May 2007

World in the Satin Bag

A List of Somewhat Important Facts

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So I found this meme over at Lindsey’s blog. Sounded interesting and it will be an interesting insight into my little writing brain: 1. Do you outline? For the most part no. I don’t make long outlines like many writers do. I feel like doing so takes away all the magic of the story for me. I no longer want to tell that story because nothing is new. It’s all set in stone. 2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order? This really depends. If there is a scene that is eating at the inside of my brain I will write it down in advance. For the most part, however, I stick to writing straight through. It’s not very common that I take the other route. 3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer? Depends. When I’m in a massive writing groove and the words are coming out of me in droves, then I prefer to be on my computer because I can type a lot quicker than I can write. Sometimes, though, I find that writing by hand is so much more enjoyable. It all depends on my mood and what is going on in my head. My short story Death By Poking was done primarily by hand. Bits and pieces of WISB were too, though the majority is done on the computer because I have to put a lot of focus into it and do a lot of research here and there. 4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third? This is going to sound weird, but I hate first person, yet I write in it quite often. It’s a strange feeling. I think perhaps I am growing an appreciation for it, but it used to be where I actually despised first person novels. Now, I write and read in both. I still hate first person and tend to be turned off by short stories written in first, but I think my hatred for it comes from reading a lot of very dull stories told in first person. I personally like first person for humor because you can convey humorous situations through the character better. 5. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, do you create a playlist, listen randomly, or pick a single song that fits the book? Sometimes. Mostly I’ll listen to classical or orchestrated stuff (such as soundtracks and the like). When I’m really tired of music or my concentration is lacking I will listen to silence instead. I never really make playlists, not really anyway. I only have one playlist and it consists of all my classical and orchestrated stuff. Usually I just put my list on shuffle. 6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters? I used to use a program called EBoN (Everchanging Book of Names), which is fantastic for a few reasons. One, it comes with a library of thirty or so languages that it creates names from. Two, you can get new libraries from other users. And three, you can affect how it will create names by fiddling with the phonemes and the like.For the most part I sit in my chair and start speaking out names to myself until something grabs me. This is also how I started coming up with the language of my world as I started to notice in the names of places some very common aspects. Thus begins my endeavor to create a functioning language without going insane or screwing it up (which I already have twice and have had to fix). 7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie? Sort of. I don’t imagine it as a full show or movie, but I do imagine scenes as if they were playing like movies in my head. I like it that way because I tend to see nifty details I might otherwise be blind to. 8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do? Who hasn’t? A story I wrote a while ago started off as two kids just sitting around doing kids stuff. I never expected that the secondary character would turn out to be the villian of the story. He went from being that sort of innocently evil child to a complete madman. It was wild. 9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it? Yes and no. I know where the characters will be and the very very very very last scene, but I have no idea how the characters are getting there, or if that future will be the same when I reach it. The story evolves as I go. 10. Where do you write? In bed, at work, at school, in my car (yes, while I’m driving, I have a digital recorder), and anywhere I can sit down and concentrate. I carry a little book for notes with me just about everywhere I go just in case I come up with something fascinating. 11. What do you do when you get writer’s block? Kill people. Not really literally, but sort of literally. I play computer games if I’m really in a slump or need to stimulate my creative juices. If feel sort of snagged and need to clean out my head I go read. Mostly it’s computer games. For me they do wonders. It’s completely mindless, it makes my brain reboot, and I don’t have to think too much while playing. 12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)? At any one time, not more than a thousand words (usually). Over the course of a day I can churn out 10,000 if I’m really into a story. Usually I get around 2,000 or 3,000 in a day.

World in the Satin Bag

Brilliant Ideas From My Lax Brain

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So, I was thinking over the last day and a half. This is a monumental event for me because I don’t usually think. Of course I’m being entirely goofy, but regardless, I have an interesting thought. I would like to throw up to anyone and everyone who reads my novel or anything related to my novel in progress, or anything at all about my writing, this nifty thing I’ll title “You Ask / Writer Answer”.So, if the title isn’t giving it away, here is what I thought of. Anyone at all can ask me just about any question about WISB or any other writing. Put it in a comment, throw me an email, and so long as I can answer it I will in a blog post. Obviously I can’t tell you how the novel will end, or what will happen here or there, but I can give you details, talk about characters, inspiration, and most anything else. So, ask away!

World in the Satin Bag

Chapter Seventeen: Of Ti’nagal and the Forest

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(Note:  This is not official version and may be removed in the near future.  This do not reflect what is read in the podcast version, nor any other version you may encounter.  I have preserved the rough form for posterity — or something like that.  This novel has since been rewritten.) “Listen closely,” Belrin said. “There is no room for error.” James leaned over and peered into the map of Traea. His gaze became fixed on Teirlin’pur. This is where we are going, he thought. What will it be like? Will it be a frightening place just like its ruler? Will we be able to get in without being caught? He pushed the thoughts away and looked back into the now serious eyes of Belrin. Darl leaned in too, grumbling something incomprehensible. James could barely see the old man’s lips move under the scraggly white beard. “You must go north of the city. There you will find a path through the Forest of Gall. It will not be an easy path, but I believe you can pass through relatively unhindered.” Belrin waved his hand over the forest. “This area will not be pleasant, but safer than trying to go east and slip by Luthien’s army. Not much is known of the forest other than it lives. In some manner of speaking.” “In some manner of speaking?” Darl said, his voice coming out in mocking groans. “Much more than mere animals dwell within the far reaches. We hear the sounds of beings neither human nor animal. Beings sentient, screeching a language that we cannot understand and will never understand. No one has seen them, whatever they are.” “Are they dangerous?” “Only to travelers who do not leave when warned.” “But you said you can’t understand what they say,” James said. “They block paths, drive away horses, even Blaersteeds, and put out fires. Mischievous little creatures the whole lot.” James wondered what could possibly live in the forest that could be such a nuisance. He thought of the native peoples in the Amazon and how easy it was for them to hide from explorers, at least those that had no great buildings or statues to boast with. He wondered if such peoples had warned the first explorers, or if they had become violent when their warnings were unheeded. “Now, when you reach the eastern side of the forest you need to travel north along the Nor’duíl River until you reach the Summering Rocks. The water should be low enough for you to cross without a raft. The current should pose no problems. Nor’sigal is immediately east and should take you no more than half a day once across.” “What if we’re followed or Luthien has scouts along the river?” Pea said. Belrin looked down at Pea, and softly said, “Then you ride hard through the Black Tundra to the Black Sands until the Blaersteeds buck you or you pass out.” He looked away and continued, “Lord Falth is expecting you at Nor’sigal, or should be if our falcon reached him. He’ll be able to tell you what to expect in the Fire Rim.” His finger glided over a long flame colored line on the map. James listened intently. He made a mental note to remember every detail. From Nor’sigal they were to travel north over the Nor’kal River, across the plains beyond and into the Fire Rim. There would be their hardest terrain—fire, marshlands, bogs, and clouded skies. The fires had raged there for centuries. He had read about it in the etiquette book. Ashes filled the atmosphere like water in a cup, falling in flurries of gray, brown, and black—a Christmas of dark colors. Nothing survived there. The trees that had once made a home there had long since died and become fuel for the fires. Powerful magic had been used to force the burning remnants to drive straight up into the sky to protect the lands beyond. No magic could stop the fires. They burned with such unnatural intensity that those who had tried to put them out failed miserably. He worried if they could make it through such terrain. It seemed so utterly impossible even for the Blaersteeds. Making camp there would only hinder them further. He knew they could not stand the polluted air for long without becoming ill—or without dying. There was little he could do to protect his lungs against such a terrible onslaught. From the Fire Rim they were to take a slight northeast path above the Spyder Range to the Pahn’drys Valley that sat north of Teirlin’pur, split by the center of the mountains there. “There is a path there,” Belrin said. “It sits along the mountains. It leads under the earth to a spot just north of Teirlin’pur. Be as common as you can. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself. Luthien and his people do not know who you are. It’s not a heavily traveled path, but neither is it entirely bare or forgotten. Try to seem like simple travelers and you should have no problems passing through and gaining entry to the city. Luthien is evil, but he still runs an empire that needs to support itself. Teirlin’pur will not so easily turn away potential customers.” James drew an imaginary line on the map to help him remember the path that Belrin had set out for them. The journey didn’t look remotely easy. He hoped they wouldn’t run into any scouts; he prayed that they would make it to Teirlin’pur in one piece. “We think that your friend may be kept in the northern towers. Let your Blaersteeds rest at this point. When you find your friend you must ride nonstop to Sempur. A ship will be there that can take you off the mainland.” “Where do you propose we go?” Darl said angrily. “Gallivanting across the ocean hoping that any stop we make won’t lead us to capture?” His arms were crossed. “The Wunder Isles.” Pea choked. “Are

World in the Satin Bag

Note On the Map

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I want to make a quick note to any that might be so deeply into WISB. The map itself is designed, on my part, in reverse of where everything actually is. West on the map is actually East. I designed the map not really thinking about direction, but more about the placement of things. I likely will change this in the story at some point–making Teirlin’pur sit on the east or something of that nature. Right now, though, the correct way to look at the map is in reverse. West is East. East is West. Most likely I’ll just talk to my cartographer and have him invert it. Edit: I lied. I have gone through and fixed all the directions so the map is correct. It was actually less work than asking my cartographer to waste four hours trying to invert the map and make changes to the Aor River so it winds the correct way. So, really it doesn’t change anything to the story. It just means some minor scenes have been changed. I’ll be reposting all the changes. Don’t worry, unless you’re so into every minor detail of WISB it shouldn’t even affect the story for you.

World in the Satin Bag

Punctuation: A Writer’s Worst Enemy — Semicolons

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It has come to my attention that one of the things I should really address in my blog is punctuation. I was recently reading work from a lady in my lit. class and it occurred to me that the semicolon is the most misrepresented punctuation there is. George Orwell once shunned it because he considered it an arcane piece of the English language. To some extent we would have to agree with him because it is a rather old and rarely used item. There is good reason for its lack of use: people generally don’t know how to use it. A semicolon is, in some ways, a super comma. Unlike the comma, however, you must have two independent clauses. What is this bit about clauses? A clause, to put it simply, is a sentence that contains a subject and a verb. An independent clause is a sentence that is a complete thought. A dependent clause is one that does not complete a thought and requires additional information to do so.  Example: Fighting in the old restaurant = DependentThey were fighting in the old restaurant = Independent Notice the difference? Now, in regards to semicolons, you need two independent clauses. You can’t say:   She was a happy girl; smiling all the time. That makes no sense because the first part is independent, but the second is dependent. It requires additional information to make it a complete sentence. The following would be correct: She was a happy girl; she smiled all the time. Two complete clauses (sentences).  Generally speaking you always want the two clauses around the semicolon to be related. Notice how the above example has a happy girl who smiles. Both are related to her happiness. Sometimes you can get away with it, but for the most part you should stick to having the sentences stick together. Besides, if you have a sentence that is unrelated it probably should be on its own somewhere anymore. Just remember this the next time you want to use the semicolon. It can be your friend if you use it correctly; it can also be your greatest enemy. If you use it poorly it is a sure fire way to end up in that slush pile or in the garbage can. Editors generally do not like flashy punctuation; semicolons can be seen this way if you use them a lot. It’s a clear warning when your use of the semicolon is incorrect that you are not developed enough in your writing for publication.  I personally love the semicolon. It’s a cool piece of punctuation I think. So, that’s that!

World in the Satin Bag

Final Critique Group Update

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Officially we are not doing it through CC anymore because I’m not going to ask Andrew or anyone else to subscribe to the premium account there. It’s not fair to you, especially since this is just starting up and there isn’t a definitive guarantee it will last for a year or forever for that matter. However, I did a little research and found that we can do critiques in MS Word without a problem. It takes a minute to set up some quick keys for the two commands we’ll likely be using–strike through and comment. So, for those that were interested (Andrew for example) send me a direct email so I can tell you how to do these quick keys. And then we’ll start doing it via email and just send each other documents. Would anyone be opposed to having a mailing list that makes discussing stories easy amongst one another? A very low key list. Just something that only the members would send to one another. Not advertised so there would be no spam. So please email me in regards to the critique group. And another post will go up later this evening on the evil semicolon–which I am quite fond of but people tend to use incorrectly on a consistent basis.

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