K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 66

Friday Link Pack 07/10/2015

It’s time for the Friday Link Pack! Some of these links I mention on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

WRITING:

The Year Of Women

Author Kamila Shamsie makes her case and challenges the publishing industry to make 2018 a year when only women authors are published.

‘A Year of Women’? How About ‘A Year of Publishing Parity’ Instead?

Author Lorraine Devon Wilke‘s rebuttal to Kamila Shamsie’s piece challenges the industry not to publish only women in 2018, but to be fair and equal in who they choose to publish.

Dune, 50 Years On: How A Science Fiction Novel Changed The World

Great piece from The Guardian on Frank Herbert’s Dune one of the greatest science fiction novels of our time and its impact on society. [The featured image for this post is a Dune illustration by Henrik Sahlström. I highly recommend checking out his work. He does great stuff.]

15 Words To Eliminate From Your Vocabulary To Sound Smarter

Helpful for both conversation and for writing. It’s good advice and a handy list to keep nearby. [Thanks to Dave for sharing this.]

Scottish Prize Goes To Book Rejected 44 Times

Never give up. The only way to fail at writing is quitting.

Six Tools Of My Trade

A few readers and fellow authors have emailed me and asked what tools I use when I write, from software to hardware, even writing instruments. This week, I put together this post sharing six of my essentials, and some of my favorite things I use on a daily basis.

ART:

Cal Redback

I have been seeing Cal’s incredible photo-manipulation work all over the internet as of late. Bending the natural world with human forms he creates pieces that are both haunting and somewhat disturbing.

Zack Mclaughlin’s Sculptures

I’m in awe of these hyper-realistic paper and wood sculptures of birds. They’re beautiful. He sells these in his Etsy shop as well, which you can check out here.

Why Babies In Medieval Paintings Look Like Ugly Old Men

We’ve all thought it. What is with those strange little creatures hanging off people in medieval art. Well, Vox gets to the bottom of it and reveals the reason behind their strange appearance.

RANDOM:

Stuff In Space

An incredible little site that allows you to see all of the satellites and garbage currently orbiting our lonely little planet.

One Vancouver Forest Played Just About Every Wooded Locale On The X-Files

Coming from the Pacific Northwest it’s always amusing when I see shows like Supernatural and The X-Files try to pass off our lush fern-covered forests as places in the Midwest or the South. We PNW locals all know… oh, we know.

The American Home Through The Decade

A fun little infographic that explores the ever-increasing footprint of the American home. As a tiny house, well… sensible house apologist I find it a bit depressing until we see the emergence of the tiny house movement.

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

List Of Kim Jong-il’s Titles

“When Kim Jong-il, former leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), is mentioned in North Korean media and publications, he is not simply addressed by name. At least one special title is used, and his name is emphasized by a special bold font, for example: “The great leader Comrade Kim Jong-il provides on-the-spot guidance to the Ragwon Machine Complex.” Alternatively, a larger than normal font may be used. The titles themselves were developed by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party. The same applies to Kim Jong-il’s father, Kim Il-sung, who ruled North Korea from 1948 to 1994. Scholars have collected the following list of Kim Jong-il’s titles…”

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

The Quest of Iranon

A golden-haired boy sings of a city where he was once a prince.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

Filed under: Link Pack Tagged: cal redback, Dune, frank herbert, h.p. lovecraft, henrik sahlström, kamila shamsie, kim jong-il, lorraine devon wilke, medieval paintings, rejection, Science, space, vancouver, vocabulary, x-files, zack mclaughlin

Six Tools Of My Trade

Over the last few months, I have received a couple of emails asking what I use to write. So, for the heck of it, I figure it would be fun to compile a list of products I regularly use in my everyday process of writing. None of these companies asked me to endorse them or these products. I’m posting these here because I love ’em and want to share my experience with my readers and fellow writers. Hopefully you’ll find something new and useful for your own writing.

1. 13″ Apple MacBook Air

It’s starting to show it’s age, but my first tool is my 2012 13″ MacBook Air. I love this little machine, I’ve written five manuscripts on it and it’s served me well. I got the Air because I thought I wanted the portability, but I’m no coffee shop writer, and I’ve since found I don’t carry it around very often. Come upgrade time, I’ll eschew portability and focus on something a bit more powerful. That said, all in all, it’s been a great workhorse. If you’re looking for something nimble and light I highly recommend it.

2. Scrivener 2 by Literature & Latte

Scrivener 2 is the software I write in most often. I use it for everything from brainstorming to the actual process of writing prose. It’s incredibly customizable and once you figure out how it use it, it really streamlines the writing process. The more I explore its features the more I love it. It’s also excellent at exporting high-quality ebook files as well. I wrote a quick post about Scrivener a while back, it sums up my feelings about the software and links to a lot of other handy articles.

3. Scapple by Literature & Latte

Scapple is my mind mapping software. I used to use a whiteboard, or a wall and sticky notes. Scapple fully replaced that, allowing me to visually picture my plots, character arcs, and storylines. I love it so much I wrote a whole blog post about it. It’s a good way to keep what used to be temporary work in a digital permanent format which makes it easy to access and reference.

4. Dropbox

Dropbox is my offsite backup and file sharing solution. I work exclusively off Dropbox. All my files live there. It’s nice to have the peace of mind knowing that my work is safe in the cloud as opposed to on hard drives that can fail, go missing, or be destroyed. Back up often. Seriously, do it right now. I can’t stress this enough.

5. Pilot Metropolitan

This Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen is my favorite thing in the world right now. I absolutely love this little pen. I recently decided to switch to fountain pens and was looking for an entry-level pen, as so many can get expensive. The Pilot was recommended. It is under twenty dollars and easily worth every penny. After using this exclusively for the last few months, I ended up buying a second one it’s perfect for taking notes, making quick sketches, and signing books.

6. Moleskine Cahier Journal

The Moleskine Cahier Journal is my notebook of choice (for now). I have used various notebooks for years now and this is the best. It’s not perfect though. For one: I wish it was dotted instead of ruled as I do everything from make notes to draw sketches within it’s pages. The paper also bleeds a bit more than I’d like. All that said, it lays flat, it’s easy to carry, and it’s cheap (you get three for 9 bucks).

So there you go. It was fun to reflect on the stuff I use every day. There are other tools that I could have mentioned (Evernote, Wikipedia, Creative Cloud) but I wanted to focus on the stuff I use day in and day out. If you’re looking for other handy tools I encourage you to check out the toolkit category. I generally post links to handy websites, advice on craft, and software reviews within that category.

What about you? Do you have a favorite tool in your toolkit? Leave a comment below and let us know about it! I’d love to know what products other writers find invaluable in their own process.

Filed under: Toolkit, writing Tagged: Apple, cahier journal, dropbox, fountain pen, Literature and Latte, macbook air, moleskine, pilot, Scapple, Scrivener

Friday Link Pack 07/02/2015

It’s an extra-large holiday weekend here in the States. Why not celebrate it with an extra-large Friday Link Pack! Some of these links I mention on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Let’s get to it…

WRITING:

Amazon Sues To Block Fake Reviews On Its Site

This article is a few months old, but it somehow flew below my radar. It’s nice to see Amazon taking some steps towards removing this practice. Never, ever, ever, EVER, pay for reviews. They are as unfair to your readers as they are to you.

Mad Max: Fury Road And The Art Of Worldbuilding

I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s easily my favorite movie of 2015. In this article, I go into depth on how director George Miller created such a wonderfully thought out action flick, with deep well-developed characters, and a breakneck pace.

Gay Vampires And Bisexual Cowboys: Why Erotica Gas E-Readers To Thank

The Guardian looks into the growing popularity of the erotica genre and the correlation with the rise of e-readers and the privacy afforded by them. There’s also a bit that goes into the psyche of readers of erotism. Personally, it feels stifling as an author. I’d hate to try something different and have my audience revolt.

Online Is IRL

Chuck Wendig wrote this piece in response to the backlash erotica writer E.L. James received on Twitter during her #AskELJames hashtag campaign. It’s some good thoughts surrounding how we treat one another online and how as critics we should always focus on the work, and not the creator themselves. [Note: Wendig later withdrew this statement. I’m not really sure why? Because he’s a man, I guess? All I see is one author stepping forward in the defense of a fellow author. YMMV, the initial article is still great.]

The Modern History Of Swearing: Where All The Dirtiest Words Come From

If you have been reading my blog for some time you’ll note that I am a fan of etymology and the evolution of words. This article from Salon delves into the histories of some of today’s dirtier words.

ART:

The Anamorphic Graffiti Of Odeith

While anamorphic street art is always fun, Odeith takes it to the next level. I particularly like it when paint is used on the ground to help take that 3D effect to new places.

Yes, Androids Do Dream Of Electric Sheep

So, Google set up a feedback loop in its image recognition neural network. The result were these strange hallucinatory images of animals, buildings, people, and landscapes. Beautiful, maybe. Terrifying, absolutely.

The Corey Press

Lovecraftian woodblock prints created by Drew Meger in Salem, MA. Really love all of these (the Nyarlathotep piece, Sage of the Sands, is my favorite.) If you like what you see, make sure you check out his Etsy store. (I featured Entfuhrentanz, Die Herzogin, for the featured image this week.)

Kisung Koh, Recent Work

My own art tastes have veered away from animals over the last few years. However, there was something incredible about these recent pieces from Canadian artist Kisung Koh. They go beyond your typical paintings of animals and into something else entirely.

RANDOM:

Go Play Gran Text Auto

Yesterday, a friend of mine launched his new game for iOS. It’s part driving and part texting. It’s fantastic, hilarious, and free! I highly recommend checking it out. iOS only for now. Here’s the link to download.

The 6 Alien Species Currently Fighting for Control Over Earth

Well, this is certainly… er, interesting. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the blog post is serious or not. [Thanks for Will from Dorkshelf and Art of the Title sharing this.]

Netflix Is About to Be Bigger Than ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox

It’s a banner day… er, decade, really… for new media, and Netflix is the vanguard. You know those execs who never thought Netflix was going to make it are kicking themselves right now. And to thin, Netflix used to be the company that shipped DVDs to people.

We’ve already looked at the six species of aliens fighting over our planet. Let’s look at what they’ll inherit! Atlas Obscura (my favorite blog) lays out this strange menagerie. Creatures named after the hydra, to flying dragons, to the goblin spider.

Dice-Shaming

We’ve all been there. We’re fighting a monster, trying to pick a lock, or rolling to see how successful one of our abilities are… and… epic fail. Well, the gamers over at blastr have put together this slideshow of 27 dice that didn’t behave and the consequences their poor rolls wrought on the outcome of the game.

WEIRD WIKIPEDIA:

Raven Paradox

“The raven paradox, also known as Hempel’s paradox or Hempel’s ravens, is a paradox arising from the question of what constitutes evidence for a statement. Observing objects that are neither black nor ravens may formally increase the likelihood that all ravens are black – even though, intuitively, these observations are unrelated.”

H.P. LOVECRAFT STORY OF THE WEEK:

He

A man begrudgingly moves to a new town, and while wandering the streets at night he meets a mysterious stranger who begins to show him visions. Some interesting connections to Lovecraft’s personal life and his racism in this story. I highly recommend checking out the Wikipedia page for He.

GIF OF THE WEEK:

Filed under: Link Pack Tagged: aliens, amazon, androids, be good to each other, Chuck Wendig, erotica, gaming, graffiti, gran text auto, h.p. lovecraft, ios, kisung koh, nature, netflix, odeith, Pop Surrealism, swearing, the corey press

Go Play Gran Text Auto

I’m not much of a gamer these days. Between editing Red Litten World, working on finishing up my new manuscript, and starting the research and planning phase for book four of The Bell Forging Cycle, I don’t have very much time. It’s probably no surprise that I love short play games. They’re the perfect gaming fix while I commute on the train or find myself in a waiting room.

Yesterday, a good friend of mine, Kevin Mangan, released his first iOS game: Gran Text Auto. I absolutely love it. You play as a sassy octogenarian emoji named Gran. Your goal is to do your best answering text messages while trying to dodge obstacles at the same time. Sounds simple enough but it’s much harder than it seems. So often as I am trying to respond to one of the game’s many characters I find myself over-correcting and ending up in a horrific crash.

While the gameplay is challenging and fun and provides that right balance that leaves you craving for another go around what really sold me was the writing. The dialog, provided in the form of text messages, is witty and sharp. The jokes are layered sometimes subtle but always hilarious. Another friend of mine recently posted that he often gets in wrecks because he’s laughing at the texts. I know those feelings. Oh boy, do I know those feelings.

If you’re looking for a fun game to play for the upcoming weekend, give Gran Text Auto a shot. It’s perfectly polished. The music is incredible. The voice acting is spot on. The gameplay is addicting. Also, it’s FREE (supported by ads, which you can turn off for only 99¢). It’s a great mobile game with a tremendous sense of humor and very much worth your time.

Download Gran Text Auto →

Follow Gran on Twitter →

Follow Gran on Facebook →

So far my high score is 24. Can you beat me?

Filed under: Recommendations Tagged: games, gran text auto, ios, kevin mangan, mobile games

Red Litten World Swag Is Starting To Arrive

Pretty excited about these new 1″ buttons…

Filed under: Red Litten World, swag Tagged: Buttons, ced's, the bell forging cycle

#Kaijuly Is Here

Who doesn’t love kaijū? From Godzilla to King Kong, giant monsters are a mainstay within science fiction and fantasy. Literature has its share of famous giants. We have the shai-hulud in Dune, the avanc in The Scar, and even to the balrog in Lord of the Rings. There’s something incredibly engaging about enormous creatures.

by Matt Nelson

Well, last year, some of my more artistic friends decided to celebrate these giant creatures and have taken to Tumblr for an event they call #Kaijuly. It’s a celebration in art of all things giant monster! Each day artists post new and original pieces starring creatures from film, movies, books, television, and myth. It’s a lot of fun. I’d highly recommend checking it out and if you’re the artistic type… perhaps participate yourself?

by Josh Montreuil (Josh also illustrated Godzilla above.)

Hit the links below and check out the fun:

#Kaijuly Hashtag On Tumblr →
#Kaijuly Tumblr Board →
#Kaijuly Hashtag on Twitter →

Joining in the #Kaijuly fun? Why not link some of your own work in the comments? I’m sure all of the readers of this blog would love to see your work!

Filed under: Art Tagged: art, avanc, balrog, godzilla, Josh Montreuil, Kaijuly, kaijū, king kong, matt nelson, monsters, shai-hulud, Tumblr, twitter

Camp NaNoWriMo Kicks Off Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the beginning of the summer session of National Novel Writing Month: Camp NaNoWriMo! If you’re new to writing or just want to try out the lifestyle, I highly encourage you to attempt a NaNoWriMo at least once. It’s a fascinating experience. It’ll help you discover your creative process and understand how you work as a writer.

Since the kickoff is tomorrow, I figured it’d be helpful to share some of my previous NaNoWriMo posts with everyone. Hopefully, you can glean something useful from my advice.

NaNoWriMo Is Here

I offer a few simple steps to getting your writing project complete, from spending time researching, to actully writing those 1700 words a day, to getting involved in the NaNoWriMo community.
NaNoWriMo Cometh – Four Early Tips To Enhance Your Novel Writing

While most of these require some preparation ahead of time, I find that these four tips are very helpful in aiding any author. I have four every single one of these critical to my own success.

and when you’re done…

NaNoWriMo Is Over, Now What?

Save this one until August 1st. I break down some thoughts on where you can take that freshly finished manuscript.

Oh, since you’re starting out, do yourself a favor and watch this video. It’s still the best (and most encouraging) little videos for anyone starting something new. (It’s also a bit NSFW, so consider yourself warned.)

Good luck campers! Have fun, we’ll all be here on the other side ready and excited to read your finished masterpieces.

Filed under: writing Tagged: advice, camp nanowrimo, encouragement, NaNoWriMo, publishing, research, ze frank

Nothing Foolproof

“If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.”

― Margaret Atwood

I cannot tell you how many people I know who talk and talk and talk about writing, and then spend their days picking away at excuses why they cannot write. They don’t have the right tools. They don’t have enough time. The weather isn’t right. They ran out of coffee. The excuses are endless. The trick, as Atwood says so eloquently, is recognizing that it’ll never be the right time. You just do and you keep doing until you’re done.

Filed under: Quotes Tagged: advice, encouragement, excuses, margaret atwood, process, routine, writing

There Will Be No Friday Link Pack Tomorrow

Wanted to make a quick post letting you know that there won’t be a Friday Link Pack tomorrow. [Sad trombone.] I’m the best man at a friend’s wedding and will be away from the internet. I do have a great quote queued for tomorrow, but no time to gather the links for a proper Pack. If you’re looking for some links for your Friday, why not check out some of these previous Link Packs:

Friday Link Pack 02/13/15

Hemingway trolls, the importance of editing, a problem no writer likes talking about, the ten scariest Lovecraftian monsters, Jurassic mammoth, and more.

Featured Lovecraft Story:  Discarded Draft Of The Shadow over Innsmouth



Friday Link Pack 09/19/2014

Some great links here. Confronting Lovecraft’s racism, working with beta readers, old maps online, the work of Sergey Kolesov, every tree in the United States, and famous paintings of Jacob wrestling with the angel, ranked by how much their actions resemble slow-dancing.

Featured Lovecraft Story:  The Mound



Friday Link Pack 01/17/14

Kids reading digitally, twenty-two reasons why commas are so important, the onion reviews the Desolation of Smaug, Austin Parkhill paints “Ringle”, the Seattle Archipelago, the evolution of the scuba mask.

Featured Lovecraft Story: The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast

Filed under: Link Pack, News Tagged: lovecraft, sad trombone, the mound, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Mad Max: Fury Road And The Art Of Worldbuilding

Note: The following will contain shiny and chrome spoilers for Mad Max: Fury Road. Consider yourself warned.

Show don’t tell. Show don’t tell. Show don’t tell. As writers, we’ve been given this advice time and time again. And it’s good advice, and one that we should all take to heart. Lately, I have been working on a series of blog posts focusing on my theories and strategies around worldbuilding. However, after seeing George Miller’s incredible Mad Max: Fury Road not once, but twice in theaters (a rarity for me) I wanted to jump ahead of my series. I think the movie serves as an excellent example of how any storyteller can properly worldbuild.

So often I see new writers struggle with their worldbuilding. Both epic fantasy and hard sci-fi suffers from this problem, but it can happen in any genre. It’s easy for us to want to explain every detail. We know the backstories for our characters, we understand how our world works, we know the religions, the species, the cultures, the cities, the weather patterns, and so much more about our worlds. It’s exciting and fun and so often we choose the dullest way to explain that: exposition. It’s hard not to fall into the trap. We want to share all this with the reader. We’re excited about it! But instead of focusing on plot, characters, and the story, we spend significantly more time on exposition talking about the world and less time on telling a good story and let the world reveal itself naturally. This is what Fury Road does perfectly and why I think it’s such a wonderful example.

Now, we should established this is an action movie so it’s fast paced and intense. But it’s also bizarre and fantastic and seems almost dreamlike in its strangeness. But it works, and it’s believable, despite its absurdity. And it works because of the way Miller handles the worldbuilding. Unlike most modern action movies, Fury Road doesn’t slow itself down to explain every nuanced detail to the viewer. It doesn’t speak down to the audience. No character goes into long speeches about how things got this way. Instead, with a few short scenes the wasteland gets established as a place. We understand who Max is (a survivor with a haunted past) what his goals and motivations are (to survive) and how he has ended up in the predicament he is in (captured by Immortun Joe and his War Boys). Along the way, we are introduced to the citadel, and the civilization that has been built up around it. And this is all before the title card appears.

Miller continues this style throughout the rest of the film. So much is revealed, and Miller spends more time showing, and never slows down to tell and explain every detail. Everyone reacts as if all the strangeness is just perfectly normal, and it works. It was refreshing. In the first part of the movie, before we even get to the chase scenes the viewer is presented with a vignette of short scenes that allow us to understand the motives of the War Boys, their cult of V8, how they behave with one another, and even their social structure. In other films, we’d get voice overs explaining how everything works or we’d have several scenes of slow dialog that spells it all out. However, Miller doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time. He recognizes that the viewer is smart, and presents it all as plot and moves on.

This is the subtle art of worldbuilding at some of its finest and writers should take note. By the time Furiosa flees with the War Rig, and before we are introduced to the Wives we have all the information we need on the setting. We understand the world, it feels alive, lived in, and deeply rich in culture and history. It allows us to understand why Furiosa is doing what she does, and why the Wives want to flee Immortun Joe. Even the characters are revealed through their actions. Each of the Wives is a unique person with different and varied personalities. Without being told we figure out which one of them is the leader, the dreamer, the heart, and so on.

When I sat out to write The Stars Were Right, I made a decision early on that everything would be revealed from Wal’s perspective. He would tell what he knew as he came across it, and only so much as to keep things interesting. It would be done conversationally. As if you were walking through a new place with a friend. After all, Wal doesn’t know everything, just as we, inhabitants in our world don’t know everything. We only know what is interesting to us. What Wal does reveal is enough for the reader to sort out for themselves, and it also leaves a mystery which keeps a world engaging. Wal’s belief in the world around him translates into belief for the reader and even in an unfamiliar world like the Territories can feel alive and real.

Readers are explorers. Whenever any of us set out to read we want to explore the world you have built whether it is a high fantasy empire, a savage wasteland, a quirky small town, even a small family farm. Revealing that world to us naturally, and using the world to move the plot along is the perfect way to keep a reader engaged and the best way to build that world. This is the best takeaway we can get from Fury Road. Keep the worldbuilding simple and subtle, let the characters live in it as we live in our own world, don’t bog people down in exposition. It doesn’t matter how strange or over the top your setting is, follow a similar pattern and like Fury Road, it’ll just work.

Filed under: Worldbuilding, writing Tagged: conworlding, george miller, mad max: fury road, Writing Process