I've tried a new tack today with the wall I've been hitting. Something I used to do back in my teens and twenties. Pen and paper. Old fashioned I know, but I can take them with me where ever I go. I've printed out my belt wars story in manuscript form, big margins and double spaced. Now I can see why editors like that form for submissions. Makes it very easy to spot things, and more importantly to make notes, changes in my case. I'm going to do the same for each story I have in progress and make sure I've got the paper with me at all times from now on, it's fantastically freeing.
The wood man turned up today at our door. This is the guy who provides home delivered fire wood throughout the village, very reasonable rates too. We're going to need allot of wood this winter, I was cold last night and it's still summer! Basil showed his usefulness as a ferocious guard dog... he was outside when the wood man came through the gate, but no warning, nothing, he was sitting next to the guy licking his hand (and occasionally jumping up for a playful pat) when I answered the door. He's half asleep under my desk as I type this, occasionally trying to lick (and chew) my feet, the peppermint smell of his new tick collar mingling with the faintly unwashed doggy smell he usually has.
We're having the neighbours, the ones who own the corner store/petrol station/chicken shop next door, over for a gourmet home made pizza night tomorrow night, so we need to go into lonny to pick up some more flour from the mill and mushrooms etc... Should be a good night. We plan to introduce them to some of the amazing Tasmanian soft drinks we've encountered since we came here. They don't drink, and despite being Tasmanian born and bred, they haven't tried very many of the locally produced fantastic quality soft drinks.
Thursday 25 February 2010
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Circling the Wall
I've made some progress today on "Ly and the Ground Huggers" my current Belt Wars short story. But not much. Every time I've added a couple of paragraphs I've felt the need to go back to previous paragraphs and rewrite them because they didn't make sense any more. My Heroine, Ly, is still tip toeing around her second and most important crisis of the story without actually dropping into it. I just can't figure out a logical way for it all to happen. It feels as though I'm beating my head against a brick wall, then stopping to circle around and find somewhere fresh to beat my head. I've tried five different approaches so far, and none of them feel right. At least I've got a better idea where the story is going now. Maybe I should just head on and write the ending then work backwards.
My cousin from Britain, her husband and two small boys stayed with us the night before last. It was great to catch up, haven't seen her for a few years now. We missed them the last time they came out, for Christmas a couple of years ago.
We'd just left Kiama on Christmas morning when we got a flat tire. We'd been heading up to Sydney for a big family Christmas lunch thing. When I got the spare tire out, it turned out to have a nail in it. We couldn't get hold of roadside service (did I mention it was Christmas morning...) so I phoned a friend. The only friend I had who lived anywhere near us at the time. Fortunately he was able to come out and help. He had a portable compressor in his car. I couldn't re-inflate the flat tire, it was ruined, so I put some air into the spare and we limped back home for an improvised Christmas lunch of shepherds pie made from the only things we had in the fridge.
Anyway... the boys, well the eldest... wow! Precocious! A bundle of energy too, he made Basil seem sedate by comparison. Well, almost. He'd apparently never seen a Wii console before, but he instinctively knew this was a toy, and seemed to recognise the Wii game disks for what they where. He was determined to try and play with it whenever his parents left the lounge room. He didn't manage to get any of the disks into the Wii, but he did put one into the DVD drive in the computer we use as our TV. I have to wonder what he'll be like in a couple of years time, he's almost three now, he'll be unstoppable by the time he hits school!
My cousin from Britain, her husband and two small boys stayed with us the night before last. It was great to catch up, haven't seen her for a few years now. We missed them the last time they came out, for Christmas a couple of years ago.
We'd just left Kiama on Christmas morning when we got a flat tire. We'd been heading up to Sydney for a big family Christmas lunch thing. When I got the spare tire out, it turned out to have a nail in it. We couldn't get hold of roadside service (did I mention it was Christmas morning...) so I phoned a friend. The only friend I had who lived anywhere near us at the time. Fortunately he was able to come out and help. He had a portable compressor in his car. I couldn't re-inflate the flat tire, it was ruined, so I put some air into the spare and we limped back home for an improvised Christmas lunch of shepherds pie made from the only things we had in the fridge.
Anyway... the boys, well the eldest... wow! Precocious! A bundle of energy too, he made Basil seem sedate by comparison. Well, almost. He'd apparently never seen a Wii console before, but he instinctively knew this was a toy, and seemed to recognise the Wii game disks for what they where. He was determined to try and play with it whenever his parents left the lounge room. He didn't manage to get any of the disks into the Wii, but he did put one into the DVD drive in the computer we use as our TV. I have to wonder what he'll be like in a couple of years time, he's almost three now, he'll be unstoppable by the time he hits school!
Friday 19 February 2010
TGIF
Well I made it through another week.
Had a good day today work wise. Not so good writing wise. I've made progress on the book, but it's jumping about. I've done work on chapters 1, 3 and 9 (I think) and I don't know how they're going to hang together or if the whole thing will need to be rewritten from the start.
The backs playing up pretty bad now and I have a splitting headache. I'm off to bed, hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.
Had a good day today work wise. Not so good writing wise. I've made progress on the book, but it's jumping about. I've done work on chapters 1, 3 and 9 (I think) and I don't know how they're going to hang together or if the whole thing will need to be rewritten from the start.
The backs playing up pretty bad now and I have a splitting headache. I'm off to bed, hopefully I'll feel better in the morning.
Thursday 18 February 2010
New Fangled Old Tech
I assembled our new push mower today. For such an old fashioned way of mowing the lawn, they've come an awful long way even since the eighties. I can remember mowing my mothers lawn back then with a push mower. When I say push mower, I'm talking about unpowered other than by what force the person behind it applies to it, no petrol, no electricity, just hard yakka. It was hard work doing mum's front yard back then, and it was a small yard, tiny compared to what I mowed today. I was a whole lot fitter, younger and stronger back then too, not to mention less in the way of back issues. (Though I have had back problems since my teens, they've just gotten worse as I've gotten older fatter and generally more brittle.) The modern push mower, the one we bought yesterday, is actually easier to push than most petrol driven ones I've used. It's a marvel of modern technology.
I've been digging around trying to find other magazines and or publications to whom I can submit fiction, especially science fiction, via email. I found another one. Though they only accept short stories during four specific months out of the year. February is one of them, so I'd better get my skates on and finish another short story pronto so I can submit it to them before I have to wait another three months.
Still no word from Aurlealis, I know their website says up to a three month wait to find out about acceptance or rejection, but that email I got from the editor seemed to indicate to me I should have heard something by now. Oh well, best thing is to put it out of my head, a watched kettle never boils and all that.
I've been digging around trying to find other magazines and or publications to whom I can submit fiction, especially science fiction, via email. I found another one. Though they only accept short stories during four specific months out of the year. February is one of them, so I'd better get my skates on and finish another short story pronto so I can submit it to them before I have to wait another three months.
Still no word from Aurlealis, I know their website says up to a three month wait to find out about acceptance or rejection, but that email I got from the editor seemed to indicate to me I should have heard something by now. Oh well, best thing is to put it out of my head, a watched kettle never boils and all that.
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Pop Culture
I watched part of a debate on TV entitled 'Popular Culture: we've seen the future and its junk' and of course the affirmative side trotted out the usual predictable elitist clap trap that I'm so use to hearing applied to Sci-Fi this time applied to all of modern 'pop culture'. It seems if you put the suffix pop in front of culture, suddenly it's not art, it has no actual cultural value... because it's popular. Huh? What's the purpose of culture, any form of culture, if not to engage the public, to express an artists feelings and emotions in such a way as to convey it to the people? Is there any point whatsoever in having the greatest, best written piece of fiction ever, if it's so tedious that only three people in the world have the patience to read it? The negative side pointed out, quite interestingly I thought, that Shakespeare, Mozart and all the greats were, like it or not, among the modern pop culturists (to invent a word) of their own time. Past pop culture has the advantage from our perspective of hindsight. We can 'cherry pick' to quote one of the debaters from the best that each period had to offer and hold them up as shining beacons of culture and respectability. What the elitists conveniently tend to forget is all the rubbish that was around in the time of Shakespeare and friends, they were the exception of their times, not the rule.
Modern culture has no lesser value than that which has gone before, to believe otherwise is to buy into a form of ancestor worship that frankly holds no basis in fact. It's my belief that humans are gradually evolving into smarter beings, not that we're regressing into more primitive. The amount of rubbish around in pop-culture can blind those who choose not to look for the gold in the pile, but there is gold in there. The onus is on us to find it for ourselves and to reject the rubbish for what it is. No-one will know or care who the Big Brother winner of 2008 was in ten or fifty years time, (or even now for that matter) but the work of a great artist, in whatever medium he or she may use, will shine forth from this period and last, just as it's always done and will always do in the future. One thing can be said for the icons of culture gone by, they stood out from what was a much smaller pool of artists.
With mass media we're exposed to a constant stream of widely varied culture both in nature and quality. For one artist to shine in the same way as those of the past I think is extremely unlikely no matter how talented they may be, there's just too many other good ones now too, as well as all the usual rubbish. I can think of countless gifted artists from recent times without whom my life would be less than it is and has been. Asimov, Clarke, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Patrick Stewart, Robert Wise, Tolkien, Paul McCartney join in whenever you feel like it... the list of outstanding artists in their fields from recent times is a whole lot longer than that of those from bygone times. Great art, great literature has a long way to go yet
On the subject of art, literature and creation... not a sausage. Nothing new on any of my stories today. I'm going around in circles with the book, belt wars feels like a dead end right now. I've got a late era space opera kind of thing ticking away in the back of my mind too, but can't think how to start it without stealing from belt wars. I do not want to start down the path of mixing my FTL universe with my Belt Wars system. They're discrete entities with distinctly different physics and social dynamics. We shall see, I'm sure it's just a temporary stoppage.
Modern culture has no lesser value than that which has gone before, to believe otherwise is to buy into a form of ancestor worship that frankly holds no basis in fact. It's my belief that humans are gradually evolving into smarter beings, not that we're regressing into more primitive. The amount of rubbish around in pop-culture can blind those who choose not to look for the gold in the pile, but there is gold in there. The onus is on us to find it for ourselves and to reject the rubbish for what it is. No-one will know or care who the Big Brother winner of 2008 was in ten or fifty years time, (or even now for that matter) but the work of a great artist, in whatever medium he or she may use, will shine forth from this period and last, just as it's always done and will always do in the future. One thing can be said for the icons of culture gone by, they stood out from what was a much smaller pool of artists.
With mass media we're exposed to a constant stream of widely varied culture both in nature and quality. For one artist to shine in the same way as those of the past I think is extremely unlikely no matter how talented they may be, there's just too many other good ones now too, as well as all the usual rubbish. I can think of countless gifted artists from recent times without whom my life would be less than it is and has been. Asimov, Clarke, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Patrick Stewart, Robert Wise, Tolkien, Paul McCartney join in whenever you feel like it... the list of outstanding artists in their fields from recent times is a whole lot longer than that of those from bygone times. Great art, great literature has a long way to go yet
On the subject of art, literature and creation... not a sausage. Nothing new on any of my stories today. I'm going around in circles with the book, belt wars feels like a dead end right now. I've got a late era space opera kind of thing ticking away in the back of my mind too, but can't think how to start it without stealing from belt wars. I do not want to start down the path of mixing my FTL universe with my Belt Wars system. They're discrete entities with distinctly different physics and social dynamics. We shall see, I'm sure it's just a temporary stoppage.
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Basil in the Mist
Heavy mist this morning. I think it's the first time Basil has seen it. He seems a tad confused. Even the sheep from next door are subdued. There's a clinging cold too that pierces my warm clothes. My back is still stiff this morning, though not sore... yet.
Fortunately the story I was working on yesterday has been saved by auto-document recovery. I'm unwisely using OpenOffice.org 3.2 Beta to write it with and I've found a bug. It seems if you've downloaded something while having OpenOffice.org 3.2 Beta open in the background, then later go back to it (OO 3.2B, that is) and attempt to save the document as a different document name from what you opened it as, it hangs. A bit unfortunate if you want to keep revisions filed under date related names. Time to take 3.2B out and got back to 3.1 for my important stuff, I should have known better.
I Just found out about a laptop tracking system that would have been very handy two years ago when my wife's laptop was stolen. Among other things it takes a photo using the built in webcam most laptops have nowadays of the first person to sit in front of it after it's reported stolen and emails it back to a designated account. I think I've found the subject of my next newsletter to my clients.
I feel as though I'm bashing my head against a brick wall with my belt wars story. Every new paragraph I try out seems contrived and or derivative. I've got my character out of her first crisis but can't seem to find a way to get her safely ensconced into the second, major crisis that's the whole focal point of the story. Maybe I'll do better when not distracted by my back. I have a fairly clear idea of what the second crisis is, just not how to land my heroine in it without it clanging around saying “cheat”. It reads like a cheap dime a dozen second rate hacks kind of story, not what I'm trying for here at all.
I'll shelve it for the moment and work a bit more on a more contemporary piece, set just a few years from now. Thing is, that's a book, and I had wanted to work on short stories for the time being. Oh well, writing is writing, as long as I'm achieving something everyday, I wont beat myself up about it not being what I'd planned to do. What's ready to flow will flow. Maybe just having a bit more of the book done will encourage a short story out from a nook or cranny in my mind.
Fortunately the story I was working on yesterday has been saved by auto-document recovery. I'm unwisely using OpenOffice.org 3.2 Beta to write it with and I've found a bug. It seems if you've downloaded something while having OpenOffice.org 3.2 Beta open in the background, then later go back to it (OO 3.2B, that is) and attempt to save the document as a different document name from what you opened it as, it hangs. A bit unfortunate if you want to keep revisions filed under date related names. Time to take 3.2B out and got back to 3.1 for my important stuff, I should have known better.
I Just found out about a laptop tracking system that would have been very handy two years ago when my wife's laptop was stolen. Among other things it takes a photo using the built in webcam most laptops have nowadays of the first person to sit in front of it after it's reported stolen and emails it back to a designated account. I think I've found the subject of my next newsletter to my clients.
I feel as though I'm bashing my head against a brick wall with my belt wars story. Every new paragraph I try out seems contrived and or derivative. I've got my character out of her first crisis but can't seem to find a way to get her safely ensconced into the second, major crisis that's the whole focal point of the story. Maybe I'll do better when not distracted by my back. I have a fairly clear idea of what the second crisis is, just not how to land my heroine in it without it clanging around saying “cheat”. It reads like a cheap dime a dozen second rate hacks kind of story, not what I'm trying for here at all.
I'll shelve it for the moment and work a bit more on a more contemporary piece, set just a few years from now. Thing is, that's a book, and I had wanted to work on short stories for the time being. Oh well, writing is writing, as long as I'm achieving something everyday, I wont beat myself up about it not being what I'd planned to do. What's ready to flow will flow. Maybe just having a bit more of the book done will encourage a short story out from a nook or cranny in my mind.
Monday 15 February 2010
'Back' at Work.
The back still isn't much better today sadly. I can't sit at the keyboard for longer than a few minutes without a spasm starting.
I did manage to get a little work done on the new story, it's actually taken a total direction shift from what I first had in mind for it. Could be interesting finding out about my story as I write it. It's exciting. Like reading a book, but with the joy of creation thrown in.
Managed to do some actual money making work today too. The first part of helping out a Sydney client with some email problems (and other security Issues she wasn't aware of) but I'll have to finish off with that job on the morrow, my back called time.
My Backs calling time on me now too. Hope I can sleep with it like this.
I did manage to get a little work done on the new story, it's actually taken a total direction shift from what I first had in mind for it. Could be interesting finding out about my story as I write it. It's exciting. Like reading a book, but with the joy of creation thrown in.
Managed to do some actual money making work today too. The first part of helping out a Sydney client with some email problems (and other security Issues she wasn't aware of) but I'll have to finish off with that job on the morrow, my back called time.
My Backs calling time on me now too. Hope I can sleep with it like this.
Sunday 14 February 2010
Nice Day for Ducks
Cold and wet, in short, standard Moss family BBQ or beach going weather. Paula doesn't seem so keen about driving all the way to Launceston for an open air street festival toady, and I can't say I blame her.
I decided to try tilling, by hand, the first row of our proposed veggie patch today. First thing I found in the very first fork full of soil was a bone. Not sure what it's from... yet another mystery thing dug up from the backyard. It's clearly been buried for quite some time, years maybe. We've put it in a box just in case something more clearly identifiable turns up. I've done half the row now and nothing else showed up, though I think I've done something horrible to my back. I can't turn it, or lift anything without squeezing pains coming in from the sides, feels as though I'm caught in a vice.
I can't work at a keyboard for long like this. Maybe tomorrow.
I decided to try tilling, by hand, the first row of our proposed veggie patch today. First thing I found in the very first fork full of soil was a bone. Not sure what it's from... yet another mystery thing dug up from the backyard. It's clearly been buried for quite some time, years maybe. We've put it in a box just in case something more clearly identifiable turns up. I've done half the row now and nothing else showed up, though I think I've done something horrible to my back. I can't turn it, or lift anything without squeezing pains coming in from the sides, feels as though I'm caught in a vice.
I can't work at a keyboard for long like this. Maybe tomorrow.
Saturday 13 February 2010
On My Own
I finished off the Jeff Carver writers course. Now I guess I'm on my own. I think the best approach will be to just head down tail up and work work work at it. I plan on getting enough stories up and running so that I've got enough to have at least one on submission to each of at least three of the "majors". Aurealis, of course, they're by far the easiest to deal with what with email submission and all, probably either Asimovs or Analog of the American mags (maybe both) and one from the UK.
Off to Lonny (Launceston to non-Tasmanians) in the morning for the Launceston Festivale.
www.festivale.com.au
Sounds like fun.
Off to Lonny (Launceston to non-Tasmanians) in the morning for the Launceston Festivale.
www.festivale.com.au
Sounds like fun.
Thursday 11 February 2010
The Wolf Who Cried Boy
Basil is getting too big for me to think of his as a puppy, but he still only just over one year old. As such, he feels in need of constant attention. He'll demand to be let out only to insist on coming back in again less than five minutes later, then want to go out again in under a minute. When not on the in again out again merry go round, he'll sit under our feet and whine if he's not the focus of all human attention. Basil is not a dog who has a hard life. Anyone who knows us will see that last sentence for the monumental understatement that it is. Today, Paula has decided it's time our pets moved away from the mass produced store bought food and on to home made. To that end, she's found a lengthy list of recipes from various locations and is currently gearing up to make a few batches today.
I've taken one of my Belt Wars based stories out and dusted it off today. I've decided it's going to be based in the run up to the second belt war. My main hero will discover pieces of a puzzle to help her uncover a plot that'll be part of the trigger for war. The story had previously been intended to be a discovery of an ancient, highly advanced, artefact, but that plot line has been done to death since the time of Plato and his tales of Atlantis. Sci-Fi writers over the years have given that particular plot a good hard go too, Niven and the Protectors, Ring World etc. from his “Known Space” universe for one. Larry Niven's one of my writing heroes so by all means I wish to emulate him, I just don't want to copy him.
I looked up writing groups in Tasmania today. Have to say, they don't seem terribly impressive from their websites. One of them, The Tasmanian Writers Centre in Hobart looks to be a handy resource for the hobbyist writer who has little faith in themselves and either not much in the way of research skills, or no real ambition to actually make a living from writing as they charge more to proof read stories than they could be sold for. The other, the Tasmanian arm of the Fellowship of Australian Writers looks to be (by reading between the lines) an arty sort of organisation who consider Sci-Fi not to belong to the category of literature. I've had dealings with this type of group before, I recognise the nose in the air kind of approach hinted at by the type of competitions they're running. Looks as though I'll have to look for support elsewhere. Jeff Carver's been helpful, by providing his course, and his quick response to my question before, and seemed friendly enough in his response to a comment I left on his blog about ebook piracy. The editor of Aurealis seemed friendly and supportive too. Still no word, but it's early days yet, so I won't let myself get discouraged by that.
Three things I learned today:
1} Tasmania may be host to many writers, but not much in the way of Sci-Fi support. To the best of my knowledge, the only Sci-Fi writer of note who lives here is published under the name of Sara Douglas. She's nice, an online friend of my wife's in fact, but very protective of her privacy, so I won't be bothering her with questions, or seeking publication advice there.
2} I discovered today much to my surprise that the Hero of my next story is in fact a Heroine. No one could have been more surprised than I was, but there she was as I wrote in black and white.
3} Apparently soft drinks give you cancer. Well, what's the big surprise there? Everything gives you cancer nowadays. There's even a song about it I think.
I've taken one of my Belt Wars based stories out and dusted it off today. I've decided it's going to be based in the run up to the second belt war. My main hero will discover pieces of a puzzle to help her uncover a plot that'll be part of the trigger for war. The story had previously been intended to be a discovery of an ancient, highly advanced, artefact, but that plot line has been done to death since the time of Plato and his tales of Atlantis. Sci-Fi writers over the years have given that particular plot a good hard go too, Niven and the Protectors, Ring World etc. from his “Known Space” universe for one. Larry Niven's one of my writing heroes so by all means I wish to emulate him, I just don't want to copy him.
I looked up writing groups in Tasmania today. Have to say, they don't seem terribly impressive from their websites. One of them, The Tasmanian Writers Centre in Hobart looks to be a handy resource for the hobbyist writer who has little faith in themselves and either not much in the way of research skills, or no real ambition to actually make a living from writing as they charge more to proof read stories than they could be sold for. The other, the Tasmanian arm of the Fellowship of Australian Writers looks to be (by reading between the lines) an arty sort of organisation who consider Sci-Fi not to belong to the category of literature. I've had dealings with this type of group before, I recognise the nose in the air kind of approach hinted at by the type of competitions they're running. Looks as though I'll have to look for support elsewhere. Jeff Carver's been helpful, by providing his course, and his quick response to my question before, and seemed friendly enough in his response to a comment I left on his blog about ebook piracy. The editor of Aurealis seemed friendly and supportive too. Still no word, but it's early days yet, so I won't let myself get discouraged by that.
Three things I learned today:
1} Tasmania may be host to many writers, but not much in the way of Sci-Fi support. To the best of my knowledge, the only Sci-Fi writer of note who lives here is published under the name of Sara Douglas. She's nice, an online friend of my wife's in fact, but very protective of her privacy, so I won't be bothering her with questions, or seeking publication advice there.
2} I discovered today much to my surprise that the Hero of my next story is in fact a Heroine. No one could have been more surprised than I was, but there she was as I wrote in black and white.
3} Apparently soft drinks give you cancer. Well, what's the big surprise there? Everything gives you cancer nowadays. There's even a song about it I think.
Wednesday 10 February 2010
Evandale
That's it! I'm just not going to open my mouth other than for monosyllabic replies for the rest of the day. Every time I've opened my mouth today I've got grump in return, and it doesn't seem to have mattered what topic. A fine way to spend a ninth anniversary I must say! Paula's second cup of coffee seems to have settled the grump monster. I should know by now just to keep my trap shut till she's done with her morning brain boot up routine.
I revisited Dream Stealers this morning after reading through Jeff Carvers section on rewriting and self evaluation. He used an example of a book of his own that had already been published for just how sharp a self editors knife can be. I found a couple of little things to clean up. I've added the first line of a song to the end and changed the title to “Dream a Little Dream” my own feeling is just that little change makes it a whole lot creepier than it already was. His section on ruthless cutting doesn't really apply to Dream, as the story relies on all the “extra” adjectives to convey the feelings I want to evoke in a reader. I've tried it, it still makes sense, but it's lost it's flavour. Using the technique on my other works in progress however has yielded remarkable improvements.
Moving on to Jeff's section entitled “Using the Criticism” I find once again that I've instinctively done what he's recommending. Having a few select individuals read my work with an editors eye in between drafts. It's been a richly rewarding experience gathering and distilling said critique. I'd expected it to be allot harder, as I've always had a fairly fragile ego, but by looking at the criticisms in the spirit in which they'd been delivered and by utilising them to improve the story has resulted, I think, in a far more deeply immersive tale than I'd started out with. There's a line in his rewriting section that's vital, I think, to take on board. I'm going to call it the Prime Directive of the self editing process. “Be tough on your story, but don't be hard on yourself!” Wow. It seems so simple, so obvious now I've read it, that it should almost be a cliché.
We're off to Evandale today as an Anniversary celebratory outing. Going for a tasting at the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Co and wandering around the town. From what we saw the other night, it should be fun. Most of the main street seems almost like an antique.
Evandale was a lovely outing. The sauces, jams, relishes and mustards at TGS co where out of this world. We bought a jar of Summerberry Jam and a small bottle of a Thai Chilli sauce that absolutely wowed us. The Thai Chilli sauce has sultanas and ginger in it as well as the usual chilli, garlic, vinegar and salt. Makes for a fascinating flavour. We had lunch at a bakery/café called Ingeside Bakery. All the ingredients and other items they sell are made in Tassie. Tasmanian foods are just so good, it's hard to see why anyone in this island state would eat imported foods. With the exception of mustard seeds. While chatting with the lady at the TGS co earlier in the day, she mentioned the only imported item they used was Canadian mustard seeds because the Aussie ones just don't absorb the flavours in the sauces and mustards quite as well for some reason.
Tomorrow I'm going to pick one of my other stories and focus on it till it's ready for submission. I want to be able to have a quick turn around for when I hear if Stealers has been accepted or rejected. I've looked into other Sci Fi mags from around the world. Aurealis is the only one I've found that accepts email submissions. (In fact they now insist on it.) It seems awfully anachronistic for SCIENCE Fiction magazines to insist on hard copy in this day and age, but I guess I'll have to go along with it. After all, it would be silly of me to only submit my work to Aurealis, fine magazine that they are, it would be an extremely limiting behaviour on my part.
Three things I've learned today:
1} Don't be afraid to be brutal when in the rewriting process.
2} Canadian mustard seeds are more absorbent than Australian ones.
3} Café staff are almost always happy to substitute ingredients if you ask them to. (For lunch I wanted the Tasmanian Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Bree melt... but with chicken instead of the salmon. I wasn't going to ask, but then thought “what the hey” and presto... I love chicken cheese and asparagus, just add mushrooms and you're very close to perfection.)
I revisited Dream Stealers this morning after reading through Jeff Carvers section on rewriting and self evaluation. He used an example of a book of his own that had already been published for just how sharp a self editors knife can be. I found a couple of little things to clean up. I've added the first line of a song to the end and changed the title to “Dream a Little Dream” my own feeling is just that little change makes it a whole lot creepier than it already was. His section on ruthless cutting doesn't really apply to Dream, as the story relies on all the “extra” adjectives to convey the feelings I want to evoke in a reader. I've tried it, it still makes sense, but it's lost it's flavour. Using the technique on my other works in progress however has yielded remarkable improvements.
Moving on to Jeff's section entitled “Using the Criticism” I find once again that I've instinctively done what he's recommending. Having a few select individuals read my work with an editors eye in between drafts. It's been a richly rewarding experience gathering and distilling said critique. I'd expected it to be allot harder, as I've always had a fairly fragile ego, but by looking at the criticisms in the spirit in which they'd been delivered and by utilising them to improve the story has resulted, I think, in a far more deeply immersive tale than I'd started out with. There's a line in his rewriting section that's vital, I think, to take on board. I'm going to call it the Prime Directive of the self editing process. “Be tough on your story, but don't be hard on yourself!” Wow. It seems so simple, so obvious now I've read it, that it should almost be a cliché.
We're off to Evandale today as an Anniversary celebratory outing. Going for a tasting at the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Co and wandering around the town. From what we saw the other night, it should be fun. Most of the main street seems almost like an antique.
Evandale was a lovely outing. The sauces, jams, relishes and mustards at TGS co where out of this world. We bought a jar of Summerberry Jam and a small bottle of a Thai Chilli sauce that absolutely wowed us. The Thai Chilli sauce has sultanas and ginger in it as well as the usual chilli, garlic, vinegar and salt. Makes for a fascinating flavour. We had lunch at a bakery/café called Ingeside Bakery. All the ingredients and other items they sell are made in Tassie. Tasmanian foods are just so good, it's hard to see why anyone in this island state would eat imported foods. With the exception of mustard seeds. While chatting with the lady at the TGS co earlier in the day, she mentioned the only imported item they used was Canadian mustard seeds because the Aussie ones just don't absorb the flavours in the sauces and mustards quite as well for some reason.
Tomorrow I'm going to pick one of my other stories and focus on it till it's ready for submission. I want to be able to have a quick turn around for when I hear if Stealers has been accepted or rejected. I've looked into other Sci Fi mags from around the world. Aurealis is the only one I've found that accepts email submissions. (In fact they now insist on it.) It seems awfully anachronistic for SCIENCE Fiction magazines to insist on hard copy in this day and age, but I guess I'll have to go along with it. After all, it would be silly of me to only submit my work to Aurealis, fine magazine that they are, it would be an extremely limiting behaviour on my part.
Three things I've learned today:
1} Don't be afraid to be brutal when in the rewriting process.
2} Canadian mustard seeds are more absorbent than Australian ones.
3} Café staff are almost always happy to substitute ingredients if you ask them to. (For lunch I wanted the Tasmanian Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Bree melt... but with chicken instead of the salmon. I wasn't going to ask, but then thought “what the hey” and presto... I love chicken cheese and asparagus, just add mushrooms and you're very close to perfection.)
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Stuck in the Fence
As I was waiting for the kettle to boil this morning for my initial heart starter, I heard the most horrible sound I can recall ever hearing. It sounded as though Basil was being run through a meat mincer and he wasn't happy about it. I raced outside to find he'd got himself caught in the fence between our yard and where the sheep reside. He was dangling by the front left paw, not touching the ground, and leaping about like a marlin on the hook. He snapped at me as I approached, so I came up behind him and held him in a bear hug while I lifted him up and out of the groove his paw was stuck in. On release he stood on three legs and I feared he may have a broken bone, the paw seemed to be at a funny angle. Fortunately it turns out he was just being cautious, he was running around on it in less than a minute, and the paw looked fine when I examined it more closely. He came inside to be comforted by Paula & I for a short while, but soon enough wanted to go outside again. Upon his exit, he immediately went over to the scene of the accident and started sniffing everything around the area. Basil was conducting a crime scene investigation and he wasn't going to miss any clue as to what went wrong so as not to have a repeat.
I've just been given an assignment to write down three things I learned today... for the next week. (Extra credit to do it for a month) So I'll put these at the bottom of the blogs.
I just got to a section entitled “Believe in Yourself” in Jeff's course. It's heartening to know I'm not the only one with those negative voices inside, telling me I'm washed up before I even start. He actually quoted a few of my inner voices verbatim.
Oh the dignity of cats. While I was making bread this morning, Lexi decided to jump up on the chair, on which I'd just put the bag of flour, only to find there wasn't sufficient room. She fell off. She strode away with her head and tail at high port as if to say “I meant to do that, I didn't really want to be on that chair anyway.”
Well, the parts for that computer I sold last week just arrived. Time to build my first Tasmanian made system to have it ready for installation on the morrow.
The trip to the post office to check the mail today wasn't the usual quiet walk with Basil. The Australian Ducati club came to town. It seems the club has an annual ride, this year it's through Tasmania. The local store was swamped even though they came in in dribs and drabs. The local dogs in the yards on the highway were beside themselves and they set Basil off. He was extremely hard to keep on the lead. He didn't know if he wanted to confront the dogs, the motorcycles or just run away from the whole ugly mess. After having dropped Basil off at home, I stopped and talked to a couple of riders. The first trip out had been a waste of time anyway as the post office was closed at that time. Shirley (the post mistress) must have been at home (next door to my home) for lunch. I'd tried to go see Sam (our policeman, see yesterdays post) for a chat, but he was out too, making the streets, well the street, safe no doubt. Anyway, the riders. Odd thing, the only riders who seemed to want to chat were the only ones not riding Ducatis. One was on a retro styled Triumph, though fairly new, that reminded me of a '79 Suzuki GSX 1100 I used to own, I used to call it Bessie. The other was on a Honda, though he said it was made in Italy, so I said “Oh, so it's an honorary Ducati” he smiled and nodded. I didn't know Honda had a factory there, apparently they have two.
I just spotted what looked like a tiny scorpion, but without a tail, climbing the wall. According to google and wikipedia, what I just saw was a pseudoscorpion. To quote wiki (something I'm loath to do, but desperate times...) “Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans since they prey on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies.” I regret having crushed it now.
Three things I learned today:
1} We have pseudoscorpions in our house, and they're beneficial.
2} Australia has a Ducati club and they go for annual rides.
3} Honda have two factories in Italy.
I've just been given an assignment to write down three things I learned today... for the next week. (Extra credit to do it for a month) So I'll put these at the bottom of the blogs.
I just got to a section entitled “Believe in Yourself” in Jeff's course. It's heartening to know I'm not the only one with those negative voices inside, telling me I'm washed up before I even start. He actually quoted a few of my inner voices verbatim.
Oh the dignity of cats. While I was making bread this morning, Lexi decided to jump up on the chair, on which I'd just put the bag of flour, only to find there wasn't sufficient room. She fell off. She strode away with her head and tail at high port as if to say “I meant to do that, I didn't really want to be on that chair anyway.”
Well, the parts for that computer I sold last week just arrived. Time to build my first Tasmanian made system to have it ready for installation on the morrow.
The trip to the post office to check the mail today wasn't the usual quiet walk with Basil. The Australian Ducati club came to town. It seems the club has an annual ride, this year it's through Tasmania. The local store was swamped even though they came in in dribs and drabs. The local dogs in the yards on the highway were beside themselves and they set Basil off. He was extremely hard to keep on the lead. He didn't know if he wanted to confront the dogs, the motorcycles or just run away from the whole ugly mess. After having dropped Basil off at home, I stopped and talked to a couple of riders. The first trip out had been a waste of time anyway as the post office was closed at that time. Shirley (the post mistress) must have been at home (next door to my home) for lunch. I'd tried to go see Sam (our policeman, see yesterdays post) for a chat, but he was out too, making the streets, well the street, safe no doubt. Anyway, the riders. Odd thing, the only riders who seemed to want to chat were the only ones not riding Ducatis. One was on a retro styled Triumph, though fairly new, that reminded me of a '79 Suzuki GSX 1100 I used to own, I used to call it Bessie. The other was on a Honda, though he said it was made in Italy, so I said “Oh, so it's an honorary Ducati” he smiled and nodded. I didn't know Honda had a factory there, apparently they have two.
I just spotted what looked like a tiny scorpion, but without a tail, climbing the wall. According to google and wikipedia, what I just saw was a pseudoscorpion. To quote wiki (something I'm loath to do, but desperate times...) “Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans since they prey on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies.” I regret having crushed it now.
Three things I learned today:
1} We have pseudoscorpions in our house, and they're beneficial.
2} Australia has a Ducati club and they go for annual rides.
3} Honda have two factories in Italy.
Monday 8 February 2010
The Seven Deadly Perils of Style
Continuing on through Jeff Carvers course today after a Sunday off for bad behaviour, I came across a subsection of the above mentioned chapter so important I'll put the web address here:
http://www.writesf.com/08_Lesson_05_Perils.html
"Here's another mistake to watch out for: not, as you might think, too many instances of he said and she said, but rather the temptation to use substitute phrases... The mistake is so common that there's a name for it: said-bookisms... The substitute phrases... generally only call attention to themselves while adding little power to the dialogue"
It makes such good sense. I know I've felt inclined to use some of these silly “said-bookisms” myself from time to time. Luckily, or perhaps through cowardice, to date none of my work that's seen the light of day (been shown to anyone other than myself) has had more than a smattering of dialogue, so it's not been something I've fallen victim to as yet.
It's a public holiday here in Tassie today... apparently. The Hobart Cup. I have to say I've never heard of it before, but it's obviously Tasmania's answer to the Melbourne Cup. According to the news last night, the Tasmanian horses aren't greatly favoured to win as there's a very strong field from out of state. Odd thing is, they only mentioned the names of the Tasmanian horses in the report. You've got to love regional news broadcasts. I remember we used to thoroughly enjoy the Illawarra news when we lived in Kiama. While the national news was reporting on trade negotiations with China and bushfires in Victoria destroying whole towns, the Illawarra news would focus on “a dastardly attack on a helpless old lady on the harbour front in Wollongong” when a purse snatcher had apparently thrown an eighty year old to the ground, or “a reckless teenager was caught doing 46Kms per hour over the speed limit on King Street”. The news here is not quite as parochial, though very nearly. Not too surprising given that Tasmania has a population roughly equal to that of the Illawarra area.
While reading through a section of the writers course on the importance of research, I had a bolt of lightning, well, inspiration. JC (Jeff Carver) mentioned, in passing, “Need to know about police procedure? Ask one of your local police officers.” As I thought to myself “never mind the plural there” as our town has only one, it occurred to me. What if in the vast reaches of post FTL space, there was such a sparsely populated region that there was only one policeman posted there. Being in space, it's unlikely he'd be as concerned with speeding as a terrestrial counterpart. What would his duties entail? What if he suddenly had to deal with something radically different. Something that would challenge even a well manned and better equipped space patrol “station”. Maybe I should go have a chat with Sam, our policeman. Paula and I just watched a double episode of Castle, a TV show about a writer who goes and hangs around a police officer for inspiration. Funny coincidence, but I rather suspect not only would Sam refuse such a request, it'd be pointless anyway. I mean, what kind of inspiration would I be likely to derive, especially for a Space Patrolman, from watching a country cop give a few interstate drivers speeding fines? Still, I may just ask him if he ever did have an interesting event he had to deal with... nah, he would have just called in the detectives from Launceston surely.
Tomorrow it'll have been a week since I submitted Dream Stealers. I know I shouldn't expect to hear back so soon, but I can't help but feel a nervous sort of excitement. I haven't felt this way since I competed in the state athletics championships back in the eighties.
http://www.writesf.com/08_Lesson_05_Perils.html
"Here's another mistake to watch out for: not, as you might think, too many instances of he said and she said, but rather the temptation to use substitute phrases... The mistake is so common that there's a name for it: said-bookisms... The substitute phrases... generally only call attention to themselves while adding little power to the dialogue"
It makes such good sense. I know I've felt inclined to use some of these silly “said-bookisms” myself from time to time. Luckily, or perhaps through cowardice, to date none of my work that's seen the light of day (been shown to anyone other than myself) has had more than a smattering of dialogue, so it's not been something I've fallen victim to as yet.
It's a public holiday here in Tassie today... apparently. The Hobart Cup. I have to say I've never heard of it before, but it's obviously Tasmania's answer to the Melbourne Cup. According to the news last night, the Tasmanian horses aren't greatly favoured to win as there's a very strong field from out of state. Odd thing is, they only mentioned the names of the Tasmanian horses in the report. You've got to love regional news broadcasts. I remember we used to thoroughly enjoy the Illawarra news when we lived in Kiama. While the national news was reporting on trade negotiations with China and bushfires in Victoria destroying whole towns, the Illawarra news would focus on “a dastardly attack on a helpless old lady on the harbour front in Wollongong” when a purse snatcher had apparently thrown an eighty year old to the ground, or “a reckless teenager was caught doing 46Kms per hour over the speed limit on King Street”. The news here is not quite as parochial, though very nearly. Not too surprising given that Tasmania has a population roughly equal to that of the Illawarra area.
While reading through a section of the writers course on the importance of research, I had a bolt of lightning, well, inspiration. JC (Jeff Carver) mentioned, in passing, “Need to know about police procedure? Ask one of your local police officers.” As I thought to myself “never mind the plural there” as our town has only one, it occurred to me. What if in the vast reaches of post FTL space, there was such a sparsely populated region that there was only one policeman posted there. Being in space, it's unlikely he'd be as concerned with speeding as a terrestrial counterpart. What would his duties entail? What if he suddenly had to deal with something radically different. Something that would challenge even a well manned and better equipped space patrol “station”. Maybe I should go have a chat with Sam, our policeman. Paula and I just watched a double episode of Castle, a TV show about a writer who goes and hangs around a police officer for inspiration. Funny coincidence, but I rather suspect not only would Sam refuse such a request, it'd be pointless anyway. I mean, what kind of inspiration would I be likely to derive, especially for a Space Patrolman, from watching a country cop give a few interstate drivers speeding fines? Still, I may just ask him if he ever did have an interesting event he had to deal with... nah, he would have just called in the detectives from Launceston surely.
Tomorrow it'll have been a week since I submitted Dream Stealers. I know I shouldn't expect to hear back so soon, but I can't help but feel a nervous sort of excitement. I haven't felt this way since I competed in the state athletics championships back in the eighties.
Saturday 6 February 2010
Smoke Gets in Your Thoat
I should add as a quick pre-note to today's blog that it's been pointed out to me the way I've been doing this up till now is wrong. I've been posting early in the day and adding to the post with edits throughout the rest of the day. This may well have potentially resulted in readers only seeing the first paragraph or two, unless they keep going back to it too. I apologise. I hearby undertake to keep this daily blog of mine unpublished till the end of each day, then put it all out in one fell swoop.
We used another mozzie coil last night, so no nocturnal dive bombers. The air was very still last night though, no breeze whatsoever. Unfortunately this exposed a weakness of the mosquito coil I hadn't thought of. The room filled with the incense like smoke, leaving my throat very raw and resulting in Paula's snoring to be even louder than normal.
Turns out I've instinctively been doing what Jeff Carver recommends for starting a story. “It's often best to open in the middle of an action” It always seemed the logical thing to do to capture a potential readers attention, I just didn't notice that I was doing it till now. Nice to have it spelt out for me what I was doing and why.
I just had a very odd new idea for a kind of character not previously written about... Something totally new and exciting. Stay tuned to this channel dear reader. I'd better not disclose to many details at this point as I think it's going to be the basis of my next publication attempt. Suffice it to say for now, this type of character is an abstract form.
I've moved on to dialogue now in the Carver writers course. Come to think of it, it may be the only way to portray my new characters without seeming a bit too Omniscient. Put them in as totally dialogue defined, no physicality at all. I'm still struggling a bit with how best to bring these characters to life, I can “see” them in my minds eye, I just haven't decided yet exactly how they're going to interact (or even if) with the world you and I happen to inhabit. I can see them involved in dialogue with each other... maybe that'll have to be my entire first story involving them. A dialogue between two or more of these “beings”, maybe “doings” would be a better description. You'll just have to wait for the story to emerge to decide for yourself.
The sheep on the property next door got some new room mates today. Five lambs have arrived. Basil is very excited!
Tomato soup for lunch. The old fashioned Campbell's in a can kind. The one where the can says to slowly stir on one can of water while cooking, or half a can of milk and half water for extra creaminess. I've always just used one whole can of milk with it, makes it so much better. Well, with a locally produced milk they do down here called “Real Milk”, it's out of this world.
Finishing early today. Well, it is Saturday after all.
We used another mozzie coil last night, so no nocturnal dive bombers. The air was very still last night though, no breeze whatsoever. Unfortunately this exposed a weakness of the mosquito coil I hadn't thought of. The room filled with the incense like smoke, leaving my throat very raw and resulting in Paula's snoring to be even louder than normal.
Turns out I've instinctively been doing what Jeff Carver recommends for starting a story. “It's often best to open in the middle of an action” It always seemed the logical thing to do to capture a potential readers attention, I just didn't notice that I was doing it till now. Nice to have it spelt out for me what I was doing and why.
I just had a very odd new idea for a kind of character not previously written about... Something totally new and exciting. Stay tuned to this channel dear reader. I'd better not disclose to many details at this point as I think it's going to be the basis of my next publication attempt. Suffice it to say for now, this type of character is an abstract form.
I've moved on to dialogue now in the Carver writers course. Come to think of it, it may be the only way to portray my new characters without seeming a bit too Omniscient. Put them in as totally dialogue defined, no physicality at all. I'm still struggling a bit with how best to bring these characters to life, I can “see” them in my minds eye, I just haven't decided yet exactly how they're going to interact (or even if) with the world you and I happen to inhabit. I can see them involved in dialogue with each other... maybe that'll have to be my entire first story involving them. A dialogue between two or more of these “beings”, maybe “doings” would be a better description. You'll just have to wait for the story to emerge to decide for yourself.
The sheep on the property next door got some new room mates today. Five lambs have arrived. Basil is very excited!
Tomato soup for lunch. The old fashioned Campbell's in a can kind. The one where the can says to slowly stir on one can of water while cooking, or half a can of milk and half water for extra creaminess. I've always just used one whole can of milk with it, makes it so much better. Well, with a locally produced milk they do down here called “Real Milk”, it's out of this world.
Finishing early today. Well, it is Saturday after all.
Friday 5 February 2010
Thanks be to Hypnos and the Blessed Wings of Morpheus
Those mosquito coils worked a treat! Thank heavens (and the above mentioned gods if you're so inclined) I don't know how many more nights I could have taken being dive bombed in the ears. Why do they always seem to target the ears (and occasionally the nostrils) anyway? Is there significant heat lost from the body through those various orifi that they're attracted to them as a heat source?
Having just been through my emails for the day, I noticed a new scam now doing the rounds. This one aimed at Bigpond (a large ISP in Australia) users, along the same lines as the standard bank phishing scams. Just as well I sent out that warning about email scams to my newsletter subscribers yesterday.
Jeff Carver's course has set me a tough one today. Aliens. One I've neatly avoided till now by basing my worlds early in the space opera developmental stages, pre-FTL, so confined to within our own somewhat limited solar system. I have thought about aliens before, I mean, what kind of sci fi writer with any self respect wouldn't? The thing that's always had me stop short with them before, is the same question that's been plaguing the worlds of biology, philosophy even theology for as long as these various forms of study have existed. What, when it comes down it, is life? Would we even recognise an alien life form if it popped up in our porridge. (To quote the late great Douglas Adams.) I'm going to have to have a long hard think about this one. Just how alien do I want my aliens? I certainly don't want to create yea olde man in a rubber suit type of alien, what's the point, it's been done to death. I'm thinking with my aliens, there will be two very interesting points of view to explore. Differences (obviously) and how those differences affect interactions with humans (who, for now at least will most likely be my main characters... for now... Hmmm) but of course the other potentially very interesting thing to explore may well be similarities, without which they never would have been encountered of course.
While thinking about all this, Paula and I popped out to pick up the mail. We took Basil with us and walked around the, for want of a better word, town. Today I suggested a quick stop off at the odd 'n sods shop up the road. It's called Billy Bags and, despite the tiny size of the town, is quite well known, even back in Kiama before we came here, our next door neighbour told us about the place. Paula had a ball in there while I was minding the dog outside, sniffing the life sized plastic cows (the dog, not me) and exploring the road side around the shop. Then Paula came out and said the shop keeper wanted a word with me. She'd signed up to the Dr Daves newsletter and had been meaning to get in touch about the several computers in her life, all running a whole lot slower than she'd like them to. Needless to say, I'll be back at some as yet unspecified date to rectify the situation for her.
So, Aliens. Note the capitol A. I've decided that my aliens will be very, very different. At least my first ones will be. So different in fact that they're not recognised as a life form at all for some time. I'm still mulling over exactly what form they'll take and how they'll be discovered, but I do have some vague ideas slowly starting to coalesce in my head.
What if the Tectonic plates that our continents rest on are actually alive? What if the Himalayas for example are a form a writing? How does a life-form with such a short life span as us communicate with such a long lived, slow thinking, slow moving, vast thing? It would be like expecting a microbe to communicate with us. No, even that's out of scale, a sub atomic virus, if such a thing could exist. Interesting... what about sub atomic life? I think that may have been done already, but in tandem with the outrageously huge other forms it could make an interesting dynamic. What if the Tectonic life forms are just the larval stage of planet sized life forms, and we're just parasites, or maybe some form of symbiote. Is tearing apart the world actually our function in assisting the gestation of these beings? Is that why wars always seem to be boiling away, ready to spill into ever bigger more dangerous conflagrations. I may just have my next short story idea here...
Pizza is a rare and precious thing, or so it seems in the midlands of Tasmania. Paula and I had decided to go to the pub for dinner last night, only to discover that they don't do counter meals on Fridays anymore, only Saturdays. So, we set out in search for somewhere else to eat. Twenty odd kilometers up the road, we hit the midland highway that runs between Launceston and Hobart and turned right, toward Lonny as the locals call it. We'd programmed our GPS to find us the nearest place to eat and it guided us to a gorgeous town called Evandale. We'll have to go back there some day soon. Not much point this night, as every food place in town shut at or before 8:00PM and it was 8:15 by the time we got there. We'd traveled over fifty kilometers by this time and where only twenty odd from Lonny so we decided to keep going. Luckily, we found a pizza take away joint in Perth. Excellent pizza, just an awful long way to go get it. Odd thing was, they heard my wife's American accent and assumed we must be from Hobart because it sounded different from what they usually got. Must not get too many tourists through there of a night.
Having just been through my emails for the day, I noticed a new scam now doing the rounds. This one aimed at Bigpond (a large ISP in Australia) users, along the same lines as the standard bank phishing scams. Just as well I sent out that warning about email scams to my newsletter subscribers yesterday.
Jeff Carver's course has set me a tough one today. Aliens. One I've neatly avoided till now by basing my worlds early in the space opera developmental stages, pre-FTL, so confined to within our own somewhat limited solar system. I have thought about aliens before, I mean, what kind of sci fi writer with any self respect wouldn't? The thing that's always had me stop short with them before, is the same question that's been plaguing the worlds of biology, philosophy even theology for as long as these various forms of study have existed. What, when it comes down it, is life? Would we even recognise an alien life form if it popped up in our porridge. (To quote the late great Douglas Adams.) I'm going to have to have a long hard think about this one. Just how alien do I want my aliens? I certainly don't want to create yea olde man in a rubber suit type of alien, what's the point, it's been done to death. I'm thinking with my aliens, there will be two very interesting points of view to explore. Differences (obviously) and how those differences affect interactions with humans (who, for now at least will most likely be my main characters... for now... Hmmm) but of course the other potentially very interesting thing to explore may well be similarities, without which they never would have been encountered of course.
While thinking about all this, Paula and I popped out to pick up the mail. We took Basil with us and walked around the, for want of a better word, town. Today I suggested a quick stop off at the odd 'n sods shop up the road. It's called Billy Bags and, despite the tiny size of the town, is quite well known, even back in Kiama before we came here, our next door neighbour told us about the place. Paula had a ball in there while I was minding the dog outside, sniffing the life sized plastic cows (the dog, not me) and exploring the road side around the shop. Then Paula came out and said the shop keeper wanted a word with me. She'd signed up to the Dr Daves newsletter and had been meaning to get in touch about the several computers in her life, all running a whole lot slower than she'd like them to. Needless to say, I'll be back at some as yet unspecified date to rectify the situation for her.
So, Aliens. Note the capitol A. I've decided that my aliens will be very, very different. At least my first ones will be. So different in fact that they're not recognised as a life form at all for some time. I'm still mulling over exactly what form they'll take and how they'll be discovered, but I do have some vague ideas slowly starting to coalesce in my head.
What if the Tectonic plates that our continents rest on are actually alive? What if the Himalayas for example are a form a writing? How does a life-form with such a short life span as us communicate with such a long lived, slow thinking, slow moving, vast thing? It would be like expecting a microbe to communicate with us. No, even that's out of scale, a sub atomic virus, if such a thing could exist. Interesting... what about sub atomic life? I think that may have been done already, but in tandem with the outrageously huge other forms it could make an interesting dynamic. What if the Tectonic life forms are just the larval stage of planet sized life forms, and we're just parasites, or maybe some form of symbiote. Is tearing apart the world actually our function in assisting the gestation of these beings? Is that why wars always seem to be boiling away, ready to spill into ever bigger more dangerous conflagrations. I may just have my next short story idea here...
Pizza is a rare and precious thing, or so it seems in the midlands of Tasmania. Paula and I had decided to go to the pub for dinner last night, only to discover that they don't do counter meals on Fridays anymore, only Saturdays. So, we set out in search for somewhere else to eat. Twenty odd kilometers up the road, we hit the midland highway that runs between Launceston and Hobart and turned right, toward Lonny as the locals call it. We'd programmed our GPS to find us the nearest place to eat and it guided us to a gorgeous town called Evandale. We'll have to go back there some day soon. Not much point this night, as every food place in town shut at or before 8:00PM and it was 8:15 by the time we got there. We'd traveled over fifty kilometers by this time and where only twenty odd from Lonny so we decided to keep going. Luckily, we found a pizza take away joint in Perth. Excellent pizza, just an awful long way to go get it. Odd thing was, they heard my wife's American accent and assumed we must be from Hobart because it sounded different from what they usually got. Must not get too many tourists through there of a night.
Thursday 4 February 2010
Dancing on the Ceiling.
Woke this morning to a Huntsman spider on the ceiling. Not a good thing in our household. Paula must be the only person in the world more creeped out by spiders than I am. I know Huntsmans are harmless (compared to smaller, deadlier spiders like the funnelweb...) and I may be 189cm tall and 120 Kilos of big hairy bloke (6'2.5" & 264lbs to our old timey folks) but the idea of getting too close to a spider the size of one of my hands... So, I waited in bed till it fell down. Paula got out of the room pretty quick then, but I'd noticed it fell onto a hat of hers. Gingerly, I picked up the hat, tip toed out to the living room where there was an open window, thrust the hat outside and shook it.
Cold and wet outside. The cats are clamouring for attention, walking in front of our screens etc... Basil (being a part Kiwi by breeding, thus born for cold and wet) is having a ball outside. I think he's currently working on expanding what is now his own personal swimming pond. We're going to have to do something about all these holes he's digging.
Time for my second cuppa, then I've got to write a newsletter for my clients. I think I'll let them know about the current batch of scams doing the email rounds in this one. Fake bank detail checks and that silly fake adobe program. A reminder of their security software routines would be a good thing too.
Just completed the newsletter. It's fairly dull, but at least it's informative and my DrDaves clients will benefit from the advice in it... if they heed it. Time for another coffee, my brain is slowing down to the point of stalling. Then, I'd better go get another jar of the stuff from the shop, we're running dangerously low.
Reading over Dream Stealers (the version I submitted to Aurealis) I spotted a silly typo and that somehow the paragraph indenting had gone haywire in the conversion to rtf format. I made the corrections and shot off a quick message to Stuart (the editor) but he said not to worry about re-submitting, but thanks for the heads up. I don't want to come over like a nervous parent who's first child is spending their first day in school (but I can't help feeling like it) so I've promised myself not to send him another email till I hear back about acceptance or rejection of the story. I should point out that I can't publish any part of the story here till (if) it gets published by them, as it's a condition of submission to Aurealis that all work be original (obviously) and unpublished until after publication in the Magazine.
I've been working on character development today (primarily) and a small refinement to the world creation for Belt Wars. I've added the following in the middle of the paragraph describing the first Belt War:
The Belt has a very hard time in the war too, as it needs Earth to supplement it's meagre food supply. Starvation is rife in the Belt during the war, they nonetheless prevail, but deep resentments are left on both sides.
As it seemed obvious to me at the time, I hadn't included it originally. Doing the character descriptions though (as per the next exercise in Jeff Carvers program) made me realise that just because it's in the back of my head, doesn't mean it's fully crystallised yet. Putting "pen" to "paper" in this fashion has helped me realise a few things about some of my characters I hadn't thought of before now, so I figured it made sense to apply the same logic to the worlds they lived in. Even if I don't use all the details I come up with, they're sitting there in my mind as I write about the events unfolding. They can't help but enrich the entire body of work.
Very tired tonight. Hope the new mozzie coils work as advertised. The mosquitoes just haven't let up lately and I can't take another nights broken sleep.
Cold and wet outside. The cats are clamouring for attention, walking in front of our screens etc... Basil (being a part Kiwi by breeding, thus born for cold and wet) is having a ball outside. I think he's currently working on expanding what is now his own personal swimming pond. We're going to have to do something about all these holes he's digging.
Time for my second cuppa, then I've got to write a newsletter for my clients. I think I'll let them know about the current batch of scams doing the email rounds in this one. Fake bank detail checks and that silly fake adobe program. A reminder of their security software routines would be a good thing too.
Just completed the newsletter. It's fairly dull, but at least it's informative and my DrDaves clients will benefit from the advice in it... if they heed it. Time for another coffee, my brain is slowing down to the point of stalling. Then, I'd better go get another jar of the stuff from the shop, we're running dangerously low.
Reading over Dream Stealers (the version I submitted to Aurealis) I spotted a silly typo and that somehow the paragraph indenting had gone haywire in the conversion to rtf format. I made the corrections and shot off a quick message to Stuart (the editor) but he said not to worry about re-submitting, but thanks for the heads up. I don't want to come over like a nervous parent who's first child is spending their first day in school (but I can't help feeling like it) so I've promised myself not to send him another email till I hear back about acceptance or rejection of the story. I should point out that I can't publish any part of the story here till (if) it gets published by them, as it's a condition of submission to Aurealis that all work be original (obviously) and unpublished until after publication in the Magazine.
I've been working on character development today (primarily) and a small refinement to the world creation for Belt Wars. I've added the following in the middle of the paragraph describing the first Belt War:
The Belt has a very hard time in the war too, as it needs Earth to supplement it's meagre food supply. Starvation is rife in the Belt during the war, they nonetheless prevail, but deep resentments are left on both sides.
As it seemed obvious to me at the time, I hadn't included it originally. Doing the character descriptions though (as per the next exercise in Jeff Carvers program) made me realise that just because it's in the back of my head, doesn't mean it's fully crystallised yet. Putting "pen" to "paper" in this fashion has helped me realise a few things about some of my characters I hadn't thought of before now, so I figured it made sense to apply the same logic to the worlds they lived in. Even if I don't use all the details I come up with, they're sitting there in my mind as I write about the events unfolding. They can't help but enrich the entire body of work.
Very tired tonight. Hope the new mozzie coils work as advertised. The mosquitoes just haven't let up lately and I can't take another nights broken sleep.
Wednesday 3 February 2010
More to Explore
Continuing on with the Jeffrey A Carver online writing course this morning, I came across a world building exercise that's made me think there may be more juice to extract yet from my first submission. Don't get me wrong, the story's complete, submitted and ready for the public (is the public ready for it?)
He had me imagine a world in which there's only one fundamental difference from our own. Then come up with a list of consequences. I took the world of the Dream Stealers, from the recently submitted story, and came to the realisation that it would make a great backdrop to a series of stories, maybe even books.
This is what I came up with:
1} (The Point of Difference) The Dream Stealers exist and feed on imagination, ingenuity, and ambition.
2} Creative and or ambitious people seem to “burn out” at a surprisingly young age
3} Creativity is all youth-centric.
4} Artists, writers, scientists & entrepreneurs tend to be idolised but at the same time can't help but feel isolated.
5} Writers , scientists and artists (as well as of course rock stars) tour like, well, rock stars.
6} The burn outs are never talked about, and fade into obscurity very rapidly.
7} Science still progresses, but in very erratic fits and starts.
8} Very few radio stations actually focus on music, far more talk back. (Oh God NO, the HUMANITY!))
9} Most major companies lack a recognisable “face” as they're run entirely by committees.
10} Politicians (and all the creative types listed above) tend to be in their 20's or younger, rarely late 20's.
We shall see what comes of it. Dream Stealers wasn't my preferred style, I'm more a space opera kinda guy. But it does give me another playground to hang out in.
Just noticed (to my mild annoyance) that my posts are being date stamped from the previous day. Must be on American time zone for some reason, I can't find a setting to change for that. I've already put in my profile that I'm in Australia. I did change the spell check setting to UK English, it hasn't made a difference, still wants me to use far too many Z's and not enough U's for my liking.
I've spent a portion of the rest of my day solidifying my idea for another "world" to base some stories in. A pre-FTL space opera kind of place if you will.
Belt Wars and Aftermath
Earth's resources are just about exhausted. In a bid to keep the wheels of industry turning, and to stop the rapid slide into barbarism that would result from the inevitable war for the dwindling resources (not to mention living space) of mother earth, the nations and corporations of the earth as a joint project settle the asteroid belt with a mining community. They establish hydroponic farms with artificial suns, but the Belt's primary source of food will always be Earth. Hollowed out asteroids make for a handy start as basic housing. As it's so far from earth, they establish families, schools etc...
Local governance comes to the fore as an issue after a time as the Belter society begins to feel like second class citizens, taken advantage of by the greedy grasping corporate and government sponsors of earth. Revolution.
The Belt breaks away from Earth control in a long drawn out, brutal struggle. One Earth can't possibly win because of the distances involved and the logistical nightmare of building and supplying a military like no other that's existed previously, without the raw materials available to do so. Earth becomes a primitive (comparatively speaking) agrarian society who's sole stock in trade is biological. Food, textiles, people etc...
A new religion of sorts slowly starts to form among the Belters, something akin to the ancient superstitions of the mariners of earth.
Another war breaks out, with the pretence of religious tension(actually it's more economic factors, and the growing feeling of disaffection with the lot left them by the first Belt War.) Earth being the aggressor this time, and with one advantage over the last time in that the Belters aren't one cohesive political bloc any-more. Factions within the belt side with Earth. The mainstream Belters prevail, but only just and the peace is tenuous at best. Earth citizens are subjected to a rigorous evaluation process if they want to emigrate to the belt and travel for pleasure is out of the question due to the vast distances involved as only the richest of the Belt community can afford such luxuries, certainly not any of the poor beaten down masses from Earth.
So... I now have two playgrounds established in which my mind can play. The beauty of Belt Wars is that I can base a story anywhere along the timescale there too. On either side of the conflicts, or with the conflicts/tensions just sitting there as a background.
Carver put a link in to one of his short stories, an excellent example of short story fiction. In just under ten thousand words, he created not one world, but two linked in a very special way. His main character leaped off the page into vivid reality. Can't say more at this point as I'm awaiting his permission to put links to his work in here. You may consider dear reader perhaps purchasing one of his books. Dragon Rigger perhaps. A fascinating blend of sci fi and fantasy.
?:-) Got his permission (Only took 15 minutes, impressively fast and very helpful, these sci fi people I've been dealing with) so without further ado :
http://www.starrigger.net/mountain.htm
enjoy. I found it to be a rich rewarding read. (Almost sounds like a wine appreciation society blurb... rich, full of body with a hint of plum and cinnamon...)
I've not done any "actual writing" today, though I do feel I've laid the groundwork for a whole lot more to come. I did know about the idea of world creation before today, it just never occurred to me that short stories need it just as much as books do.
Yee Haa!! Just before bed (While Paula was reading through the blog for typos) I fished through the settings again, this time I went to the publishing tab and found the timezone and Australian English settings. I know it may seem petty to any American readers, but we Australians are probably even more particular than the English about spelling honour and colour with the U's in place, and randomise with an S rather than a Z. Many of us feel it's one of the last things keeping us from becoming the 52nd state. (Hi Canada, how're you doing up there?)
He had me imagine a world in which there's only one fundamental difference from our own. Then come up with a list of consequences. I took the world of the Dream Stealers, from the recently submitted story, and came to the realisation that it would make a great backdrop to a series of stories, maybe even books.
This is what I came up with:
1} (The Point of Difference) The Dream Stealers exist and feed on imagination, ingenuity, and ambition.
2} Creative and or ambitious people seem to “burn out” at a surprisingly young age
3} Creativity is all youth-centric.
4} Artists, writers, scientists & entrepreneurs tend to be idolised but at the same time can't help but feel isolated.
5} Writers , scientists and artists (as well as of course rock stars) tour like, well, rock stars.
6} The burn outs are never talked about, and fade into obscurity very rapidly.
7} Science still progresses, but in very erratic fits and starts.
8} Very few radio stations actually focus on music, far more talk back. (Oh God NO, the HUMANITY!))
9} Most major companies lack a recognisable “face” as they're run entirely by committees.
10} Politicians (and all the creative types listed above) tend to be in their 20's or younger, rarely late 20's.
We shall see what comes of it. Dream Stealers wasn't my preferred style, I'm more a space opera kinda guy. But it does give me another playground to hang out in.
Just noticed (to my mild annoyance) that my posts are being date stamped from the previous day. Must be on American time zone for some reason, I can't find a setting to change for that. I've already put in my profile that I'm in Australia. I did change the spell check setting to UK English, it hasn't made a difference, still wants me to use far too many Z's and not enough U's for my liking.
I've spent a portion of the rest of my day solidifying my idea for another "world" to base some stories in. A pre-FTL space opera kind of place if you will.
Belt Wars and Aftermath
Earth's resources are just about exhausted. In a bid to keep the wheels of industry turning, and to stop the rapid slide into barbarism that would result from the inevitable war for the dwindling resources (not to mention living space) of mother earth, the nations and corporations of the earth as a joint project settle the asteroid belt with a mining community. They establish hydroponic farms with artificial suns, but the Belt's primary source of food will always be Earth. Hollowed out asteroids make for a handy start as basic housing. As it's so far from earth, they establish families, schools etc...
Local governance comes to the fore as an issue after a time as the Belter society begins to feel like second class citizens, taken advantage of by the greedy grasping corporate and government sponsors of earth. Revolution.
The Belt breaks away from Earth control in a long drawn out, brutal struggle. One Earth can't possibly win because of the distances involved and the logistical nightmare of building and supplying a military like no other that's existed previously, without the raw materials available to do so. Earth becomes a primitive (comparatively speaking) agrarian society who's sole stock in trade is biological. Food, textiles, people etc...
A new religion of sorts slowly starts to form among the Belters, something akin to the ancient superstitions of the mariners of earth.
Another war breaks out, with the pretence of religious tension(actually it's more economic factors, and the growing feeling of disaffection with the lot left them by the first Belt War.) Earth being the aggressor this time, and with one advantage over the last time in that the Belters aren't one cohesive political bloc any-more. Factions within the belt side with Earth. The mainstream Belters prevail, but only just and the peace is tenuous at best. Earth citizens are subjected to a rigorous evaluation process if they want to emigrate to the belt and travel for pleasure is out of the question due to the vast distances involved as only the richest of the Belt community can afford such luxuries, certainly not any of the poor beaten down masses from Earth.
So... I now have two playgrounds established in which my mind can play. The beauty of Belt Wars is that I can base a story anywhere along the timescale there too. On either side of the conflicts, or with the conflicts/tensions just sitting there as a background.
Carver put a link in to one of his short stories, an excellent example of short story fiction. In just under ten thousand words, he created not one world, but two linked in a very special way. His main character leaped off the page into vivid reality. Can't say more at this point as I'm awaiting his permission to put links to his work in here. You may consider dear reader perhaps purchasing one of his books. Dragon Rigger perhaps. A fascinating blend of sci fi and fantasy.
?:-) Got his permission (Only took 15 minutes, impressively fast and very helpful, these sci fi people I've been dealing with) so without further ado :
http://www.starrigger.net/mountain.htm
enjoy. I found it to be a rich rewarding read. (Almost sounds like a wine appreciation society blurb... rich, full of body with a hint of plum and cinnamon...)
I've not done any "actual writing" today, though I do feel I've laid the groundwork for a whole lot more to come. I did know about the idea of world creation before today, it just never occurred to me that short stories need it just as much as books do.
Yee Haa!! Just before bed (While Paula was reading through the blog for typos) I fished through the settings again, this time I went to the publishing tab and found the timezone and Australian English settings. I know it may seem petty to any American readers, but we Australians are probably even more particular than the English about spelling honour and colour with the U's in place, and randomise with an S rather than a Z. Many of us feel it's one of the last things keeping us from becoming the 52nd state. (Hi Canada, how're you doing up there?)
Tuesday 2 February 2010
There's Oil in Them Thar Hills!
While waging war on the thistles this morning I struck oil, well okay, water. But it was a gusher! Had my lovely wife call the real estate agent for advice while I tried to stem the flow. I couldn't find a stop cock, so I tried (in my useless sort of way) wrapping a towel around the pipe. I should mention, the "mains" pipe leading into the house is a small plastic affair running about a millimeter below the surface. The real estate agent, who are just over 100 Kilometers from here (they've been wonderful, helpful and welcoming, as everyone here in Tassie has) informed us that the nearest plumber is in a town 50 Kms from here. (Have I mentioned previously just how small this town is?) They said the next door neighbour would know where the stop cock was... He wasn't there, but his son Phil was, so we both looked again. Still no joy. While I started adding up in my head how much a plumber and his call out fee was going to be from so far away, Phil nipped back next door and got a plastic pipe join, of exactly the right size and shape, and proceeded to fit same to the damaged pipe. Within 5 minutes we had a fully functional, non-leaking pipe again. And I was left feeling humbled by the generosity of country folk (I'd never actually been introduced to Phil prior to this) and the raw practical ability some people have to cope with situations that I'm totally at sea with.
Basil has now of course been digging around the area of the former leak, so the pipe that had been just below the surface is now fully exposed for maybe a meter of it's length.
I just went out the back and realised that the plum tree on which we've been waiting for the fruit to ripen is actually a granny smith apple tree. We'd just assumed it was a plum tree because the other trees around it are all cherry plum trees of various types. Needless to say, I've picked some apples.
Time for my second cuppa then into setting out Writers Block into a format that Aurealis wont reject out of hand due to silly formatting gaffs etc...
Well, I submitted it. Heard back from the editor surprisingly fast. Apparently this tiny little town was a holiday spot for him in his youth (35 years ago). Anyhow, he'll apparently let me know in a week or so.
Basil has now of course been digging around the area of the former leak, so the pipe that had been just below the surface is now fully exposed for maybe a meter of it's length.
I just went out the back and realised that the plum tree on which we've been waiting for the fruit to ripen is actually a granny smith apple tree. We'd just assumed it was a plum tree because the other trees around it are all cherry plum trees of various types. Needless to say, I've picked some apples.
Time for my second cuppa then into setting out Writers Block into a format that Aurealis wont reject out of hand due to silly formatting gaffs etc...
Well, I submitted it. Heard back from the editor surprisingly fast. Apparently this tiny little town was a holiday spot for him in his youth (35 years ago). Anyhow, he'll apparently let me know in a week or so.
Monday 1 February 2010
Dangling for the Dog
Woke up this morning to a phone call from one of my NSW clients. While trying to talk him through his computer difficulty, Basil was convinced I was playing with him, dangling a "play thing" tantalisingly in front... I sleep O'Naturale, and Basil being a Border Collie German Shep cross only just turned 1 year old thinks everythings a play thing. My client noticed I seemed distracted, I couldn't think of a way to describe what was going on at this end, so I said Basil needed his breakfast. (Sausage if he could get it.)
Cold again today. Tassie is going to get some getting used to.
Just put some "finishing touches" on Dream Stealers. I'll just get a friend or two to look it over, then... pause to build up courage... submit it to Aurealis (an Australian Sci-Fi/horror magazine) Big step for me, I've never submitted any of my work to an actual commercial entity before, but what's the worst that can happen? I could still be unpublished... big fat hairy deal, no change right? Well... I'm also currently unrejected... but that's silly. I know full well I'll get a whole lot more rejections than acceptances as I follow this path. Oh well, for now procrastination wins out, as I did say to at least one person he could proof read for me, so I've got to wait till I hear back from him.
No reply yet from one of my would be proof readers, but a very positive response from another one. She seems to have genuinely enjoyed the read. Very gratifying. I just want to inject a little more "colour" into it. Immerse the reader thoroughly into the whole feeling of the story.
Sold my first computer in Tassie today. Can't wait to get the stuff from the couriers so I can build and deliver it. Nothing will spread my reputation down here faster than having a few of my systems floating around.
Revision revision, and more revision. But I think I've whipped Dream Stealers into shape for submission now. Just a shame my editors are variously in the UK and USA. Thinking of changing the title back to it's original "Writer Block"
Time to go play with Basil for a while, then watch another episode of BSG (next gen)
I'm done writing for the day, my mind is feeling decidedly mushy.
Cold again today. Tassie is going to get some getting used to.
Just put some "finishing touches" on Dream Stealers. I'll just get a friend or two to look it over, then... pause to build up courage... submit it to Aurealis (an Australian Sci-Fi/horror magazine) Big step for me, I've never submitted any of my work to an actual commercial entity before, but what's the worst that can happen? I could still be unpublished... big fat hairy deal, no change right? Well... I'm also currently unrejected... but that's silly. I know full well I'll get a whole lot more rejections than acceptances as I follow this path. Oh well, for now procrastination wins out, as I did say to at least one person he could proof read for me, so I've got to wait till I hear back from him.
No reply yet from one of my would be proof readers, but a very positive response from another one. She seems to have genuinely enjoyed the read. Very gratifying. I just want to inject a little more "colour" into it. Immerse the reader thoroughly into the whole feeling of the story.
Sold my first computer in Tassie today. Can't wait to get the stuff from the couriers so I can build and deliver it. Nothing will spread my reputation down here faster than having a few of my systems floating around.
Revision revision, and more revision. But I think I've whipped Dream Stealers into shape for submission now. Just a shame my editors are variously in the UK and USA. Thinking of changing the title back to it's original "Writer Block"
Time to go play with Basil for a while, then watch another episode of BSG (next gen)
I'm done writing for the day, my mind is feeling decidedly mushy.
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