when you think you're going to be interrupted at any moment). Instead, I did a lot of knitting, since that also counts as work and is very time-sensitive. Today, though, I'm planning to do a real retreat to brainstorm these revisions. I've got some good Black Forest ham, some good hard rolls I baked yesterday (something else I did while waiting), and some Honeycrisp apples, so I'm going to take a picnic to the woods with my notebook and sit in the quiet and solitude and work out all the things I need to work out. That way, I can hit the ground running on Monday.
Meanwhile, my main e-mail is down, which is making me twitchy. My fan mail address is working, but I keep getting an error message with my main business/personal address. The annoying thing about the error message is that it says they're experiencing technical difficulties, but then give a link for troubleshooting it. If it's their technical difficulty, there's no real troubleshooting you can do. Why leave the sense of doubt that it might be our fault? By going through a different home page, I can at least see the headers of messages, so I know I'm not missing anything critical, but I can't open any message without getting the error notice.
On the bright side, that means I can hang out in the woods for a couple of hours this afternoon without feeling like I'm missing anything.
And I just got the call that it would be another hour to an hour and a half before they get here, so I'm going to go do my brainstorming in the woods and call them when I get back. Given the time management I'm used to, they won't be here until after then, anyway, so I don't want to put my plans on hold to wait.
I spent much of yesterday having a flashback to July. You may recall that I spent much of July dealing with repairs to my water heater closet. The work didn't get entirely finished. There was one part of the water heater installation that wasn't done, there was one section of sheetrock that wasn't completed, and the door wasn't painted. I ran into the contractor when he was working on a neighbor's house back in August and mentioned these things to him. He said he'd get back to me. Wednesday, I was thinking about having to maybe get nasty and get in touch with the HOA to say these things hadn't been done, but before I did anything, I got a call from him yesterday afternoon. He was working on my next-door neighbor's house (the same problem I'd had with the water heater cabinet) and wanted to come by to finish the work. Of course, the "I'll be right over" at three turned into showing up at six, and there was one part he was missing to do one last thing, so he's supposed to come by this morning. He's only an hour late, which is early for him. I'll start nagging in about fifteen minutes (he made the mistake of giving me a phone number).
But then it should all be done! This has really been an epic saga.
Because of all the waiting, I got no work done (it's hard to get into the right mindset when you think you're going to be interrupted at any moment). Instead, I did a lot of knitting, since that also counts as work and is very time-sensitive. Today, though, I'm planning to do a real retreat to brainstorm these revisions. I've got some good Black Forest ham, some good hard rolls I baked yesterday (something else I did while waiting), and some Honeycrisp apples, so I'm going to take a picnic to the woods with my notebook and sit in the quiet and solitude and work out all the things I need to work out. That way, I can hit the ground running on Monday.
Meanwhile, my main e-mail is down, which is making me twitchy. My fan mail address is working, but I keep getting an error message with my main business/personal address. The annoying thing about the error message is that it says they're experiencing technical difficulties, but then give a link for troubleshooting it. If it's their technical difficulty, there's no real troubleshooting you can do. Why leave the sense of doubt that it might be our fault? By going through a different home page, I can at least see the headers of messages, so I know I'm not missing anything critical, but I can't open any message without getting the error notice.
On the bright side, that means I can hang out in the woods for a couple of hours this afternoon without feeling like I'm missing anything.
And I just got the call that it would be another hour to an hour and a half before they get here, so I'm going to go do my brainstorming in the woods and call them when I get back. Given the time management I'm used to, they won't be here until after then, anyway, so I don't want to put my plans on hold to wait.
