Basil Godevenos's Blog, page 3

Big Surprise: Productivity Is Good For Productivity

This website is teaching me a lot about how to get things done. I’ve made a few really good decisions so far, and they are definitely bearing fruit.

Here they are so that I’ll remember them and so that you can consider making them yourself:

I decided to make drabbles the bread and butter of the website. This was important for me, because I’m the worst kind of procrastinator, and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I suffer from Creative Attention Deficit Disorder. By focusing my content around super-short fiction, I can write a fiction post easily in one sitting, and I can publish a few a week. And being able to actually finish projects (no matter how small) is extremely important for my morale as a writer.
I keep a positive attitude, and I just keep going. My site is just over a month old, I’m averaging about 2 posts per week (and change) and I have the audacity to check my Google Analytics statistics on an almost daily basis. I’m fairly certain almost half of my views are me. That would have gotten me down a year ago, but I’ve learned that websites don’t grow an audience that’s 10,000 strong overnight.
I am writing for me first, for you second, and I’m not after your money. If you haven’t read Seth Godin’s Linchpin , you should really go do that. That book is the reason this website exists. It taught me that I should be thinking of my art (my writing) as a gift. And that helps me not worry about “making it” as an author, so I have more emotional energy to do what authors do: write. THAT’S making it.
I asked my friends for support. This was actually really difficult for me to do. I’m pretty sensitive to the limits of the generosity of others – especially when asking someone to give me (for free) what they get paid to do on a regular basis. But then I thought about Linchpin again, and I figured, if I’m willing to see my art as a gift, maybe these talented illustrators will too. So I asked some people to illustrate my drabbles, and some said yes. That list is growing. My gift and theirs join to make an even better gift that visitors to this site can enjoy. Also, having my work illustrated makes me feel like a boss (in an 80′s way, not in an authoritarian way).

The upshot of all of this is that I can write often, and I feel good about writing. The drabbles make it so that I can finish projects on a regular basis instead of abandoning them, and that leads to better ideas, more frequently. I took 10 days to write a 1,500 word story (still to be edited, I’ll let you know how that goes). Today I started writing a new story while I was waiting for my car to be serviced. After one writing session I’m more than 500 words into what I expect to be a 2,000 word story. If I can finish it in fewer than 10 days, I’ll consider it progress. And I expect to do so.

Drabble: Lapsarian

Can you feel that? That’s your heart, pumping at double its normal rate. It’s trying to tell you that you’re about to die. But don’t listen to it. Try to focus on the sensation of air accelerating past your face. Blink the tears from your eyes, and count the floors of the skyscraper as they rush by.

It’s important you remain calm.

Have your ears popped yet? It’s ok, that’s normal. Look down. Remember to breathe. You can see the ground, rushing up to meet you. It’s coming at you faster and faster, getting bigger and bigger.

Now dodge it.

Illustration by Benjamin Allison (see all the illustrators)

What’s a drabble?

Short Story Coming Soon & Finishing Stuff

I finished writing the first draft of a short story today. I started it on December 2nd, and it’s only 1500 words. If you’re counting, that’s 150 words per day, averaged out. Which seems pitiful (and really, it is) but at least I DID finish the story. Most stories I start never get finished.

I’m one of those writers who suffers from CADD (Creative Attention Deficit Disorder), which is totally a real medical thing. I’m not sure how many novels I’ve started over the years. Ask me how many I’ve completed? None. Why? Because I have a lot of ideas and the new ones tend to be shinier and more attractive than the old ones.

Here’s what happens. New idea forms. Basil starts playing (intentional word-use – this part is so much fun!) with it, making some notes on it, or just expanding it in his head. Then Basil starts writing chapter one, or fleshing out a character sketch, or plotting an outline. This is hard work. And not as fun. At all. New idea forms. Basil is lazy at his core, and so he abandons the hours of work he’s put in on the last idea and starts playing with the new one. It’s a good thing Basil is more loyal to his friends and family than he is to his ideas.

That’s why I’ve started writing so many drabbles – they are super short. They don’t give me time to have a new idea. But I want to write novels. So I must build up my “finish it” muscles on short stories.

I’ll be posting the newly drafted story here later this month. It’s on ice right now and I’ll be editing and revising it soon. I hope you like it. New drabble soon too. Stay tuned.

Drabble: 8-bit Carl

Carl couldn’t get hired. He was tired of hearing “not enough relevant experience” when he visited the employment office.

One day Carl’s morning coffee came out of the spigot in tiny cubes. “Huh,” he grunted. When he collected the mail, the letterbox looked vaguely as if it were made of LEGO. “Odd,” said Carl.

He drove his suddenly blocky Tercel to the employment office for his weekly rejection meeting. There, on a rapidly cubifying notice board he saw “Wanted: Human General to Defend Earth Against Space Invaders”. Carl looked at his newly pixelated hands. “Maybe I should apply,” he thought.

 

Illustration by Benjamin Allison (see all the illustrators)

What’s a drabble?

Just Show Up, for Crying Out Loud

I slummed it for dinner last Friday. Went to McDonald’s. Did the drive through thing. Now, if you pay any attention to business news, you have probably heard pundits talking about the future of retail being in selling the experience, not just the product. I believe they’re right. Unfortunately, my experience at McDonald’s wasn’t worth the money I paid for my meal.

I got my food fast, they’d filled my order correctly, and the food was exactly what I expected (no more, no less). But with 3 opportunities for human interaction, the only time I felt remotely like I was dealing with a human being was when I was staring at a two-way speaker, placing my order.

By the time I got to the first window (the pay window), the cashier (who I supposed had just taken my order) was already taking the order of the car behind me. She didn’t speak to me at all, just took my debit card and handed me the keypad. I don’t even think she looked at me.

On to the second window to pick up my food. It was surrenderd without a single word (even though this McDonald’s employee wasn’t speaking to someone else on a headset). I asked for a drink tray because I’d ordered a milkshake as well as a soda, and was given it, again, without any verbal acknowledgment whatsoever.

I drove away feeling, myself, a little less human. Nobody asked me a question, smiled at me once, or even thanked me for my business. I might as well have been dealing with a machine.

In fact – if this trend continues, the automated fast food kiosk, sans personnel, isn’t far off. Prototypes of burger slinging robots who can churn out more food per minute than an experienced fry cook already exist and are being tested in some restaurants. The front of house staff would be even easier to replace with technology.

If people don’t show up for work – I mean REALLY show up, as a human being and do their job, which is to be a human being to other human beings – then pretty soon that job will disappear, and we’ll plunge even deeper into the kind of isolation predicted by the “no-human-contact” future in the PIXAR film, WALL-E. That’s frightening. And not just to me. Over 35% of North Americans have some degree of fear of loneliness, a figure that’s sure to increase as we insulate ourselves from one another.

People want to connect with other people – even if they behave like they don’t. If you smile at your grumpiest, most anti-social customer and tell him to have a good day, even though it won’t look like it, it will have a positive impact on his day. And you’ll be worth more than the machine that’s coming to replace you. Guaranteed.

Drabble: Nirvaneye

Clarity went to bikram yoga every day. She ate only vegetables and put flies and spiders out the window instead of killing them. She burned incense. She chanted a mantra given to her by a holy man. She meditated. She had no television. She never drank. She worked very hard to keep her body pure and her mind open. Clarity’s chakras were in perfect alignment.

It was only when her third eye grew in the back of her head instead of the front that she realized she had forgotten to take her birth control pills. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20.

A Song For Humans

Arise, o human hearts, and forge ahead;

Through troubled childhood’s lessons persevere.

Though truth, integrity and merit ebb,

It falls to you to rule this august sphere

And venture far beyond it, shunning fear.

Through tragedy, and through the coming storm

You noble few must carry all the rest -

The burden falls to you of upright form.

With naked tooth, bright eye and glistening breast

You’ll toil so those behind you might be blessed.

You brothers, sisters, each on each depend

To mend old wounds with your unsharpened tongues.

Rise up and out, beyond the skies extend

Your piercing gaze aloft, and fast outrun

Destructive mothers out of whom you sprung.

Now sunder cords that bind your buoyant soul;

Press hard against their cutting, biting strands.

Inherit all your searching eyes behold;

Embrace your kingdom with work-willing hands

And labor hard to see your lot expand.

O youth! O flow’r of ancient hope!

O cure, by prophets long bespoke!

Put tongue to teeth in every effort made

Correcting devious fathers’ past mistakes

Which haunt their children’s hearts like ghoulish shades.

Now banners raised against you raise the stakes.

Now face your enemies for their own sakes.

The ignorant, self-righteous will oppose

And say you have no right to rise above

The rest who will do ever nought but pose.

Their stillness is what forces you to move

To aid them (though they see it not) for love.

“To us!” Your call rings out, but isn’t heard.

Instead they rally to Fat Cats and Clowns.

“We act!” You cry, but they want only words

And tricks to keep their dull minds buttoned down;

For waste and dross they offer up their crowns.

For though they will not join you, you may be

Assured – with battles lost, the war is won.

It’s plain as day, to those with eyes to see,

Through impotence they rob themselves of sons;

With every hill they gain, their pow’r's undone.

O youth! O flow’r of ancient hope!

O cure, by prophets long bespoke!

Arise, o human hearts, and rise again

To see your long and glorious labor done.

Your shackles are illusions, wrought by pain;

A hindrance, yes, but simply overcome.

Your path is set, your victory foregone.

Slough off the hardened husk of history

That weighed your forebears down into despair.

Consume your doubt in a cacophony

Of fiery bold intent, because you dare

To strive, to build, to reach, to speak, to care.

22 Ways to Tell Better Stories – from Pixar

This list came to me via my friend Benjamin Allison (@benjamin_samuel). He found it here, where it was collected from a series of tweets by Director and Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats (@lawnrocket). I’m sharing it with you because it’s helped me and I want it to help you.

#4 is my favorite, by the way.

Here’s the list:

You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Drabble: Man a la Moustache

He grew it on a whim. To his delight it came in thick and dark – a follicular testament to his manliness. At first his wife detested it, but soon grew used to it, even fond of it. He groomed it and waxed it daily, and it became a curled monument to facial hair.

He couldn’t – wouldn’t – trim it and it grew and grew, its curls adorning his cheeks in ever wider loops. His wife asked him to shave. He refused. She left. But he wasn’t alone. Whenever he missed her, two waxy tendrils stroked his face, and made it better.

 

What’s a drabble?

Drabble: Processed Game

He could smell it – the tangy, sweetness of its flesh and the salty musk of its oily sweat. It was very near. A clever beast, it would make no sound until discovered. But he was cleverer still, and hunger drove his cunning as a whip drives a slave. It had been whole hours since he’d eaten anything. Dangerously, his mind strayed to thoughts of eating its smooth, yielding meat. He imagined his butter knife slicing into its side. He struggled to master his mind and rid it of delicious distractions, but it was too late. The SPAMinal had already pounced.

 

What’s a drabble?