Gillian Polack's Blog, page 158
August 21, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-22T13:03:00
I am a force for good in the world. I know this today with sense absolute.
My students have not discovered the joys of punning. Only one of them actually knew what puns were. Their homework is to research puns (and they were huddled round the computer when I left) and to commit a whole page of really vile puns within the week.
Cue evil laugh for next week, when a roomful of newly-educated punsters is let loose on the world!
There was a reason for this. There usually is.
Today so many of us in the class had bad pain. As well as teaching the fine art of punning, I made everyone work with the pain rather than through it. If one suffers chronic pain or is on medication and waits for either of the two to kindly go away before one can write, one does not write and the world is less rich and our lives are less rich. So I incorporate the emotions and the physical feelings of my students into the class as a matter of course, for it's all about enabling writing. We don't often have so much physical distress all in the one room, but it does happen from time to time, and we all adjust.
I'm not teaching my students to over-ride the pain - for pain gives important signals - but how to turn it into good writing or use it as inspiration. We didn't just learn about puns, therefore, we learned about dream sequences and about how pain can change your experience of the world and how to use that transformed experience in character design and character experience.
It's typical of my wonderful Wednesday students that a pain-addled morning should turn into a joyous experience.
My students have not discovered the joys of punning. Only one of them actually knew what puns were. Their homework is to research puns (and they were huddled round the computer when I left) and to commit a whole page of really vile puns within the week.
Cue evil laugh for next week, when a roomful of newly-educated punsters is let loose on the world!
There was a reason for this. There usually is.
Today so many of us in the class had bad pain. As well as teaching the fine art of punning, I made everyone work with the pain rather than through it. If one suffers chronic pain or is on medication and waits for either of the two to kindly go away before one can write, one does not write and the world is less rich and our lives are less rich. So I incorporate the emotions and the physical feelings of my students into the class as a matter of course, for it's all about enabling writing. We don't often have so much physical distress all in the one room, but it does happen from time to time, and we all adjust.
I'm not teaching my students to over-ride the pain - for pain gives important signals - but how to turn it into good writing or use it as inspiration. We didn't just learn about puns, therefore, we learned about dream sequences and about how pain can change your experience of the world and how to use that transformed experience in character design and character experience.
It's typical of my wonderful Wednesday students that a pain-addled morning should turn into a joyous experience.
August 20, 2012
Conflux - workshop
Conflux is just over a month away and the program is being finalised. The workshops are already finalised. Mine this year is for people who are looking at putting history in their fantasy fiction.
The official description (for those who like official descriptions):
Good fantasy writing often draws on an understanding of history to make its world convincing. Creating a detailed and authentic setting is easier (to be honest) if one cheats by knowing a bit of history and by drawing on it. Gillian will take you through some of the aspects of our past that can help build that better fantasy world and advise on techniques that translate that knowledge into story-telling. For her, history is not words on paper, but the real lives of real people- if a writer understands those lives, then it’s easier for readers to enjoy their stories.
Unofficially, this is the short and punchy version of the stuff I teach through the ANU and the ACT Writers' Centre. I'm not teaching it at the ANU any time later this year, and the one day version (not the quick tips for desperate writers, and not targeted directly at fantasy writers) is almost full. This is the two hour version. Not lots of historical fact - more about what the stuff of history can do for writers and what questions they need to start asking and how that history (once sorted) can be integrated seamlessly into fiction. It will work for historical fantasy, but also for alternate world fantasy. It's quick and dirty, for we have only two hours, but full of handy tips. In fact, it will be fuller of handy tips than the 2 day version I gave in Sydney a few years ago, for I am nearly finished my doctorate and that doctorate has been about how writers use and can use history. I've been researching how writers can not spend their whole lives in research for a single novel, and I will teach some of the results of my work.
So that's the Conflux workshop for this year. There will be chocolate for this, even if I can't manage it for anything else. And it's the day before two days of Conflux, so following up on questions and thoughts is as simple as, "Hey, Gillian, got time for coffee?"
The workshop booking form is here: http://www.conflux.org.au/2012/files/conflux8_workshop_booking.pdf
The official description (for those who like official descriptions):
Good fantasy writing often draws on an understanding of history to make its world convincing. Creating a detailed and authentic setting is easier (to be honest) if one cheats by knowing a bit of history and by drawing on it. Gillian will take you through some of the aspects of our past that can help build that better fantasy world and advise on techniques that translate that knowledge into story-telling. For her, history is not words on paper, but the real lives of real people- if a writer understands those lives, then it’s easier for readers to enjoy their stories.
Unofficially, this is the short and punchy version of the stuff I teach through the ANU and the ACT Writers' Centre. I'm not teaching it at the ANU any time later this year, and the one day version (not the quick tips for desperate writers, and not targeted directly at fantasy writers) is almost full. This is the two hour version. Not lots of historical fact - more about what the stuff of history can do for writers and what questions they need to start asking and how that history (once sorted) can be integrated seamlessly into fiction. It will work for historical fantasy, but also for alternate world fantasy. It's quick and dirty, for we have only two hours, but full of handy tips. In fact, it will be fuller of handy tips than the 2 day version I gave in Sydney a few years ago, for I am nearly finished my doctorate and that doctorate has been about how writers use and can use history. I've been researching how writers can not spend their whole lives in research for a single novel, and I will teach some of the results of my work.
So that's the Conflux workshop for this year. There will be chocolate for this, even if I can't manage it for anything else. And it's the day before two days of Conflux, so following up on questions and thoughts is as simple as, "Hey, Gillian, got time for coffee?"
The workshop booking form is here: http://www.conflux.org.au/2012/files/conflux8_workshop_booking.pdf
gillpolack @ 2012-08-21T13:30:00
The end of editing is in sight. I will be finished this afternoon. (I've still not managed to go and see a movie - work intervenes and health intervenes and life just generally intervenes.) I'm not unhappy with my novel. I don't know what kind of novel gets a PhD, but this works as a novel. I keep saying this because I keep being surprised by it.
Once I finish editing (30 more pages) then I can finish with two of my writing tasks, and then I can go teach. Tonight is Medieval Women and we're talking about politics and people. I'm really not sure how to prepare for this one, except by taking some show and tell and maybe a reference book the class can use to explore. And dates - I must take dates. I always forget names and dates, but if I'm to make English history (for England is the pays du jour) make sense to those who know it not, it really helps if I look as if I know more than 1066 and 1215. I don't understand why I, as an historian, always tangle names and dates, but I do, and it must be dealt with.
Once I finish editing (30 more pages) then I can finish with two of my writing tasks, and then I can go teach. Tonight is Medieval Women and we're talking about politics and people. I'm really not sure how to prepare for this one, except by taking some show and tell and maybe a reference book the class can use to explore. And dates - I must take dates. I always forget names and dates, but if I'm to make English history (for England is the pays du jour) make sense to those who know it not, it really helps if I look as if I know more than 1066 and 1215. I don't understand why I, as an historian, always tangle names and dates, but I do, and it must be dealt with.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-20T22:02:00
I'm thinking back to two years ago, when a most wonderful astronomer-friend made me some star charts. I didn't realise that it was possible to get star charts for any place on Earth at any period in history, but one can. It's possible for characters to look up at the night sky and to actually see it, even if one is, like me, not very good at visualising. I love my starcharts.
I wonder if Lara could be tempted to make them for strange worlds in distant galaxies? I suspect not. There's a program she used to get me my 1305 stars.
I took those charts to Languedoc last year and looked at them while looking at the shape of the hills. It was a wonderful moment, to know what my characters could see from the streets of Saint-Guilhem and what my other characters could see from their high hilltop.
Right now I'm editing and the effect of those charts is very clear - they have oriented my world and made it come to life in more ways than one.
They've also made me consider my history from a slightly different angle. The pictures Lara made me represent the actual sky of that time and place. It's a magical feeling, that the same sky was seen by real people, and by my imaginary souls.
I wonder if Lara could be tempted to make them for strange worlds in distant galaxies? I suspect not. There's a program she used to get me my 1305 stars.
I took those charts to Languedoc last year and looked at them while looking at the shape of the hills. It was a wonderful moment, to know what my characters could see from the streets of Saint-Guilhem and what my other characters could see from their high hilltop.
Right now I'm editing and the effect of those charts is very clear - they have oriented my world and made it come to life in more ways than one.
They've also made me consider my history from a slightly different angle. The pictures Lara made me represent the actual sky of that time and place. It's a magical feeling, that the same sky was seen by real people, and by my imaginary souls.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-20T21:07:00
The computer has finally stopped sulking, but not before it's contaminated the latest draft of my novel (which must now be checked - it's not *bad* contamination, but still needs carefulness). My inner weather sense doesn't much like the sudden temperature drops tonight. And friends keep facing problems. Some days are just like that, I guess.
I had to rearrange my lists despite my best intentions, for life got in the way. I hope I don't cause myself problems later in the week, but today has become all about editing again. It had to.
I have four things to start today, all four of which don't actually have to be finished until Wednesday morning. I have until 1 am... my clock starts...NOW. No. It doesn't. It really doesn't. Editing has to happen first. It's less than two degrees until zero, and I will hurt until the temperature stabilises. Then I can turn my mind to other things. Four other things.
If my computer throws another hissy fit today, however, I shall throw a hissy fit back. I shall take refuge among cookbooks and dream of French provincial dishes.
ETA: How can it be less than zero and not even 10 pm? No wonder my computer and I are grumbly...
ETA2: Thank goodness for frequent dated backups. My novel turned out to be only minorly contaminated and all is well. I thought I had four extra day's work to do, but instead it's maybe one extra hour. I may be behind on other things, but I'm suddenly ahead on the novel!
I had to rearrange my lists despite my best intentions, for life got in the way. I hope I don't cause myself problems later in the week, but today has become all about editing again. It had to.
I have four things to start today, all four of which don't actually have to be finished until Wednesday morning. I have until 1 am... my clock starts...NOW. No. It doesn't. It really doesn't. Editing has to happen first. It's less than two degrees until zero, and I will hurt until the temperature stabilises. Then I can turn my mind to other things. Four other things.
If my computer throws another hissy fit today, however, I shall throw a hissy fit back. I shall take refuge among cookbooks and dream of French provincial dishes.
ETA: How can it be less than zero and not even 10 pm? No wonder my computer and I are grumbly...
ETA2: Thank goodness for frequent dated backups. My novel turned out to be only minorly contaminated and all is well. I thought I had four extra day's work to do, but instead it's maybe one extra hour. I may be behind on other things, but I'm suddenly ahead on the novel!
August 19, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-20T14:14:00
Not even the wonderful people at BiblioBuffet are perfect. They wanted me to write about my library, you see, having seen a picture of L-space. I only wrote a short piece, for if I had written a long one, it would have interfered with reading time too much...It does, however, have photos. About 1/3 of my whole library is visible, I think. Maybe 1/4.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-20T12:10:00
Today is evenly balanced so far. For each crisis I must deal with by email, my computer sulks and needs a reboot. Four reboots tells you enough about the morning.
I managed to do some work on the novel, at least, while waiting for the reboots. The rest of my long list of things that must be done for today is going to be a bit more of a challenge. For the next eight weeks, too, I really have no choice but to complete my lists. I have a Deadline. So for eight weeks there are fewer inner conversations possible ("I don't have to do this until tomorrow." "I can exchange this bit of work for that." "I have flu - need to go to bed.") I'm luckier than most, for things are reasonably under control. If I work through my lists and get the various bits and pieces done, then I"ll be right. If I don't, of course, I'll be in big trouble. This means that today might end up being a very, very long working day.
I managed to do some work on the novel, at least, while waiting for the reboots. The rest of my long list of things that must be done for today is going to be a bit more of a challenge. For the next eight weeks, too, I really have no choice but to complete my lists. I have a Deadline. So for eight weeks there are fewer inner conversations possible ("I don't have to do this until tomorrow." "I can exchange this bit of work for that." "I have flu - need to go to bed.") I'm luckier than most, for things are reasonably under control. If I work through my lists and get the various bits and pieces done, then I"ll be right. If I don't, of course, I'll be in big trouble. This means that today might end up being a very, very long working day.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-19T22:44:00
It seems that this evening is this morning in reverse. I meant to write, but I've ended up editing. I guess I just prefer editing right now. Also, it's the time travel novel and there are small adjustments I can make that make big differences to pacing and mood. This is the moment when I see it from the outside and can align my inner vision more closely with what's actually on the page.
I think I'm OK with this novel. Unexpectedly, it works for me.
I do have to stop saying things like, "I'll never write a science novel that's hard SF," and, "I'll never write my history straight - I'll always make it fantasy to keep my historian self separate from my fiction writing self." I've broken both those resolves here. This is why I'm so surprised that I'm OK with this novel.
I'm also OK with writing more history into fiction and writing more science fiction. I still like small lives and personal stories: I just have a wider range of choices for settings. And I've learned so much about how not to info-dump and how to account for significant historico-cultural differences without killing the story.
That's the thing about doctorates. No matter how much one complains the whole way through, they're about significant learning. I have eight weeks to go and I can see I have achieved that aspect. I've also made a fool of my earlier self, for patently I can do some things I assumed were impossible. For my next trick I shall probably write something set on board a space ship or explore the Singularity, since I'm currently exploring tropes a mere half century after everyone else and will be able to move closer to the present. Or not. I suspect I shall find a story I want to tell and tell it in the way that suits it and me best, for just as long as I'm allowed to.
I think I'm OK with this novel. Unexpectedly, it works for me.
I do have to stop saying things like, "I'll never write a science novel that's hard SF," and, "I'll never write my history straight - I'll always make it fantasy to keep my historian self separate from my fiction writing self." I've broken both those resolves here. This is why I'm so surprised that I'm OK with this novel.
I'm also OK with writing more history into fiction and writing more science fiction. I still like small lives and personal stories: I just have a wider range of choices for settings. And I've learned so much about how not to info-dump and how to account for significant historico-cultural differences without killing the story.
That's the thing about doctorates. No matter how much one complains the whole way through, they're about significant learning. I have eight weeks to go and I can see I have achieved that aspect. I've also made a fool of my earlier self, for patently I can do some things I assumed were impossible. For my next trick I shall probably write something set on board a space ship or explore the Singularity, since I'm currently exploring tropes a mere half century after everyone else and will be able to move closer to the present. Or not. I suspect I shall find a story I want to tell and tell it in the way that suits it and me best, for just as long as I'm allowed to.
August 18, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-08-19T16:49:00
The GeoSciences Australia Open Day was a lot of fun. Elizabeth and I went together. We missed seeing the labs and decided it was not our day for creating earthquakes, but we were given a rather good explanation of how seismic surveys operate and a gorgeous explanation of local granodiorite (I still have a weakness for granodiorite and am unashamed to admit it) and we met and were explained the Shrimp*, which dates zircons through the uranium in them:
We were able to hold the oldest clearly dated piece of rock on the planet (Hadean zircon):
There were dinosaurs, one of which I have a video which is too big to load here, but the other (where I was busy being atmospheric) is here:
And that is an end to my report, for, alas, I have an hour and a half of work to be done before dinner. Maybe two hours, if I'm very good.
ETA: I need to clarify (because I want to, mainly). The zircon along with much other (younger) zircon is in the rock Elizabeth is holding. So I have held the oldest clearly dated thing on the planet, but I don't know which miniscule elements of that slab of stone comprise that aged object.
*The staff member with the Shrimp is very important. It demonstrates that the Shrimp was invented locally and that I'm not the only Canberran with a warped sense of humour.
We were able to hold the oldest clearly dated piece of rock on the planet (Hadean zircon):
There were dinosaurs, one of which I have a video which is too big to load here, but the other (where I was busy being atmospheric) is here:
And that is an end to my report, for, alas, I have an hour and a half of work to be done before dinner. Maybe two hours, if I'm very good.
ETA: I need to clarify (because I want to, mainly). The zircon along with much other (younger) zircon is in the rock Elizabeth is holding. So I have held the oldest clearly dated thing on the planet, but I don't know which miniscule elements of that slab of stone comprise that aged object.
*The staff member with the Shrimp is very important. It demonstrates that the Shrimp was invented locally and that I'm not the only Canberran with a warped sense of humour.
gillpolack @ 2012-08-19T12:16:00
I've done my whole morning's work. Wonders will never cease. An article is edited, a chapter has been gone through for new edits (very, very slowly), and my novel is all printed out for the week-long (maybe two week-long) next edit. I did more than this, but these are the big things that needed doing.
I am a happy little Vegemite. A happy little Vegemite who needs lunch...
I am a happy little Vegemite. A happy little Vegemite who needs lunch...
