Kelly McCullough's Blog, page 34

Alternative History

Time to post something on the Wyrdsmsiths blog, so I am copying a post from my personal blog:

I actually have a theory about why alternative history is so popular. The future is not easy to imagine. Technological change means it is likely to be very different, and lack of meaningful political and economic change means it is likely to be very dark, at least in the near term.

James Lovelock, a scienist who is responsible for the Gaia theory, which is not New Age spirituality, but the argument that Earth is a complex, interdependent system, says we will have a billion people on the planet at the end of this century.

That is a very large die off of human beings. We will also have the consequences of global warming: rising sea levels, massive storms and wide-spread drought. That seems almost certain now. We are past of the point of stopping global warming. We need to be looking at geoengineering, though it gives me the creeps.

So why alternative history? Because it is less difficult than writing about the future and in many cases less painful. At the same time, it continues a basic argument of science fiction: history is contingent, change will happen.

I have been writing some alternative history and a fair amount of time travel in the past few years, because I want to think about change. It may be easier to think about change, if one is not dealing with flood of change we are likely to experience in the near future.

NASA APOD with Commentary

Is it art? Earlier this month, space station astronaut Aki Hoshide (Japan) recorded this striking image while helping to augment the capabilities of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS). Visible in this outworldly assemblage is the Sun, the Earth, two portions of a robotic arm, an astronaut's spacesuit, the deep darkness of space, and the unusual camera taking the picture. This image joins other historic -- and possibly artistic -- self-portraits taken previously in space. The Expedition 32 mission ended yesterday when an attached capsule undocked with the ISS and returned some of the crew to Earth.

Friday Cat Blogging

Dis flyer is relevant to my interests. Also, comfortable.



Sleep like no one is watching.



What are you…how…the internet is a terrifying place.



See, I told you I'd fit. Now, take my paw and pull me free.



So many souls, so little time…



Square halo! I iz angelic, give me treatz?

Look, the OTHER Kelly!

Why, here is our very own Kelly McCullough being brilliant (as usual) over at SF Signal talking about "Directions Speculative Fiction Hasn't Taken":

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/09/mind-meld-directions-speculative-fiction-hasnt-taken/

Here's a teaser for what he had to say:

There are certainly things I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of, though given the impossibility of keeping up with everything that comes out in the field, I don’t know that I can fairly say that there’s anywhere speculative fiction hasn’t yet gone. That said, and given the success of mixing fantasy and romance, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more in the way of interstitial subgenres.

In particular, given the success of paranormal romance and the rise of steampunk, I’m rather shocked we haven’t seen much in the way of fantasy/western crossovers. Seriously, who wouldn’t be interested in the intersection where Deadwood meets Game of Thrones. The history and mythology of America’s western expansion provides plenty of scope for dark, morally ambiguous stories with tons of drama and very high stakes.

When Kelly Barnhill is RIGHT....

Some time last year, I took part in a panel discussion at the Minnesota Historical Society about writing science fiction/fantasy. It was me and "the two Kellys," Kelly McCullough and Kelly Barnhill (and moderated by the always-fabulous Jody Wurl). Jody did her best to tease out more than the usual topics despite the rather broad subject of the panel and we were having a jolly old time talking about all aspects of writing. Then, someone from the audience asked about the revision process, to which Kelly Barnhill admitted that her strategy went like this:

"I open up my novel and hit, 'Select-All, Delete.'"

Kelly McCullough and I laughed nervously, and then did a classic double-take, "Wait, what? SERIOUSLY????"

Yes.

It turns out Kelly Barnhill's method for revision is to completely delete her novel (yes, she means all of it, all 80,000 words) and rewrite it FROM SCRATCH.

The other Kelly and I sputtered incoherently for several minutes, and number of writers in the audience had a complete heart attack at this thought. I mean, from the bloodless look on his face, I'm not sure Michael Mirriam will ever quite recover from the shock.

But today, I get it.

I've been banging my head against the keyboard for a week trying to tease out a plot for this military science fiction proposal I'm trying to write, and it's time.

It's time to hit 'Select-All, Delete.'

Okay, so I'm nowhere near as brave as Ms. Barnhill. I think I will probably secretly save what I've written in under a different name and stash it in the far-corners of my proposals file. I also am losing less than 2,000 words. But, the principle is the same. This is not working. I need a complete do-over. I'm dumping the whole thing and trying again.

So, yeah, there are times when Kelly Barnhill is RIGHT.

Why So Shiny, Internet?

Why is it, that when you finally have some real work you need to do on writing, the whole world looks SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING!?

What's weird to me about this phenomenon is that I'm not usually one of those writers who talks about how hard the process is. I would never deny that writing is hard. It is. But, for me at least, I love it just that much that the pain of revisions or the blank page or whatever is really quite mild in comparison to the sheer joy of getting to make sh*t up all day long. (Best. Job. Ever.) The things, instead, that tend to break my heart are the business end of things. I can (and have recently) get really down about how hard it is to actually make a living as a writer.

I have an awesome idea for a proposal right now. It's been kicking around in my head for nearly a week and a half. I can not. get. out. I think, actually, my problem is two-fold. Not only is the Internet really shiny when writing isn't flowing, but I also don't really have a good handle on my plot yet. I need to figure out what story I want to tell. I've got this awesome character that I'm really in love with, but I haven't figured out the "what's at stake?" question. What is it that's going to make her grow and change over the course of 80,000 to 100, 000 words?

I have some of her character "issues" (she's from a future "visible minority,") but I haven't figured out what about that is going to come to a head--and HOW. The "how" has been kind of killing me, actually.

But, I'm determined to have a finished draft of the proposal by Thursday. Now I just have to not look at all the shiny bits...

Oh! Squirrel!

Friday Cat Blogging

Thinking a thoughty thot…



Thoughty thots? Why both-is that my tail?



Peel me a cat treat, monkey-boy.



Tail so cute, can't even…



Growr!



Soft kitty, warm kitty…



I iz hiding, shhhh (I still miss her)



Scritch, sritch, what? Not a cat? Is that a problem.



Your argument is invalid because of Steampunk Rhino

Art Imitating Life

Since I mentioned this to Jon in the comments yesterday, I thought I'd talk about it here, as well.



I'm currently recommending a Manga called BAKUMAN to everyone I know (even "mundanes") because, even if you only think of Manga as those weird backwards-reading graphic novels with people with giant eyes, BAKUMAN might be a good one to try because, IMHO, it's much more accessible to anyone--though specifically people who want to be writers.

BAKUMAN starts as the story of two young Japanese middle school boys who dream of publishing their own Manga. It's a slow enough process that they don't really start to realize this dream until they're graduated from high school. But, what I love most about the story is how both realistic it is to the publishing industry (with allowances for some cultural/genre differences) and how deeply inspirational it is.

Deeply inspirational.

What's so inspirational about it, you ask? Well, for one, our heroes get a boatload of rejections. Every time they get ahead a step they get knocked back two. They get series placed in Shonen Jump only to watch it fail miserably. They do this again and again and again and, here's the important bit: THEY NEVER GIVE UP.

In my opinion, that's the only true way to survive as a working writer.

I got another proposal rejected yesterday.

I could cry about it, but I'm actually kind of pumped to get back in the saddle and try out another, BETTER idea. Having that thought made me feel like I was a character in BAKUMAN. In a very Japanese moment, when I got the rejection notice from my agent, I felt like writing back and hitting the all-caps to shout that I'll "do my best!" (which I swear someone yells in every single Manga I've ever read) on the next attempt.

So I'm off to DO MY BEST today. Wish me luck!

New Cover

Ooh, Shiny!

Crossed Blades">

The Fraud Phenomenon

I had a very, uh, "interesting" time (as we like to say here in Minnesota) at WorldCON this year. I spent a lot of the con feeling like a complete fraud, partly because of the nature of being a writer and because of the star-power that WorldCON attracts.

Many years ago, I was on a panel at a different convention, WisCON, about the phenomenon of "feeling like a fraud" that a surprising number of writers experience at all levels in their careers.

Of course, there's the "I haven't published anything yet, I feel like a fraud" problem, which I was reminded at this convention because my friends, and fellow Wyrdsmiths, Naomi Kritzer, Harry LeBlanc, and I had a terrible Baltimore WorldCON when we were in that position. It involved always feeling one step behind all the cool kids, and a crazy story in which we were escorted out of the Hugo Losers' Party feeling like the biggest losers on the entire planet (we weren't trying to crash the party, honest! We were locked in the stair well.)

Then, there's the next step on the fraud ladder: "I've ONLY published [one short story, one small press novel, etc.], I feel like a fraud." This is also kind of just a stage in your career, but a lot of people have a harder time here than in almost any other. There's a lot of judging by others at this stage. You're active enough in the business to get ON panels, but then you have to sit there will people who rattle off a list of accomplishments a mile long and, with each one, you feel smaller and smaller and smaller. This can actually happen at any stage. When I'd had my first book out, I had the pleasure/misfortune of being on a panel at CONvergence with Neil Gaiman. It's difficult not to feel like a turd at the foot of a giant in a situation like that. He, of course (like many other super-pros), was massively gracious. But, sometimes you run across those who sneer, "Oh, I see, small press..." etc.

Fraudness continues as you move up, no matter how much you publish or how many awards you win....

In fact, what's tough about the "feeling like a fraud" phenomenon is that Neil Gaiman probably feels it, too, sometimes. I know that, after fifteen published novels, I really should have no cause to feel like a fraud, but I still do. This has a lot to do with the nature of our business. As soon as the contract ends (and often long before the book hits the shelf) a person can feel like an out-of-work layabout. If, god forbid, the next contract isn't instantly forthcoming it's VERY EASY to imagine that your career is over, if only because there's always someone you know in this business for whom that happened. Hence, there's this sense that when I'm not actively writing on a project, I'm some how no longer a "real" writer.

The feeling of not being a "real" writer was intensified for me at WorldCON because all the luminaries of science fiction/fantasy are there (or at least a whole boatlaod of them, at one point, literally--as I was on a boat with a bunch of much more famous writers.) Plus, it's *just* outside of my Fandom (in the captail "F" sense for you kids out there, which means the fannish community to which I belong regardless of small-f fandoms). Enough of the Chicago concom folks intermingle with the Minnesota concom types that I got on panels, but most of the people I ran into at WorldCON not only didn't know me from Adam (hello, Mr. Stemple!), but also didn't know how to pronounce my name (not Tate, the other one.)

That just left me feeling like a complete dope.

HOWEVER, I did manage to have a good time. And, there's a weird thing about me, which is, the more under pressure I feel, the more I perform. So, feeling like a nobody has actually inspired me to get cracking again.