Zachary Ricks's Blog, page 8

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 16

Day 16 – you should be 26,672 words in to your new novel. You’re over the 50% hump, and you may be tempted at this point to go back, look at what you’ve written before, and think to yourself…

“Dude, this sucks!”

And you know what? You’re right. It does suck. But it’s supposed to. It’s a first draft. And first drafts, as a rule, suck. Don’t worry about it. And don’t edit now. And don’t be afraid to work through something in the writing if you have to.

Enjoy! And keep writing!

 

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 15

25,000 words. Halfway there. If you’ve made it this far, celebrate! Reward yourself a little!

For me, the writing is becoming its own reward, but that’s not to say that the occasional $20.00 Steam game isn’t a nice incentive also. Writing like this requires discipline, focus, goal-setting and self-control. Whether you’re trying to develop these attributes in yourself is irrelevant – they are being created inside of you by the simple fact of your writing.

At the end of this process, you’ll have a good idea as to whether this is something that fulfills you. And if it is, the challenge becomes this: NEVER QUIT.

Go write!

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 14

23,338 words. Sorry this is late, and long, and I recorded it on my iPad so the sound quality is a little different, but here it is.

Phew!

 

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 13

Day 13 – 21,671 words.

Adding conflict. It’s easy to say this, but what are we really talking about? Examples from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

You may not like LotR, and that’s fine. Live and let live, right? So to find your own examples, get a good movie, and a pen and paper, and tonight take an hour and a half to two hours and watch a movie. Every time you see that a character has a goal – small or large (I want a sandwich! I want to escape these darn Uruk-Hai!), write it down. Maybe make a quick note of what they want in one column, and any obstacles in another column.

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 12

Day 12. At this point, you should be 20,004 words into your new novel. It’s a huge milestone, and you’re almost halfway there.

But it’s around this point that I’ve noticed myself starting to flag or falter. You may be stuck in the middle of the book doldrums.

So… make it interesting. You make it interesting by adding conflict. Take five minutes before you pull out the keyboard and write down what you’re going to write and what’s the interesting part of it.

And keep writing!

Mister Nice Guy

WOW MORE POLITICAL COMMENTARY! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And again, if that isn’t your cup of tea, hail and well met, fair traveler. Mayhap you might prefer today’s GSG NaNo episode.

For the people who have been commenting on the Day One post below… I love you people. I really, truly, honestly do. But I can see that some of you Do Not Get It. I’m not surprised, I’m still working through it myself. Here’s what I know right now.

I’m not picking this fight. I didn’t choose this hat. I don’t want to feel this way about my country or about people that I respect. Would that I felt that same respect for me. But I don’t. I just don’t. And the temptation is to return type for type, venom for venom, acrimony for acrimony, hatred for apparent hatred.

When the President won re-election the other night, “*EXPLETIVE* white people” became a trending topic on Twitter. How should I interpret that? And how should I respond?

When a senior adviser to the White House reportedly says “After the election, it’s our turn. Payback time. Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget. The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay…” does that sound like someone willing to compromise? Looking for reconciliation? What am I to do when I hear this? Set out punch and cookies?

I am apparently the ogre. I am the troll under the bridge. I am the big bad wolf. I am that thing under the bed. And yet somehow, I’m simultaneously expected to be the nice guy. The one who doesn’t hit back. The one who doesn’t kick up a fuss.

This is a difficult position to be in. You can only be called a stupid, ignorant bigoted hick for so long before you start to suspect that by golly, they really think I’m a stupid, ignorant bigoted hick. Huh. And if there’s one thing that we don’t do as reasonable people, it’s compromise with stupid, ignorant bigoted hicks. You don’t compromise with bigotry. If people really believe that I’m a bigot, or stupid, they will never compromise with me. Why would they?

Moreover, I see no reasonable way to convince people that I’m not a bigot. You can’t prove a negative. Once the accusation has been leveled, I am forever tarred. “Oh, well, sure he’s pretty articulate. For a racist.” End of argument. Once again, Bulverism has raised its ugly head. Facts don’t matter. Arguments are invalid. There is no need to show actual racism on my part. Merely assert my racism and move on. Because I am (in the words of Dennis Prager), Sexist, Islamophobic, Xenophobic, Homophobic, Racist, Intolerant and/or Bigoted. Any of those labels works. You don’t have to pay attention to anything someone so labeled says. You can safely ignore their SIXHIRB butts and get on about your life, content not to be one of those sorry bastards.

So when it’s obvious to me that things which I hold sacred are being trampled down by people who do not know and do not understand because it’s not in their frame of reference, how now shall I respond? How can I respond when people consider me an ignorant fool for actually believing in some mythical sky-god and his medieval rules?

As an example, one of the worst arguments I ever got in was at work over the fact that I was going to raise my daughter to believe in some basic morals. We were having a conversation about raising kids, and having a kid and some opinions, I was engaged in the conversation. One of the things specifically mentioned was that my daughter wasn’t going to date until she was sixteen. At which point, one of my co-workers decided she had a real problem with this, and let me know so in no uncertain terms and at increasingly loud volume. “You can’t do that to her! You have to let her live her own life!” It only stopped when I said “Look. She’s not your daughter. She’s mine. I am her father. And my wife and I are going to raise our daughter the way we decide. Period. Your opinion is noted, but it’s irrelevant.” However, I’m the one who’s apparently wanting to control the way other people think and believe. And I am intolerant of others’ viewpoints. And so she felt perfectly comfortable trying to loudly bully me in a roomful of co-workers into tolerating, no, accepting and promoting her point of view.

So, to say it once more, because apparently it bears repeating.

I AM NOT THE ONE PICKING THIS FIGHT.

I DIDN’T CHOOSE THIS ROLE.

THIS WASN’T THE HAT I WANTED.

But I’m through trying to earn the respect of those who insist on making me the bad guy while simultaneously calling me insensitive or not nice when I raise an objection to misstatements, mischaracterizations, our outright falsehoods. I’m also done playing strictly defense or allowing those who disagree with me to define the conflict on their terms. If you can’t see beyond this hat that I’m apparently supposed to wear, then so be it. That is no longer my problem.

In our first issue of FlagShip, the very first story we printed was one that I’m so happy to be in any way associated with. It was called “The Pirate”, by H. E. Roulo. And I’m constantly reminded of a particular line in the story, not least because it’s become a friend’s signature line.

I am a pirate. Your rules do not apply.

Those of you who know me, have talked with me, worked with me, interacted with me on a fairly regular basis and yet still hold the view that people on my side of the aisle are stupid, ignorant, or racist? You have no excuses. I hope you understand that I’m no longer after your respect. Because I now understand that I will never get it. C’est la vie.

Those of you who saw my earlier post as a call for contention, or for punching the other guys in the nose? Or for withdrawal from the fight? If I gave that impression, I apologize. I now believe that this is a much harder road that we have to walk – we must be able to disagree without being disagreeable.

While you can expect me (and others, I am quite certain) to be more clear, more firm, and more vocal about what I believe and what I think is right, I hope and pray that I can be so while being tactful, reasonable, and kind. I am not willing to engage in the same kinds of tactics as the people I referred to earlier. I’m not a name-caller. I’m not a grenade thrower. I am not a fan of argument for argument’s sake. Where I am wrong, I want to admit it and learn better. Expect me to be more assertive, but hopefully not more aggressive, and without being defensive. I want to be strong, but I have to be gentle as well. I must be firm, but I must not be unkind. That’s the call. That’s the path.

After all… I am supposed to be the nice guy here.

GSG NaNo Gaiden Podcast – Ep 11

Today’s episode comes from the lovely and talented Laura Nicole! (Thanks, Laura!)

If you hit a point in a conversation where you have a line of dialogue that comes out of nowhere, and you’re not sure it fits? And everyone seems to be looking at your character like “Where the heck did that come from?”

Use that awkwardness. Describe the body language. Get that word count.

Good advice, and a great episode.

Enjoy!

GSG Gaiden Podcast – Ep 10

Up late, but here!

By the end of today, you should be 16,667 words into your new novel.

What to do with characters you don’t like. Figure out why you don’t like them. And then possibly kill them. OR as an entertaining alternative that would have word-count growth opportunities…

…humiliate them. Pants them. In center court of Madison Square Gardens. On national tv. In front of a live audience. And then, every time that character shows up, have another character pulling up the YouTube clip on his phone. Or the science fiction / fantasy equivalent if you’re writing in those genres.

Go Write!

CoE: Lamentations Snippet

Not everything in life can be politics, thank heaven. And on Fridays, I promise to keep things lighter.

But boy, do I have a post ready to go for Monday.

Meanwhile, I thought I might post a little something from the book I’m writing right now – the sequel to Battlehymn. SPOILERS FOLLOW! But if you’ve read Battlehymn, and you don’t mind getting a sneak peek, here’s a piece of Crown of Exiles Book 2: Lamentation.

FOR THE SPOILER-HARDY FEW. CoE: Battlehymn is a science fiction story about a young man named Shem who discovers that he has the talent to influence the minds of other people through song. People who can do this are called skalds, and in some instances, the talent has been put toward military applications. Put a skald in a giant armored robot suit with external speakers, and have him sing about how your team is going to win, sort of. At the end of Battlehymn, Shem was forced to fight a member of the mercenary cohort he’d joined. Here, the leader of the cohort, Ichigo Kamiyama, and Shem’s armor suit trainer, Naji, are discussing what happened in that battle and what to do about it now…

Ichigo nodded, poured a small amount into a glass, and sat down behind the desk. “Naji, you knew David better than most. Maybe better than me. And you trained Shem. Tell me, even with Shem’s singing, do you really believe that he could fight off David in a Jotun suit?”

Naji shook her head immediately. She’d seen Shem’s last exercise before the cohort had shipped out for Elian. He’d been good, yes. And his singing had an effect, but by the end of the exercise, Shem’s suit had been completely disabled by training rounds. She thought about the conversation they’d had in the hanger bay that night. It’s a coffin, she’d said, meant to hold you in place for the reaper when he comes.

That’s not quite right. he’d responded. It’s not meant to protect the person in it. It’s meant to protect the people outside… We invite the reaper, so that he does not strike down those we seek to protect. She smiled at the memory now. He’d been so morose. So somber. And his armor had been covered with paint from the practice rounds. He’d been shot up by one of the cohort team leaders – Norris.

“No. No way. Even with the singing, a Jotun’s armor and armament are more than a match for Shem. Remember the exercise in the asteroid field? Norris shot Shem up good despite the singing.”

Ichigo nodded. “That’s what I thought. No matter how good a shot Shem is, a Jotun’s a terror, and David wears it like a second skin. So, you’d agree that even at full fighting strength, you’d give that match to David.”

Naji nodded. “Yeah. In a heartbeat. There’s no way Shem could do enough damage to a Jotun fast enough to stop him once he got moving.”

“And yet Shem is here, and David is not.” Ichigo sat at his desk, swirling the amber liquid in the glass. “Let me add another factor for you to consider. Shem went out and fought David’s Jotun… without grabbing a weapon first.”

Naji laughed out loud. She started, and just couldn’t stop. It went on for a little while, Naji shaking her head and wiping the tears from her eyes. Then she saw the look on Ichigo’s face. “No way.” Her brow furrowed. “Chief, no. There’s just no way. An unarmed suit no bigger than a Hemme against an armed Jotun? And Shem won? There’s no way.” She thought about it, shaking her head. “Couldn’t have happened.”

“Yes, normally I’d say the same thing. And then I saw this.” He reached down and activated a holo-display over his desk. It began to play surveillance footage from just outside the hangar deck. Shem’s suit came leaping out of the deck’s egress port, followed closely by an explosion. Ichigo froze the image and backed it up slowly, but Naji had already seen it. A good pilot immediately scanned the hands and shoulders of an opponent for armament, and Shem hadn’t had any when he came tumbling out of the complex.

“So… how did he do it? Did David drop something? He couldn’t have sung him away? Right?” Naji walked around the desk and leaned over Ichigo’s shoulder, peering at the frozen image. No weapons. Son of a…

“There’s one other thing I haven’t told the cohort. Apparently, Shem was about to be smashed up against the colony wall – you know how David likes to get physical in that Jotun. So, Shem’s song changed.” He pulled up another piece of footage, this one showing the two suits headed for the colony wall at high speed, David squeezing the Vanir suit. A telltale came up on the display, showing the stress the suit was taking, and Naji shook her head. Markus was a genius with armor suits. A lesser one would have cracked like an egg under the pressure David was putting on it. Suddenly, David’s right arm went limp, and Shem was able to get free enough to lay a fantastic punch on the Jotun and get free – just before they both collided with the colony wall and went tumbling.

Naji leaned in closer. “Zoom that and back it up? What happened there with David’s arm?”

Ichigo backed the footage up, then played it forward at a lower speed. “You tell me. What does it look like to you?”

“It looks like… It just stopped working.” She looked down at Ichigo, who was staring at the frozen image with flat eyes. “How did that happen?”

“When Shem’s song changed, he was broadcasting through the entire colony, and everyone experienced a sharp, piercing pain in the elbow of their right arm.” Ichigo said, his voice steady and cold. “It appears that Shem’s song had a physical effect beyond just the normal perceptive, emotional, cognitive impact a skald song has.” He drank the liquid down now in a single gulp, shuddering and gasping at the fiery taste.

Naji felt her legs go weak. “Maybe I will have a drink of that stuff after all.” She poured it herself, just a finger of the single malt scotch. She tossed it back and squinted. “Wow. Yeah. So, we have a skald on our hands whose songs have a potential physical impact. What now?”

Ichigo shrugged. “Shem’s still untrained. Raw. He’s a fantastic musician, but I don’t know if he’s been able to tap his talent as a skald to its greatest potential. And if he doesn’t have control of this?” Ichigo nodded at the display. “Then he’s more than a potential asset. He’s a… he’s a disaster waiting to happen. He meant that to affect David, but it hurt every person in the colony. And some of the nearby ship crews and miners, apparently. Anyone who heard it. Now imagine that instead of trying to shut down David’s prosthetic arm, he had been concentrating really hard on David’s brain.” He poured himself another shot of the scotch. “Last night, Shem had a dream. A dream where he sang a song that killed people. A song that he couldn’t get out of his head. A song that scared the hell out of him, but he still remembered it. You want to find out what happens if he sings it? Accidentally, even? Say, while he’s scrubbing in the shower? And it’s just a little tune that won’t leave him alone? How many times has that happened to you.”

Naji didn’t say anything. She just stared at the display.

“That’s why it has to be you, Naji. No one’s told Shem about that. We have no idea what he’ll do if he suddenly realizes he has that kind of power. It’s unprecedented. And when the Commonwealth finds out he can do it?”

“Which they have to know by now,” Naji muttered, “thanks to David.”

“They’ll be after him directly. So he can’t be here. He specifically can’t be here. He’s got to be someplace else. And that has to happen in the loudest secret way I can think of to buy Haven time to build her defenses. Because mark my words, we’re going to get pasted before this is all over and done. And I need to know that Shem is in control of himself and his abilities. Or he can’t come home.” He fixed Naji with a hard, flat look. “And he can’t serve the Commonwealth either. If the Queen or one of the princelings gets ahold of him?” Ichigo shook his head. “They’ll tear his brain and body apart until they figure out how he did that, and then they’ll figure out how to make others do it. And everyone loses.”

Naji shuddered.

“That’s why it has to be you, Naji. It can’t be Cassie. Maybe it could be Ailer. I don’t know if I could do it myself. I like him too much. When you get to the bottom of it, you’re the only one I trust to pull the trigger.”

Naji nodded, not taking her eyes from the display. “All right,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “I’ll get packed. Let’s all hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Ichigo nodded. “Amen.”

GSG Gaiden Podcast – Ep 09

From Hugh O’Donnell, of the Way of the Buffalo podcast.

Hugh’s advice? Find your group. And I couldn’t agree more. If you’re doing this alone, it’s so much harder. And while maybe your cup of tea doesn’t involve writing in public, a good local group can help in other ways. And it’s nice to feel like your part of something big – like the Word War the Austin and Houston areas are waging on the entire state of Maryland. (Which as of this moment, the Texans appear to be winning. Not that I’m surprised.)

Enjoy! And keep writing!