Serdar Yegulalp's Blog, page 132

Inexpertise Dept.

I've come to believe most any writer has periods when they say to themselves, "It was better when I didn't really know what I was doing."

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Halt And Catch Fire Dept.

It's a good thing I got up early yesterday morning, because I lost nearly an hour of my day when my computer sullenly decided not to boot.

Actually — boot, nothing. The blasted thing wouldn't even POST.

Given that this machine is a custom-built job that cost me upwards of a thousand dollars, I was not looking forward to the idea of replacing it the week before flipping Christmas.

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Conversations (And Proversations) Dept.

Last night I was talking shop with a friend aboutAlways Outnumbered Never Outgunned, during which I spoiled for him some aspects of the ending. (I won't repeat them here. Keep reading, you're safe.)

We were discussing how I had gone from just having a high concept for the story to eventually realizing what it wasabout, and how the construction and contents of the story could do that justice. This wasn't something that happened all at once; it took a good deal of batting around, some arguing w...

Hot Off The Presses Dept.

I haven't said much lately about the release schedule for current and future books of mine, so here's some catch-up in that department.

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Let's Do It Again (And Again, And Again) Dept.

Robert Zemeckis on sequels:

Roger Rabbit Sequel Won't Happen, Director Explains Why

Most sequels, youre behind the eight-ball on them. When audiences clamor for a sequel, what theyre really doing is expressing their enthusiasm for the movie they just saw. And that means theyll have a love-hate relationship with whatever comes next, because they want it to be the same movie, but different. If its too similar, they dont like it. And if its too different, they really dont like it. Theres nothin...

Half Outside The Comfort Zone Dept.

Some notes onAlways Outnumbered Never Outgunned, specifically. I'm now around halfway through the project, assuming we have a 250K word length. For perspective, that's the same word length I originally projected forFlight of the Vajra, but I blew that out by 100K, so my word on how long this thing gets will be worth exactly what you paid for it.

Last night I was talking with a friend about why this book has turned into such an effort. It's ironic that it has, because it was originally suppose...

Coltrane Vs. Vonnegut III Dept.

This is part three (see parts one and two) of an ongoing talk into the social utility of art.

The line I've been developing so far goes like this: Good art (including good entertainment) gives people the freedom to be things they either only imagined they could be, or never even dreamed about being in the first place. But that also gives people the freedom to be jerks, so it has to be used carefully.

Hence this whole business I come back to time and again about how you want to pay attention t...

Coltrane Vs. Vonnegut II Dept.

As promised, a follow-up on my previous post. The premise: Artgives people permission to be that much more wholly themselves, for good or ill. Preferably for good.

A lot of people misinterpret this as being about "disinhibition" — that "being yourself" is a matter of giving free reign to selfish impulses of one kind or another. They couldn't be more wrong. Being your "true" self is not, strictly speaking, a matter of acting out things that you normally repress.

This one is kind of tricky, so...

Coltrane Vs. Vonnegut Dept.

Here are two theories about the social utility of art, as described in this blog post.

One is the "Coltrane" theory — the idea that, as John Coltrane once put it, "The true powers of music [or art generally] are still unknown," and that you make great things happen by first envisioning them.

The other is the "Vonnegut" theory, where he described the total power of all the artists protesting the Vietnam War as being akin to "a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high."

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Ow My Brains! Dept.

I'm typing this post with minor cuts on my left thumb and right middle finger, and even with Band-Aids on they still hurt. So bear in mind how everything I say in this post is slightly more than theoretical for me right now.

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