tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18599401842939095282024-03-05T19:16:27.611-08:00WRITER on WRITING---musings on writing for books, movies, fun, and profit---Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.comBlogger730125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-32393420835105263812023-04-17T14:55:00.001-07:002023-04-17T15:01:24.192-07:00Up From The Depths<p>Oh. Hi there.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Pardon the dust.
Yeah, I know it looks like I haven’t done anything in ages. Didn’t
I tell you? We moved! All of this. It’s over on my own site now.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Yeah, I had stuff
spread out all over the web and it was causing some headaches. Plus Blogger's been formatting issues for about a year and a half now that make doing things here take a <i>lot </i>longer than they really should. And then,
y’know, certain people reminding us all that it only takes one
idiot with more money than sense to crash an online company. Better
to have everything somewhere a little more under my own control</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFE_gE-1gtk8nQLYumHRDTGafhxV8a9TNkGewFb1Hs7CgqnE3aK1PbadXbeq3MT3FkBeyzseFQt7TkSF0U2qbRNFZFOUuvbYZ2IdWodqVwtimA8Ip66KaEwQh1cK6kPWz4F6evH5qHaCtPasqgKRYubpJOz4re9OP2_MGp1vS1Pp9ecI_J-MJvuwl/s500/Tron%20Arcade%20Power.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="500" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFE_gE-1gtk8nQLYumHRDTGafhxV8a9TNkGewFb1Hs7CgqnE3aK1PbadXbeq3MT3FkBeyzseFQt7TkSF0U2qbRNFZFOUuvbYZ2IdWodqVwtimA8Ip66KaEwQh1cK6kPWz4F6evH5qHaCtPasqgKRYubpJOz4re9OP2_MGp1vS1Pp9ecI_J-MJvuwl/w200-h85/Tron%20Arcade%20Power.gif" width="200" /></a>Don’t worry. None
of this is going away. I’m just here now to lock down the comments,
put the chairs up, maybe throw a sheet over the jukebox. Maybe one
over the good couch, too, yeah? Anyway, if you linked to anything
here somehow... it’ll still be here. No worries.<p></p><p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But it’s all <a href="https://www.peterclines.com/" target="_blank">over there</a>, too. And some new stuff, too. It’ll be just like it used
to—me pontificating on about this or that aspect of writing, you
tossing out suggestions, and that one guy angrily insisting none of
this is right. But now it's all conveniently in one place.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Anyway,
you should swing by and check it out.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But now, if you’ll
pardon me, I need to get this sheet over the jukebox.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Hope to see you <a href="https://www.peterclines.com/" target="_blank">over there</a>.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-29275167335271958142022-11-23T12:54:00.002-08:002022-11-28T15:19:55.924-08:00 Black Friday XI – The CratchitingOh, hey. Long time no see. Yeah, I know. The ranty writing blog’s been very, very neglected this year. Sorry. I’ll talk about that in a little bit. <br /><br />First, I’d like to take this moment to extend <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/black-friday-xiv-santa-takes-manhattan.html">my annual Black Friday offer</a> to those of you who may need it. And since Black Friday’s always such a mess, I figured I’d do it on Wednesday. Y’know, when everyone’s busy cooking pie for tomorrow. <br /><br />What’s<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/11/black-friday-vi-von-trappening-pt2.html"> the Black Friday offer</a>? Okay, for all the new folks...<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> Actually, let me give you a little background first.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCva8qy4cCR7V4EpGjHPHKBkiAl2hBKb-um0f8Uzk7SoCG9gj5A4CP6FnemA2o8XT4G5AxCszyGHNNISfTZblPWjy9MdA5aVB3qstBYizRN6cNVXDgE0ddCtGJhvQWOD5GdLwOsWwXV-bI70lne9svorn1AOtaoE8gjq2wPdpeKcxj_Jsn1Fys8b-/s622/Peter%20Old%20Country%20Road%201972.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="622" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCva8qy4cCR7V4EpGjHPHKBkiAl2hBKb-um0f8Uzk7SoCG9gj5A4CP6FnemA2o8XT4G5AxCszyGHNNISfTZblPWjy9MdA5aVB3qstBYizRN6cNVXDgE0ddCtGJhvQWOD5GdLwOsWwXV-bI70lne9svorn1AOtaoE8gjq2wPdpeKcxj_Jsn1Fys8b-/w200-h199/Peter%20Old%20Country%20Road%201972.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /></div>I grew up kinda poor at points in my childhood. I didn’t quite realize it at the time, but yeah... I was absolutely one of the poor kids in my school system. For a couple years. And I can look back now and see how it shaped the way I view some things today. <br /><br />When I became a full time writer... I was poor again. Well below the poverty line poor. Phone-shut-off-no-internet-and-stealing-toilet-paper-from-the-library poor. All-our-shopping-at-the-99-Cent-Store poor. I was writing for a screenwriting magazine and had a chance to <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2013/12/black-christmas.html">sit down and talk with Shane Freakin’ Black over a coffee or three</a> as part of a work assignment... and I had to turn it down. I didn’t have enough money to buy a coffee. Or to get me across the city to where he was. <br /><br />Yeah. I literally didn’t have enough money to go work. <br /><br />Being poor’s a constant, gut-churning feeling of tension. Of being painfully aware of what you don’t have and what you can’t do. There are some messed up folks who love to bellow about “nanny states” and “entitlements” but the simple truth is that the vast majority of poor people don’t abuse the system. They’re way too busy just trying to survive with their home, their health, and maybe just a shred of dignity. My partner and I went through three years like that. Three years of feeling constantly sick with despair, just waiting for the inevitable bill or emergency that’d destroy us. <br /><br />And for the past ten or fifteen years, a lot of folks have made it painfully clear that they judge you because of that poverty. They find you lacking as a person because of it. And that just adds to the feelings of tension. <br /><br />This feeling’s even worse at the holidays. Because so much of the holidays is about giving, and when you’re poor you just... you’ve got nothing to give. You can' buy things. You can't travel. Half the time you can't even afford to make something, which you couldn't get to them anyway because travel includes "across the city" and "the other side of town." It doesn’t matter how much you care about that person, it doesn’t matter how much you want to. It doesn’t matter because you’ve got nothing. <br /><br />And again... you can feel people judging you over it. At every office party or gathering of friends or family dinner. There’s almost always somebody there judging you for being trapped and powerless.<br /><br />It sucks. <br /><br />This deep-in-your-gut feeling manages to be even worse at the holidays. So much of this season’s about giving, and when you’re poor you just... you’ve got nothing to give. It doesn’t matter how much you care about someone, it doesn’t matter how much you want to just feel normal and give them something—anything—to express that caring. It doesn’t matter because you’ve got nothing. <br /><br />And again... you can feel people judging you over it. At every office party or gathering of friends or family dinner. You’re trapped and powerless and somebody’s judging you for it. Hell, you end up judging yourself, and it just becomes this endless cycle of guilt and resentment and desperation. I really hope that none of you reading this are there right now, feeling helpless and sick with despair. Because like I said before, it seriously sucks to be in that position <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FOyAy_4QyhhGwU4yiSDYgrqKcej7fmhviuUUCNgUYPJqBeAfFJb9z5OFqBhjY-p0LmJYnZ0KTJucBEclHIIwSlqc-9wwovK2FvaO-mRJyW3FC8Gq8OeO0OVF00g8JGI9rP952MECp6_KB8VukS5JPBwhZENXp-yxiAbzDVarreH-dviUk_K4gNcV/s880/Paradox%20paperback.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="571" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FOyAy_4QyhhGwU4yiSDYgrqKcej7fmhviuUUCNgUYPJqBeAfFJb9z5OFqBhjY-p0LmJYnZ0KTJucBEclHIIwSlqc-9wwovK2FvaO-mRJyW3FC8Gq8OeO0OVF00g8JGI9rP952MECp6_KB8VukS5JPBwhZENXp-yxiAbzDVarreH-dviUk_K4gNcV/w130-h200/Paradox%20paperback.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>But if this is where you are right now—maybe I can help. <br /><br />If you can’t afford gifts for your family or friends this season, shoot me note at my old business email-- peterclines101@yahoo.com. I’ve got a bunch of author’s copies I’ll autograph to whoever you want and mail out to you—or to someone else, if you need it shipped. I can even gift wrap if you need it. I’ll send them out for as long as the books last. You can request a specific book but I can’t promise anything on that end. <br /><br />Know what? I’ve got some audiobook sets, too. Yeah, those big wallets of CDs. If audiobooks work better, just say so. I still can’t promise which one you’ll get, but if it’d be better for the person you’re gifting, just say so. <br /><br />And hey—almost every year a few folks offer to chip in and help me out with this. Thank you so much for the thought, but you don’t need me to do that. You can go be fantastic people all on your own. I guarantee, there’s a toy bank or food bank or some kind of program within ten miles of you right now that could really use some help. And you could be the person to give that help. <br /><br />One more time, sorry to hammer it home but... this offer’s for those of you who need some help getting gifts for others. The people who are pulling unemployment, cutting back on everything, and feeling trapped because they can’t afford gifts for family or friends. It’s not so you can recommend someone who might like a free book. You could do that for them, too—go get them a book. Then you’re helping your friend and your local bookstore. And I’ve got some events coming up so you can buy signed books if you want.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQP79-FGi3YyyDDcOvEp4NZQacViLmwxGr5wkV_TQXSaqhwYlDuMKxqupVDXmiBo6-UrZ7HBhs255PzxuSxxXsvWn29LMVkiLqYAfgrn9qRz5fQkbpU7uffGD1WcLqJJD1vZkWYwgQ3DQWKeZPQbQ5u_QTzUQ0_ihGLSePU-EWgv8-veH7Nq7kD6fv/s499/BROKEN%20ROOM.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQP79-FGi3YyyDDcOvEp4NZQacViLmwxGr5wkV_TQXSaqhwYlDuMKxqupVDXmiBo6-UrZ7HBhs255PzxuSxxXsvWn29LMVkiLqYAfgrn9qRz5fQkbpU7uffGD1WcLqJJD1vZkWYwgQ3DQWKeZPQbQ5u_QTzUQ0_ihGLSePU-EWgv8-veH7Nq7kD6fv/w126-h200/BROKEN%20ROOM.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>Also... I’m also doing this on the honor system. If you’re only trying to save yourself some money or score an autographed book, I won’t be able to stop you. Just know that you’re a deplorable person and you’re taking a potential bright moment away from someone who needs it this holiday season. And you’ll probably burn in the pits of Hell before Krampus feeds your cajun-fried corpse to a squale. <br /><br />NOW... all that said...<br /><br />This may be the last post here on the ranty writing blog. Emphasis on <i><b>here</b></i>. Recent <a href="https://mastodon.social/@PeterClines">social</a> <a href="https://counter.social/web/accounts/72093">media</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines">disruptions </a>have lined up with some of my own plans, and I’m pulling a lot of stuff all under one umbrella. The ranty writing blog is going to migrate over to <a href="http://PeterClines.com">PeterClines.com</a>, which is getting a facelift and an update and will hopefully be your place for all things weird-story related from here on.<br /><br />Before anyone gets worried... I’m not going to delete the ranty writing blog here on Blogspot. Not yet, anyway. So if you’ve bookmarked anything, you’re still good for now. But just be aware everything new is going to be over there. <br /><br />Anyway... there’s your Black Friday offer and your ranty writing blog update. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon when I remind you of all the books I’ve written that make wonderful gifts and also do my “cool books I read this year” list. <br /><br />Happy Holidays.</div>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-68125601540838655912022-05-23T18:49:00.003-07:002022-05-23T18:49:42.669-07:00It Was Ten Years Ago Today...And now, one of those quick commemorative posts! Yeah, I know I owe you all a month or so of real posts. I haven't forgotten. Sorry this has continued to be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2022/03/quick-update.html" target="_blank">shoved down the priority list</a>.<br /> <br /> Did you know it was ten years ago today that Crypticon 2012 opened in Seattle? <br /><br />Yeah, I know Crypticon 2022 just ended yesterday. Calendars are funny.<br /> <br /> Did you also know I also released a new book at said Crypticon? <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwS3QFrOOdo3SOQB2zs2t5vIY8jwCQOiLnI0WEfY-K59pRbM8pNEhKyXQTKS-68GNzPqNbH3A39i9xo5QVhEodN30-yfCfp6Tht6OCRdijqmJlGi6djRZjE49uDEECTlHpStXRRBV1H5gm7SQS3f4-wr1Ona8bPlSVQz7IB3Zl7Lw4xH2havGgdyh/s1600/deadmoon_ebook_final2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwS3QFrOOdo3SOQB2zs2t5vIY8jwCQOiLnI0WEfY-K59pRbM8pNEhKyXQTKS-68GNzPqNbH3A39i9xo5QVhEodN30-yfCfp6Tht6OCRdijqmJlGi6djRZjE49uDEECTlHpStXRRBV1H5gm7SQS3f4-wr1Ona8bPlSVQz7IB3Zl7Lw4xH2havGgdyh/w133-h200/deadmoon_ebook_final2.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>The year before I‘d pitched my publisher a zombies on the moon story, but he’d just bought a zombies in space book and didn’t want to do two right on top of each other. So I pitched this other half-formed mystery/ sci-fi/ horror idea I’d been kicking around. He said sure, go for it. I wrote it, he read it, told me it was one of his favorite things he ever seen. He absolutely loved it. <br /><br />He then also warned me that every book he’d ever picked up that he absolutely, completely loved had bombed. Sooooooo... I should be prepared. <br /><br />It was supposed to come out in June of 2012, but as a surprise the publisher got twenty copies (maaaybe twenty four???) printed up for Crypticon, where a bunch of the press’s authors were going to be (including Craig diLouie, Jessica Meigs, Timothy Long, Eloise Knapp, and more) <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu14RXhRy5uNc4LU1Fbzdh6ov45by473AfKJ5lVlrec8u_TGDolmDmwmPESbaE53IBN5on4j0nuywbf9ut7M2i_c8hL5J76dzVxUGDQAv_MAa1oc1igBSBZVSI31jmPZG6b4wjxcB3k-wnjhj_uqg98TG-mfkYYnK1YsPe7rjyernW6NKLrF5W0k--/s450/14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu14RXhRy5uNc4LU1Fbzdh6ov45by473AfKJ5lVlrec8u_TGDolmDmwmPESbaE53IBN5on4j0nuywbf9ut7M2i_c8hL5J76dzVxUGDQAv_MAa1oc1igBSBZVSI31jmPZG6b4wjxcB3k-wnjhj_uqg98TG-mfkYYnK1YsPe7rjyernW6NKLrF5W0k--/w133-h200/14.JPG" width="133" /></a></div>I gave one of those first copies to Kelly Young of <i>Strange Aeons Magazine</i> (and podcast) who was also at Crypticon because I was pretty sure he’d like it. Sold all of them that weekend (except for one I kept for myself). And then the book came out on Amazon and Audible (let’s throw some more thanks to Ray Porter) and, much to everyone’s surprise—me more than anyone else—it turned out to be somewhat popular. So in so many ways this is also the ten year anniversary of when my life turned around, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/black-friday-xiv-santa-takes-manhattan.html" target="_blank">I clawed my way out of poverty</a>, and realized I could make a living telling weird little stories. <br /> <br /> Happy tenth birthday to <b><i>~14~</i></b> , my weird little novel that could. And so many, many thanks to all of you who found it, told some friends about it, and wrote kind reviews about it.
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-87752314808603243322022-04-29T22:37:00.004-07:002022-05-01T10:57:15.623-07:00State of Things...Hey. Interesting week, huh?<br /><br />First off, many thanks to all of you for your patience. Probably looks dumb as hell, guy who’s got his dream job complaining about being burned out. But the truth is, even a dream job <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/random-musings.html" target="_blank">is still a job</a>. And I think for all of us, trying to do your job for the past two years has just been brutal. And it all finally caught up with me. I guess the one big difference is I’m in the very fortunate position of just being able to throw my hands up and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2022/03/quick-update.html" target="_blank">say “I’m done” for a week or three</a>. <br /><br />And it’s helped immensely. I feel rested for the first time in months (almost <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/scary-but-funny.html" target="_blank">since before Halloween</a>, really). The new book is back on track. I even think I’ve got a handle on how to deal with the disconnect between my new word processing program (say hello, LibreOffice Writer) and the blog site here. Yes, you may have noticed some <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2022/03/those-are-all-made-up-words.html" target="_blank">odd formatting</a> over the past half-dozen or so posts. <br /><br />So again, thanks to all of you for your patience.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzGK5igdH48hQKhm4-cu868UDw1VTQwGaY3loCwSxt54RmbsnbHle_boWmQA00nCT0h6WUtsTBig0oGnKgMIViGWuF1Pj__pDySbGC-EDCPTzwyoTWpXl81Hk4L7sSvhqW3hlZ3fc_CV2f3OhCjs_qS5TenGQ0fTQFZJzJeN0ySNI8z0HIBY55nIa/s518/twitter-logo_518-518.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="518" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzGK5igdH48hQKhm4-cu868UDw1VTQwGaY3loCwSxt54RmbsnbHle_boWmQA00nCT0h6WUtsTBig0oGnKgMIViGWuF1Pj__pDySbGC-EDCPTzwyoTWpXl81Hk4L7sSvhqW3hlZ3fc_CV2f3OhCjs_qS5TenGQ0fTQFZJzJeN0ySNI8z0HIBY55nIa/w200-h200/twitter-logo_518-518.png" width="200" /></a></div>Anyway... I know I promised to talk about languages next time I put up something new, but I figured it’s probably worth mentioning that big potential shift coming up in the internet. You know. That guy. The one with so much money he literally doesn’t know what to do with it, so he just keeps making questionable choices and never suffering any repercussions. Will things go forward? Will they collapse? Will he get bored and sort of wander off like he’s done for so many other loudly proclaimed offers and deals? <br /><br />Who knows. <br /><br />No, seriously. I think there’s good reason to be worried if a guy like that ended up in charge of a major worldwide communication system. He has an extreme “<a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines/status/1230204209116499968" target="_blank">rich white man/ never dealt with a real problem in my life</a>” view of the world. I also think... well, like I mentioned above, he does have a real follow-through problem. I’d say it’s 50-50 at best that this sale even happens. Seriously. <br /><br />It’s an odd bit of synchronicity that just as I’m coming back from a break on this particular platform, as my fellow youths like to say, and there’s a potential upset at the other big one I spend a lot of time at. Makes you think, as my fellow olds often say. About social media and the role it plays in our lives <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-social-media-question.html" target="_blank">and our careers</a>.<br /><br />For a few months now I’ve been looking at this site (which is still here on <i>Blogspot,</i> fer cripes sake) and thinking I should really migrate it over to my website and have everything contained there. One thing this past week’s highlighted is how fragile things can be on the internet. One buyout, one new executive who doesn’t like that balance sheet, and everything can change in minutes. Like, actual minutes. <br /><br />I also know one reason I’ve been dragging my feet on doing it is because I’ll lose all the links in these posts. Bam, all that interconnectedness and easy reference gone. I could rebuild it, but it’d take time. A lot of time. And I am, y’know, working on other things...<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4sssw2Eu-WFYiUSbB0lZommRdOtEgJ1mY77xXhVScmF3E1LU9yEamboVHghpDDw4TObbmh4P4684NpstrFm-n5wn7bzdNxAjYIr_mrUlbVLs-PJ08CVhh91uiOLN0vtybjBsPe2LDzdOaPwks-_lfCXeS-POGfARzKvE3QekHg2zdxJNWBXHSHXh/s726/instagram.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="726" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4sssw2Eu-WFYiUSbB0lZommRdOtEgJ1mY77xXhVScmF3E1LU9yEamboVHghpDDw4TObbmh4P4684NpstrFm-n5wn7bzdNxAjYIr_mrUlbVLs-PJ08CVhh91uiOLN0vtybjBsPe2LDzdOaPwks-_lfCXeS-POGfARzKvE3QekHg2zdxJNWBXHSHXh/w200-h198/instagram.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>All that said, I’m probably going to stay <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines" target="_blank">on Twitter</a> for the foreseeable future. We’ll have to see how it goes there over the next few months. If you’re so interested, there’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/peterclines/" target="_blank">also Instagram</a>, which is mostly toys and cats, yeah, but some book stuff too. With all this going on, I set up an account <a href="https://counter.social/web/getting-started?session=oauthed" target="_blank">on Counter.Social</a> just because a few folks I know were over there and I figured it might not be a bad thing to claim my name there, so to speak. And someone reminded me I had <a href="https://mastodon.social/web/@PeterClines" target="_blank">a Mastodon account</a> I hadn’t used in a while, so I’ve dusted that off and made sure the engine still runs. If you’re on any of these sites, please come find me and listen to my daily prattling. If nothing else, you’ll know when this site gets updated.<br /> <br /> And please do keep an eye out here. I’ve got a few cool things planned out for the month of May. I think they’re cool, anyway. That foreign language post, talkin’ about three act structure a bit, and maybe <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/06/thank-your-rich-uncle.html" target="_blank">a rambly birthday post</a> or two, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/05/whos-real-monster.html" target="_blank">as I’ve done</a> once or thrice <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/05/back-in-olden-times.html" target="_blank">in the past</a>. <br /><br />So we’ve all got that to look forward to.<br /> <br /> Until then, go write.<br />Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-84019518119396380372022-03-31T16:18:00.001-07:002022-03-31T16:18:22.173-07:00 Quick UpdateOh, hey there.<div> <br />So, if you’re one of the hundred or two regular readers of this space, you may notice this past year’s been a little... sparse. Not quite the standard level of output for this blog. Normally by <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/03/oooooooh-shiny.html" target="_blank">this point in the year</a> I’d’ve made at least a dozen posts, and I think this one makes seven so far for 2022. <br /><br />It’s not for lack of topics. I’ve got two or three on deck, plus a nice question about foreign languages someone <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2022/03/those-are-all-made-up-words.html" target="_blank">asked in the comments a while back</a> (thanks, Oliver!). And I’m sure I’d end up with one or two more by the time all those are done. Saturday geekery usually spawns a good one every other week or so. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJj84DHWzIy2TQ5i7LgZPtUy04xZGfXJsGTO9CAd0hLp3Mjp88LAuxv8PDqkyn_xJ26iT8Iru0uWR0j4RZa1uzifiw4KcbuvHXJw3cEupZwVb6omSxK2LOYq_6L8ZUc5fqQg7mxxHRhQQx3SV3KE6rTk1Vp6SELWYmBxzN8sB1fBE3vu-gTg5t7QGF/s2817/Alucard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2345" data-original-width="2817" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJj84DHWzIy2TQ5i7LgZPtUy04xZGfXJsGTO9CAd0hLp3Mjp88LAuxv8PDqkyn_xJ26iT8Iru0uWR0j4RZa1uzifiw4KcbuvHXJw3cEupZwVb6omSxK2LOYq_6L8ZUc5fqQg7mxxHRhQQx3SV3KE6rTk1Vp6SELWYmBxzN8sB1fBE3vu-gTg5t7QGF/w200-h166/Alucard.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Truth be told... I’ve just been fried. Since 2022 started I’ve traveled for the first time in two years. I’ve been reading books for blurbs. I’ve been trying to work on my new novel and also the novel after that and a pair of short stories for different anthologies. There were a few vet visits (cats are all fine, no worries) and a new kitten who can be VERY loud sometimes (often in the middle of the night). Taxes are coming up and I still have a ton of work to do to get those even semi-organized. And of course, I had a new book come out—<b><i>The Broken Room</i></b>—which is a whole big thing in itself. Many thanks to those of you who may have read it and left a kind review someplace. <br /><br /></div><div>And, yeah, I know a lot of this is just what a pro writer’s supposed to be doing. Juggling stuff and scheduling time and making it all work. I’ve been doing it <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/01/beholdthe-future.html" target="_blank">for many years now</a>. But these past few months—since the holidays, really—I’ve just been friggin’ burnt. And like a lot of folks who hit this state, I’ve been letting one or two things slide. Not intentionally. It just sort of... happened. And this blog was one of the easiest things for it to happen with because...<br /> <br /> Well, let’s be honest. This has never been a major stop for the general writing community. I really, truly appreciate all of you who’ve found your way here over the years, but I also see the numbers and I know this has never been a super popular spot. I’ve had plenty of <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines" target="_blank">off-the-cuff tweets</a> that get far more visibility and interaction than posts I’ve spent <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/b-movie-101.html" target="_blank">multiple days working on</a>. I enjoy doing this, but if something was going to slide it was bound to be the thing that feels like it's got the lowest work/return ratio. <br /><br />So I’m going to try to take a little time, maybe the next two or three weeks, and just try to get myself back to a place where I can get all those balls back up in the air and keep them there. I know I can do it. I want to do it. But one thing most people don’t realize about juggling is that it’s a serious arm workout. And you can only do any workout for so long before you either collapse or <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/08/writing-workout.html" target="_blank">start getting kind of distorted</a>. <br /><br />And, hey, speaking of all this... <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9kgcmS75QX67GKDfCWepOS1XH_xdUkbZ66EqW4WOmSDBLlRmpWwS4RFAMQHFxQmoRUz3jK3jt7jA9xlVXWh25QDXDO3DvTe86REC2W7yUFvZH4lF8fIR4pPeur-AeYyQ7xes-JLczucldvUYYwcXa9bF8tKh7f6dFa_rZ3KlZjU2o8kwbdVZNB4P/s600/ccip_wc_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="600" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9kgcmS75QX67GKDfCWepOS1XH_xdUkbZ66EqW4WOmSDBLlRmpWwS4RFAMQHFxQmoRUz3jK3jt7jA9xlVXWh25QDXDO3DvTe86REC2W7yUFvZH4lF8fIR4pPeur-AeYyQ7xes-JLczucldvUYYwcXa9bF8tKh7f6dFa_rZ3KlZjU2o8kwbdVZNB4P/w200-h157/ccip_wc_logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>This weekend I’m going to be at WonderCon in Anaheim. I’m hosting the <a href="https://www.eventeny.com/events/wondercon-2022-2741/?action=schedule-item&action_ops[item_id]=13209" target="_blank">Writer’s Coffeehouse on Sunday</a> (11-1:00) where I’ll be talking about publishing, answering questions, and trying hard to be educational and entertaining. If you happen to be there, please stop by and say hi.<br /> <br /> Next time... we will talk about languages. I promise. And I’ll make sue you all know when it’s up.<br /> <br /> Until then... go write.</div>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-11700925209520902432022-03-10T19:42:00.005-08:002022-03-10T19:42:38.915-08:00I've Been Framed!This week’s random topic is something that’s been gnawing at me for a while. I’ve been batting it around, trying to come up with a good way to explain it, and I think the catch is there really isn’t a good way to do it. This is one of those slightly-more-advanced writing things I either understand or I don’t. If I do... I probably already know to avoid it.<div><br /><div>Anyway let’s see if I can stumble through some analogies and examples and hopefully make this a little clearer.<div><br />You’ve probably heard the term <i>framing </i>once or twice. It has to do with how I choose to present things in a story. If my character is talking about something, how they’re saying it is part of the framing. So is how people react to it—in both out loud and unspoken ways. How I choose to describe it in the text says a lot about it, too. Framing can involve <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/dont-say-it.html" target="_blank">a lot of subtext</a>, and a lot of not-so-sub text.<br /><br />(also, just to be clear, we're not taking about <i>frame stories</i> which are something else altogether that I've meant to ramble on about for a while now)<br /><br />So let’s jump storytelling forms for a moment and I’ll give our first example.<br /><br />In moviemaking (and photography) people talk about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/07/standard-shots.html" target="_blank">framing a shot</a>. This is a very similar idea. If I’ve got Phoebe on camera, it’s how I’m choosing to set up this shot. How are going to set the edges of the shot? What’s in the background or foreground? How close are we to her? What angle are we seeing her from? Is the camera static or moving? And if it’s moving, how is it moving? <br /><br />How I frame the shot affects how we, the audience, perceive this shot. It’s an added layer of meaning. A sort of visual subtext, if you will.<br /><br />Here’s an example I’ve given you a few times before. Let’s say our scene is the young lovers dashing up to the bedroom. One pushes the other down on the bed and then does a sexy, laughing striptease for them. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/picture-everyone-in-their_13.html" target="_blank">Easy to picture</a>, yes?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrjhOJLeHFVNAbx_hs7biooJatoBRGbemflEq6v7i1DXItwHbDWaV6-7U4uiTQ54GzgjGwxZmbw8LDj0qMyWPQZj-VhIIvsaWR7ar1DSmD16XthQeh0YXZ_oKqag_a9C9BkdA0XV3ypWB1tcVHT72_lrIHppRzrhXoQVhGDeq97Y7TaJjP7oL7aFHX=s480" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrjhOJLeHFVNAbx_hs7biooJatoBRGbemflEq6v7i1DXItwHbDWaV6-7U4uiTQ54GzgjGwxZmbw8LDj0qMyWPQZj-VhIIvsaWR7ar1DSmD16XthQeh0YXZ_oKqag_a9C9BkdA0XV3ypWB1tcVHT72_lrIHppRzrhXoQVhGDeq97Y7TaJjP7oL7aFHX=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div>However... we’re going to frame this with a handheld camera, looking though the crack between the closet doors. As the shirt gets tossed and those pants are wiggled out of, the camera can tilt one way or another, so the audience can see as much as possible. Where things land, what state of undress people are in. But, y’know... all through that narrow crack.<br /><br />And this has suddenly become different scene, hasn’t it? Not so <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-talk.html" target="_blank">fun and sexy</a> anymore. Now we’re just waiting to see who—or what—comes bursting out of that closet. because there’s definitely something in that closet, right? They wouldn’t be framing the shot this way if there wasn’t somebody in there watching all this happen.<br /><br />That’s kind of the key point I’m awkwardly getting at here. Things can get weird in movies when there’s a big disconnect between what’s going on in the scene and what the subtext tells us is going on in the scene. One of them will usually override the other, and since movies are a visual format, the camerawork—the framing—can override any spoken text pretty easily.<br /><br />Now, a lot of time this is deliberate. That scene I just described above (and a few hundred just like it) is a pretty standard horror movie shot, <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/scary-stories-to-tell.html" target="_blank">especially for slasher movies</a>. The unknown killer watches from the closet. Or maybe just that pervy voyeur they’ll yell at when he stumbles out of the closet (and then they’ll throw him out of the room and <i>he’ll</i> be the one <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-body-on-page-one.html" target="_blank">who gets killed</a>). Point is, the storytellers (in this case, the filmmakers) are deliberately subverting what should be a sexy scene by framing it in a way that make it very creepy.<br /><br />Thing is... it isn’t always that way. If you’ve ever followed along with <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/09/saving-dumb-cats.html" target="_blank">Saturday geekery</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, you know one of my common complaints is when inexperienced filmmakers try to copy a shot from another movie without really understanding why it worked in that movie. I’ve seen folks do the “peeking out of the closet” shot or the “looking through the window from outside” shot and they did it because, well, that’s how you film sexy scenes in horror movies, right? Wasn’t it super hot when she was swaying at the end of the bed and pulling open her...wait, what? You thought it was ominous? Why? Now suddenly the film is stumbling because the sexy scene is creepy as hell but it was supposed to just be... well, sexy.<br /><br />And the audience will sense this screw-up. Even if we don’t always know the syntax or conjugation, so to speak, we know enough filmic language to realize something wasn’t landing right there. We’ll figure out eventually from context (y’know, when something <i>doesn’t</i> come out of the closet), but that stumble is going to break the flow and throw us out of the movie as we try to figure out what’s actually going on. Was this a creepy scene or a sexy scene or what? How were we supposed to feel about it?<br />And we can frame things in our writing, too. We can layer in that subtext through our characters and their reactions, our story structure, even just with with <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/12/yelling-vs-screaming.html" target="_blank">our vocabulary choices</a>. We can make insults sound like compliments, word something innocent so it could be flirty, make it really clear how weak that guy making the loud, angry speech is.<br /><br />But... <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWOhHCaz2bxpMPshCoB_QlqXS9YjSx1nv4OincDJWU25v-unMdTmlYu9SkLoJawtycR3YbJfnAuChuUvkkjYaPhGkChSYF-zt1OV3vb-rie8zgN6HELyXksEgbynSO_kcnwGr67WwFC2d3ZHtWjhIiD0nkagy8_HECinTEILlJN_vGVkjsCvw14MVd=s775" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="775" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWOhHCaz2bxpMPshCoB_QlqXS9YjSx1nv4OincDJWU25v-unMdTmlYu9SkLoJawtycR3YbJfnAuChuUvkkjYaPhGkChSYF-zt1OV3vb-rie8zgN6HELyXksEgbynSO_kcnwGr67WwFC2d3ZHtWjhIiD0nkagy8_HECinTEILlJN_vGVkjsCvw14MVd=w200-h137" width="200" /></a></div>If we’re not careful when we do this, we can end up with that same stumble I was just talking about inexperienced filmmakers causing. If Yakko just insulted Phoebe but my word choice makes it sounds a little too much like a compliment, even though we know Yakko wouldn’t compliment her... well, wait, what’s going on? Or if everything structure-wise says this is <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/10/you-liar.html" target="_blank">when I learn if Phoebe is the super-werewolf or not</a> and instead it’s revealed that we first went to the Moon <i>in 1969</i>... I mean, that’s not remotely the answer we were looking for. It’s not even really an answer. It’s just a random fact. Is it even relevant to this story? And why is it in italics? Why are we emphasizing it? Did somebody think the Moon landing was in some other year?<br /><br />I know this is one of those things that sounds kind of silly and self-apparent, but I’m surprised now often I’ll come across it. A writer pretty clearly trying to do X, but they’ve set everything up as Y. Unusual framing. Odd vocabulary. Weird emphasis. Things that feel like they’re meant for a different version of this scene. And like with the films, I think these writers are trying to copy something they saw work, but haven't quite worked out <i>why </i>it worked.<br /><br />And that’s why this is a tough thing to explain. It’s hard for me to say “make sure you’re using the right subtext for your scene” when I don’t know the scene or the subtext you’re currently using or the effect you’re trying to create with it. It’s going to be different for every writer, every project, every scene.<br /><br />Okay, I know this hasn’t been super-helpful, so let me toss out a few last suggestions that should make it easier to avoid this issue.<br /><br /><b>1) Know what words mean—</b>This should be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-most-basic-of-basics.html" target="_blank">a serious basic</a> for any writer. A bad habit most of us start with is running across words we don’t know and <i>kinda</i> getting their meaning from context, and then using them as we <i>kinda </i>think they’re intended. Which, no surprise, can cause real confusion for people who actually know what the word means. And that’s not even taking into account that I might spell it wrong and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/vocabulary-time-again_6.html" target="_blank">spellcheck swaps in some other word</a> altogether. Which I also don’t know.<br /><br /><b>2) Know how this is supposed to make my readers feel--</b> is this a sexy page or a scary page? Funny or creepy? Should my readers be tense or fascinated? If I don’t know how this bit’s supposed to make them feel, how can I get any sort of emotion across on the page? Bonus—knowing this should also help me figure out if any moments are particularly jarring. Not in <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2012/06/crystal-clear-tone.html" target="_blank">the way I might want</a>.<br /><br /><b>3) Work on my Empathy--</b> I’ve said it before and it’s still true. I need to understand how other people <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/behind-mask.html" target="_blank">are going to react to things</a>. If I don’t have a good, honest sense of how this character’s going to be received, how that line of dialogue’s going to go over, how my readers will react to this beat or that reveal... well, it’s going to be tough to tell a story. I need to be able to put myself in other people’s shoes so I can take a look at my work and say “Wow... if I do it like this, the readers are totally going to think someone’s in the closet watching Chris and Pat.”<br /><br />Anyway... this was a little rambly, but hopefully you got something out of it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1jKN5RpRUXvTYW_kj1c4tmskt7p3FPJhaUwNhsaYDdTxtqFsVftnzArt5lJXD2JNgbys8Pq7xgOG9UaxPmlYNFCiCZhdbdRVQPVkVfRQby4GNl8NNu3dLgOPOree53lS72IbVbkS0h1KhIKG_3U05XV4q-JnxOHXow1KRhOlM7aA4zTG6iYGMhzah=s499" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1jKN5RpRUXvTYW_kj1c4tmskt7p3FPJhaUwNhsaYDdTxtqFsVftnzArt5lJXD2JNgbys8Pq7xgOG9UaxPmlYNFCiCZhdbdRVQPVkVfRQby4GNl8NNu3dLgOPOree53lS72IbVbkS0h1KhIKG_3U05XV4q-JnxOHXow1KRhOlM7aA4zTG6iYGMhzah=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div>Next time... look, I’ll be honest. I’m not sure there’s going to be a post next week because I’ve got a four or five hour drive on Friday and then <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spring-writers-conference-tickets-278859675797" target="_blank">a talk about worldbuilding</a>. Plus—if you hadn’t heard-- I had a new book come out last week and I’ve been a bit overwhelmed. Which means now I’m playing a bit of catch-up. But I’ll try to get something out, if time allows.<br /><br />Until then... go write.
</div></div></div>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-91109215037025445312022-03-03T19:13:00.000-08:002022-03-03T19:13:56.270-08:00Those Are All Made-Up Words!<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span>I wanted to jump back to something I mentioned a few weeks ago. Creating my own words for stories. Yes, all words are made-up-- don’t be the clopos in the room, okay? I recently got a new laptop and as I was bringing everything over I stumbled across a very old blog post about using made-up words. It had a few nice rules of thumb for separating good uses from bad uses, and I thought it might be worth revisiting them.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">So let’s dive right in.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">First off, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/name-brand.html" target="_blank">let’s talk about names</a>. Proper names for people, places or things. This may sound kind of simple, but I’ve seen it go wrong enough that I think it’s a good place to start off.<br />When we’re worldbuilding an alien or fantasy world, or sometimes one in the distant past or future, there’s an urge to hand out a lot of different names. For characters, towns, deities, what have you. On the surface, there’s nothing really wrong with this, but I should think a bit about how I’m going to introduce these names. Especially if I’m going to do it in dialogue or <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/pov.html" target="_blank">a first person POV</a>.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Let me give you a few quick, example sentences.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>“Tim, it’s good to see you.”<br /><span> </span>“We’re going to try for another child, if Phoebe’s willing.”<br /><span> </span>“Sarah, what are you doing here?”<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Pretty straight-forward, yes? No confusion about what any of these sentences mean. Heck, the second one even slips in some personal information about the speaker. But watch what happens when I switch the names like this?<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>“Jesus, it's good to see you”<br /><span> </span>“We’re going to try for another child, if God’s willing.”<br /><span> </span>“Christ, what are you doing here?”<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">See? Now these these sentences are conveying different information. They’ve shifted to <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/05/expletive-deleted.html" target="_blank">expletives</a> and figures of speech. <i>But</i> we only know that because we recognize this second set of names. Because watch what happens when we don’t have reference for any of these names...<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>“Tokar, what are you doing here?”<br /><span> </span>“We’re going to try for another child, if Ostriax is willing.”<br /><span> </span>“Grothnixian, it’s good to see you.”</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWwvZPcl3FjkEw-zXnC5-LC9FYWW0uZkzXIN7wYQa-nYYlJqei-nONH8p7NkSmLJhFKVMfPUi3qplkFtcWp41jTBJGCguQIk88xsi73EXySYGnbTmBMAwYR7lKzfwfsz1rKqfkK7NgRmWN4R34aiZnVWnmwzzR5xUgrtzvAghGlyuVe-QSNuDEEPu0=s708" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="708" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWwvZPcl3FjkEw-zXnC5-LC9FYWW0uZkzXIN7wYQa-nYYlJqei-nONH8p7NkSmLJhFKVMfPUi3qplkFtcWp41jTBJGCguQIk88xsi73EXySYGnbTmBMAwYR7lKzfwfsz1rKqfkK7NgRmWN4R34aiZnVWnmwzzR5xUgrtzvAghGlyuVe-QSNuDEEPu0=w200-h153" width="200" /></a>Soooooo.... now what are these sentences saying? We can’t really parse them <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/02/pod-six-was-jerks.html" target="_blank">without a frame of reference</a> for those names. Is Ostariax the speaker’s wife, husband, or <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2011/10/god-is-my-co-writer.html" target="_blank">chosen deity</a>? Heck, Tokar and Grothnixian might not even be names at all. Maybe they’re swears I made up and they’re just capitalized because they start the sentence. I mean, it’s clear to <i>me</i>, the writer, so I guess if you don’t understand it in context the problem’s just you...<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">The problem here is that when a reader stumbles across this, their brain’s going to make a decision and stick with it. It’s going to say Grothnaxian is a proper name, Ostariax is a god, and Tokar is one of those words you might use with your close friends, but not in polite company. You definitely wouldn’t use it on the internet where it might come back to haunt you years from now.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">And when, fifteen or twenty pages later, my reader realizes Ostariax is actually someone’s sister... It’s going to <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/12/going-with-it.html" target="_blank">break the flow</a>. Like, shatter it. My reader’s going to stop and re-read those last ten pages to see how many things they misunderstood, or if some things make more sense now. And they’re going to double check <i>Tokar</i> to make sure they aren’t misunderstanding that name, too. Heck, odds are pretty good they’re going to be cautious moving forward, because I’ve shown <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/our-binding-contract.html" target="_blank">I can’t really be trusted</a> to be clear about this. All the names are suspect now.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">As I said above, I need to be very careful about how I first introduce these.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3gndrJjeshkxpTIIZrWjl0ynww_OH9SrEL_58XZS_moJxxSDh-4nQt9TUeTJXOBvPz2eN7TTg9M60QhSkwSAzCjJoJ0HAXHvO3JMAa8oVh1RKwO-SgbcptHphn_Pel-bHO5JmAt5htYurUc6MGKpOmcKxYZDI-r1qUdl0PSYbv2-o0ionmPGcmc79=s681" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="681" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3gndrJjeshkxpTIIZrWjl0ynww_OH9SrEL_58XZS_moJxxSDh-4nQt9TUeTJXOBvPz2eN7TTg9M60QhSkwSAzCjJoJ0HAXHvO3JMAa8oVh1RKwO-SgbcptHphn_Pel-bHO5JmAt5htYurUc6MGKpOmcKxYZDI-r1qUdl0PSYbv2-o0ionmPGcmc79=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div>Also, as a quick aside, something to consider for distant past/future names. Truth is, they’re probably not going to be that different. I mean, how many Biblical names are still in common use today? Matthew, John, Mary, Joseph, Luke, Thomas (and let's not forget Peter). Odds are you even run into some of the Old Testament ones on a regular basis—David, Abigail, Joshua, Leah-- heck, Adam and Eve. Regardless of your religious beliefs, it’s clear these names have been around historically for thousands of years. It’s not hard to believe a lot of our present names will go that far into the future. I mean, does anyone even think twice about it when names from today show up in the hundreds-of-years-from-now world of Star Trek? Christopher, Michael, James, Will, Beverly, Ben, Miles, Katherine, Tom, Harry...<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">You get my point. Do I really need to create “ancient” or “futuristic” names? Probably not.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">As for making up words for regular things—calling eyeglasses <i>optykwear</i> or motorcycles <i>bipulsors</i> or a breastplate <i>torsarmor—</i>maybe I should stop for a moment and consider why I’m renaming them. Am I doing it because it actually matters to the story or plot somehow? Or is this a cheap, quick <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/08/on-third-day.html" target="_blank">attempt at worldbuilding</a>? Just hitting something with a coat of literary paint to try to make it look shiny and new?<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Here’s one of those easy rules-of-thumb I mentioned up top. Try to sum up your whole story in about two pages. You don’t actually need to write it all out, but try to at least have the whole thing organized in your head so you could jot it down or explain <i>all </i>of it to me in under five minutes. This is the long-ish elevator pitch.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Got it?<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Okay, if at any point find myself simplifying some of my terms for this summary—just talking about my character’s glasses or her motorcycle or the breastplate that saves her life—then this is the term I should probably be using in my story. Why force the reader to remember an awkward name for something common? Let’s just <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/12/going-with-it.html" target="_blank">call a sword a sword</a> and be done with it. We’ve got better things for our readers to spend their time on, right?<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">Y’see, Timmy, I don’t want to overcomplicate my story with details that are just going to slow it down and drive readers away. If I don’t need to make up a name or a term... then why would I? It’s better just to keep it simple and let them enjoy the read without <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/01/keeping-our-heads-down.html" target="_blank">me getting in the way</a>.<br />
<br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuD-xgz4hsejwKUsMEeo7DfKl0irmuvdTM-ywKYT0k2CrvifQXYLZLFrxKXqZHkd1cKuoAkwspZbLJerV6xRg6jVkBzkyHDVcfg8cSGCvA1sqzxfOkcwdXYTkxDWICnLHAny-k2gj8aO2-_VOQJ08kyYsm3lu6YfcbFQC72ED8mr-w7WNdHDRGNPso=s499" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuD-xgz4hsejwKUsMEeo7DfKl0irmuvdTM-ywKYT0k2CrvifQXYLZLFrxKXqZHkd1cKuoAkwspZbLJerV6xRg6jVkBzkyHDVcfg8cSGCvA1sqzxfOkcwdXYTkxDWICnLHAny-k2gj8aO2-_VOQJ08kyYsm3lu6YfcbFQC72ED8mr-w7WNdHDRGNPso=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div>Speaking of getting in the way, this is the point where I awkwardly insert a reminder that my latest book just came out this week. <i><b>The Broken Room</b></i> is an action/thriller/sci-fi/horror story with a lot of heart. No, really. One blurb called it “a cosmic horror John Wick” which I was kind of fond of. You can pick it up at your friendly local bookstore, and probably in any format you could want. Fair warning—it does sound like there may have been some supply chain issues this week, so try to be patient with folk if they can’t put something in your hands right this second.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">On which note, I did a signing with <a href="https://www.mystgalaxy.com/" target="_blank">Mysterious Galaxy</a> last night and scribbled in their extra copies. You could give them a call and they could ship you one. And this Saturday, for you LA-area folks, I’m going to be at <a href="https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2612/Sat%2C_Mar_5th_3_pm%3A_The_Broken_Room_HB.html#/" target="_blank">Dark Delicacies in Burbank</a>, scribbling in even more books. If you’d like one personalized, please swing by. Or give them a call ahead of time.<br /><br /></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;">And speaking of time... next time, I’d like to talk about framing things.</div><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Until then, go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-47830377779394204782022-02-24T15:33:00.000-08:002022-02-24T15:33:42.003-08:00Fear of the Unknown<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I know, I know. I’ve been really bad
about this lately. As some of you may be aware, it’s been a wild
month for me. New book <a href="https://www.mystgalaxy.com/event/322022Clines" target="_blank">comes out next week</a>, so I’ve been doing
tons of promo stuff, some interviews, scheduling <a href="https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2612/Sat%2C_Mar_5th_3_pm%3A_The_Broken_Room_HB.html#/" target="_blank">other promo stuff</a> and interviews, and also—when I can—trying to work on
my new book. The one everyone’s going to be asking about week after
next.</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Oh,
and I also spent some time going up on the roof (twice!) trying to
fix a tarp. That ate up a fair amount of time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Also,
random fun fact-- this is post #750 here on the ranty writing blog.
Yay to all of us <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/03/our-aluminum-anniversary-post.html" target="_blank">for sticking with it this long</a>. Hopefully
you’ve gotten something out of all these random rants and musings.</span><br /></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Also-also...
holy crap this has been a stressful week. We’ve been dealing with
some horrible stuff here in the states and as of last night a large
chunk of Eastern Europe kind of spiraled into.. well, hell. So I
completely get it if you’re not up to this right now. It might help
get your mind off things, but it also might feel kind of frivolous,
both me writing this and you reading it, and stress you out even
more. I know why I’m here, but seriously-- if you need a minute to
not look at a screen, to just close your eyes and listen to music or
something... go for it. Take ten, take a few deep breath, put your
favorite song on repeat. Take care of yourself, okay? You can’t do
anything if you’re a wreck, so do what you need to keep yourself
together.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
wanted to talk to you real quick about that unknown thing. You know
the one I’m talking about. Yeah, that.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">And
fair warning, this is one of those posts inspired by <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/08/where-b-movies-go-to-die.html" target="_blank">a Saturday geekery movie</a>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgP8BlQDyrJFjjNtvNin6pCX1PVKrfGwcrHbHa-E2ihmZa4-Hr2VAkS7_LO6w2gVcwvoy4JmY3fh_1_5ZcjoLYtkrqjH44enV3m0T8w_6eQrB8WIj1D9y5iyQtJN84fZPXsi2_KGtCO2DkRS5MQytnWxYPjIaZrDfZ0iOzHJK1zbNoF07eRYSx88qDw=s600" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgP8BlQDyrJFjjNtvNin6pCX1PVKrfGwcrHbHa-E2ihmZa4-Hr2VAkS7_LO6w2gVcwvoy4JmY3fh_1_5ZcjoLYtkrqjH44enV3m0T8w_6eQrB8WIj1D9y5iyQtJN84fZPXsi2_KGtCO2DkRS5MQytnWxYPjIaZrDfZ0iOzHJK1zbNoF07eRYSx88qDw=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">So,
hey, I was watching a Saturday geekery movie a few weekends back, and
the actors, director, and even the writer didn’t know what the
monsters were. From a production point of view, anyway. Y’see, it
was pretty clear the movie was done very cheap and on the fly,
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/b-movie-101.html" target="_blank">without much of a script</a>. It’s my educated guess that
they just shot the movie and figured “well, when we’re in post
we’ll see what the special effects house has for cheap models and
CGI in some kind of monster then.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
problem, of course was... well, they’re filming now. And the actors
need to look at that spot on the driveway and pretend there’s
<i>something</i> there. But they can’t say anything definitive
because nobody knows what it’s going to be. Maybe dinosaurs. Maybe
giant insects. Maybe dragons. Who knows. Again, we’ll figure it
out later, right? For now, just... be vague. Act confused.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Which
they did. A lot. And it got thin really fast. Because while it was
unknown to them, filming the movie, the monsters were very clear and
visible to us watching the <i>finished</i> movie. So nobody’s
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/shouldnt-throw-stones.html" target="_blank">reactions made any sense</a>, because nobody knew what they were
reacting to. What it was doing, how big it was, nothing. People were
looking past monsters, above monsters, at one point kind of
uncomfortably at a monster’s crotch. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Plus,
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/can-we-just-talk-bit.html" target="_blank">nobody’s dialogue made any sense</a> because it was all about “those
things” rather than what those things were. I mean... that’s a
dinosaur. No question. Even if it’s secretly a giant robot or an
alien, it <i>looks</i> exactly like a dinosaur and it’s kind of
silly for nobody to say that. If anything, it makes the characters
look really stupid.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps
even more jarring, nobody ever talked about <i>why</i>
these things were there. I mean, if you and I went outside and almost
got killed by a dinosaur/giant spider/dragon and ran back inside
(slamming the door behind us), it makes sense we’d be yelling “WTF
was that?!?!” But after things calmed down a bit and we had time to
talk... wouldn’t we wonder <i>how</i> there’s a dinosaur in the
driveway? Maybe question where these giant spiders came from? <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-quick-follow-up-question.html" target="_blank">That’d seem kind of natural, right</a>?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_9XZW9HJUyQxi9eqlKqLNbqn6gDAPVEOPpwooiuzUy5jui2CcbVpL2pIlqNxARmHxka0LWQl5FlYyucgV6gU1edVKXMpTzGgKrGuQoFn6GuXLoVc9u3yCMFrKcWord4NrHfSGTDZyqtIqfE6BwgsQVerEhXg_vPr7MMK36Zwlhd_NqvVchffDwqLB=s540" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="540" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_9XZW9HJUyQxi9eqlKqLNbqn6gDAPVEOPpwooiuzUy5jui2CcbVpL2pIlqNxARmHxka0LWQl5FlYyucgV6gU1edVKXMpTzGgKrGuQoFn6GuXLoVc9u3yCMFrKcWord4NrHfSGTDZyqtIqfE6BwgsQVerEhXg_vPr7MMK36Zwlhd_NqvVchffDwqLB=w200-h109" width="200" /></a></div>But
the characters couldn’t have these conversations because nobody
actually knew what was in the driveway. A bat-winged demon with a
spiked tail and a killbot with missile pods on its
shoulders would spark two very different discussions. But we don’t
know what it’s going to be, sooooooo... the characters need to talk about something else. And not the giant monsters outside. Maybe about how she hates her job. Or why they wish they hadn’t
argued with their girlfriend this morning. Maybe a little monologue <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/12/some-artsy-thoughts.html" target="_blank">about faith or humanity's basic nature</a>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway,
have you figured out how this applies to writing in general?</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It’s
pretty common in fiction to have “unknown” elements. The faceless
enemy. <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/05/that-figure-in-black.html" target="_blank">The mysterious figure</a>. The unseen monster. Things that leave
our characters confused and maybe angry and trying to figure out what
the heck’s going on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">But...
at some point they’re going to find out what that unknown element
actually is. Either that, or we need to have <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/01/i-always-wear-mini-parachute-under-my.html" target="_blank">a serious talk</a> about it’s aggressively unknown state. And once it’s
known, everything still has to make sense. The way Phoebe reacted in
chapter four. Dot’s vague statements in chapter eight. How <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-body-on-page-one.html" target="_blank">Wakko was killed</a> in chapter fifteen. All of that’s going to line
up and make sense with the now-known element, right? And, yeah, even
if I want to keep things unknown to my readers (and maybe my
characters, too) for the whole story,<i> </i><i>I</i> still need to
know what this unknown element is. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Y’see,
Timmy, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-worlds-changing.html" target="_blank">the world I’m creating needs rules</a>. because my readers are
going to sense if I’m just sort of winging it and saying “anything
goes.” Doesn’t matter if it’s sci-fi or supernatural or ancient
elder evil from the dawn of time—my story comes with <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/our-binding-contract.html" target="_blank">an unwritten promise</a> that all this makes sense. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/10/you-liar.html" target="_blank">I’m not cheating you</a>, there really is a logic to this. I might not directly
tell it to you, but you should still feel it and see its affect on
things.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">So,
yeah, I can use the unknown. But at the least, I need to know which
unknown I’m using. because believe me... they’ll know.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXSp7X57HPSIdm6aVMfAj-Yq7MDn2J3JFAQ1kvTJ6ttGIAa1gc3GTB3ZVvIpGDR_uMNubT6DR5C5Qx1c3jGGcGNbXUECL95HezFZfarULGxyHiFm0u_UOnYW7qcQRIeSxFF89x5k3-lDp7z30Rsxbf-d_xWn-EOq4B5W7vIeK5QiIbPxiTysc2dtOZ=s499" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXSp7X57HPSIdm6aVMfAj-Yq7MDn2J3JFAQ1kvTJ6ttGIAa1gc3GTB3ZVvIpGDR_uMNubT6DR5C5Qx1c3jGGcGNbXUECL95HezFZfarULGxyHiFm0u_UOnYW7qcQRIeSxFF89x5k3-lDp7z30Rsxbf-d_xWn-EOq4B5W7vIeK5QiIbPxiTysc2dtOZ=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div>Next
time...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Crap,
like I said above, there’s a lot happening between now and then.
<i><b>The Broken Room</b></i> comes out next Tuesday, and if you’d
like to pick up a copy in your preferred format, that’d be super
cool. If you’re so interested, I’m also doing signings Wednesday
at <a href="https://www.mystgalaxy.com/event/322022Clines" target="_blank">Mysterious Galaxy</a> and Saturday at <a href="https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2612/Sat%2C_Mar_5th_3_pm%3A_The_Broken_Room_HB.html#/" target="_blank">Dark Delicacies</a>. You could
pre-order from either of them, wherever you are, and get a
personally-defaced copy shipped to your doorway. If you order from
Mysterious Galaxy, you can watch me babble about the book online in
real time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway,
next time, I’d like to talk about making stuff up.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Until
then, go write.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">And
seriously. Take ten. Take a few deep breaths. Drink some water.
Listen to some music.</span></div>
Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-63366883993283795922022-02-10T04:42:00.003-08:002022-02-10T13:35:14.003-08:00How Long Did It Take...I’d already planned this week’s topic and then the writing discourse, as some call it, veered toward length anyway. So call it happy coincidence. Or serendipity.<div><br />Okay, granted, they were talking about how long a manuscript should be, and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/03/look-at-size-of-that-thing.html" target="_blank">we’ve talked about that here before</a>. It’s old news, right? This week, when I’m talking about length, I wanted to talk about time. How long some of this takes.<br /><br /></div><div>I’ve blathered on before about how easy it is to follow your favorite writers on social media these days. So many of them are active to some degree on one platform or another. And they toss out advice and updates about their work. Plus, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/what-not-to-ask-for.html" target="_blank">we can find authors at our own level</a>, people who are going through the same struggles and frustrations.<br /><br /></div><div>Not surprisingly, we end up comparing ourselves to these other folks. Yeah, there’s dozens of reasons not to, but we can’t help ourselves. It’s human nature. We’re curious how we measure up. Has she written more than me? Does he write faster than me? How did their career take off so much faster than mine?<br /><br /></div><div>And a lot of the time, the answers to these questions are a bit intimidating. Maybe even discouraging. I mean, I’ve been working on this book for over a year now and she just pumped one out in eight weeks? What the hell? I know other writers aren’t my competition but seriously... how am I supposed to compete with that?<br /><br /></div><div>So the point I wanted to make is that... well, art’s a little subjective. It’s not like a construction project where we can say we broke ground last May and people are moving in this month. A lot of the starting and stopping points of art can be a little fuzzy. And some people... well, play with that fuzz. So to speak.<br /><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZ6gwY2iHVK2o51pKE-b4cW74rjXrYW_FQGmcwA1bMI7QGRvIXmX0XOtjjUFWe67xcTmC7F7vY8VKAWJ32OG66N4jwwErHGKxpznHn5eF17wtdXZ7rg4DJo1RbgRazIThoGmw3J7y5DdlQ0lolibj5TzSV-C2s3aJHTMKD-uDs1w7sUZPm_2jsfws/s2400/978-0-8041-3657-0.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1555" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZ6gwY2iHVK2o51pKE-b4cW74rjXrYW_FQGmcwA1bMI7QGRvIXmX0XOtjjUFWe67xcTmC7F7vY8VKAWJ32OG66N4jwwErHGKxpznHn5eF17wtdXZ7rg4DJo1RbgRazIThoGmw3J7y5DdlQ0lolibj5TzSV-C2s3aJHTMKD-uDs1w7sUZPm_2jsfws/w129-h200/978-0-8041-3657-0.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>Like, we’ve talked before about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-outline-experience.html" target="_blank">how long it takes to write a book</a>. Some folks consider the starting point when they started outlining. Some consider it when the idea first struck them. And others say they started writing when they typed Chapter One.<br /><br /></div><div>Let’s consider my first published novel-- <i><b>Ex-Heroes</b></i>. When did I start writing it? Well, I made up a lot of the characters <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2010/11/naming-your-heroes.html" target="_blank">before I hit high school</a>, so that was the early ‘80s. I jotted down my first rough notes in the summer of 2006, but I didn’t start actively working on it until mid-2008. So when did I start? Depending on how you want to look at it, we could say it took twenty-five years or about six months to write.<br /><br /></div><div>That’s not even considering most <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/02/lets-talk-terms.html" target="_blank">traditionally-published novels</a> go through an editing process that can be a few months, and it might be even more months before the book’s actually out there in the world. So when are we saying the book’s done? When I turn it in? When the publishers edits are done? When the layouts are locked and it goes to print?<br /><br /></div><div>Or how about this one--a common yardstick people like to look at. How long was it from when you started writing until your first novel? But again, both of those points are kind of debatable. Yeah, I sold <i>Ex-Heroes</i> in late 2008, but it didn’t actually come out until early 2010. And there were a couple novels before it, but they didn't sell. The first full novel that <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/04/in-trunk.html" target="_blank">I actually completed</a> was started in early ‘93 and finished in 2001... but then I spent about three years editing and rewriting. So when was my “first” novel?<br /><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwD6as8GOwTuqykxqEvpTWEL0GihYVDGAmN44kdEXyGyOJh57bZ6at0BPtx0Rd27l-Iwn0AHQXqnYEDDCk_bSzLtuhIIWetS-MO95l01EeiYukWDr1OpLfRSBDOC8ot7aYWG5LAbvUJtBSBbRMd13fBSOnIf-K0c0eLSaOSQKN0PxUyJZcX9Dbstj/s960/66473011_10219774100447083_2504962228541718528_n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="684" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwD6as8GOwTuqykxqEvpTWEL0GihYVDGAmN44kdEXyGyOJh57bZ6at0BPtx0Rd27l-Iwn0AHQXqnYEDDCk_bSzLtuhIIWetS-MO95l01EeiYukWDr1OpLfRSBDOC8ot7aYWG5LAbvUJtBSBbRMd13fBSOnIf-K0c0eLSaOSQKN0PxUyJZcX9Dbstj/w143-h200/66473011_10219774100447083_2504962228541718528_n.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>And when did I start writing? When I was eight and blocking out original Star Wars stories in my Kenner Death Star playset? When I started using my mom’s massive electric typewriter? When I first <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2013/08/admissions-board.html" target="_blank">started submitting stuff</a>? When I started writing the first novel I actually finished? When I quit my film job to start writing full time? When I quit that job to start writing fiction full time? Any of these is a valid starting point, but they cover about thirty years.<br /><br /></div><div>Hopefully you see what I’m getting at. I can easily—and truthfully—say I started writing anytime between 1979 and 2010 and give solid justifications for why that’s the point I chose. Likewise, I can manipulate how long it took to go from “starting to work” to “first sold novel” and make it look really fast or really slow. I mean, we’ve talked once or thrice about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/06/experience-points.html" target="_blank">the overnight success with a decade or more of work behind them</a>.<br /><br /></div><div>And there’s a lot of reasons people might give these different figures. It could be a marketing thing. It might just be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-beginning.html" target="_blank">what they think counts as actual “writing.”</a> Maybe it’s a deliberate attempt to fudge the numbers to try to make themselves look more impressive. It might be how some <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/06/thank-your-rich-uncle.html" target="_blank">MFA professor</a> taught them to do it and they’ve never shaken that particular habit.<br /><br /></div><div>My point is... don’t worry about these numbers. I shouldn’t worry abut how long it took to write my book. I don’t have to freak out because it feels like my career hasn’t taken off yet. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-golden-rule.html" target="_blank">My speed is my speed</a>. Yeah, we’re all going to compare ourselves to other people’s numbers, but just remember... those numbers may have a bit of range to them.<br /><br /></div><div>Next time...<br /><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlKCS3EiatQoD-soihS49t8oC-NBQB73Uvvc0SqZ_EvOHnWfUQAePpCOD3-fazC22N0sdNPADkQ4JCqwxIhE8fXn2aqWnQI00SqRqv8xQvdOsmyNLLGY4DAFRRyJsHiKK95iEPPHegLHN8knev3ObFWOrGa163g9UTJ1cqk3tZ9RtASOUvogc6S02/s499/BROKEN ROOM.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlKCS3EiatQoD-soihS49t8oC-NBQB73Uvvc0SqZ_EvOHnWfUQAePpCOD3-fazC22N0sdNPADkQ4JCqwxIhE8fXn2aqWnQI00SqRqv8xQvdOsmyNLLGY4DAFRRyJsHiKK95iEPPHegLHN8knev3ObFWOrGa163g9UTJ1cqk3tZ9RtASOUvogc6S02/w126-h200/BROKEN ROOM.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>Actually, before I talk about next time—if you happen to be of the reviewing type and have access to <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/245572" target="_blank">NetGalley</a>, my new novel <b><i>The Broken Room</i></b> is now there and can be requested. For the rest of you... holy crap, only eighteen more days!<br /><br /></div><div> Anyway, next time let’s talk about... the unknown.<br /><br /></div><div> (cue spooky music)<br /><br /></div><div>Until then, go write.
</div>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-15222833867255918362022-02-01T13:52:00.006-08:002022-03-31T14:54:01.772-07:00Who's Driving This Thing<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow,
talk about running late. All of January with no posts. Sorry about
that. Start of the year and I’m already struggling for stuff to
talk about.</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well,
that’s not true. There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to blather on
about, but I sometimes worry that I’m <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/11/imposter.html" target="_blank">not really up to the task</a>. There’ve actually been a few topics I’ve set aside when I
realized I couldn’t quite articulate the ideas I wanted to get
across. I don’t want to try to explain something, do a poor job one
way or another, and actually make things <i>worse</i><span> for anybody.
“I’m not sure if he was serious about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2009/06/dodging-bullets.html" target="_blank">that whole ‘mellonballer’ thing</a> but what the hell, I’ll try anything if it
gets my foot in the door.”<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another
way to look at it is I’m worried the decisions I make here might
have a negative effect on you out there. I mean, the goal is to have
an effect, yeah, but hopefully not one that has you tossing your
laptop or burning your idea notebook. I’m hoping this’ll be an
overall encouraging, educational place, and my actions will help you
out.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>And
this, if you didn’t guess, is my clumsy lead-in to this week’s
topic.<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve
talked several times here about the idea of <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/12/some-artsy-thoughts.html" target="_blank">plot and story</a> and how
the two bounce off each other. Really simply put, plot is what
happens outside my character, story is what happens inside my
character. Plot forces my characters to make decisions and adapt.
Story is that growth and change, and how it leads them to make
different decisions and take different actions. Which then, in turn,
affects how the plot progresses. Makes sense?<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Personally,
I think this is really helpful to have in mind when people start
arguing about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/09/artsy-character-redux.html" target="_blank">plot-driven vs. story-driven narratives</a> (I’m
using narrative here to <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-fourthe-story.html" target="_blank">avoid the confusion of using story vs.story</a>). If I’m not having this back and forth—if plot isn’t
driving story which is driving plot which is driving story—then
what <i>is</i><span> making things happen?<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCTXHirGhYg7n9HxE_h2uTxv6Q3U6jnwjcrfXhEnLBjU70kxqt2o7updJwZ2Yw7GVlV67ADoxjqaCStjBcTaG_CeTFu6taX009jfgOz_z_d7omzFdaoZOl06zqVbWaYDHe5xC3pWlhYVvnAv8UqJZ65nn4DaPhb5W4tBWw87rTpwUTGlELNwhmUSEK=s498" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="498" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCTXHirGhYg7n9HxE_h2uTxv6Q3U6jnwjcrfXhEnLBjU70kxqt2o7updJwZ2Yw7GVlV67ADoxjqaCStjBcTaG_CeTFu6taX009jfgOz_z_d7omzFdaoZOl06zqVbWaYDHe5xC3pWlhYVvnAv8UqJZ65nn4DaPhb5W4tBWw87rTpwUTGlELNwhmUSEK=w200-h85" width="200" /></a></div>Consider
what we usually think of as “character-driven” narratives. If
there’s isn’t some outside influence forcing them to adapt and
change... way are they changing? Truth is, without outside pressure
most of us tend to just sort of stay the course. We need a little
nudge or maybe a hard shove to get us out of our ruts, and it’s not
really possible to shove yourself. Sure people make random decisions
sometimes, but if somebody in my narrative does something wildly
out of character... well, I mean it’s clear that decision didn’t
come from inside the character, right? So if they decide to
change without any sort of outside influence—without a plot—where
are the decisions coming from?<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well,
they’re coming from the writer. I mean, yeah, the narrative always
comes from the writer. But in this case it’s coming directly from
them without bothering to guide that motivation through a plot.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another
point worth mentioning—an all-too-typical thing in character driven
narratives is when what little plot there is comes to a dead crashing
halt for twenty or thirty pages so someone can reminisce and/or
lament about... well, something that has absolutely nothing to do
with the plot. And they can do this because there’s no actual
outside stimulus, nothing urging them into some sort of action. Yeah,
the bank’s foreclosing on the farm, the tractor broke down, the
dog’s gone missing, mom has cancer, but let me tell you about that
time Lizzie Metcalfe invited me to the school dance and I turned her
down. Y’know... that’s always gnawed at me. Especially right now,
with all of this going on. I mean, isn’t life just one big school
dance when you really think about it...?<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No? Okay, well,
never mind...<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
the plot bends or twists to shape itself around my character, it
doesn’t feel like anything outside of my character has any real
agency, does it? Yeah, my protagonist <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/shadow-agency.html" target="_blank">should have agency</a>,
but so should my antagonist. And the bank manager and the waiter and
the maitre’d. They’re not there just to <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/09/elementary.html" target="_blank">give my protagonist more dramatic meat to chew</a>. All of them should be acting
or reacting like real people would, not in a way that just lets the
character continue working through whatever issues or problems
they’re dealing with (or not dealing with) at their own pace.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So
we need a plot. <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/shouldnt-throw-stones.html" target="_blank">We need forces outside of our character</a>, things
affecting them and driving them to change. Often at a pace or in a
way they don’t like.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
this brings us to the flipside, the so-called plot-driven story.
Which is kind of silly because, again, pretty much every good story
is going to have a plot, and that plot will lead to changes in the
story. Like we’ve been saying.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Plot
driven stories are all exterior. We don’t really get to know the
characters or their inner needs. Everyone tends to respond to things
in very basic, shallow ways. Good people do good things, bad people
do bad things, cowardly people do cowardly things, and yes, Benedict
McTraitorson did stab our hero in the back. We see <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/supporting-spaghetti.html" target="_blank">a lot of stereotypes</a> (or archetypes, if you prefer) in these kind of stories,
not fleshed out past a few obligatory descriptions (“No, she’s
different because she’s got<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>red</i><span> hair and wears </span><i>hiking</i><span>
boots...”)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6ZT8Wr1Yo1IEi6_ntfUv4_j2GP-a_dCsEYsgarI2Jtf--KECfgBjHZvaxcLvWF-asKiGoiGzdl3hdfUGL8NslZC3tvGb1prf5EFdfPrljm-1jmmRZWxFMdCw18lNoSTZIVksmiIW5U8ayeX0QS9ts3Gj3RUmmngWg2f7EkOz6KnUuYHhdTnUdOu-2=s400" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="400" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6ZT8Wr1Yo1IEi6_ntfUv4_j2GP-a_dCsEYsgarI2Jtf--KECfgBjHZvaxcLvWF-asKiGoiGzdl3hdfUGL8NslZC3tvGb1prf5EFdfPrljm-1jmmRZWxFMdCw18lNoSTZIVksmiIW5U8ayeX0QS9ts3Gj3RUmmngWg2f7EkOz6KnUuYHhdTnUdOu-2=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div>I
think another big clue for a plot-driven story is that people rarely
have any real choices. The ongoing, dynamic plot gives the illusion
of choices being made, but really the characters are just sort of
getting carried along for the ride. If people are shooting wildly in my
direction and I run away... I mean, this isn’t me really <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/09/i-choo-choo-choose-you.html" target="_blank">choosing to do anything</a>. It’s an automatic reaction for 99.9%
of all people. Yeah, sure, we can argue about what constitutes a
choice in the same way some people might nitpick about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/not-that-kind-of-action.html" target="_blank">what counts as action</a>, but at the end of the day we want to believe
characters are <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/shadow-agency.html" target="_blank">actually having some effect</a> on the world around them.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One
other, slightly less common thing... I’ve noticed plot driven
stories often (not always, but often) have <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-league-of-their-own.html" target="_blank">hyper-capable characters</a>. They have a flawless plan and even if it somehow goes south they’re so well-trained
and prepared they’ll figure something out on the fly. Because they never fail and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-finest-emotion.html" target="_blank">nothing rattles them in any way</a>, they don't have
to make any hard choices (see above) or suffer
any sort of repercussions. Which means they never have to grow or
change as characters. Again, nothing interior, all exterior.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is
this helpful? Hopefully most of you see why it’s kind of important
I have both plot and story in my narrative. And this is the kind of
stuff of stuff I want to keep in mind while I’m writing (or maybe
outlining) my story. Has this introspective monologue brought things
to a halt? Are events making my character grow or change in any way?
If we don’t have both of these things going on<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Think
of it this way. Plot and Story are playing an exhibition game of
ping-pong. They’re knocking the ball back and forth and back and
forth. How Plot serves is going to shape how Story returns, and that
return is going to effect how Plot hits the ball back, and so on, and
so forth. If one of them stops doing anything (or just walks away
altogether) the game’s going to get boring really fast. Oh, sure,
watching Story bounce the ball on his paddle might be interesting for
a minute or two, maybe watching them swat it against the far wall
like a racquetball. But ultimately we showed up to watch these two
play against each other, not, well... play with themselves.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although
here’s another name for that which also fits well here.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Next
time, I’d like to talk about how long this takes.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
writing, not the playing with yourself bit.</span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaNFcDaOIQgsFbfoHBbObhjQ1tCqKHteq86oB6mKScpDIfSKatOKQRH_E6htABje-KX9WgifvZwv81Jdxz7nPHqHyFgL52qUpVr8btNBLpFh4G_BlO1zdKkHjmryIhqMQ2k9CN97uPOs6jTI5j5Mw0XTAcKrfHlKMauxuo4yP7qPYXjMh3YiSEvVmP=s499" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaNFcDaOIQgsFbfoHBbObhjQ1tCqKHteq86oB6mKScpDIfSKatOKQRH_E6htABje-KX9WgifvZwv81Jdxz7nPHqHyFgL52qUpVr8btNBLpFh4G_BlO1zdKkHjmryIhqMQ2k9CN97uPOs6jTI5j5Mw0XTAcKrfHlKMauxuo4yP7qPYXjMh3YiSEvVmP=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div><br />Oh,
also, shamelessly, we’re exactly four weeks out from the release of
<i><b>The Broken Room</b></i>. If you want to preorder it from <a href="https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2612/Sat%2C_Mar_5th_3_pm%3A_The_Broken_Room_HB.html#/" target="_blank">your favorite local bookstore</a> I’d greatly appreciate it. Preorders mean you get the
book as quickly as possible while also telling the publisher they
made a good choice picking up said author’s books. So if you can...
well, I’d appreciate it.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And next time, how long this
takes.<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Until
then, go write.</span></div>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><p></p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-25491654013204863242022-01-05T15:05:00.002-08:002022-01-07T10:23:44.759-08:00A New Year? Let’s Start With...
<div class="MsoNormal">Welcome
back. Glad to see you all successfully made the transition to 2021.
Crap, I mean 2022. Anyway, for me, it's been new year, new computer.
Which really meant two days setting up said computer after two weeks
of stressing over a new word processing program.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">But
that's all in the past now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Normally
I’d post this <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/01/" target="_blank">start-o’-the-year ramble</a> (or any other post) on Thursday. But
that’s one of the things I want to change up this year (more on
that below). Plus there’s a chance tomorrow
might be a little chaotic this year (and that chaos could come in
many forms and/or directions), so I figured I’d get this out a
little early.</div>
<p msonormal="" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And
what is this, you ask?</p><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Well,
the ranty blog’s about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-a2q-master-list.html" target="_blank">writing advice</a>. It used to be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2009/02/duck-season-wabbit-season-contest.html" target="_blank">a lot more ranty</a>, but I’ve tried to mellow out over the years. I
always wanted this to be a more positive place for aspiring writers
and I’m always trying to bend things that way. Less “don’t do
that” and more “try to do this,” if that makes sense? A lot of
times I’ll revisit a topic just so I can do it from that angle.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbjSLayZ4ciJ8mY49JGoEkRtHh3TglvMRnr_OiLKSFtxDxjFssObE38jDf4F807MOT0Q5c9CSx0izl445i767kyD_CxS2woIlXAcZUT7xOBgOxr7U21RFNCL-cdoC-rcL43KCF15r4UopUOcrgDRcd4GTqBc1t9_DZgeZvpXZIsgKQxS1OKeYZycHR=s498" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="498" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbjSLayZ4ciJ8mY49JGoEkRtHh3TglvMRnr_OiLKSFtxDxjFssObE38jDf4F807MOT0Q5c9CSx0izl445i767kyD_CxS2woIlXAcZUT7xOBgOxr7U21RFNCL-cdoC-rcL43KCF15r4UopUOcrgDRcd4GTqBc1t9_DZgeZvpXZIsgKQxS1OKeYZycHR=w200-h111" width="200" /></a></div>In
the past, the majority of the posts were writing advice. Not <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/getting-paid-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">publishing</a>, but writing as the art of stringing words together
into a narrative that will connect with an audience. That was <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2007/07/so-now-youre-writing.html" target="_blank">the original point of this</a>, to make up for the lack of basic writing
advice out there. But over the past two years, with everything going
on, people have asked questions about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-social-media-question.html" target="_blank">the business side of things</a> and
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/06/thank-your-rich-uncle.html" target="_blank">the greater writing meta-verse</a>, so to speak, and I’ve been
trying to help out by answering those.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The
ranty blog’s also about a little bit about motivation. Helping you
to <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/04/looking-for-something-to-lean-on.html" target="_blank">sit down and get those words out</a>. Maybe suggesting some
easier ways to do something. Maybe giving you a little challenge or a
tip or a trick to play with when your brain’s stuck on whatever.
I’ve tried to do this a few times and a few different ways. For a
lot of folks, the biggest, toughest part of writing is actually
sitting down and writing, so I’m here to give you the occasional
firm kick in the butt. Or a gentle one. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-golden-rule.html" target="_blank">Whatever works best for you</a>.
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Finally,
if I’m doing this right, I’m giving you a little reassurance.
There’s so much information flying around out there. We can go
looking for it or just get smacked in the face with it on social
media. How fast and productive this person is. What a great deal they
got. How easy this was for them. It's easy to see something like this
and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/random-musings.html" target="_blank">feel like I must be doing something wrong</a>. I mean, if I'm not
writing 3000 words a day and I struggle with dialogue and I don't
understand structure at all... maybe this just isn't for me? Hell, I
only wrote 15,000 words <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/ready-set-nanowrimo.html" target="_blank">for NaNoWriMo last year</a>, so I must be
screwing this up somehow...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">If
any of this sounds familiar... don't worry about it. Seriously.
Hopefully I can convince you you're not wrong, you haven't screwed
up, and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/12/nanowrimo-aftermath.html" target="_blank">you should definitely keep at this</a>. Again,
everybody approaches this a little differently, and just because
somebody's faster or finds this part easier or accomplished that
quicker doesn't necessarily mean we need to change how we're doing
things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgxLAD_pCRWpSn3nDnuU0Deff71p97ajP9XDgybfi4W5qObKRGI7U2ZHcz-ya8TNUzT0MnIXzI4YCo2qNmEbP28W0F8FMDlx9vXDQnq9PlodIagy-tmqpUPw_hUK5lFWh8MLiIc9T1f2UISQ_taBuYFwKoQzmiopBavZK-9g03ltbQScEyy88OHCtq=s499" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgxLAD_pCRWpSn3nDnuU0Deff71p97ajP9XDgybfi4W5qObKRGI7U2ZHcz-ya8TNUzT0MnIXzI4YCo2qNmEbP28W0F8FMDlx9vXDQnq9PlodIagy-tmqpUPw_hUK5lFWh8MLiIc9T1f2UISQ_taBuYFwKoQzmiopBavZK-9g03ltbQScEyy88OHCtq=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div>I
suppose at this point it's also fair to say I use this space for self
promotion. Not a lot--I don't want to be that guy shoving a book in
your face every five minutes--but when the time comes, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/this-little-piggy-went-to-market.html" target="_blank">we do what we need to do</a>. And, y'know, I do have a new book
coming out in a few weeks so.... be prepared for that.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">(<i><b><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9798200861965" target="_blank">The Broken Room</a></b></i>, available this spring at your <a href="https://www.mystgalaxy.com/book/9798200861965" target="_blank">favorite local bookstore</a>,
chain bookstore, or <a href="https://amzn.to/3tgG15F" target="_blank">monolithic online retailer</a>)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And
if you've made it this far, a couple changes in the weeks ahead. I'm
probably going to be posting a bit more... well, erratically. Still
at least once a week, but it won't always be on Thursday. That was
just kind of an arbitrary day and more than a few times I've felt
kind of stuck and that a few things stumbled because of it. So watch
for posts, y'know, whenever. Still probably a lot on Thursday, but
other days, too.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Also...
I may finally be migrating the ranty blog over to my own webpage--
<a href="http://PeterClines.Com">PeterClines.Com</a> . It's just kind of been sitting there for years and
I want to get better about keeping it updated and making it somewhere
for people to actually visit, y'know. Plus, that way the ranty blog's
a little more under my own control and not subject to the whim of
some corporation. I'll make sure you all know if it happens.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">And
I think that's everything. Any questions? Comments? Requests?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Next
time I'm probably going to talk about the people driving this thing.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Until
then... go write.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p></p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-52895991326820619032021-12-28T13:23:00.003-08:002021-12-28T15:25:23.575-08:002021: The Accounting<p>Well, it’s that time again. Last few days of the year, holidays
have flown past, the new year is looming and we’re all looking back on the past
twelve months and figuring out what we got done. Was it a productive year? Was
it good creatively? Mentally?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think it’s good to do this sort of thing, personally. It’s
hard to tell if I’m improving at something if I don’t keep records and
establish some sort of baseline, even if it’s just being able to compare this
year to <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-tally-of-plague-years.html" target="_blank">last year</a>. So I like adding all this stuff up so I can remind
myself that, yeah, I really do work at this a lot. It’ a nice reminder when <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/11/imposter.html" target="_blank">the imposter syndrome kicks in</a> late at night.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Plus, let’s face it. This year, like 2020, was rough on
productivity. In a lot of ways, it was much better than last year. At the same
time... wow, 2021 started rough and felt like it never really got its
footing. We all tried to go back to normal and for so many
reasons... we couldn’t. There’s just been this lurking unease all year, about so
many things—covid, politics, the supply chain. It’s like we know the killer’s
somewhere in the house with us, but we’re not sure if we should bolt for the
door or just stay quietly hidden here in the living room. I mean, nothing bad’s
happened to <i>us</i> but there was some shouting and then a scream from
upstairs where Randi was but she’s probably okay? And maybe we could try opening the window and
getting out that way but is it worth the risk? That window really squeaks
sometimes. Maybe we’d get out, yeah, but maybe it’d be one of those things
where we’ve got one leg and an arm and our head out the window and then
something <i>YANKS</i> us back inside.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s been like that. For me, anyway. Maybe it wasn’t as bad
for you. But if it was, you weren’t alone. This is my full time job and for the
past two years... it’s been tough to focus on being creative.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway... what did I do this year?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Right off the bat, it just struck me that I didn’t have a
single thing come out in 2021. No novels or short stories or anything. Been a
couple years since that happened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg933pcl6qG2mKnUW3wcYF23IPwwOgLBt7xlHmla7d0UmkIGTcfRFslzucfHN40HI8tIdS2dftqe2tcmKoEnnEpiQmyKBDr5I_MFOQ0eYmpJ2HK6lXIi2plAM7AomxiFCFhpfVtsCe5JqZMcV3M_JJGH4oX1bmz6sPVV8IFZ4qGC89-Q5UxFyPGHGKe=s3000" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg933pcl6qG2mKnUW3wcYF23IPwwOgLBt7xlHmla7d0UmkIGTcfRFslzucfHN40HI8tIdS2dftqe2tcmKoEnnEpiQmyKBDr5I_MFOQ0eYmpJ2HK6lXIi2plAM7AomxiFCFhpfVtsCe5JqZMcV3M_JJGH4oX1bmz6sPVV8IFZ4qGC89-Q5UxFyPGHGKe=w160-h200" width="160" /></a></div>I finished <b><i><a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/scary-but-funny.html" target="_blank">The Broken Room</a></i></b> in January,
then ended up doing another pass on it based off some talks with my agent
(which actually led to a whole new chapter and some big tweaks to a few others).
Then there were <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightediting.html" target="_blank">all the story edits and copyedits</a> with Blackstone. Maybe
worth adding in that I chipped in some creative thoughts on the marketing and cover
art, even if all of those thoughts were wisely ignored. I mean, I still did
that work, so we should count it. And this is the point where I shamelessly
say, hey, you can preorder <i><b>The Broken Room</b></i> right now from your favorite local
bookstore, Indiebound, or any monolithic online superstore named after a South
American river.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also did <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/03/a2q-part-sevenoutlining.html" target="_blank">a massive outline</a> for a six book series I’ve
wanted to do for a while now. Like, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/trilogy-vs-series-vs-universe.html" target="_blank">a whole beginning-to-end hexalogy</a>. Some
of you may have heard me talk about it here or there. The entire combined thing was just
shy of 44K words. I also used that to make a trimmed down, 10K word pitch
document for my agent, who I’d also been talking about this with for a few
years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And, hey, then I sat down and wrote the first draft of book
one of said series, which came in at a terse 73K words. Like <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightthe-first-draft.html" target="_blank">a lot of my first drafts</a>, it had some holes and some bits I skimmed over. I just wanted to
finish it because...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/10/time-for-break.html" target="_blank">dramatic break</a>)<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While my agent really liked the six book series, he also
admitted it’d be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/this-little-piggy-went-to-market.html" target="_blank">a tough sell</a> at this point. Just because of the
state of the industry, the point my own career is at, and so on. We had a couple
conversation about it—the kind of conversations the artistic side doesn’t’
like, but <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/getting-paid-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">the business side knows you need to have</a>—and, well, after finishing
that first draft of Book One, I sat down and worked out <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pair of outlines for two different,
stand-alone books that had been tickling my brain for a while. So that was
another 17k words scribbled out.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And after we talked about <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/03/a2q-part-sevenoutlining.html" target="_blank">those two outlines</a>, David pretty
enthusiastically said I should focus on one of them. And I’m currently about
35K words into that as we speak. Hoping to have a first draft done by
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/02/love-by-numbers.html" target="_blank">Valentine’s Day</a>, maybe?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And on top of all that...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I scribbled up 52 blog posts this year, counting this one.
Granted, three or four of those were cartoons, so I didn’t have to put much
effort in past, y’know, posting them. But hopefully still enough that one or
two of you found something useful here. Seriously, I’m never sure if this is
more useful for you or therapeutic for me...</p><p class="MsoNormal">Speaking of therapy, so many Saturday geekery threads. At least forty. A lot of
B-movies dissected in real time. Most bad, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines/status/1375917951312793603" target="_blank">but some good ones, too</a>.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also jotted a few thousand words (maybe eight or nine) down
for a geekery side project I’ll probably be launching this year. Nothing
spectacular, don’t get too excited. Well, some of you may end up very excited,
some will be willing to try it, and a few of you will greet this with a
resounding “huh.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRNUB_0oUmZ8guRTARDFP_Md5opTOOpLj7fJu48P7xWol2qS1wzdRXcUPzwGQ59Zf6fB6oLj3eCiv_As5kox6J1T7eYvDpEtYXeptjTvHgRwnXehcFy1VgVJLSzC08QAKyzyLXwX0zw9Mzha_kY-iZFp7ZqslZZfOSo42IZjer18RqxlY5HlW277lX=s351" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRNUB_0oUmZ8guRTARDFP_Md5opTOOpLj7fJu48P7xWol2qS1wzdRXcUPzwGQ59Zf6fB6oLj3eCiv_As5kox6J1T7eYvDpEtYXeptjTvHgRwnXehcFy1VgVJLSzC08QAKyzyLXwX0zw9Mzha_kY-iZFp7ZqslZZfOSo42IZjer18RqxlY5HlW277lX=w126-h200" width="126" /></a></div>And I read a lot, too. Nowhere near as much as I would’ve liked (<i>never</i>
as much as I would’ve liked). I think I’m looking at ending the year with twenty-six
novels under my belt, plus one or two non-fiction books and a <i>ton</i> of
articles (an actual metric ton). Weirdly enough, very few comics this past
year. Covid isolated me from my regular shop in LA (The House of Secrets) for
most of last year, and this year I was hesitant about going to find a new place
because, y’know, the killer’s somewhere here in the house.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So that’s more or less where I am.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How about you? Did you get some cool stuff done this year?
Don’t worry about how much—did you get anything done? Did you carve out a
little time and manage to do something
in your chosen field of creativity?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, don’t beat yourself up over what you didn’t do. There’s
a lot of stuff we all didn’t do. This is about celebrating what we did. Taking
note of it. Figuring out what we need to do so we can improve next time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/05/meanwhile-at-secret-island-base.html" target="_blank">And speaking of next time...</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">When next we meet it’ll be 2022. I’ve got a couple topics I plan to blather on
about. Was going to talk about plot and character a bit, perhaps touch on how long
things can take to write (or how long it can take to get a career going), maybe
talk a bit about making things up. And maybe some of that will sound
interesting to you. Or maybe you’ve got something that’s been gnawing at you and
you’d like to hear me blather on about. If that’s the case, drop a comment down
below or over on <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines" target="_blank">Twitter </a>or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/peterclines/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So until next time, please have a safe and happy New Year,
please get your shots if you haven’t already, and please please please...</p><p class="MsoNormal">Go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-57213068182436423032021-12-20T10:56:00.000-08:002021-12-20T10:56:28.625-08:00Going With It<p>Holy crap how is this year almost over? Why is time moving
so fast? What did all of you do? Who touched the red button?!?!</p><p class="MsoNormal">So, not to keep mining the past, but I wanted to talk about
one more thing that <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/12/two-rights-dont-make.html" target="_blank">came up at the SDCC Writers Coffeehouse</a>. During
the Q & A someone asked what I generally think of as an “impossible”
question—although just looking at that written out I really should find a
better term. See, it’s not so much that these questions are impossible to
answer, it’s that there’s really only one person who can give a definitive
answer. And it’s usually the person asking the question.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB1EwaSz54dKyHOhNRz1ZBWxCF6YgHN-M4TcHWQTgaZeh4tT_yhsX_Tf6BbNYIBysQFNBFiMplpBUDgY_OgMB3ilCf2d3bKH4rIscwFRwZGN_gVE4Mf63CRzln8aC2sZSpokgVI0TMkmK-keKxCBQIunPwJbyf9SiEZ6oTksHsDOjz8kPeiQSkmOHc=s219" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB1EwaSz54dKyHOhNRz1ZBWxCF6YgHN-M4TcHWQTgaZeh4tT_yhsX_Tf6BbNYIBysQFNBFiMplpBUDgY_OgMB3ilCf2d3bKH4rIscwFRwZGN_gVE4Mf63CRzln8aC2sZSpokgVI0TMkmK-keKxCBQIunPwJbyf9SiEZ6oTksHsDOjz8kPeiQSkmOHc=w183-h200" width="183" /></a></div>Y’see, there are questions that are very specific to my
story, and the “correct” answer for me probably isn’t going to be the same
correct answer for you. Things like, how many characters should I have in an
ensemble? What’s the correct point of view to use? <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/05/expletive-deleted.html" target="_blank">How much sex is too much</a>?
How much detail do I really need? See what I mean? There’s no real way to
answer that unless I know the whole story, <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/03/its-all-uphill-from-here.html" target="_blank">how it’s written</a>, the
context things are happening in...<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Somebody at the Coffeehouse asked (paraphrasing from memory here) “<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-mechdragon-issues.html" target="_blank">how many made up words can you have</a> in your first couple pages before an editor
stops reading?” And my immediate answer was, well, I couldn’t really answer
that. Again, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-golden-rule.html" target="_blank">the right answer for me won’t be the right answer for you</a>,
and said answer’s going to change from book to book.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But about a week later it struck me there <i>is</i> a way
that we, as writers, can at least get a sense of if something’s disruptive or
not. And that’s by being aware of the flow of our work. So let’s talk about that
a little bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think we’re all <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/05/jammed.html" target="_blank">aware of flow on one level or another</a>. I first heard the term from a writing coach named Drusilla Campbell,
but I knew what she was talking about as she explained it. Paraphrasing a bit
more, she described it as why some books you can’t put down and other books
make you think about how the laundry
needs folding.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’d say flow is equal parts pacing, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/11/that-cool-moment-when.html" target="_blank">tone</a>, and <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/behind-mask.html" target="_blank">empathy</a>.
It’s about me understanding what’s going to jar my reader, either by nature of
<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/01/keeping-our-heads-down.html" target="_blank">structure or material or vocabulary</a>. What’s going to make them pause to
remember these are just words on a page and not actual events. It’s about me
stepping out of the way and not trying to be seen as the author. Letting people
read my story rather than analyzing it. Really simply put, flow is what keeps
people in my story instead of, well, knocking them out of it.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And that brings us to using words we’ve made up. Could be a simple portmanteau or clever
bit of wordplay. Maybe terms from a technology we made up. Or a secret dark
order. Maybe even a whole language. But I have to be careful,
because there’s a good chance I could
kawonk someone right out of the story if I’m using a lot of words I’ve made up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You all see what I did there, right? Or maybe you didn’t. <i>Kawonk</i>
is a nonsense pile of letters I threw together, but <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/02/in-context.html" target="_blank">in context you kind of understood</a> what I was saying with it almost immediately. Some of you
may not even have really registered it as a made up word and just read it as a
funny onomatopoeic sound effect or something.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But something can only work in context when I understand the
context. So the more words I swap out with made up ones, the less chance there
is of my readers understanding what I’m trying to say. Like if I told you we
needed to kawonk this dreeenil ptoob before we niknik ptar the cheegles. I
mean, if we hit a sentence like that we’re going to instinctively stop and
start parsing the structure to figure out what this <i>whoa</i> I just broke
the flow, didn’t I?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGI1kupJm_ig4o_21NxT0VZrd6CbUmNDJzKai4bE0Kyr5NCP5IDtXXcfzSUJDX7bnwqMcs14BsAxZ0O_nJFIKFNCYoI3C16PuYDESN-HRAC3_5wcrwCR7g85ybOS6WqUvgj2pAFM9ZygTulXq3YOQHx5yhyzphEvJRPMeDNEJBRocPFBWCeQwkNPjL=s510" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="510" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGI1kupJm_ig4o_21NxT0VZrd6CbUmNDJzKai4bE0Kyr5NCP5IDtXXcfzSUJDX7bnwqMcs14BsAxZ0O_nJFIKFNCYoI3C16PuYDESN-HRAC3_5wcrwCR7g85ybOS6WqUvgj2pAFM9ZygTulXq3YOQHx5yhyzphEvJRPMeDNEJBRocPFBWCeQwkNPjL=w200-h109" width="200" /></a></div>And even if there is plenty of context, it can get annoying
to read something where I’ve decided to substitute existing words with made up
ones for no real reason. Say, for example, people in my fantasy world all duel
with scheevs. Some are cheap and crudely made, some are works of art, but most
people have one. You see, a scheev is a narrow, double-edged blade about 24 to
30 inches long (originally iron or bronze, but mostly steel now), with a strong
grip, some sort of protective guard or crosspiece between the blade and the
grip, and often a small counterweight at the base that also locks the blade in
place. And if you’re thinking, wait, did I just spend a whole paragraph
describing a sword you are correct.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Except here they’re called scheevs. For... reasons.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And again, imagine how frustrating that paragraph would be if instead of bronze
and steel it talked about droker and ogyed, flokks instead of inches, and an
oppomass instead of a counterweight. Hopefully I didn’t make up my own
numerical system, Think about pausing to dig through all of that and try to
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2012/02/lessons-of-petrichor.html" target="_blank">glean a meaning out of it</a> and realizing we’re just talking about
goddamn swords.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t know about you, but that’d bring things to dead halt
for me as I groan and rub my eyes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Cause here’s
the thing we always to remember. Weird as it may sound, the words I use don’t
really matter. I mean, of course they’re important and they’ll bring nuance to
the story. But that’s my point—the <i>story</i> is what matters. The <i>characters</i>
matter. The <i>plot</i> matters. The actual words are just a delivery
device. They’re the corn chip getting all that delicious salsa and guacamole
into or mouths. And if I’m focusing a lot of my time and energy on coming
up with a new way to say <i>corn chip</i>, that’s a good sign something’s
probably going wrong in my writing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m not saying
don’t make up words. I mean, I put <i>squale</i> out there into the world. But
there should be <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/08/non-standard-cake.html" target="_blank">a reason for them being in my story</a>, and the reason should be
better than “I wanted to make things sound different.” Ultimately, they should
be adding to my story, not distracting from it. Definitely not knocking me out
of it to diagram sentences, glean meaning, or just grind my teeth in frustration.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next time...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Okay, this was
super late, so next time will be in three days. And I’ll probably be talking
about the holidays.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Until then, go write.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun;">Let’s be honest, we’re not going to get a lot more in before 2022, so try to
make it count.</span></p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-52272459667456188232021-12-09T11:00:00.007-08:002021-12-10T15:47:15.684-08:00Two Rights Don't Make...<p>Jeeez, it’s been so long. You’ve both been very patient.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I got a question a few weeks back about using the world of
my books in a game setting. Not, like, a question from Blizzard or <st1:city>Bethesda</st1:city>
or something. Just someone running a tabletop campaign who (very graciously)
asked my permission to use a bunch of these elements I’ve created in the game
they were playing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And this put me in such an odd spot I didn’t respond to it
for a while. The more I thought about the answer, the bigger and more sprawling
(and apologetic) it became. And then there was a semi-related question that came
up while I was blathering away at <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/small-business-saturday.html" target="_blank">the Writer’s Coffeehouse for SDCC</a>, which
reminded me I’d never answered it here.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So... let’s talk about rights a little bit. This is <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/02/lets-talk-terms.html" target="_blank">one of those terms</a> that doesn’t get discussed a lot. Well, not in the correct way, I think.
I’ve seen a couple people get screwed over because they didn’t realize what
they were giving up and/or who they were giving it up to.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, to be clear, I’m just going to talk about what rights <i>are</i>.
If any of you want to talk about how much rights cost or how long they should
be held, that’s a different conversation, and not quite relevant to all this.
For now, just defining rights and a little bit on how they move around</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The easiest way to think of rights is that they’re legal
permissions. I’ve created something (for our purposes, a long story of characters
and events) and I can give, sell, or rent out (so to speak) all the assorted
rights to this story. You’ve probably heard of some like First North American
Publishing Rights. This means the person who has those rights is (surprise) the
person who gets to legally publish the story for the first time in <st1:place>North
America</st1:place>. My agent likes to talk about foreign-language rights a
lot—German rights, Spanish rights, Thai rights. That means who gets to tell my
story in those languages. And we all love to talk about movie rights, television
rights, and action figure rights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwH4DW6OPCn5BEOo8MtttFmVwKB0qhC7YRQJtcFM85ta7xJxdujDQgxrKmklwGjeY9Uy_tMVa6zwoB9YYdD4HOCpuUzU1isAsYfT15jgLKyjAQqMgWt_JQlbNwnYKYdxxkqsV9jUY-nsX5IoAA9GjAILLIa5q9tzTV3HVb-PP20VNyYZENRg-TEFjd=s600" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="389" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwH4DW6OPCn5BEOo8MtttFmVwKB0qhC7YRQJtcFM85ta7xJxdujDQgxrKmklwGjeY9Uy_tMVa6zwoB9YYdD4HOCpuUzU1isAsYfT15jgLKyjAQqMgWt_JQlbNwnYKYdxxkqsV9jUY-nsX5IoAA9GjAILLIa5q9tzTV3HVb-PP20VNyYZENRg-TEFjd=w129-h200" width="129" /></a></div>You might’ve chuckled at that last bit, but it’s worth
mentioning. The number of rights is pretty much infinite, because there’s a
near-infinite number of things that can be done with my story. It can be turned
into a hardcover book or a Portuguese eBook. It can be a French stage play or a
Russian movie or an episodic Korean podcast with a dozen voice actors. It can
be adapted into a comic book or a video game or a line of collectible stickers.
It’s sort of like, well, Rule 34. If I can imagine a right, that right exists.
Because I own ALL the rights to my work, no matter how bizarre or absurd they
are. I still hold all the collectible blind bag phone charm rights to the <i>Ex-Heroes</i>
series and you’d better believe nobody’s getting <i>those</i> cheap.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, remember when I mentioned renting some of my rights up
above? That’s what an option is. If someone can’t afford to buy the rights (or
maybe doesn’t want to commit that much at the moment), they may option them. It means they get to act like they own the rights, but there are certain limitations and a very strict time limit.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This is one of the reasons contracts tend to be long. We
want to be <i>very</i> specific about what rights the writer’s giving up and what
the other party’s getting (and for how long). F’r example, let’s say I’m making
a deal with a company for the audiobook rights to a book. If I just say they
get all audio rights, there’s a strong argument that I’ve also just included
podcasts and live audio streams and maybe even recordings of performances.
Yeah, if someone finally decided to make that stage musical of <i>The Eerie
Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe</i>, a good lawyer could argue
that those folks couldn’t release an album because this other company has <i>all</i>
the audio rights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So rights get divided up and different groups get permission to do different things with my story. For example (again), right now there’s at
least eight entities (probably closer to a dozen, but eight off the
top of my head) who all legally have different rights to my book <b><i>14</i></b>.
Some have them for a few more months, some have them for years, one has
them for more than a decade. And it takes my agent a bit of work to make sure
there are no overlaps, or that things are <i>very</i> specific when there are.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Make sense so far?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This brings us back around to that original tabletop game question.
Which was, if you remember, about getting permissions. Sound familiar? So this
moves us into tricksy legal grounds. Because this is a discussion about gaming
rights and also (looking at the original question) streaming rights. And
there’s a good chance (in this specific case, a really solid chance) these
rights are already tied up. Someone else has them, which means I legally cannot
say “yeah, sure, go for it,” because I’m not the person who can give those
permissions anymore.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEii3QCcILhlj5aKAueEs6aiWCXvdCkF9w_rQ-WJtqwEfAl6DMzjT_NTNyxGIIFX1AG0fBfkWmdy2zgmENhF9KW2jHW1Y5RF0TKs64XIEm4oMMKZREYWSx64VgKjAOVSDhDuge3np0UdWC_zOAU5e6NNooroX9viEpAloDmO3HVJcXlkwXy8lfZtmZ83=s300" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="300" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEii3QCcILhlj5aKAueEs6aiWCXvdCkF9w_rQ-WJtqwEfAl6DMzjT_NTNyxGIIFX1AG0fBfkWmdy2zgmENhF9KW2jHW1Y5RF0TKs64XIEm4oMMKZREYWSx64VgKjAOVSDhDuge3np0UdWC_zOAU5e6NNooroX9viEpAloDmO3HVJcXlkwXy8lfZtmZ83=w200-h175" width="200" /></a></div>And I know some of you might say “No, no, Pete, this is just a casual game
between friends. We don’t need to be this serious about it.” Which I absolutely
get. Seriously, I do. Believe me, I used to work stuff from books into my games
all the time. But this is one of the weird downsides of our modern world. It’s
fairly easy to reach me (or any other creative person you admire), but it puts
us in the weird position of having to respond in writing. And we all know what
it means when something’s <i>in writing</i>.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Which is why some writers often don’t answer or give a very definitive <b><i>no</i></b>
when someone asks about things like this. It puts us in <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/09/faq-xvi-sweet-sixteenening.html" target="_blank">a potentially bad position</a>. There’s a lot of deals and contracts out there, lots of rights
changing hands, and me (or someone else) putting something in writing that contradicts
any of that long contract could be a real headache for me. Or for you. Or maybe
for that new deal my agent’s been trying to put together that was going to
cover my mortgage this spring. Somebody stumbles across that Twitch channel or
YouTube video and suddenly, hey, why are these people saying they’ve got
permission to do this? I thought these rights were available?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which is why a lot of folks—including me—tend to be a bit cold when people
message us about this stuff. Because there’s business stuff going on that we
might not be able to talk about, but we legally need to respect.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And two quick notes—first, don’t take this to mean you can do whatever you want
with someone else’s material as long as you don’t ask. Not what I’m saying here
and you know it, so don’t try to use that as justification—to someone else or
to yourself.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Second—the simple truth is almost every writer I know <i>loves</i> to hear they
inspired people this way. That people want to play in their worlds, literally
or figuratively. They’d want you to have that fun. Just because you can’t say
anything in writing doesn’t mean you can’t tell them in person (as we creep
closer to having public events again).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that’s some quick facts and thoughts about rights.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLa4FUlB9sjgjwWXiD3xO0Rxnjm3Kc-e-l8KXnq3fyWUo4wm3WWMCMWasUOkcJN-iSr4pY8QE0H5H3Cyrjne9vlctSKT5urDulVnZBiFdU5eNnQppSdLMO6AfH9L2MVKRgehqyKZVWSqNoAEtdGeo3UTAtAv25f24hxC8t3jqTCjizMcl0pm59t485=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1638" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLa4FUlB9sjgjwWXiD3xO0Rxnjm3Kc-e-l8KXnq3fyWUo4wm3WWMCMWasUOkcJN-iSr4pY8QE0H5H3Cyrjne9vlctSKT5urDulVnZBiFdU5eNnQppSdLMO6AfH9L2MVKRgehqyKZVWSqNoAEtdGeo3UTAtAv25f24hxC8t3jqTCjizMcl0pm59t485=w160-h200" width="160" /></a></div>Oh, shameless plus in case you missed it. Yesterday we had a cover reveal for my new book, <i><b>The Broken Room</b></i>. Out everywhere in just a little over two months, and I'd really appreciate it if you stopped by your friendly local bookstore and pre-ordered a copy. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/cyber-monday-ix-consumering.html" target="_blank">They'd appreciate it too</a>.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next time... well, there was another question I got at the
Coffeehouse that I’d like to answer a little better than I did there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until then, go write.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Seriously, the holidays are coming up and you know you’re probably not getting
any writing done then. So write now.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-64565377265274222512021-11-29T13:18:00.002-08:002021-12-01T13:06:44.843-08:00Cyber Monday IX: The Consumering<p>I’m not that big on Cyber Monday anymore because it really
tends to just direct a lot of traffic toward Amazon. But it’s that time of year
where people have too much eggnog and all the skeletons come out of the closet.
Uncle Jack hates to admit it, but artists only get to make art <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/getting-paid-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">because they get paid</a>. Artists get paid when people buy
their art.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I’m going to ask you to buy some books. And for two or
three of them, I may have to direct you to Amazon. For everything else, you
should just be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/small-business-saturday.html" target="_blank">going to your local bookstore</a> and asking for a copy. They’re
very cool, they could use the business, and this way you’re not one of those
conformists sheeple falling for that Cyber Monday capitalist nonsense. You’ll
get to brag about that until Valentine’s Day, easy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">So here’s a list of my books and a few short story collections. Please put them on your wish list or get them as gifts for friends
and family members.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First up, you could pre-order <b><i><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9798200861965" target="_blank">The Broken Room</a></i></b>
at your favorite local bookstore, in hardcover or paperback. It comes out in
early March, so really this is a gift for yourself. And kind of for me, because
those preorders really impress publishers and help out a lot. I think we’re
going to be having a cover reveal any day now...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://amzn.to/3lhHKT6" target="_blank"><b><i></i></b></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8oD6Ly_zRXBTX1QzmvmPkgSU2MmOt44L0aYRPHL9jxY-sIpnrskemk1UdBXZlzEzvx1wyeTFmCzQ27GEQ5bnkbopCaJbTMXrQmK1HBxF0Z-R0avCm5QXJTFYwRr9ucS4uhgB0FusZeA/s1548/terminus_8_31.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1032" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8oD6Ly_zRXBTX1QzmvmPkgSU2MmOt44L0aYRPHL9jxY-sIpnrskemk1UdBXZlzEzvx1wyeTFmCzQ27GEQ5bnkbopCaJbTMXrQmK1HBxF0Z-R0avCm5QXJTFYwRr9ucS4uhgB0FusZeA/w133-h200/terminus_8_31.jpg" width="133" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>Terminus</i></b> is part of the Threshold
universe of stories. It’s about a bunch of people who end up at a strange,
uncharted island in the middle of the <st1:place>Indian Ocean</st1:place>.
Chase is running away from things, Anne is running towards them, and Murdoch is
slowly coming to realize he probably shouldn’t’ve stopped running. They all
start to explore said strange island, their paths begin to cross, and the end
of the world begins to unfold around them. It’s currently available in
<a href="https://amzn.to/3lhHKT6" target="_blank">ebook and audiobook</a> (read by the always-fantastic Ray Porter). No paper,
I’m afraid, but I may have news about this next year...<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3xAYt94" target="_blank">Dead Moon</a></i></b> is about a woman who runs away to the Moon and finds...
well, zombies on the Moon. And some other things, too. It’s spooky and fun and
I’m quite proud of it. It’s another one that’s in <a href="https://amzn.to/3xAYt94" target="_blank">ebook and audio</a>, but no paper
(sorry)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780553418330" target="_blank">Paradox Bound</a></i></b> is my New York Times-bestselling story about infatuation,
road trips, American history, a pretty cool train and some pretty creepy
antagonists. F.Paul Wilson said it was like <i>Doctor Who</i> crossed
with <i>National Treasure</i>, and if that doesn’t get you interested I
don’t know what will. There’s an audiobook, ebook, paperbacks, and you might
even find a hardcover here or there if you’re lucky. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/small-business-saturday.html" target="_blank">Call your local bookstore</a>
and ask if they’ve got one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YaiGVHjGLQgOAnIgecCncUeFOjGHKxzwz5n5gSP0B3PPMWwBw542ggP3qghLZWwGZ81UiEqGZvQxM6vX59UiFLpjhgBGfGbbtyYoerQnWMYDIN3mjxViJ5bwLhdO6yRkSXZJD4VdpiY/s880/Fold+PB.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="571" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YaiGVHjGLQgOAnIgecCncUeFOjGHKxzwz5n5gSP0B3PPMWwBw542ggP3qghLZWwGZ81UiEqGZvQxM6vX59UiFLpjhgBGfGbbtyYoerQnWMYDIN3mjxViJ5bwLhdO6yRkSXZJD4VdpiY/w130-h200/Fold+PB.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>Somebody once described <b><i>The Fold</i></b> as a
horror-suspense novel disguised as a sci-fi-mystery, and I’ve always liked
that. It’s available in pretty much every format you can imagine, and it’s also
part of the unconnected "series” of Threshold books.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Several of you found your way here because of my odd little
sci-fi-urban-horror-mystery novel--<b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">14</span></i></b>.
Alas, the paperback has lone since gone out of print, but there’s <a href="https://amzn.to/3lhHKT6" target="_blank">still an ebook</a> and a phenomenal audiobook narrated by Ray Porter (the first project we
did together). And there might be more versions in the year to come, but we’ll
talk about those when we can...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another big bunch of you are here because of the <b>Ex-Heroes</b>
series. Superheroes fighting zombies in post-apocalyptic <st1:city><st1:place>Los
Angeles</st1:place></st1:city> (and a few other places).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Ex-Heroes</i>, <i>Ex-Patriots</i>, <i>Ex-Communication</i>,
<i>Ex-Purgatory</i>, and <i>Ex-Isle</i>. All of these are available in a number
of formats and a number of languages.</p><p class="MsoNormal">My mashup novel, <b><i>The Eerie Adventures of
the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe,</i></b> is finally available as an audiobook.
Bad news... it also only has<a href="https://amzn.to/2ZBA4nl" target="_blank"> audio and ebook versions</a> at the moment. Sorry.
Hoping to fix that soon, but I really think the audiobook might be a better
format for this one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdMtjYW7F31alTU8PJcKRXNSmoNE9MOOwlij6MB8dAM6BtXsp9ykC02n71ENeWxyzedduCcEFW9vJJ8Y2ad2auSsxTrurMhW6ndAyrw0-jsXNJX6n0RvzZspTUVdByB5l7FclUnEmDK8/s420/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain+SMALL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="420" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdMtjYW7F31alTU8PJcKRXNSmoNE9MOOwlij6MB8dAM6BtXsp9ykC02n71ENeWxyzedduCcEFW9vJJ8Y2ad2auSsxTrurMhW6ndAyrw0-jsXNJX6n0RvzZspTUVdByB5l7FclUnEmDK8/w200-h200/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain+SMALL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I also have a short story collection called <b><i>Dead Men Can’t Complain</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s got a bunch of stories I’ve had
published over the years in various anthologies and journals, plus a few
original ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an <a href="https://amzn.to/3D9Udyh" target="_blank">Audible exclusive</a>, and it’s read by Ray Porter and Ralph Lister.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You can pick up <b><i>The Junkie Quatrain</i></b> as either
an ebook or an audiobook (still no paper, sorry).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s my attempt at a “fast zombies” tale, a short series of interconnected stories I’ve described as <i>Rashomon</i> meets <i>28
Days Later</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also features a
recurring character of mine, Quilt, who keeps showing up in different stories
in one way or another...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thus ends my shameless Cyber Monday appeal to you. Again, so very sorry we had to do this, but it
really does make <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/this-little-piggy-went-to-market.html" target="_blank">the marketing folks happy</a> and they’ve always been
really good to me. Also, please check out this year's list of some of the <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/small-business-saturday.html" target="_blank">great books I’ve read by other, much better authors</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And please <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/black-friday-xiv-santa-takes-manhattan.html" target="_blank">don’t forget my Black Friday offer</a> if you
happen to be one of the folks who may need it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We now resume your regular internet shopping. Browse
responsibly. Clear your history on a regular basis. Especially you, Doug. No, sweet
jebus, don’t click on that—that’s not really from PayPal.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And we’ll be back to regular writing stuff on Thursday.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-32764480230180415262021-11-27T12:01:00.004-08:002021-11-29T22:36:46.825-08:00Small Business Saturday<p>Hey there! As I have <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/cyber-monday-2020.html" target="_blank">several times in the past</a>, I thought I’d
take a moment at the holidays to mention some of the books I’ve read and
enjoyed this year by much more talented authors. If you’re still wondering
about what to get that certain someone, you could go hit your local bookstore,
browse around a bit, and maybe find a few things from this list they might
enjoy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Or maybe you’ll just find something on your own. That’s the fun of browsing in
real-world bookstores.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, in no real order...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Project Hail Mary</i></b> by Andy Weir – we’ll start with an easy one. If
you haven’t somehow heard, Andy’s latest is (surprise) just fantastic. The tale
of an (accidentally) lone astronaut’s desperate attempt to save the Earth. It’s
fun, it’s fast, it’s incredibly smart while being ridiculously accessible.
Absolutely anyone will enjoy it. Yeah, even that grouchy uncle who doesn' tlike sci-fi stuff.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7s4SOGkKuFb1dWJzXILOMuRrE2TuXwHZxXr4_tANqX0-g3_TfUVrI6P5qmS89lH_whOyV_Hx95a-BmSjhCElSx12AzpjgNHR60nsFIX2zoUqZzyJ_nTw6OduniKjXrmOyMF8LCgqoK4/s630/Addie+L.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="417" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7s4SOGkKuFb1dWJzXILOMuRrE2TuXwHZxXr4_tANqX0-g3_TfUVrI6P5qmS89lH_whOyV_Hx95a-BmSjhCElSx12AzpjgNHR60nsFIX2zoUqZzyJ_nTw6OduniKjXrmOyMF8LCgqoK4/w133-h200/Addie+L.jpg" width="133" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue</i></b> by V.E. Schwab—I’m a sucker for stories about memory and identity, and this book
approaches it from the opposite side. What if it wasn't your memory but <i>everyone </i>else's. What if no one could ever remember you?
What if they forgot you the moment they couldn’t see you? What kind of life
would this be? And what if that life never, ever ended... ?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Bottle Demon </i></b>by Stephen Blackmoore---every
year Stephen writes a new book about necromancer Eric Carter and every year it
ends up on this list. This most recent one is, hands down, his most amazing,
and probably the most emotional, too, as Carter deals with an army of golems,
an irate djinn, and the completely mysterious and unexpected resurrection of...
well, himself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>King Bullet </i></b>by Richard Kadrey—if you’re one of
those people who waits for the end of a series to start reading, well, I guess
this is a good day. Kadrey brings the Sandman Slim books to a close with one
last Stark adventure and a truly magnificent ending that feels perfectly
fitting while also being somehow completely unexpected.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Dread Nation</i></b> by Justina Ireland—I’ve read a
lot of zombie books out of a very broad genre, but this book manages to be
fresh and very fun, picturing an alternate world where the American Civil War
is disrupted by a mass zombie outbreak, and young women of color are trained to
be bodyguards against the undead for “proper” women. I liked it so much I
recommended this one for our Last Bookstore dystopian book club.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>The History of What Comes Next</i></b> by Sylvain
Neuvel—a wonderful tale about aliens and their <i>very</i> long-game plan to
shape the Earth’s assorted space programs to prepare us for... something. It’s
one of those books that’ll teach you a lot of history even as it entertains
you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge8LsGCZy-xxfHV8ZXQiqvsj3xFYHol1UpraVRux8Hr4ve7hTv9yg6PF4B9UnLa-bPpXgPfO0V_0HJeh0AB4Dn7myJBn3lPNBH-DLA38nW5Z9ACB_kXiuxTz60-Le40sF89YloV44NmM8/s2004/Madi.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2004" data-original-width="1400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge8LsGCZy-xxfHV8ZXQiqvsj3xFYHol1UpraVRux8Hr4ve7hTv9yg6PF4B9UnLa-bPpXgPfO0V_0HJeh0AB4Dn7myJBn3lPNBH-DLA38nW5Z9ACB_kXiuxTz60-Le40sF89YloV44NmM8/w140-h200/Madi.jpg" width="140" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>Madi</i></b> by Duncan Jones, Alex deCampi, and too many
fantastic artists to list here—this graphic novel is set in the same world as
Jones’s films Moon and Mute, and asks what happens when a government
super-cyborg decides to retire, especially when their body’s loaded up with
proprietary software and hardware that requires ongoing maintenance and updates. It’s kind of like the weirdly fun baby that came out of a threeway between <i>The
Transporter</i>, <i>Crank</i>, and <i>The Bionic Woman</i>.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Hard Reboot</i></b> by Django Wexler—it’s a love story about a pair of
women trying to rebuild a giant robot so it can compete on the giant robot pit-fighting
circuit. Seriously, what more do you need to know?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Reclaimed</i></b> by Madeleine Roux—remember what I
said about memory and identity? Seriously, it’s like Madeleine wrote this book
just for me. A group of people agree to be test subjects for a procedure that
can erase traumatic experiences from your memory. But how much of who you are
is defined by those experiences? What kind of person are you changed into once they’re gone?
And how would you go about fixing that change...?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>The Book of Accidents</i></b> by Chuck Wendig—this is
a beautiful, brutal book, and it’s almost tough to recommend because it hit a
lot of nerves for me, personally, that are probably going to be raw forever.
That said, it’s a wonderful book about choices and consequences and how they
make us who we are.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>All Systems Red</i></b><i> </i>by Martha Wells– people
have been telling me about the Murderbot books for ages, so I’m really late to
this party. You may already know this but if you somehow didn’t... wow, what a
fun read. The story of a security android that figures out how to hack its own
code, inadvertently becoming an independent being and now stuck guarding a
group of scientists on a survey mission.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLcwfOWX6amThiCsqdktdh2MCktj__a5wYzX7jR4NUax0wtvO4ZqNfzcxJwzphkOWr5NosVysYzwIBQ4PcbUoXMFuRTyCtuNyhtnGFbjzR5sdhV54I9trpB7BQD2A3LjVSSmVoC9DVgw/s351/The_Ballad_of_Black_Tom.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLcwfOWX6amThiCsqdktdh2MCktj__a5wYzX7jR4NUax0wtvO4ZqNfzcxJwzphkOWr5NosVysYzwIBQ4PcbUoXMFuRTyCtuNyhtnGFbjzR5sdhV54I9trpB7BQD2A3LjVSSmVoC9DVgw/w126-h200/The_Ballad_of_Black_Tom.jpg" width="126" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>Ballad of Black Tom</i></b> by Victor LaValle –another
one I’m really late on but goddamn. This was one of the first books I read in
2021 and it’s still hands down the best. There just aren’t enough adjectives
to describe how fantastic this book is and on how many levels. Lovecraftian
horror grounded in real-world horror and it’s just brutally beautiful.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And those are my personal favorites for the year. I may add to this list over the next week or two, depending on how my current reads go. Please feel free to add any of your own must-reads down in the comments. I’d also
shamelessly remind you that you can find a lot of my own books at your favorite
local bookstore, like <b><i>The Fold</i></b>, <b><i>Paradox Bound</i></b>, or
the <b><i>Ex-Heroes</i></b> books.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll also take this moment to remind you of <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/11/black-friday-xiv-santa-takes-manhattan.html" target="_blank">my Black Friday offer</a>, just in case you missed it earlier. Please feel free to get in touch if
you think it might help you out. And please—it’s not about if someone needs it
more than you. It’s just about if you need some help.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gCY0CpDmxO89R9or2Y26yEmE8eba8ld98oX7PDlyZFPjwBKLqVU1R2buLtMixUKJ4alK4dezecHY_nExFUyfmd1TabLi18L51l2yKJjcw2QvfmzR6UnH8KmgkVSYXKV3ig5vxWX3D1g/s685/ccse-2021-logo-red_0.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="597" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gCY0CpDmxO89R9or2Y26yEmE8eba8ld98oX7PDlyZFPjwBKLqVU1R2buLtMixUKJ4alK4dezecHY_nExFUyfmd1TabLi18L51l2yKJjcw2QvfmzR6UnH8KmgkVSYXKV3ig5vxWX3D1g/w174-h200/ccse-2021-logo-red_0.jpg" width="174" /></a></div>Oh, and if you happen to be at SDCC Special Edition this weekend, I’m going to
be hosting the Writer’s Coffeehouse on Sunday at <st1:time hour="11" minute="30">11:30, room 32AB</st1:time>.
Ninety minutes of random tips and facts from me as I try to answer all your
questions about publishing, writing, and anywhere those two might overlap.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Happy holidays. Probably back to all our usual stuff next week.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-8376369666515551802021-11-23T12:06:00.005-08:002022-08-31T14:40:27.218-07:00Black Friday XIV — Santa Takes Manhattan<p>I know I said I wasn’t going to post much this month, but late November is
when I do all my books o' the year posts. Plus, it struck me it might not be a
bad thing to do <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/black-friday-viii-black-friday-13th.html" target="_blank">my annual Black Friday offer</a> a little early, what with
DeJoy stil in office and all that...</p><p class="MsoNormal">So, what’s the Black Friday offer about, ask all the folks who never click links?</p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s about how being poor at the holidays completely, absolutely sucks.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As some of you know, I’d saved up a little <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166890/" target="_blank">film-industry money</a> before I became a full-time writer. Even so, two or three
random-but-normal problems—a sick cat, car repairs, a pay cut at
the magazine I wrote for—and <i>wham</i> I was poor. I mean... nothing. Below
the poverty line, credit cards maxed out, every paycheck stretched until it was
less than gauze.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroAhPZy727sRlQnKTSyo-4aEOoJPqbaorvpgjbjO_kQIpmujA0czuKBKNDOhAN0cSTkspCCaIz4X-MVOobLykV9-sfG0oy0s5aRH8vaA1bWpQ5JzWYx55cDNUtdcyINaQY-Cwqe224TQ/s1600/Shane-Black-Christmas-Iron-Man-3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroAhPZy727sRlQnKTSyo-4aEOoJPqbaorvpgjbjO_kQIpmujA0czuKBKNDOhAN0cSTkspCCaIz4X-MVOobLykV9-sfG0oy0s5aRH8vaA1bWpQ5JzWYx55cDNUtdcyINaQY-Cwqe224TQ/w200-h100/Shane-Black-Christmas-Iron-Man-3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The phone got shut off. No internet. My partner and I didn’t
turn the heat on for three winters in a row. We stole toilet paper from the
library. Pretty much everything we ate came from the 99 Cent Store. I was working
on an article and <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2013/12/black-christmas.html" target="_blank">frikkin’ <b>Shane Black</b></a> offered to meet up to talk over coffee and I had to<i> turn him</i> <i>down </i>because I couldn’t afford
the gas to get me across the city to where he was. Hell, I didn’t have enough
money to buy a coffee. We went through three years of feeling
constantly sick with despair, just waiting for the inevitable bill or emergency
that’d destroy us.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On a normal day, being poor’s a constant, gut-churning feeling of tension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of being painfully aware of what you <i>don’t</i>
have and what you <i>can’t</i> do. There are some messed up folks who love to
bellow about “nanny states” and “entitlements” but the simple truth is that the
vast majority of poor people don’t abuse the system. They’re way too busy just
trying to survive with their home, their health, and maybe just a shred of
dignity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This deep-in-your-gut feeling’s even worse at the holidays. So
much of the holidays is about giving, and when you’re poor you just... you’ve
got nothing to give. It doesn’t matter how much you care about that person, it
doesn’t matter how much you want to just feel normal and give them
something—anything—to express that. It
doesn’t matter because you’ve got <i>nothing</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And again... you can feel people judging you over it. At every party or gathering or dinner. You get judged for
being trapped and powerless. Hell, even if they're not judging you, you end up judging yourself, and it just
becomes this endless cycle of guilt and resentment and desperation. I hope
that none of you reading this are there right now, feeling helpless and sick
with despair. Because like I said before, it <i>seriously</i> sucks to be in
that position</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But if this <i>is</i> where you're at right now—maybe I can help. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweLEKRduMyTSnPh_Z7w8k_yDiLv8ytB4HNQmOOL5s80I-_Wks3KcdEhhuELLFueOCJT7m9B50zmp2kYk6sEVqzah2OmoahxXfwE987qNvipzQU-3GdWg9kOWavGFh9qu88_QXlK5a9Io/s880/Paradox+paperback.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="571" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiweLEKRduMyTSnPh_Z7w8k_yDiLv8ytB4HNQmOOL5s80I-_Wks3KcdEhhuELLFueOCJT7m9B50zmp2kYk6sEVqzah2OmoahxXfwE987qNvipzQU-3GdWg9kOWavGFh9qu88_QXlK5a9Io/w130-h200/Paradox+paperback.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>If you can’t afford gifts for
your friends or family, shoot me a note at ye olde <a href="mailto:PeterClines101@yahoo.com">PeterClines101@yahoo.com</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve got a little over a dozen books here
that I’ll autograph to whoever you want and mail out to you. Or to someone else,
if you need it shipped. Most of these are paperbacks of <i>Paradox Bound</i>,
but there’s a few <i>Ex-Purgatory</i> and <i>Ex-Isle</i>, too. Think I might even have a few audiobook sets
(those big cases of CDs) of different things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If audiobooks would work better, just say so. You can request a specific
book, but I can’t promise anything—it’s just what I’ve got saved up here. I can even gift wrap if you need it (I'm fantastic at wrapping presents, really). <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I’ll send them out to whoever needs them for as long as the books last. Or
probably until the 15th, just to make sure you get them on time and have
something to give.<br />
<br />
So if you need some help this season, please just ask</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, this is for those of you who need some help getting gifts for
others. The people who are pulling unemployment, cutting back on everything,
and feeling trapped because they can’t afford gifts. It’s not so you can
recommend someone who might like a free book. You could do that for them,
too—go get them a book. They’ll love you for it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On a related note... whenever I do this folks offer to chip
in and help out. I’m good, but I’m willing to bet there’s a <a href="https://www.toysfortots.org/" target="_blank">toy bank</a> or a gift
bank or a food bank or <i>some</i> kind of program within ten or fifteen miles
of you <i>right now</i>. You could help
out with that. You can go be fantastic people all on your own. You don’t need
me.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Finally, I’m also doing this on the honor system, so if
you’re just trying to score a free
autographed book... well, I can’t stop you. But let’s be clear—if you do this,
you suck. You’re a deplorable person who’s taking a moment of peace and relief
away from someone who really needs it this holiday season. Don’t act all surprised
when karma kicks you hard in the ass over New Year’s.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/its-not-christmas-without.html" target="_blank">Happy Holidays</a>. Let me know if I can help out</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-72776051746017348162021-10-28T12:06:00.001-07:002021-11-01T09:59:04.806-07:00Ready... Set... NaNoWriMo!<p>Spooky season is among us! Ghosts! Vampires! <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/10/when-writing-is-nightmare.html" target="_blank">Nightmares</a>!
Panic!—no wait, we’re talking about NaNoWriMo this time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/scary-but-funny.html" target="_blank">Or are we?!?</a></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hopefully you’re not really panicking about NaNoWriMo. It’s
supposed to be fun. It’s a bragging rights contest, something to make us focus
on actually doing this for thirty days rather than saying “someday I’ll write
it all down” for another month.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkAds2eNeih6gti0E4JIxfQTIqqliJ9asduyIU1ibHwF6O-2Cs8EtWv4lGo2nEB4uYE2JetJ2h_Z02uspPF7KtUWiveETMBXDQkeOvHBd_KlkQ5Xenu5ZjsbuqM1AjOHDmGdIOeDuTIk/s500/Kermit+Typing.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="500" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkAds2eNeih6gti0E4JIxfQTIqqliJ9asduyIU1ibHwF6O-2Cs8EtWv4lGo2nEB4uYE2JetJ2h_Z02uspPF7KtUWiveETMBXDQkeOvHBd_KlkQ5Xenu5ZjsbuqM1AjOHDmGdIOeDuTIk/w200-h112/Kermit+Typing.gif" width="200" /></a></div>Wait, does everyone know what I’m talking about? In case
you’re new to the ranty writing blog, we’re talking about National Novel
Writing Month (Na-No-Wri-Mo). It’s a completely free, no strings, no
requirements writing contest where you try to write, well, a whole novel in a
month. Really, as much of <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightthe-first-draft.html" target="_blank">the first draft of a novel</a> as possible. There’s also
no prizes, no trophies, no real prestige. As I mentioned above, I basically
just get to say I did it. To someone else and to myself. Most importantly, to
myself.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s a good chance this sounds a little intimidating. Don’t let it be. This
is the writing equivalent of a fun run. It’s got a starting date and a goal,
but past that it’s just you. Whatever pace you want to go at, however far you
want to go with it. No pressure at all.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In fact, here a tip for you. Use that knowledge. Focus on
it. Don’t worry about anyone else. Don’t think about your friends or the people
in your writing group or <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-golden-rule.html" target="_blank">that guy on Twitter bragging about his daily word count</a>. Don’t consider what <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/04/chasing-boom.html" target="_blank">a future agent or editor might want</a>. Toss all of that away. Forget all of it. Take a deep breath. Breathe in.
Breathe out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And now just write.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZO3L-xGxdtCEvBRjDU7xShTdYKObo6xz0rH6zUvEd_9Fps4KnnbpWmVoXzpADF6KZ8XipUSCUJXM52Pit9OWKR92cVnTIewiCPukG9GL-NI2yxMiGpNb_o-kH3xgKYA7hwMUc2r7XTRE/s400/Jimmy+Stewart.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="400" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZO3L-xGxdtCEvBRjDU7xShTdYKObo6xz0rH6zUvEd_9Fps4KnnbpWmVoXzpADF6KZ8XipUSCUJXM52Pit9OWKR92cVnTIewiCPukG9GL-NI2yxMiGpNb_o-kH3xgKYA7hwMUc2r7XTRE/w200-h149/Jimmy+Stewart.gif" width="200" /></a></div>Seriously. Just write. Nothing else. For the next thirty days, forward motion
only. No re-reading. No editing. No corrections at all. Don’t look back. Under
no circumstances hit the up arrow or page up or push the scroll bar. None of
that. Not even to go up to the last paragraph. We’re moving in one direction
and we don’t stop moving in that direction. Making myself to only go forward
means <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/01/never-mock-process.html" target="_blank">I’m making myself write</a>. I’m not spending time rethinking
yesterday’s work or tweaking that first encounter or double checking my
spelling. I’m just writing.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And, yeah, this means things are going to be a little...
well, very messy. Lots of typos. Dangling plot threads. Characters who suddenly
change names/ hair color/ genders halfway through. Or are just suddenly dead
because <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/09/saving-dumb-cats.html" target="_blank">they really should’ve died</a> back at the bank ambush and <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/some-outlining-questions.html" target="_blank">I’m only realizing that now</a> and we’re only moving forward, right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that’s totally fine. Seriously. Remember, NaNoWriMo is
just a first draft. It’s not going to be the thing we sell or the thing that
gets us an agent. It’s the thing that’ll need some more time and some more
work. Because a month <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-beginning.html" target="_blank">isn’t that much time</a>. Really. Even for pros.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like I mentioned above, the goal here is to get as much work
done on <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightthe-first-draft.html" target="_blank">a first draft</a> as possible. And first drafts are almost always
messy things. In fact, I became a much more productive writer <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/08/if-im-being-honest-with-myself.html" target="_blank">once I accepted that first drafts were messy things</a>. It freed me up to and let me focus on
getting things down on the page rather than getting them perfect the first
time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And getting things down on the page is what NaNoWriMo is all
about.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, as I often say... go write.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdhqBBqs8AbrStlR2jnNl2HcZx6plpNDoLJknf5EnFTJSobVHVQUKbQRxi9m8bMY0ClkDU7r76Fb8DUW5QWEVvk1-kLCNocaS0-VesLhIC3oY0MfYd_vgYvkNOydC6uSlSrqZKjS-r7Q/s1482/1200px-San_Diego_Comic-Con_International_logo.svg.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdhqBBqs8AbrStlR2jnNl2HcZx6plpNDoLJknf5EnFTJSobVHVQUKbQRxi9m8bMY0ClkDU7r76Fb8DUW5QWEVvk1-kLCNocaS0-VesLhIC3oY0MfYd_vgYvkNOydC6uSlSrqZKjS-r7Q/w162-h200/1200px-San_Diego_Comic-Con_International_logo.svg.png" width="162" /></a></div>No, wait. A few other things before we all get on with the
writing.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">First, if you happen to be in the SoCal area and have a lot of free time at the
end of the month, I’m going to be at SDCC Special Edition over Thanksgiving
weekend. Sunday, to be exact. I’m doing the con edition of the Writers
Coffeehouse, talking about writing, publishing, the state of the industry, and
whatever other questions you might have. No idea what size crowd to expect, so
we’ll see what happens there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, I may be taking a little bit of a break here for a
week or three. I’m feeling a touch overworked/stressed with said con, the
holidays, the new book, and, y’know, the world in general. So I just want to
take some pressure off and try to get to a place where I feel a little more
caught up on things. Plus, to be honest, I feel like I’m just rehashing a lot
of stuff here, and I’d love to be able to give you something new and, y’know,
actually useful.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, that’s where things are at. Now fuel up on some Halloween candy and go
wild with NaNoWriMo.<br />
<br /><i>
Now </i>go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-55291326350241829882021-10-21T21:04:00.002-07:002021-10-21T21:04:07.579-07:00Scary But Funny<p>I wanted to talk a little bit about horror today, as I tend
to do around this time of year. More I thought about it, though, I was having
trouble thinking of <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/05/mystery-vs-mystery.html" target="_blank">an aspect or angle of horror</a> I haven’t done
before. Sometimes more than once. I’ve talked about <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/scary-stories-to-tell.html" target="_blank">sub-genres of horror</a>.
Talked about <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/05/whos-real-monster.html" target="_blank">monsters</a>. Talked about the victims.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquTbK3-hFdR_Kf3yEstZeN0BfdS3wCDdgas8gLUHGnvHSTu_K_LHsgI-Lm4-AFPg4X_d-LB7LhRbG9A-UXOA_3ZzvOh2prSbjxgL3jdIzi_7TECuiScwrF0vCPaHRFg537EFVTBBpaDI/s2048/EX+Film.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1362" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquTbK3-hFdR_Kf3yEstZeN0BfdS3wCDdgas8gLUHGnvHSTu_K_LHsgI-Lm4-AFPg4X_d-LB7LhRbG9A-UXOA_3ZzvOh2prSbjxgL3jdIzi_7TECuiScwrF0vCPaHRFg537EFVTBBpaDI/w133-h200/EX+Film.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>So then I thought I’d talk about the mechanics of horror.
But even that’s tough because of the wide and varied sub-genres. I’ve mentioned
this before. The horror of <i>Frankenstein </i>is not the horror of, say. <i><a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/12/better-books-by-better-authors.html" target="_blank">Experimental Film</a></i> by Gemma Files which is not the same as Bradbury’s <i>Something
Wicked This Way Comes</i> and none of those are <i>The Devil's Rejects</i>. Depending on what kind of horror
I’m aiming for, I could be trying to do some very different things. Which means
different rules and guidelines and expectations.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And this made me think, of course, about comedy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Structure-wise, comedy’s a lot like horror. It’s got many
levels and subgenres. It can be <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/dont-say-it.html" target="_blank">subtle and nuanced</a> or in-your-face
blatant and over the top. It’s really common for people to like one form of it
but not another. I also think they’re
both something that’s kind of ever-present in our lives, on some level or
another. There’s a lurking dread or a <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/can-we-just-talk-bit.html" target="_blank">potential for laughs</a> in almost
any situation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I made what I thought was <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/09/comedy-hour.html" target="_blank">a semi-clever observation about comedy</a> a while back, and I think the same parallel holds for horror as well—<b>scary
is to horror the same way notes are to music</b>. One is made up of the other,
but just having a bunch of those components doesn’t automatically make the bigger
thing. Just taking a big pile of “scary things” and dumping them on the page
doesn’t mean I wrote a horror story, in the same way that, well, having a big
pile of meat and bones doesn’t automatically give me a person.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See? That was kind of creepy, right? So is this post a
horror story now? No, of course not. No, not even if I add a jump scare. Or is
it? Maybe as we keep going you’ll realize how I’ve lulled you into this false
sense of security and then maybe you realize... you’ve been in this horror
story all along.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, it kind of matters what’s in that pile. I can’t just
have a big pile of bones, especially the same kind of bones. A big pile of
skulls definitely isn’t the same thing as a person. I also can’t mix in random
horse bones or gorilla muscles or insect DNA. I can’t just shove anything in
there and expect to end up with a working person (or horse, or insect). And
even when I get all those components right, they can only go together a certain
way. These bones go here, those muscles connect there, that part... okay, look,
that’s kind of optional. You can put it in or leave it out at your discretion,
just remember what you did with it.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This might seem kind of boring, just putting together a person. Makes it sound
like every person we make is going to be like every other person. And on some
level... yeah, they are. There are <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2010/02/talk-dirty-to-me.html" target="_blank">a lot of basic similarities</a>
between people, but there are a lot of differences, too. Yeah, even on this
basic constructional level. And even more so once we get to know them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqa4aUGmiZWce728i0p_QYqaCTD1wl3GIikBFe8ct7H6qtvxcU7-PPf2T0hRY2GqEtvWCLJhMfF6akLddLx3mowvQD15rui5AAW0g_qpGKN_Ecve1nitZ4l0cyBK20KshOo2yU91VT0uA/s1280/Brundle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqa4aUGmiZWce728i0p_QYqaCTD1wl3GIikBFe8ct7H6qtvxcU7-PPf2T0hRY2GqEtvWCLJhMfF6akLddLx3mowvQD15rui5AAW0g_qpGKN_Ecve1nitZ4l0cyBK20KshOo2yU91VT0uA/w200-h113/Brundle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Also, quick pause before we move on. Please don’t get
confused by my use of a body as a metaphor for a story. If I’m writing horror,
yeah, obviously mixing horse parts with human parts can be an element in a great story. Mixing in some insect DNA has been the basis of several great
horror stories. But that’s talking about things <i>in</i> the story, not <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/09/elementary.html" target="_blank">the structure of the story itself</a>. To fall back on said metaphor, that’s
me focusing on an individual bone and saying there’s absolutely nothing wrong
with it while ignoring the fact said bone is in a pile of meat that used to be
a person.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or that I’m trying to tell you is <i>still</i> a person...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, anyway, how do I do this? How do I figure out which
parts I’m going to sew together into this new person a.k.a. story? Which ones
do I want in there, which ones <i>need</i> to be in there, and which ones...
okay, look, the antlers are cool, yes, but people don’t have antlers. No
antlers!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Okay. maybe very small antlers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A lot of this is going to depend on two things. Knowing what
I want to end up with and general empathy. The first one’s easy. Once I know
what kind of horror story I want to tell, it’s easier to choose the parts I
need to tell that story. Yeah, there’s some general stuff I’ll need, but after
I’ve got <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightthe-first-draft.html" target="_blank">the rough framework</a> there I can start fleshing in (so to
speak) all the little details and elements that are going to make this story
unique. And this can be a multi-step process. I don’t need to get it all right
on the first try, I can <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightediting.html" target="_blank">go back through</a> and shape the story to better be
what I want it to be.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZ2G7LWtYbp9e7wlnKPLkmyp2rs5rshIbZ4Wj3kBYVBAN7pcTk_WLMuEfv0UzEP5v9Nsj8rbgDlFoZcAq2IoOkWiyj6rko7GIS5ExFlCvj9bqd9vJntt0K6lN58gszJ7BMY7sJAnvbIs/s2048/CGM+Carrie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZ2G7LWtYbp9e7wlnKPLkmyp2rs5rshIbZ4Wj3kBYVBAN7pcTk_WLMuEfv0UzEP5v9Nsj8rbgDlFoZcAq2IoOkWiyj6rko7GIS5ExFlCvj9bqd9vJntt0K6lN58gszJ7BMY7sJAnvbIs/w150-h200/CGM+Carrie.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>The second part, general empathy, is a little tougher. As
I’ve said here once or thrice, I can’t tell you <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/10/behind-mask.html" target="_blank">how to have empathy</a>. But
it’s sooooo important in horror, because I need to know what my audience is
expecting and I need to understand how they’re going to receive these elements
in my story. Is that person being sprayed with blood and gore and slime
supposed to be horrific? Awful-but-funny? Mildly erotic? Am I sure my readers
are going to take it the way I intended it? Because having a beat land wrong
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/05/jammed.html" target="_blank">can really kill the flow of my story</a>.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">And that would be... well, horrible.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So there’s some quick thoughts on horror. Should be easy for
you to swallow, now that they’ve been deboned and cut into little bite sized
chunks. Yeah, some of them are still moving, don’t worry about that...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Narrator: And as they choked down the morsels, they realized... it had been a
horror story all along.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next time, we could probably talk real quick about
NaNoWriMo.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Until then... I’m not letting you out of the room until you swallow every last
piece of this.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I mean, hahahahaaa, go write. That was it. Go write.</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-22596101710960095942021-10-14T08:04:00.003-07:002021-10-14T12:59:34.653-07:00Supporting Spaghetti<p>Oh, back again so soon? Well, I guess that’s as much on me
as it is on you. But I did have another thought I wanted to bounce off you.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This is something I’ve seen several times in books and in bad B-movies, but it
only recently struck me what was actually going on. How the storytellers were
twisting things in a really unnatural way to solve a problem. So this may make
you (and me) look back at some older posts I’ve done in a slightly different
light..</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But first, let’s talk about pasta.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I got into cooking <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-chronicle-of-plague-years.html" target="_blank">during the pandemic</a>. Started
watching lots of cooking videos. Trying some things that were kind of new and
daring for me. Maybe some of you did too. I’ve found all the prep and cooking
kept my mind off other things but still working in creative ways. And now I can
make really good stir-fried noodles.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Speaking of noodles, you’ve probably heard of the spaghetti
test. When it’s cooked properly and ready to eat, you can throw a strand of
spaghetti at the wall and the moisture and starches and, I don’t know, pasta
epoxy will make it stick. If it isn’t done cooking yet, it just falls off or
does a slow downward tumble like one of those Wacky Wall Walkers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s another phrase you may have heard which grew out of
this spaghetti test. “Let’s throw it at the wall and see what sticks.” It shows
up a lot in the development stages of all sorts of things. We’ve got thirty
ideas and we don’t know which one’s going to work? Well, let’s just do <i>all</i>
of them. We throw <i>all</i> the spaghetti at the wall—the whole pot—and
everything that sticks is good and ready to go and whatever doesn’t... isn’t.
Sound familiar?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpoGYu1_h4A25haifFohM-V7PtSRkh8-GON0KJhpFkf9GOTD0J5HW4unmT3Ln4a7wQhBgGja_ZaCwz3tSOX7sBD0Jm-DxuB3bz18b0KtyPj_Xs36ZrY1q9ptC0hyphenhyphenTKqvn9z7MU7zb8c0/s1548/terminus_8_31.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1548" data-original-width="1032" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnpoGYu1_h4A25haifFohM-V7PtSRkh8-GON0KJhpFkf9GOTD0J5HW4unmT3Ln4a7wQhBgGja_ZaCwz3tSOX7sBD0Jm-DxuB3bz18b0KtyPj_Xs36ZrY1q9ptC0hyphenhyphenTKqvn9z7MU7zb8c0/w133-h200/terminus_8_31.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>I think most of us have tried this sort of blunt, brute
force approach on something. I know <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/a2q-part-eightediting.html" target="_blank">I’ve rewritten conversations severaltimes</a> to see if it works better with Yakko taking the lead, or Dot, or Wakko,
or Phoebe, or... who’s that guy? Let’s see what happens if he takes the lead in
this. Same thing with names. Holy crap, Murdoch in <a href="https://amzn.to/3aDREJf" target="_blank"><i>Terminus</i> </a>went through
<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/name-brand.html" target="_blank">sooooo many different names</a>. Sometimes for whole drafts, sometimes just
for a page or three. But then I found Murdoch and it was perfect.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thing is, there’s a weird sort of flipside to this. Or maybe
an inverse? Freaky mutant bastard offspring? Anyway, I talked a while back
about <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2010/08/shotgun-art.html" target="_blank">shotgun art</a>, and I think this is what’s going on here.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, in books and movies, we’ll see storytellers who
just pile on the characters. One after another after another, many of them with
only <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-few-basic-things-i-shouldve-mentioned.html" target="_blank">the thinnest connection to the main plot</a>. It’s the cousin of the best
friend of a supporting character in one plot thread. Or, y’know, even less than
that. I read one story where we spent two whole chapters with a character who’s
only purpose was to bump into one of the main characters in a third chapter. That
was it. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-kondo-method.html" target="_blank">She served no other purpose in the story</a> except to be that two
page delay in his day And, y’know, fill out the page count a bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What struck me a few weeks back is when storytellers are
doing this—layering on dozens of simple, almost stereotypical characters and
conflicts—is they’re taking the spaghetti approach and just throwing everything
at the wall. Rather than developing any of these characters or elements to any
degree, they’re just giving us lots and lots of quick, shallow ones. I mean why
spend time making a complex character when I could just create <i>five</i>
characters with only one character trait each? It’s so much less effort, right?
I mean, ex-wife, former best friend, alcoholic rival, pregnant woman, aggressive
military guy—there’s got to be something there that strikes a chord with my
reader, right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That example I gave up above? The woman who served no
purpose except to bump into one of the protagonists? She was late for work.
That was it. That was her entire character. I mean, she had a name. She had
some dialogue. She had a pet in a tank in her apartment (some kind of lizard, I
think). But that was it. The only other thing we knew about her—her alarm
didn’t go off, she overslept by almost two hours, and she was late for work. We
never learned why her alarm didn’t go off (power outage? forgot to set it?
sabotaging pet lizard?). We never learned why she was so tired she overslept by
two hours (drastically overworked? got blackout drunk? <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-talk.html" target="_blank">a wild hookup</a> that
left her exhausted?).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Heck, weird as it sounds, we never even found out why <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/not-that-kind-of-action.html" target="_blank">being late was a bad thing</a> (on the verge of being fired? abusive boss?
big presentation?). We just knew she was late, had to get showered and dressed
fast, had to get to work, and that was supposed to be enough for us. Anything
else would require more thought about who she was, what she wanted out of life,
and what she was actually getting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And this book had over a dozen characters like her.
Seriously. It spent a significant amount of time with people who could be 100%
completely summed up with things like “Wakko needs some drugs,” “Dot’s worried
about her dog,” or “Yakko is a no-nonsense soldier.” That’s it. That’s all of who
they were.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW-uxjXVrymKVtT83VwtCSyzKhV3G-SSttp9lueX4n3fmL0jPLsODvxo6sfDkqcYPd2sFyYT1rFhPbJWQ7GLsEYt90DGweX57w_ZY3C2tUzN0GAeDIQ2N1rDG_9Ow7IwbNyay3ucxMm8/s500/jason+multi-kill.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="500" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW-uxjXVrymKVtT83VwtCSyzKhV3G-SSttp9lueX4n3fmL0jPLsODvxo6sfDkqcYPd2sFyYT1rFhPbJWQ7GLsEYt90DGweX57w_ZY3C2tUzN0GAeDIQ2N1rDG_9Ow7IwbNyay3ucxMm8/w200-h113/jason+multi-kill.gif" width="200" /></a></div>One place you may recognize this from (tis the season after
all) is <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/scary-stories-to-tell.html" target="_blank">old slasher movies</a>. Okay, and some modern ones. Most of the
cast is one note characters with just barely enough depth that we can tell the
machete went through them. They’re <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/going-over-numbers.html" target="_blank">the bulk filler</a> of the plot. The serious
woman. The goofball. The jock. The nice girl. The drunk/ stoner. They just exist
to be minor obstacles between our killer and the one or two survivors.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, again, the idea is that the reader (or the audience, if
this is a B-movie) has to find something more-or-less relatable in these broad
stereotypes. I mean... you’ve known somebody who’s late for work before, right?
Or was a jock? Or a serious woman? Okay, well... I bet you knew someone who was
worried about their dog at some point, right?</p><p class="MsoNormal">I think people do this for two reasons. One is that they’re nervous
about creating complex characters. Maybe they don’t think they’ve got the skill
to do it, or possibly just not the skill to do it in <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/03/look-at-size-of-that-thing.html" target="_blank">the number of pages allotted to it</a>. Perhaps they think their plot can’t function with only three or
four threads. Or possibly they’re worried about having such <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/04/super-bonus-parrot-pov-post.html" target="_blank">a limited number of viewpoints</a>.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I think the other reason is they’re worried about having
characters with <i>no</i> traits. Like that woman running the register at the
gas station. She doesn’t even have a name tag. She’s just there to sell the
protagonist gas and a couple snacks. <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-fourthe-story.html" target="_blank">She’s got no arc</a> or backstory or
tragic flaw. That doesn’t seem right. We have to give her <i>something</i>,
right? Maybe she could be, I don’t know, late for work or something?</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1XVOx7mtjrVpRVTKLauS1rgU1wa5lGjNqYyNJi5jvkV2hm28QiYrPjgCTCplVRP394x2vzlTvggRvrxPBKJRrFupWoXMjeU_N0XtzDewF0BWYcyticnnq0MdSas6NAaDN0awQ_rZtj4/s612/girl+with+ax+on+his+shoulder.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="612" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1XVOx7mtjrVpRVTKLauS1rgU1wa5lGjNqYyNJi5jvkV2hm28QiYrPjgCTCplVRP394x2vzlTvggRvrxPBKJRrFupWoXMjeU_N0XtzDewF0BWYcyticnnq0MdSas6NAaDN0awQ_rZtj4/w200-h104/girl+with+ax+on+his+shoulder.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Thing is, no matter what my reasoning is for this flood of
one-dimensional characters, this always ends up leading to one of two things.
Either we mistake their lack of depth for deliberate avoidance (“Hmmmmmm... why
<i>isn’t</i> the writer saying why she was up late last night? Is she the <i>murderer</i>???”)
and then we get frustrated when this goes nowhere. Or we recognize these
characters don’t actually serve a purpose and get frustrated waiting to go back
to someone who’s actually going to affect the plot in some way.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also think it’s worth noting the three traits of
good characters <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-threecharacters.html" target="_blank">I’ve mentioned here a few dozen times</a>—likable, believable,
relatable. And yeah, I’ve also mentioned that supporting characters can sometimes
get away with only two of these traits. Catch is, when characters are
this flat and undeveloped, they almost always end up unbelievable—<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/09/saving-dumb-cats.html" target="_blank">their actions and reactions just seem ridiculous</a> because there’s no depth to
ground them in. So we’re down one good trait already! Then my shotgun approach
means they’re going to be randomly relatable at best, and lots of folks fall
back on “snarky jerk” as a default personality, soooooooooooooo... Not a lot
going for these folks.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Y’see, Timmy, burying my story in simple characters doesn’t
work because it’s forgetting a basic truth of the spaghetti test. All those
noodles that didn’t stick to the wall? I don’t sweep them up off the floor and
put them back in the pot. The whole point of doing it all was to see what did and
didn’t work—to figure out what shouldn’t be in my story.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So said noodles definitely shouldn’t be part of my finished
entree.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Everyone gets <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/08/non-standard-cake.html" target="_blank">the food-book metaphor</a> here, right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway... next time...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wow. Already halfway through October. I guess next time I could do the
obligatory horror post. Or maybe talk about NaNoWriMo? Any preferences?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Either way, go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-29932923385237564702021-10-12T08:18:00.002-07:002021-10-12T08:18:59.446-07:00Behind the Mask!<p>Oddly enough, not a Halloween-themed post. Although... maybe
it is. It’s all perspective, I guess.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since I first started taking this whole writing thing
seriously, there’s been a general mindset I’ve seen bubble to the surface once
a year or so. Maybe more in some places. It’s the idea that I can’t write about
X if I haven’t personally experienced X. Can’t write it well, that’s for sure.
If X hasn’t been an integral part of my life at some point or another, I’m just
wasting everyone’s time by trying to write about it. Definitely by putting that
writing out there. It’s a version of the old “write what you know” superball
that gets bounced around. If you’ve never known X, you certainly can’t write
about X.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/scary-stories-to-tell.html" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcDgclyMqYaH3WaipffnbU6NU3qmMi0HGNuwpWAQSBKbCQs2YjKIaOwtFMmtLYrRUc7zBBRQ8_WH32VRwUAAU2hKgP3DQk_HGhpAwhj_LcLW4bGzyfcSqygD8QCplYX6j3Fzdubmp5i4/s709/Exorci.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcDgclyMqYaH3WaipffnbU6NU3qmMi0HGNuwpWAQSBKbCQs2YjKIaOwtFMmtLYrRUc7zBBRQ8_WH32VRwUAAU2hKgP3DQk_HGhpAwhj_LcLW4bGzyfcSqygD8QCplYX6j3Fzdubmp5i4/w141-h200/Exorci.png" width="141" /></a></div>Starting out in the horror community, I’d see this again and again.
The folks who’d insist it just wasn’t possible to write horror without a
horrific, awful background. You want to write horror? <i>Real</i> horror, not
this weak “vampires and demons and zombies” crap? Well you better have fought
in a war and had several people killed in front of you. Or had a horribly
abusive family. All your pets better be dead, and most of your friends too, and
if you’re not dealing with it through life-crippling addiction to something,
you’re just a goddamn <i>tourist</i> who has no business in this genre.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Because of this, I’d see some folks get scared off from <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/07/a-compass-that-doesnt-point-north.html" target="_blank">their chosen genre</a>.
Have I experienced real, <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/02/love-by-numbers.html" target="_blank">soul-wrenching love</a>? I mean, <i>really</i> experienced
it? Maybe I shouldn’t be writing romance. My parents loved me a lot, I get
along well with my brother, and I’ve got a bunch of really cool friends. Maybe
I <i>don’t</i> have any business writing horror. And, heck, I’ve never even
killed a human being before. I guess <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/11/one-of-you-is-murderer.html" target="_blank">murder mysteries</a> really aren’t for me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At least, that’s what notorious serial killer Sue Grafton
always said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And a friend of mine recently pointed out this is such a
pervasive idea that even some readers believe it. There’s no way I could write
about a character <i>that</i> awful unless I myself am truly <i>that</i> awful,
right? I mean, somebody couldn’t just make that stuff up, right? If one of my
characters has sex more than twice, I’m clearly a sex addict (and let’s not
even talk about what their chosen sex position says about me). Heck, I think
I’ve talked before the weirdness that can happen when you name a
character after a family member or friend without thinking about it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, before I go any further... as I mentioned above, this
has all been proven wrong again and again. Seriously. Yeah, there’s definitely
some horror writers out there who’ve seen some awful stuff and I’ve known one
or two folks over the years who’ve written intense erotica as an outlet when, y'know, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/picture-everyone-in-their_13.html" target="_blank">no other outlet was available</a>. There are some action writers out there
who have very intense backgrounds in the military or private security, and a
few sci-fi writers with pretty solid scientific credentials.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I also know a <i>ton</i> of horror writers who had really nice childhoods
and now live very happy lives, without a single dismemberment or traumatic
beating or other ghastly event in their past or present. I know action writers
who haven’t been in a single barfight or high speed chase or gun battle. I know
people with no military experience<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who
write very successful military books. There are more than a few sci-fi writers
who haven’t traveled in time or even left earth orbit <i>once</i>. And I know
people who <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-talk.html" target="_blank">write sex scenes in their books</a> who have, if I may be so bold,
fairly vanilla sex lives. At least, going off all the pictures one of them showed me. Like, <i>insisted</i> on showing me. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was a really weird brunch.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Anyway...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think all of this ties back to a few things I’ve talked
about here a few times. So I thought maybe it’d be worth mentioning a few totally
valid ways we can write about things we haven’t actually experienced. For
example...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Voice</i></b>—A big step for
all of us is the day we realize midwestern grocery store clerks don’t talk the
same way as third-generation bio-apocalypse survivors. Dwarven warrior queens
have a different vocabulary than techbro CEOs. And fresh-out-of-grad-school
schoolteachers don’t sound the same as battle-hardened Army sergeants. And
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/02/dealing-with-blockage.html" target="_blank">getting that voice right</a>, knowing how she’d say this vs. how <i>he’d</i> say
it vs. how <i>I'd</i> say it is a big step in our growth as writers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Research</i></b>—seriously, we live in a freakin’
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/11/alwaysmaybenever.html" target="_blank">golden age of resources for writers</a>. I’ve been doing this just long
enough that I remember ads in the back of magazines for small press books about
what it’s really like to be a doctor or a homicide detective . Or I’d spend
hours in the library trying to find pictures of <st1:city><st1:place>Paris</st1:place></st1:city>
that didn’t involve the <st1:place><st1:placename>Eiffel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Tower</st1:placetype></st1:place>
or a museum. These days, if I need to know something I have access to so many
sources. I can find research papers or anecdotal accounts or heck, even actual
people <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/what-not-to-ask-for.html" target="_blank">who will answer <i>my</i> questions</a> or help me find the answers,
and usually tell me some other useful things <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/09/around-here-we-call-that.html" target="_blank">if I’m paying attention</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-kaC3Rlxr0H0g1cYR8Kph7sAgf5TkemBKqEMR76XrhQV39PLz0qUKpnZUG8K9gQoJz5xG-zX8ZhK5QS-djPZpEpaGpMUssLzVKP-iJDL8qYsYzSHOJHz6AVNkzd_yRuFzjVfBH4PFTc/s550/jumping-off-cape-neddick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="550" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-kaC3Rlxr0H0g1cYR8Kph7sAgf5TkemBKqEMR76XrhQV39PLz0qUKpnZUG8K9gQoJz5xG-zX8ZhK5QS-djPZpEpaGpMUssLzVKP-iJDL8qYsYzSHOJHz6AVNkzd_yRuFzjVfBH4PFTc/w200-h150/jumping-off-cape-neddick.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>Extrapolation</i></b>-- I’ve never been shot in the knee, but I’ve had
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/04/looking-for-something-to-lean-on.html" target="_blank">the meniscus behind my kneecap rupture</a> (and collapse again and again
and again). I’ve never done super heavy drugs but I’ve been <i>very</i> drunk a
few times. I’ve never been able to fly, but when I was a kid there was a bridge in my hometown we all used to jump off into the river. Yeah, these experiences aren’t the same, but
I can use them as building points. If this registers as a six, what would a
nine be like? If it felt like this for ten seconds, what would it feel like
after twenty? Or thirty? I stayed conscious here but would <i>that</i> much
short out my brain for a few seconds (from pain or pleasure or excessive
introduced chemicals)? It’s a basic creativity exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Empathy</i></b>—I’ve talked about <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/07/i-dont-see-color.html" target="_blank">empathy here a few times</a>, and I have to say once again it’s the most important trait a
writer can have. Seriously. It’s what everything here really boils down to. Being
able to put myself in someone else’s shoes. I’ve never <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-body-on-page-one.html" target="_blank">had a parent die</a>,
but I’ve had friends who did. I’ve never served in the military, but I have
family who did. I’ve never been married or had kids or burned dinner when
someone’s coming over I <i>really</i> want to impress. But I look at my friends
and family, I listen to them, I take note of what they’re saying and what
they’re <i>not</i> saying, and I try to relate it to things I’ve gone through.
I try to imagine how I’d feel in a similar situation, based off my own
experiences. And I use some of that in stories.</p><p class="MsoNormal">In fact, let’s take this one step further and address one of the points that
started this off. If I’m going to tell someone they can’t write great horror
unless they’ve been through awful stuff (like <b><i>I</i></b> have)... well,
isn’t that kind of implying I don’t have great empathy? I mean, think about it.
I’m saying I can only write this because I experienced it, and I’m also
admitting I can’t imagine being a person who can write it without experiencing
it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that’s something I
should be bragging about.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Y’see, Timmy, much like “write what you know,” this mindset
assumes people can’t learn or grow or imagine anything. And if I want to be a
good writer, I <i>have</i> to be able to do that. I can’t tell myself not to write
about bank robbery until I’ve <i>actually</i> tried to <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-time-only.html" target="_blank">rob a bank</a>. Hell, where
does that people who write murder mysteries? Or giant robot sci-fi? Or dark
period fantasy. I mean, if you haven’t had sex with at least three people from
the twelfth century, how do you expect to write medieval romance? I need to
understand most writers research things, extrapolate feelings and reactions, get
inside their character’s heads, and just try to have an honest sense of what
someone else would feel in this situation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Look, the truth is, if I’m doing my job right, you should
feel like all my characters are real people in real situations. The janitor.
The nymphomaniac barista. The half-human, reluctant cultist. The little kid
with PTSD. The burned-out secret agent trying to forget most of his life. The
world-ending cosmic event that they’re all tied up together in. And when we
read a description of a real person, when we hear about the believable,
relatable aspects of their life, it’s natural for us to assume they’re... well,
real.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the obvious real person is me, the author, telling you
this story. So it’s not surprising some people think I must’ve experienced
these things firsthand.</p><p class="MsoNormal">But I shouldn’t need to.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway...</p><p class="MsoNormal">Next time, I want to throw a bunch of characters at the wall and see which ones
stick.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until then, go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-34252682155291385522021-09-30T13:04:00.001-07:002021-09-30T13:30:36.903-07:00Saving Dumb Cats<p>Last week I mentioned an issue <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/09/just-accept-it.html" target="_blank">I’d seen pop up in the Saturday geekery movies once or thrice</a>. This one also pops up a lot in
B-movies, but I’ve seen it more than a few times in books as well. So I
thought, hey, here’s another thing to talk about.</p><p class="MsoNormal">So let’s talk about cats and dogs and killing people.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0bH1nqtxFChf9YD9ZVH9-PNXM3mmHOuAmCKQ1bRPHLyMfO-fxNURDqct7_PCdkkUmDjFKTppqNxIDvgzgmX3ZNymB_ZnlLbzXn-ypAYOD2S4FRMdj75DATUtWQaOmH_yLWUHLhmXbcW8/s1800/h5swwhqoooz51.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1189" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0bH1nqtxFChf9YD9ZVH9-PNXM3mmHOuAmCKQ1bRPHLyMfO-fxNURDqct7_PCdkkUmDjFKTppqNxIDvgzgmX3ZNymB_ZnlLbzXn-ypAYOD2S4FRMdj75DATUtWQaOmH_yLWUHLhmXbcW8/w132-h200/h5swwhqoooz51.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>Something I’ve brought up here once or thrice is
saving the cat. It’s a screenwriting term, but I think it applies fairly well
to all storytelling. Really simply put, it’s when a character does something simple
that establishes they’re a good person. Or, at the least, a person we should be
rooting for. It tends to come early in the story because saving the cat isn’t
about changing our opinion of a character—it’s just about reinforcing it. If we
thought they were pretty good... yeah, this just lets us know we had the right
idea.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not, the flipside of this is what I call patting the dog.
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2012/06/patting-dog.html" target="_blank">I’ve talked about this before, too</a>. This is when someone does an equally
small, minor thing and it’s supposed to make us look at this character in a
whole new light. Saving the cat is about reinforcing an opinion, patting the
dog is about completely changing it. Because of this, patting the dog tends to
come later in the story—we can’t have new thoughts about a character until
we’ve had time to make old thoughts, right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now... I mention all that because I wanted to talk about
killing supporting or background characters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How many times in books or movies have we seen the person
who stays behind to defuse the bomb? There’s no time and we’ve already admitted
it’s next to impossible and everybody else is clear, but god damn it they can <i>do</i>
this. Or we know the wendigo is out there and it can mimic human speech and
these are its prime hunting hours but god damn it what if that’s really a
little kid in the woods? Or we’re sure the whole shelter’s been cleaned
out and we can’t contain the fire any longer but god damn it Yakko’s heading
back in to make sure we didn’t miss a cat in one of the cages...</p><p class="MsoNormal">And then, y’’know, they die. Doing something brave and noble. But also,
like... really, <i>really</i> stupid. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When we see something like this, the storytellers are trying
to up the stakes. They know it’s <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-body-on-page-one.html" target="_blank">time for someone to die</a> so the audience
understands how real the danger/ threat is. But at the same time... I mean, we
don’t want to kill one of our main characters, right? And it turns out we
haven’t really <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/default-heroes.html" target="_blank">developed any of our other characters</a> past “Redhead #2” or “Soldier with Hat” so it
won’t mean anything if they die.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Unlessssssssss...</p><p class="MsoNormal">What we’ve all probably tried once or twice is to make the <i>way</i> someone
dies get the emotional response. So it’s not so much that we feel for them,
it’s that the writer’s created a situation where we’d have an emotional
response for anyone who died this way. This is really common in <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/scary-stories-to-tell.html" target="_blank">the torture porn subgenre</a>, where it’s not so much about the character as it is what’s being
<i>done</i> to the character. No matter who they are, no matter what they’ve
done, you have to feel sorry for someone who gets <i>that</i> done to their...
well, look, it’s uncomfortable just making this up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc6zFMV6OfnEXMfSdu6Avn-KhlXAwP2DhLeAwAXBYrrQZTC7xhUNJ2wj9yAvCjER-8s40KWZpoZl_D2GQQoz4N9oRXyPbgvvdgMmvzwNM4PYxdj1Wi0BBpS2iFYztfvuGFRQ6bcm8bGM/s1200/what-if-2-thanos-smile.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc6zFMV6OfnEXMfSdu6Avn-KhlXAwP2DhLeAwAXBYrrQZTC7xhUNJ2wj9yAvCjER-8s40KWZpoZl_D2GQQoz4N9oRXyPbgvvdgMmvzwNM4PYxdj1Wi0BBpS2iFYztfvuGFRQ6bcm8bGM/w200-h133/what-if-2-thanos-smile.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>And that’s what a lot of these fake “saving the cat” moments
are trying to do. It’s not about creating a character who does something brave
or noble or righteous—it’s about creating a situation where <i>anyone</i> would
be brave or noble or righteous. If Thanos runs back into that burning building
to make sure there weren’t any cats left behind, we’d still go “Wow...
almost a complete monster, but at least he tried to save those hypothetical kittens. He didn’t deserve to die like that. Goddamn shame, that’s what it is.”<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The big catch, of course, is that these situations still
have to make logical sense with everything else going on in my story. Oh, and
even a flat stereotype of a character has to behave in ways we understand human
beings tend to behave. If “Soldier with Hat” suddenly starts disobeying direct
orders, this isn’t a sudden burst of characterization—it’s just someone acting
unnaturally. And if they’re doing this in an unnatural situation... well... I
can’t be shocked if the whole thing comes across as fake.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with killing characters.
I‘ve killed tons of people in my books. Main characters and supporting
characters. I don’t know how many background folks who never got a name or more
than a word or two of description.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I have to be honest about the weight these deaths
actually bring to my story. Killing “Soldier with Hat” shouldn’t seem
inconsequential, but it also shouldn’t be the dramatic linchpin of an entire
chapter. The wendigo getting Redhead #2 is bad, yeah, but we can’t pretend it’s
as bad as if it got Phoebe. I can’t manipulate deaths into being important or
make characters noble and brave after the fact.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I want these deaths to matter—really matter, in a way
that sticks with my readers—I need to <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-threecharacters.html" target="_blank">actually care about the characters</a>. If I don’t have any <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/06/investment-advice.html" target="_blank">investment in them</a>, if I don’t <i>want</i>
them to survive, then it doesn’t matter if they survive.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I’ll look kind of silly for insisting it does.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next time, I’d like to explain why that guy really doesn’t represent me. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Or
you.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Until then, go write.</span></p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-42082294318137781352021-09-23T09:33:00.000-07:002021-09-23T09:33:59.637-07:00Just Accept It<p>Oh, hi there. It’s been a while. Sorry about that. Piles of
stuff going on. I won’t bore you with it all now. Not when I can save some of
it for later ranty blog posts...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have, as some of you know, gotten back to my Saturday
geekery. And a while back, during one particularly clumsy movie, I tried to
<a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines/status/1436802755562131459" target="_blank">explain a few thoughts about basic storytelling</a>. Twitter’s not always
great for nuance, though (sorry you had to find out this way), and I realized
pretty quick I wouldn’t be able to talk about this in a way that did it
justice. Or didn’t invite a few dozen people to leap in and say “<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-six-mile-drop.html" target="_blank">Well, actually...</a>”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So let’s go through this real quick.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYvaLIWYMoAwYTddwz6OUqFBoUkiClzKWG4du1YKQSD4MVCH1Rcw6jLvLLa2peWXwAISZf6bZvxxxTDLZm4a7sPMllKaL_IuRvep81Nb-iUv8od5T40yzUmSxI4Kz5nyYrbofd5_5hco/s800/AntiquesMag_CuriousObjects_December2020a.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYvaLIWYMoAwYTddwz6OUqFBoUkiClzKWG4du1YKQSD4MVCH1Rcw6jLvLLa2peWXwAISZf6bZvxxxTDLZm4a7sPMllKaL_IuRvep81Nb-iUv8od5T40yzUmSxI4Kz5nyYrbofd5_5hco/w200-h150/AntiquesMag_CuriousObjects_December2020a.png" width="200" /></a></div>I’m sure most of you have heard the whole “there are only
seven basic plots” thing. Or maybe it’s nine. Depends on who you ask.
Thing is, when we really get down to the bones of it, there’s only <i>one</i> plot.
Ultimately, it all comes down to <b><a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/01/a2q-part-twothe-plot.html" target="_blank">something makes today different from every other day</a></b>. Something happens to make today noteworthy and forces my hero to
do something different than usual.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/05/hatching-plot.html" target="_blank">talked about this here</a> on the ranty blog before,
and from <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/04/story-vs-plot.html" target="_blank">a few different directions</a>, so I won’t get into it too much.
It’s pretty straightforward though. <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/11/not-that-kind-of-action.html" target="_blank">Something happens</a> = story. Nothing happens
= no story.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I’m writing a longer-form thing—maybe a book or a
<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/07/b-movie-101.html" target="_blank">feature-length screenplay</a>—I’m probably going to have more than one moment like
this. My hero’s day will be different and just as they’re adjusting, getting
used to things again... something <i>else</i> happens. Like, we found out what
was really going on, but then later we found out <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-big-lead-up-to.html" target="_blank">what's <i>REALLY</i> going on</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Believe it or not, I just slipped a really important thing in there. And it’s
the thing I was trying to talk about on Twitter, but knew I wouldn’t be able to
without someone jumping in before it was fully explained. And probably accusing
me of <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/12/some-artsy-thoughts.html" target="_blank">hating art</a> or loving Hitler in the process. Because Twitter is also
very impatient.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway...</p><p class="MsoNormal">The really important thing is that once <i>the thing</i> happens (however many
things I have), my hero needs to accept it. They can have a few scenes, maybe a
chapter or three of shaking their head and denying things, but ultimately they
need to admit this is the new normal. It’s really important they move on, for a
number of reasons...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>First</b>, if my characters never adjust to the new normal, they get
annoying. Fast. Heck, the real world’s spent <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-chronicle-of-plague-years.html" target="_blank">a year and a half now</a>
showing us how much people in denial can get on your nerves. We’ve all seen
films where the vampire drops out of the sky, kills somebody, drinks their
blood in front of their group of friends, explodes into a cloud of bats... and
yet there’s still that one guy <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/10/all-hallows-idiot.html" target="_blank">insisting vampires aren’t real</a>. Can’t be real.
Nope. What, Yakko’s dead too? Still not vampires! <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-body-on-page-one.html" target="_blank">Nineteen people killed in front of us</a> one by one? This isn’t happening. Not happening and
definitely not vampires.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cAOiRVw1UL7Sq9HOyckKiPeKdJc20vAIxPm4uv2J4q4oLGWCeZqbYR7jcwSADTIlMDPJ6kge3Dr5JKtCbCXAPgTL6oHrq-Ty5uqNpTE6xNo8-fSmLyG0t_v5eodCy_61szGfOfQmvok/s1500/NIGHT-TEETH-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="1500" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cAOiRVw1UL7Sq9HOyckKiPeKdJc20vAIxPm4uv2J4q4oLGWCeZqbYR7jcwSADTIlMDPJ6kge3Dr5JKtCbCXAPgTL6oHrq-Ty5uqNpTE6xNo8-fSmLyG0t_v5eodCy_61szGfOfQmvok/w200-h114/NIGHT-TEETH-2.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>I’m betting you started to skim that, right? Because that
character’s a bit eye-rolling. And this was just a couple of lines. Imagine
three hundred pages of that guy. Yeah, there are times I may want <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/11/beware-mosquito.html" target="_blank">an annoying character in the mix</a>, but there’s usually not more than one and it’s very
rarely <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/09/that-one-over-no-that-one-there.html" target="_blank">my protagonist</a>.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Second</b>, if my characters don’t adjust and get
accustomed to the “new normal,” my increasing challenges are going to be more
and more difficult (because <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-and-bad-conflict.html" target="_blank">my challenges are increasing</a>, yes?) If my
character’s not growing and changing, they’re quickly going to be outmatched by
the world around them. I’m going to find myself writing things that just aren’t
believable. Sure, Dot took out one hitman by sheer luck, but if she never
accepts she’s now part of the assassins’ union and develops past that, how are
my readers supposed to accept her lasting ten seconds against the Grand Emperor
of Death? One of the reasons challenges grow and increase in stories is because
my characters are growing and becoming more capable of dealing with things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Third</b>, is that we all instinctively feel this progression
of <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-fourthe-story.html" target="_blank">story and plot</a>. We’ve been trained by years of reading and watching
stories. So if my character doesn’t change and grow and adjust to this new view
of the world... their story kind of stalls out. And that throws my whole structure off balance. We can’t always identify it, but we can feel it.
Something in this book or movie has dragged to a halt. At the very least it
hasn’t progressed as far as it should’ve. You may remember we talked about when this happens in television shows--they call it <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2016/12/plot-vs-story-ultimate-crossover-event.html" target="_blank">the Moonlighting curse</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hopefully it’s clear why this moving on is important, but
let me toss one more thing into the mix for you to mull over. Why this is so
very important in longer works. And to do this... I’m afraid I’m going to have
to use some terms that may make some of you uncomfortable.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve talked before about <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-trick-in-three-acts.html" target="_blank">three act structure</a>. We
establish the norm, we introduce conflict, and we have a resolution. You
remember all that, right?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Okay, well that moment we introduce conflict? More-or-less the start of Act
Two? Guess what? That’s when something makes today different than every other
day. We could even call it... <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/10/some-outlining-questions.html" target="_blank">the inciting incident</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sorry if that made your skin crawl a bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And remember how I said longer-form stories generally have
another moment like this? A second time my protagonist gets their legs kicked
out from under them? What to guess when that happens?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s right! It’s usually as we transition to act three.
It’s the sudden shift, the last-minute twist, that makes bringing this to a
close so much harder than my hero thought it was going to be. And they already
thought it was going to be pretty tough.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lA_VzQugX_g46Z5PsllcYuYyn4XjbF8OS591V1AAqoWLWDqO8UKveohD3JpmjuAX1e8Dnmdz58e3OIVeW_7h_daI6mnHEJvw9guO3mX2MFbATi9LlHFGss0oIEqC17PxOtQ_wlAZH40/s674/i288988.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="674" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lA_VzQugX_g46Z5PsllcYuYyn4XjbF8OS591V1AAqoWLWDqO8UKveohD3JpmjuAX1e8Dnmdz58e3OIVeW_7h_daI6mnHEJvw9guO3mX2MFbATi9LlHFGss0oIEqC17PxOtQ_wlAZH40/w200-h118/i288988.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>But if my protagonist isn’t accepting the thing that happened, if they spend
all of act two in denial... well, that gets messy. Because there’s going to be
that annoyance factor, yeah. But also we’re going to hit act three and, well...
out hero’s not really ready for it. They’re still shaking their heads and
refusing to believe that inciting incident stuff (again, sorry).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bulldozers are out front and heading for
the barn, but my protagonist is still insisting there’s no way Jerry from the
bank would’ve foreclosed on our farm...<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When this happens... well, it usually means one of two
things. Either I’ve picked the wrong character to be the hero of my story... or
I don’t really have a story. I mean, that growth and progression is pretty much
<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/02/a2q-part-fourthe-story.html" target="_blank">the defining aspect of a character’s story</a>, so if my hero’s spent the
last hundred pages with <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/10/all-hallows-idiot.html" target="_blank">their head in the sand</a>, it’s probably a warning sign
something’s gone really wrong.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s pretty hard to deny that.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Next time, I’d like to address another geekery issue and talk about really
stupid attempts to save the cat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until then... go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-34745736563624146282021-09-02T04:42:00.004-07:002021-10-28T16:14:49.752-07:00FAQ XVI – The Sweet Sixteenening<p>In the before times I tried to update the frequently asked
questions every six months or so. Last year kinda <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/07/faq-xvquestions-of-plague-months.html" target="_blank">blew that habit out of the water</a>. A lot of this year, too. With all the disruption to, y’know,
everything. Some things slowed to a crawl. Others came to a grinding halt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that meant I had a lot less news to share and/or
questions to update.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Folks are finally getting used to this new normal, though,
and enough things are getting back in motion that I figured it was finally
worth updating this.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoeMbvD3QgvcI_gru2d-bwRNCr1fFPiVcK7jgT9X319Q2Wdw-dZQCko3mH0mJiEVLnM54uSbA-PJVvIv7zfx6V042xfPXahKDzIrp35azrJcpWBSP46Wa2MyYNFloEVFEwr-FXUW-x6Y/s220/come-over-here-look.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoeMbvD3QgvcI_gru2d-bwRNCr1fFPiVcK7jgT9X319Q2Wdw-dZQCko3mH0mJiEVLnM54uSbA-PJVvIv7zfx6V042xfPXahKDzIrp35azrJcpWBSP46Wa2MyYNFloEVFEwr-FXUW-x6Y/w200-h200/come-over-here-look.gif" width="200" /></a></div>So here’s fresh answers to some of the most common questions I get. So now when
people ask me those questions (again!)—or when their teacher says “Hey, hunt
down an author on social media and ask them a bunch of questions”—I can just
point you at this document, most likely pinned near the top of my social media
pages and this blog (look, there it is in the right-hand-column). Which means
the answers are all right here.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Or in the books. There’s lots of answers in the books. Really.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>1) When are we going to see something new?<br /></b>Next up for me is going to be <b><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3pO8lKU" target="_blank">The Broken Room</a></i></b>,
coming out in early March 2022—about six months from now! We technically have
an exact date, but I want to hold off sharing that just in case things go wonky
sometime between now and then. As a lot of things are right now. I wrote <i>The Broken Room</i> <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-chronicle-of-plague-years.html" target="_blank">over lockdown last year</a> and it’s a bit different for me. After a couple phone calls and
discussions, my agent pitched it to publishers as “Jack Reacher meets <i>Stranger
Things</i>.” And it turns out, hey, that sounded interesting to some folks.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DoqIkErq2ocam16N6U-EttMLYY_O0d3vZ22WmM6oJlYvLSBSg6t3tl-yWZwvGA8hBUmOFeXlnwOCVlHIGDYnLwmqumDELT1e5_dZovTV0JHF0kG3vOmDi23zTP4zZ-kKzc9HsNQHU1Y/s420/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain+SMALL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="420" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DoqIkErq2ocam16N6U-EttMLYY_O0d3vZ22WmM6oJlYvLSBSg6t3tl-yWZwvGA8hBUmOFeXlnwOCVlHIGDYnLwmqumDELT1e5_dZovTV0JHF0kG3vOmDi23zTP4zZ-kKzc9HsNQHU1Y/w200-h200/AudOrig_DeadMenCan%2527tComplain+SMALL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>After that—possibly before depending on how a few things go—I’m
going to (finally) put out my short story collection as an ebook. Yeah, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-smart.html" target="_blank">just an ebook</a>, sorry. <b><i>Dead Men Can’t Complain + Other Stories</i></b> has
been <a href="https://amzn.to/2YlbbeA" target="_blank">an audio collection</a> for a while, but it really needs to get out more. And
(if I can pull this off) there may be some cool bonuses for this version.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And, after some strategizing, my agent and I are talking about two more ideas you might like and he may be talking to certain folks about over
the holidays...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>2) Why did you do all these “Audible exclusives” for the
past few years ?<br /></b>First off, I only did two. Well, okay, four, since they
offered to release some previously-published, out-of-print stuff nobody else was
interested in anymore—<i><a href="https://amzn.to/3jBEPUX" target="_blank">The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope RobinsonCrusoe</a></i> and a bunch of short stories we combined into <i>Dead Men Can’t
Complain</i>, but those two weren’t even exclusives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Second, there’s a solid argument to be made that the majority
of my fan base is audiobook listeners. Audible knows this, too, so when they
heard about <b><i>Dead Moon</i></b> and <b><i>Terminus</i></b> they made me <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/getting-paid-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">an <i>extremely</i>
generous offer</a> for exclusive rights, meaning both of them would be audiobook
only for the first six months they were out. Then I’d be free to do what I want
with them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, I know it made some of you grind your teeth. Sorry if you weren’t an
audiobook listener (for whatever reason) and it left you out of the loop for a
bit. My agent and I talked a <i>lot</i> about the pros and cons of doing of
those deals. In the end, I really wanted to tell those stories and that was the
overall best way to do it. Again, I’m sorry if it put you in a bad spot. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>3) Do you make more money if I buy your books in a certain format?<br /></b>This sounds like an easy question, I know, but there’s a
bunch of conditionals to any answer I give. A huge chunk of each and every book
contract is just all the different terms and conditions for when and if and how
people get paid. Lots of “ifs” and “excepts” and “unlesses.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGE8GeqGyofS0qpd_dOupF_fm-_OuvQm4at44frMbNtrg4dUSEiuFrzc7sx6fQXkWFuSgEnWtlfZesLSf05luJk06szlWHTgYa3LFgIY-HRUWDgTn2p4J7ql9eP1-6jhTbYfspHNgumj4/s480/Short+answer+gif.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGE8GeqGyofS0qpd_dOupF_fm-_OuvQm4at44frMbNtrg4dUSEiuFrzc7sx6fQXkWFuSgEnWtlfZesLSf05luJk06szlWHTgYa3LFgIY-HRUWDgTn2p4J7ql9eP1-6jhTbYfspHNgumj4/w200-h150/Short+answer+gif.gif" width="200" /></a></div>For example... format matters, sure, but so does <i>where</i>
you bought the book. And when. And how many people bought it before you. And if
it was on sale. And who actually had the sale (publisher or distributor). And all of this changes in every
contract. What’s true for, say, <i>Paradox
Bound </i>isn’t true for <i>Terminus</i>. In some situations. Usually.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">TL;DR—just buy the format you like. It'll all work out fine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) So still no paper version of </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Terminus </i><b>or</b><i style="font-weight: bold;">
Dead Moon</i><b>?<br /></b>No, sorry. There’s a couple of different reasons for it involving different
business and PR things. If you’re really interested, I went over all of it
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-smart.html" target="_blank">about a year or so back</a>. There’s still a chance both books may still
become available if there’s a big demand for them (feel free to tell Crown
Publishing you want to read them in print and would buy half a dozen copies),
but for the moment these (and a few of my other older books) are only going to
be ebook and audio. Sorry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) When are we going to see a movie/ TV series/ graphic
novel/ video game of your books?<br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_l-_h9pu1xNXDpWc5ESPuIfuRlL7Arzy5QHdRK8QOuqA16Ru-2iam9z8eyHX9S9isP6UcVRKHfpfk9Yut9sSraJ4wpDsjl8ImgvKAgiiRCUplwuQRKYc6AYs3xYcl1ZkWwdx-P6OOvgo/s880/Fold+PB.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="571" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_l-_h9pu1xNXDpWc5ESPuIfuRlL7Arzy5QHdRK8QOuqA16Ru-2iam9z8eyHX9S9isP6UcVRKHfpfk9Yut9sSraJ4wpDsjl8ImgvKAgiiRCUplwuQRKYc6AYs3xYcl1ZkWwdx-P6OOvgo/w130-h200/Fold+PB.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>Well, first off, I hope you understand I have pretty much
zero influence on Netflix making <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780553418293" target="_blank">a <i>Threshold</i> series</a> or Disney+ doing a<i>
Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe</i> movie. When we see a TV series or film
adaptation, it means the filmmakers went to the writer, not the other way
around. Think about it. If the writers just had to say “hey, make this into a
movie,” wouldn’t most books be adapted by now? Everybody’d be doing it.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>That said</i>... yes, there’s a potentially big thing going on right now. But like
so many <st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place> things, it’s moving along at its own
pace and hasn’t quite hit the point where I feel good talking about it yet in
anything more than vague terms like this. Once there’s something solid to tell
you, I’ll tell you.<br />
<br />
Really, you’ll probably hear me shrieking from wherever you are on Earth.<br />
<br />
<b>6) Well, is there anything we can do to help?</b><br />
Buying books is always the best step. Talking about them is a close second. <st1:city><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>
likes to see big sales numbers and interest. Producers/ directors/ actors all
hear about this stuff the same way you do—online reviews, bestseller lists, and
social media. If <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781101907030" target="_blank">#<b><i>ParadoxBound</i></b></a> started trending on Twitter tomorrow,
there’d probably be a film in pre-production by the end of the year. Really.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So talk about books you like (anyone’s books, not just
mine). Mention them to friends, write reviews (always good), tag online
streaming channels if you want to talk about how this or that should be a
movie. Word of mouth is the best (and easiest) thing to do.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>7) I thought you don’t like people talking about your books. Now I'm confused.<br /></b>I’m always thrilled and amazed people talk about anything I
wrote. Seriously. I think most writers are. What I can’t stand, personally, are
people who blurt out <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/08/when-i-say-you-can-know-it.html" target="_blank"><b><i>spoilers</i></b> that ruin these stories
for other peopl</a>e. It’s why I avoid those questions in interviews, ignore them
on Twitter, and why—where I can—I delete (or <b>block</b>) posts that reveal
things from a book.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbqY2xFYhsoIBGCMVH-BoMPTR-A0jG50XYXNMkuOE4Lllui7tl7rIneufQtnHiqrQktxaWAJQAmurmv2wQQ4uPhGagXc70JjHUFsDkj8lSEEOuO70ZM_y_C43VSs4cjUJ1RR534mPJ6A/s2000/black-widow-marvel-film-still-2021.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbqY2xFYhsoIBGCMVH-BoMPTR-A0jG50XYXNMkuOE4Lllui7tl7rIneufQtnHiqrQktxaWAJQAmurmv2wQQ4uPhGagXc70JjHUFsDkj8lSEEOuO70ZM_y_C43VSs4cjUJ1RR534mPJ6A/w200-h133/black-widow-marvel-film-still-2021.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>And not just my stories! You shouldn’t mess up other
stories, either. Movies, TV—I’m just saying, if you enjoyed it spoiler-free,
why not try to give other people a chance to enjoy it the same way? Especially
these days when release dates/airdates aren’t the ironclad things they used to
be. Even if you didn't enjoy it, they might.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>8) Do you have any plans to attend ########-Con?<br /></b>I’ve been doing a lot of virtual stuff, but I’m hoping the
world will be in a place where I can get back out there next spring and say
“Hi” to folks. Really, I’d love to do a lot of stuff in February-through-May to
help promote <b><i>The Broken Room</i></b><i>. </i>So if you want to see me at
your local con, let them know. Email them, tweet them, post on their Instagram
account. Reach out, vote, and let your voice be heard.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, generally this is a sooner-is-better type thing. If
you’ve got a convention near you that plans to go ahead in February, there’s a
good chance they’re putting together a guest list now. So don’t wait—let them
know right now that you want <a href="https://twitter.com/ArsenaultRivera" target="_blank">K. Arsenault Rivera</a> there!</p><p class="MsoNormal">And me. Let them know you want to see me. Y’know... if you do.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>9) Could you explain the whole “Threshold” series?<br /></b><i>Threshold</i> is the umbrella label for the shared
“cosmic horror” universe I unknowingly began a little over nine years ago with <b><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3jBEPUX" target="_blank">14</a></i></b>. It refers both to doorways and also things reaching a critical point--common themes in many of the stories. There are some books that form a more linear story, a “series” if you will, and
some that stand alone. Which. in all fairness, makes things a bit awkward
sometimes. I know <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/03/this-little-piggy-went-to-market.html" target="_blank">the marketing folks</a> sometimes pushed <i>Threshold</i>
as a<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/08/trilogy-vs-series-vs-universe.html" target="_blank"> pure, straightforward series</a> even though I’ve
said many, many times that it's just a shared universe. I know at times this gave some readers
false expectations for some books, and I apologize if that was you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>10) Is </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Ex-Isle</i><b> the last Ex book?</b><br />Yeah, <i>Ex-Tension</i> is on the back burner for the foreseeable
future. Sorry.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNHxWY7ZI8My9TU2p2YLCR9chrrzLC0l9vXGN_aPgh65RqSl3nfzJFJuYXONquN-1K8JGUzWehj1-rCuW_E-hUuPdtr8_MnFD7aWybTr9oormEl093H6bVxwehVK1qKZO5bvbs5KvRM8/s600/978-0-8041-3657-0+S.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="389" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNHxWY7ZI8My9TU2p2YLCR9chrrzLC0l9vXGN_aPgh65RqSl3nfzJFJuYXONquN-1K8JGUzWehj1-rCuW_E-hUuPdtr8_MnFD7aWybTr9oormEl093H6bVxwehVK1qKZO5bvbs5KvRM8/w129-h200/978-0-8041-3657-0+S.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>The truth is, every series has a limited life. Book one
always sells best, not as many people show up for book two, even less show up
for book three, and so on. Not a lot of folks leap in on <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/ex-isle/9780553418316" target="_blank">book five</a>, y’know?
Something may happen to give the first book a boost (and all the other books
after it) but they’re always going to be on a near-constant downward slope
heading for that big red line where things aren’t profitable. None of <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/ex-heroes/9780804136570" target="_blank">the Ex-Heroes books</a> ever lost money (thank you all for that), but when the
publisher looked ahead to book six... well, hitting said line was pretty much
unavoidable.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>11) Have you considered a Kickstarter or a GoFundme?<br /></b>Yeah, sorry, the answer’s still no. I love these books and had tons of fun writing them. I’m still amazed there are so many fans who love
them so much. But the math is pretty simple—if enough people were willing to
pay for another book, the publisher would be willing to put out another book.
And all the numbers say that’s just not the case.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, I know some of you might be willing to pay twice as much to see one more
book, but I think we can all agree there’s <i>at least</i> as many people
(probably more) <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2019/09/getting-paid-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">who wouldn’t pay anything</a>. And that’s the math again—it
just doesn’t work out for this.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another point to consider. I’ve usually got a good sense of what
I’m working on for at least the next year, sometimes even longer. If I do a
crowdfunded project, I <i>have</i> to schedule my time under the assumption
it’s going to succeed, which means telling my publishers any other projects
need to be put off and scheduled accordingly. And that leaves a six or seven
month hole in my schedule when the Kickstarter flops. Which—again—all the math
says is what’ll happen.</p><p class="MsoNormal">So again, no. Sorry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>12) Will you read my story and tell me what you think?<br /></b>Short answer... <b>no</b>. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Long answer... look, if I said yes to even a third of the requests I got, I’d
be spending most of my time reading and doing critiques instead of writing. I
don’t mean to sound mercenary, but... writing is how I pay my mortgage. And buy
food and booze. And I really like food and booze. And my house. So when someone
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/12/what-not-to-ask-for.html" target="_blank">asks me to read stuff</a>, they’re asking me to give up a few hours of work.
Would you want to give up a few hours of work? Plus, I do have this ranty writing
blog sitting right, y’know, here with <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/01/to-start-with.html" target="_blank">over a decade of advice and tips</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, sad truth is some folks are not too bright and lawsuit-crazy,
and they ruin it for everyone else. Somebody shows me a piece of bland, generic
fanfic, then a few years from now they sue me for <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/01/a2q-part-onethe-idea.html" target="_blank">stealing their ideas</a>. Yeah, I know how stupid that sounds, but I’ve actually been <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-sly-discussion-of-screenwriting.html" target="_blank">subpoenaed and deposed</a> for lawsuits with less behind them than that. It’s why I’m <i>verrrry</i>
leery when I get a long message along the lines of “You know what you should really
do next with the people from <b><i>14</i></b>...” Heck, some writers respond with cease &
desist orders when they get sent stuff like this. </p><p class="MsoNormal">So the long answer also boils down to “no.” And if you send stuff without
asking, I’ll delete it unread, just like spam mail. And probably block you.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>13) What’s up with your Facebook page?<br /></b>Ahhhhh, Facebook. Where we’re the product and the target audience.
Just like Soylent Green.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sad fact is, Facebook made it pretty much pointless for me to
have a fan page there. They altered
their algorithms over the years so my posts went from 70-85% engagement to
barely scraping 10-15% most of the time. All to make me pay to reach people who
were already following me. Which I won’t do for a few reasons, a big one being
folks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfHeWTKjag" target="_blank">pretty solidly showed years ago</a> that paying for views on Facebook
actually <i>decreases</i> your reach. Seriously.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYWNJ1XMAqOIue30RNsmXZOfVVhVdeTaP2MoVFknnd_Ob5mko5iCe9vaMpQb7p1GRIWoBb8910bXBTALxRjQQyqom283ErbEqSN6XZ3N3Sv4xb835sDbsjVgBT_EHVAXtu58zBc6Gvns/s720/Like+warhead.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="648" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYWNJ1XMAqOIue30RNsmXZOfVVhVdeTaP2MoVFknnd_Ob5mko5iCe9vaMpQb7p1GRIWoBb8910bXBTALxRjQQyqom283ErbEqSN6XZ3N3Sv4xb835sDbsjVgBT_EHVAXtu58zBc6Gvns/w180-h200/Like+warhead.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>Sure--it’s their site, they can run it however they
like. And yeah they absolutely deserve to make money off it. I’m a progressive,
but I still believe in (regulated) capitalism. But part of capitalism is you
have to make something I want. I don’t <i>have</i> to use your product.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Plus there’s all of Facebook’s side ventures. Collecting
countless amounts of personal data. Deliberately spreading misinformation.
Malicious social engineering. If you think I’m exaggerating, look up articles
about how Facebook shaped perceptions or spread propaganda in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Myanmar</st1:place></st1:country-region>
or <st1:country-region><st1:place>Sri Lanka</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Or,
y’know, the <st1:country-region><st1:place>USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
And these aren’t fringe articles—they’re from major news sites.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, yeah, I deleted
my Facebook account almost two years ago (long overdue). There’s still a fan
page there, but it’s just sort of a zombie page (zing) with no administrator.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>14) What about Twitter or Instagram?<br /></b>I’m @PeterClines on both.
Fair warning--as I mentioned above, I’m progressive and
I’m a bit more political on <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Most Saturdays I also drink and live-tweet
<a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/08/where-b-movies-go-to-die.html" target="_blank">bad B-movies</a> while <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/08/writing-workout.html" target="_blank">building little toy soldiers</a> so... look, don’t say you didn’t know what you were
getting into.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/peterclines/" target="_blank">Instagram </a>is probably the geekier of my social medias. How is that possible, you ask? Well, there’s lots of toys and LEGO and model
robots. And cats. Can’t have an Instagram account without cats. Sometimes there
are overlaps in these things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, I know Instagram’s also owned by Facebook, but (for
the moment) they’re not being <i>quite</i> so reprehensible and
algorithm-manipulative on Instagram. So (also for the moment) I’ll still be
there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I think that should answer about 83% of your questions, yes...?</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859940184293909528.post-15028972989871558232021-08-26T04:42:00.003-07:002021-08-26T04:42:00.182-07:00 When I SAY You Can Know It<p><a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-chronicle-of-plague-years.html" target="_blank">Despite the pandemic</a>, there’s still been a lot of fantastic storytelling
going on. Books. Movies. TV shows. Some of it’s been fun, some of it nostalgic,
some of it... well, let’s be honest, some of it was greatly delayed because of
said pandemic. Regardless there’s been a lot of enjoyable stuff.</p><p class="MsoNormal">BUT...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As Uncle Ben taught us, with great storytelling comes great
spoilers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I’m sure you know, spoilers are a matter of great
contention. Is it my fault or your fault if I post spoilers to something and
you see them? How much time has to pass before spoilers are acceptable? Does
getting them really affect my enjoyment of the story? Do spoilers even matter?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve talked about (and in some cases, argued about) <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-they-know.html" target="_blank">all these befor</a>e, here and on <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterClines/status/1122907170922647552" target="_blank">the wider internet</a>. But it’s that last one
I wanted to blather on about today. Specifically, a certain angle some folks
take with it you may have seen. It goes something like this...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">”If knowing a spoiler ruins your story... maybe your story’s
not that good.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This one always makes me grind my teeth. Partly because it’s
kind of an inherently smug thing to say, but also because it shows a basic
misunderstanding of storytelling. Which is why it’s doubly annoying when I see
it from... well, storytellers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So let’s talk about narrative structure for a few minutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/02/our-story-begins-ten-years-ago.html" target="_blank">I’ve talked about this before at length</a>, so I won’t do too
much here (hit that link if you want a lot more). For our immediate purposes,
narrative structure’s the order I’ve decided my plot points and character
elements need to follow. It’s the sequence I want my audience to receive
information in so they’ll get <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2018/03/its-all-uphill-from-here.html" target="_blank">a certain dramatic effect</a>. Simply put, narrative
structure is the way I’ve chosen to tell my story.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyoNAZuD0YEaT28Mf1GuOEllbTaVPQ3D8N_cGEDopsv6J_DT8J9i-qpvG-rMIxFsFPRwn61zkDEmnSKvO3NBFOl_pHuVLZzbbjGsQJ3z4O0Z-nP2nLKsfXPJtyMceUGA4SM9DAxDNihw/s444/Alphab.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="444" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyoNAZuD0YEaT28Mf1GuOEllbTaVPQ3D8N_cGEDopsv6J_DT8J9i-qpvG-rMIxFsFPRwn61zkDEmnSKvO3NBFOl_pHuVLZzbbjGsQJ3z4O0Z-nP2nLKsfXPJtyMceUGA4SM9DAxDNihw/w200-h113/Alphab.gif" width="200" /></a></div>If I want to tell my story in a straight A-to-Z fashion,
that’s my narrative choice. If I want to use a bunch of flashbacks, that’s also
up to me as the storyteller. Heck, if I decide to go completely nonlinear and
change timeframes every other page without any apparent rhyme or reason... I
mean, that’s my call. I’m the one telling the story and I (hopefully) have
solid reasons for why I’m telling it in this specific way.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But whichever way I do it—assuming I do have a reason and
I’m not just skipping around wildly because I thought it’d be cool—I’ve made a
specific choice for my audience to get this piece of information first, this
one second, this one third, and so on and so forth up to my five hundred and
fortieth piece of information.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yes, all real novels contain exactly five hundred and forty elements. No more,
no less, just as Plato said in his many treatise on storytelling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway...</p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, that order’s important because my narrative structure is one of the thing
that defines my story. If I put them in a different order, it’s a different
story. That makes sense, right? An example I’ve used before is <i>The Sixth
Sense</i>. If you’ve never seen it before and somehow avoided hearing about
it... well, first off, seriously, good for you. Go see it right now. Go! Now! I
can’t believe you’ve made it this long. And I’m about to spoil it, so please
don’t keep reading.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Did you go away?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Okay, spoiler-filled explanation...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRK0FQ5mvSYpu4TiFCPOx5bbjWl4X09tyxMHJeqcpWHkgyP7ulFIh5BdVpHJdACKkymaJQPmTRLtw66G-L2Ycr7P6nu0B0UEq6LLB2NjeZWp6cn-GOxg2rKaVw-A4vALPIzKmJiKSr1A/s1024/the-sixth-sense.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="1024" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRK0FQ5mvSYpu4TiFCPOx5bbjWl4X09tyxMHJeqcpWHkgyP7ulFIh5BdVpHJdACKkymaJQPmTRLtw66G-L2Ycr7P6nu0B0UEq6LLB2NjeZWp6cn-GOxg2rKaVw-A4vALPIzKmJiKSr1A/w200-h111/the-sixth-sense.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3kmXjId" target="_blank">The Sixth Sense</a></i> is the skin-crawling story of child psychologist named Malcolm who's trying to treat a little boy named Cole. Cole’s haunted
by ghosts that only he can see, which leaves him constantly traumatized and in
shock. Malcolm helps Cole realize the ghosts are, in their own way, equally
scared and asking for help. And as Cole begins to understand that his powers
are a gift, not a curse, Malcolm comes to realize that <i>he’s</i> a ghost—that
<a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/09/come-on-and-twist-little-closer-now.html" target="_blank">he died over a year ago</a> in an encounter we saw at the start of the movie.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">What’s great, though, is that—like I said up above—if you watch the movie a second
time (or if someone spoils the twist for you), it becomes a very different
story. In fact, knowing the truth about Malcolm and the other ghosts, the story
becomes less scary and much more tragic. Almost goofy at points. Now it’s a
story about a kid and his ghost friends solving mysteries. It’s pretty much <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3kmXjId" target="_blank">Paranorman</a></i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s the key thing here—<i>The Sixth Sense</i> becomes a <i>different</i>
story. Not the one Shyamalan intended for us to see. Definitely not the one he
narratively structured. The audience learning the truth about Malcolm is intended
to be element five hundred and nine, not element <i>one</i> that we knew before
we even sat down. Knowing the big twist changes it into a different story.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtV9rGYSw-tLnSzWgj-SVmFn3lOOLgSZLzoeUiimmivz2xXNoz7nMBPKncnT4xuwEE8QXdXv7EsHIdgjS8LDWXEp954KHNLyEQO1kV7jAQkH09MbEhQL3cLm9qBjAoxE8aIm-klTxhLAI/s1920/paranorman-kids-school.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtV9rGYSw-tLnSzWgj-SVmFn3lOOLgSZLzoeUiimmivz2xXNoz7nMBPKncnT4xuwEE8QXdXv7EsHIdgjS8LDWXEp954KHNLyEQO1kV7jAQkH09MbEhQL3cLm9qBjAoxE8aIm-klTxhLAI/w200-h113/paranorman-kids-school.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>So the whole “...maybe your story’s not that good” argument doesn’t make a lot
of sense, because if I see a bunch of spoilers it means I haven’t <i>seen</i>
your story. I saw a different story that had <a href="http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/01/a2q-part-onethe-idea.html" target="_blank">all the same elements</a>, but in a
different order and thus with different dramatic weights. It had a completely different narrative structure.
I got <i>Paranorman</i>, not <i>The Sixth Sense</i>. Not that there's anything wrong with <i>Paranorman </i>(I love it) but... it's not the initial experience Shyamalan was trying to create for us.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Now, there’s another, related point we can make here. By their nature, spoilers
tend to be <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/10/gentlemen-behold.html" target="_blank">some kind of reveal</a>. It’s a piece of unknown or unexpected
information. Maybe it’s a cool twist. Maybe it’s the identity of the murderer.
Maybe it’s just a little cameo/ crossover beat. And sometimes, once that
information’s been revealed, we realize this story didn’t have much else going
for it. Once we know who the murderer is, we realize it was our own desire to
know the answer carrying us through the story, not really the story itself. The
story’s not flawed, it’s just... well, also not that great in any way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or maybe the answer just wasn’t quite worth the build up.
Maybe the murderer turns out to be... well, exactly who we thought it was. Or
someone we absolutely never <i>could</i> have considered (“Chris? Who the hell
is Chris?”). Maybe <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2020/10/you-liar.html" target="_blank">the big twist happens</a> and it... doesn’t make a lot of
sense? Maybe it doesn’t change anything or doesn’t mean anything (“Chris is
actually Pat’s long lost cousin? Well who the hell is Pat?”). In these cases
the story beat might land with some impact in the moment, but not so much after
the fact.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And, yeah, <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2021/08/shhhhhh-say-nothing.html" target="_blank">these stories have problems</a>. I mean, a twist by
its very nature should sort of retroactively rewrite large swaths of my story.
If it doesn’t do that... well, that means I screwed up. If <a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/08/earlier-in-our-story.html" target="_blank">my flashback doesn’t make linear sense</a> within my story, then I’ve done something wrong. My reveals
aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk5W0qZzuDecbf5QxLDx-UadXcUWiv27-1ZIJTPMX6KRtk7tMeLhcvSmUkZ81y5E8iAiSn5Xu-09G9MxOqRSd0R7JqIbFDA9cv_Obm1a9ahuMIm0c2nZ4y8PpSDI1qr5vlS1yGHLEf2L4/s1200/SBT_25156_R.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk5W0qZzuDecbf5QxLDx-UadXcUWiv27-1ZIJTPMX6KRtk7tMeLhcvSmUkZ81y5E8iAiSn5Xu-09G9MxOqRSd0R7JqIbFDA9cv_Obm1a9ahuMIm0c2nZ4y8PpSDI1qr5vlS1yGHLEf2L4/w200-h113/SBT_25156_R.0.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>But problems with something flawed doesn’t mean the principle is flawed. I
can’t say narrative structure doesn’t matter because a couple stories have
crappy narrative structure. That’s like saying all sushi is bad because I
bought sushi at a gas station once and it made me sick. Or, y’know, that <i><a href="https://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/2015/08/earlier-in-our-story.html" target="_blank">Sharknado5: Global Swarming</a></i> has a dumb twist that doesn’t change anything, therefore
I can give away a bunch of stuff from <i>Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten
Rings</i>.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I mean, maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t seem to make a
lot of sense...</p><p class="MsoNormal">Yes, a really good story will still work once you know the big reveal. That’s
why there are books we like to re-read and movies we watch three or four times.
The storytellers were very careful to make sure<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>their narrative would still work even when it was forced to switch
tracks because we knew things. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t want us to see
the original story they planned out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know in my own writing I love having a good twists and
reveals. Things that’ll make people sit up and go “WhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAATTT???”
or maybe even shriek a favorite curse word or two. And I try very, very hard to
make sure my books hold up on a second reading, that you’ll catch the little
clues and maybe even realize I left some things sitting out in plain sight for
you to catch on your second or third read, so that other story is still a fun
one for you.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEzgLLDjxWWdWDJCSlXRvytT7o3gkc5ZVXVULkaxT8XNl6iBsoU6y6F8Yo7KW1iRvgC84pkPP19Ynp9t4E8vzFxXyIc5TMHtrAOqtsHa_Vie4hq4v1gJn6H_Bb-icZQr0m7h8sZJvkeY/s880/Paradox+paperback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="571" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEzgLLDjxWWdWDJCSlXRvytT7o3gkc5ZVXVULkaxT8XNl6iBsoU6y6F8Yo7KW1iRvgC84pkPP19Ynp9t4E8vzFxXyIc5TMHtrAOqtsHa_Vie4hq4v1gJn6H_Bb-icZQr0m7h8sZJvkeY/w130-h200/Paradox+paperback.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>(like page 115 of <b><i>Paradox Bound</i></b>, for example. I don’t think
anyone’s caught that. Not many people, anyway)<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But that’s not the story I want you to read first. There’s a reason I put these
things on page one and not page fifty, <i>those</i> things on page one hundred
and not on page one, and why I was slightly vague about <i>that</i> so it’d be
right where it was supposed to be... but you wouldn’t register what it was
until a second or third time through. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because <i>this</i> is the effect I’m trying
to create, not <i>that</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the awful thing about spoilers is they make sure someone
can never read <i>this</i> story. It’s almost impossible to unlearn something,
so that experience gets lost forever. They never get to read <i>this</i>
story... only that one.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And that’s a shame.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Again, as I mentioned above, still <i>many </i>issues about spoilers past this one.
But hopefully—for now, at least—we’ve put the “do they even matter” question to
rest. And also the “maybe your story’s not that good” defense of them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also-also, that Plato thing about halfway through was a
joke. Please put that to rest too. In fact, forget it, just to be safe. Wipe it
from your mental hard drive.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next time...</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve got to be honest, I’m juggling four different projects
right now and (at the moment) none of them have inspired a ranty blog post. So
next week may just be some random cartoons or something unless any of you has a
pressing question you’d like me to blather on about.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until then... go write.</p>Virtual Strangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01040333093180694172noreply@blogger.com2