Hello everyone! I hope your week has seen you well so far. Mine has been interesting, and today will be a continuation of it. Work has been setting up classes to help everyone who isn't relocating get back into the workforce, which is really nice of them to do. I'm learning a lot, and while I might not have reached that 'Holy crap I need a job right now!' stage of panic, I'm making sure to write down as much as I can so that when/if that happens, I'll be ready.
For now though, let's try and focus on things that are nice. Like writing! Last week we talked about how doing some research will save you from pain and suffering when making a story set in a real-world location. Today I want to expand on that a little, since it's not like worlds you're completely making up won't need that too.
Let's say you're making a fantasy world, on a planet in some far off galaxy where things are rad and magic really works like it does in D&D or Harry Potter. Now you've already established your laws the world will follow (reference back to those posts about world creation), and now you need to actually design it. What's it climate like, is it similar to Earth, how many races are there. This is like research in that you'll need to look up how different climates actually are, especially if you're not familiar with them. I don't care how smart you are, if you live in say, Hawaii, you aren't going to instantly know exactly what things are like in Wisconsin in July on a Tuesday every year. (and if you do, then....what about Georgia?)
This is different from establishing the laws your world has to follow in that anything you design with the world is already going to be following them. You'll also need to come up with the food chain of the world. If your human-like race is at the top of it, figure out what made them get there. If they only think they're at the top, what don't they know about? Is there a piece of society that worships a long-since-forgotten deity? Go look up how people used to that in our world, maybe similar to the Mayans or feudal Japan or China, or even Ancient Egypt. Is magic frowned upon, and if so how does society handle it being there? Go look up information during the Inquisition, which would be helpful if you're trying to make it suspenseful and dramatic for the main characters.
My point is there's always going to be something you need to do research on, even if you don't think it would be necessary. While it's fun to pull stuff out of hats and make everything up, and I'm not saying that isn't possible, if you have some kind of basis for that thing you're putting together it will make things incredibly easier to keep track of.
Thanks for stopping by today. It looks like we're almost up to 2000 views, if we can do that by the end of Friday I'll put up something nice for everyone on Monday! I hope we get there, I believe in you, I always have!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
04/16/2012 Magnificent Monday!
Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope this weekend saw you all well. Mine was rather nice, though Sunday (and apparently today) was spent dealing with a sore back. I must have done something strange in my sleep, so my hope is that it's only temporary. Luckily back issues likely won't get in the way of progress, so I'll hopefully get a decent amount of writing done this week.
I keep realizing that I need to get a new laptop, and while I know there's always the 'Don't go with that brand, brand X is better in all ways' arguments, I've already decided on a brand, so that part's already done. I won't say what it is here, because as much as I would love a discussion thread to start up, I would prefer it not be a flame war. All I will say is that is won't be a Mac or Apple product. For some reason when I get a hold of one, all computer/tech knowledge leaves my brain and I don't have the slightest idea on how to use it.
Each day I have to fight with my Shift key though I'm reminded just how badly I need a new laptop though. I just need to do a little more saving so I can get it, and luckily it's been agreed in the apartment that the laptop is not a frivolous expense, so yay for that!
I've also been working on drawing a bit more while at work. It gives time for ideas to marinate for stories and also helps me flesh out how the characters actually look. If you've stopped by the Facebook page for 'The Light Rises' you've seen Amelia already. I'm debating whether or not the put up any of the others, mostly because of the lack of response from the first one. I can always post them up here as well, so if there's any request to see them, please let me know and I'll do my best to oblige.
For now though I must be off. Work is still crazy with things closing in 2 moths, and it's a matter of trying to get things lined up for after that happens. I believe I'm under a bit more stress than I believe, which is actually kind of annoying, but that also means I get to write more to wind down! I suppose that means my stress is a win for everyone else...wait...how is that fair? Anyway, I'll see everyone back here on Wednesday!
I keep realizing that I need to get a new laptop, and while I know there's always the 'Don't go with that brand, brand X is better in all ways' arguments, I've already decided on a brand, so that part's already done. I won't say what it is here, because as much as I would love a discussion thread to start up, I would prefer it not be a flame war. All I will say is that is won't be a Mac or Apple product. For some reason when I get a hold of one, all computer/tech knowledge leaves my brain and I don't have the slightest idea on how to use it.
Each day I have to fight with my Shift key though I'm reminded just how badly I need a new laptop though. I just need to do a little more saving so I can get it, and luckily it's been agreed in the apartment that the laptop is not a frivolous expense, so yay for that!
I've also been working on drawing a bit more while at work. It gives time for ideas to marinate for stories and also helps me flesh out how the characters actually look. If you've stopped by the Facebook page for 'The Light Rises' you've seen Amelia already. I'm debating whether or not the put up any of the others, mostly because of the lack of response from the first one. I can always post them up here as well, so if there's any request to see them, please let me know and I'll do my best to oblige.
For now though I must be off. Work is still crazy with things closing in 2 moths, and it's a matter of trying to get things lined up for after that happens. I believe I'm under a bit more stress than I believe, which is actually kind of annoying, but that also means I get to write more to wind down! I suppose that means my stress is a win for everyone else...wait...how is that fair? Anyway, I'll see everyone back here on Wednesday!
Friday, April 13, 2012
04/13/2012 Fantastic Friday!
Welcome back everyone for Friday the 13th! I know that this day tends to have a bad reputation, but I've always enjoyed it, so I hope you will too! I wanted to get to things right away, so let's do just that!
Today I bring you 'Justice' by Richard Davila. It's about Rictor Davis, a young man born with inhuman abilities that has decided he's going to use them to clean up his neighborhood. Superheroes are generally fun, so I wanted to show this to everyone.
Now, as with a story a bit back, there's quite a bit of profanity to start, so hopefully you'll be able to just sit back and relax as all the people doing that get what they deserve. Rictor has taken the name Justice for his alter persona, and has decided to stop crime, like all of it, in his area of Western New York.
His goal is to bring hope back to his home, even as the darkness murder and drug dealing continue to build up around him, and people lose faith in each other. However, his battle is uphill and there are days he wonders if what he's doing is making a difference.
"Justice" is a full-length novel and available for $2.99 on Smashwords. I recommend this story for anyone who wants to make a difference. It's satisfying to read, since there are so many times we see something and feel powerless to do anything, and Justice takes it into his own hands to fight off the bad guys.
Thanks everyone for stopping by again. This was another productive week and I'm glad I got to share it with all of you. Come back on Monday, I'll be here!
Today I bring you 'Justice' by Richard Davila. It's about Rictor Davis, a young man born with inhuman abilities that has decided he's going to use them to clean up his neighborhood. Superheroes are generally fun, so I wanted to show this to everyone.
Now, as with a story a bit back, there's quite a bit of profanity to start, so hopefully you'll be able to just sit back and relax as all the people doing that get what they deserve. Rictor has taken the name Justice for his alter persona, and has decided to stop crime, like all of it, in his area of Western New York.
His goal is to bring hope back to his home, even as the darkness murder and drug dealing continue to build up around him, and people lose faith in each other. However, his battle is uphill and there are days he wonders if what he's doing is making a difference.
"Justice" is a full-length novel and available for $2.99 on Smashwords. I recommend this story for anyone who wants to make a difference. It's satisfying to read, since there are so many times we see something and feel powerless to do anything, and Justice takes it into his own hands to fight off the bad guys.
Thanks everyone for stopping by again. This was another productive week and I'm glad I got to share it with all of you. Come back on Monday, I'll be here!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
04/11/2012 Writing Wednesday!
Good day everyone. You may notice this post is up a bit earlier than normal, that would be because there is a job fair I'm going to that requires I be awake at something closer to a more 'normal' hour of the day. While I disagree with the time, I understand it it for my future and will accept it.
Today I wanted to look at how to handle research in writing. Unless you're going for high fantasy or science fiction on a world separate from Earth, there are going to be things that can be located or referenced in real life. Now back before things like the Internet this wasn't nearly as much of an issue, but now someone can read/see a reference, get curious about it, then (in many cases, mine included) pull out their phone and do some fact checking. This means that even something like mythological references must be researched because if you get one tiny detail backwards it's going to be time for a flame-war.
Now, unlike college thesis', Wikipedia is a fairly good source. Especially if what you're looking up is just a general idea or reminder of what something is. For example, in one of my stories I need to figure out the layout for the Underworld, and the path the character needs to take while there. This is going to take them through the Underworlds of both Greek and Egyptian, and while I know about Greek fairly well, Egyptian is where I start getting lost. So I hopped over to Wikipedia, looked up Du'at, and got a fairly good outline for what I needed.
If your stories are in real-life cities, consulting a map will be useful as well. I for one don't travel much, so when I get around to editing my stories I'll need to look at a map of London and also modern day New York City, just to make sure the distances and general neighborhoods are correct. Think of all of this like all those movies that say they're set in Seattle, but the skyline is obviously Vancouver BC. Sure it works for things on the ground level, but pull back and people are going to start giggling when they don't see the Space Needle.
You need to do some amount of work for your stories besides writing them. Now, sure you can wait until you get to the re-write/editing process, since the most important part is actually getting the full idea down, but when it comes time to start putting the finished product together you need to make sure things are consistent. Like I said before, I blame the Internet for pretty much all of this necessity. I'm also not saying that taking a myth and playing on it yourself a little is out of the question, but there are going to be certain things people are going to catch, no matter how small the detail, and it is going to just shock you when they do.
I appreciate everyone stopping by to see my tired typing. I hope you all come back on Friday for my weekly review as well! Until then, I hope you all have a good rest of your week, and wish me luck!
Today I wanted to look at how to handle research in writing. Unless you're going for high fantasy or science fiction on a world separate from Earth, there are going to be things that can be located or referenced in real life. Now back before things like the Internet this wasn't nearly as much of an issue, but now someone can read/see a reference, get curious about it, then (in many cases, mine included) pull out their phone and do some fact checking. This means that even something like mythological references must be researched because if you get one tiny detail backwards it's going to be time for a flame-war.
Now, unlike college thesis', Wikipedia is a fairly good source. Especially if what you're looking up is just a general idea or reminder of what something is. For example, in one of my stories I need to figure out the layout for the Underworld, and the path the character needs to take while there. This is going to take them through the Underworlds of both Greek and Egyptian, and while I know about Greek fairly well, Egyptian is where I start getting lost. So I hopped over to Wikipedia, looked up Du'at, and got a fairly good outline for what I needed.
If your stories are in real-life cities, consulting a map will be useful as well. I for one don't travel much, so when I get around to editing my stories I'll need to look at a map of London and also modern day New York City, just to make sure the distances and general neighborhoods are correct. Think of all of this like all those movies that say they're set in Seattle, but the skyline is obviously Vancouver BC. Sure it works for things on the ground level, but pull back and people are going to start giggling when they don't see the Space Needle.
You need to do some amount of work for your stories besides writing them. Now, sure you can wait until you get to the re-write/editing process, since the most important part is actually getting the full idea down, but when it comes time to start putting the finished product together you need to make sure things are consistent. Like I said before, I blame the Internet for pretty much all of this necessity. I'm also not saying that taking a myth and playing on it yourself a little is out of the question, but there are going to be certain things people are going to catch, no matter how small the detail, and it is going to just shock you when they do.
I appreciate everyone stopping by to see my tired typing. I hope you all come back on Friday for my weekly review as well! Until then, I hope you all have a good rest of your week, and wish me luck!
Monday, April 9, 2012
04/09/2012 Magnificent Monday!
Good morning everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend and got to do some much-needed relaxing. On Saturday I got to go to the anime convention, Sakura-Con, and it was kind of nostalgic. I hadn't gone for about 4 years, and it was really neat to go back, though I do remember one of the reasons why I generally got a hotel room to stay in; somewhere to go and rest away from giant crowds of people!
Progress in 'Rending the Seal' is coming along quite nicely, even if I am getting concerned about the length. It's longer than 'The Light Rises' and the page count is only going to go up once I actually format chapters into it. I know it'll be fixed when editing happens, but I've been trying to figure out what's important and what can be cut out, and it's becoming difficult.
Things at work are still crazy, and that has made it so the process in 'Feathers of the Dead' has slowed, but I also think I need to marinate some ideas regarding that story, so it's probably for the best. It's kind of hard to have writing be one of the ways you calm down and relax, but not be able to. In the spare time I do have, I've been drawing a bit more, so that seems to help some, however I will make more progress on that story. I'd love to be able to finish it before my center closes and the panic really sets in. (Unless I have a new job by then, then there won't be panic, only rescheduling)
Thanks everyone again for stopping by. I will be back on Wednesday where we'll talk about more writing stuff. Until then, I hope you all have a nice start to your week!
Progress in 'Rending the Seal' is coming along quite nicely, even if I am getting concerned about the length. It's longer than 'The Light Rises' and the page count is only going to go up once I actually format chapters into it. I know it'll be fixed when editing happens, but I've been trying to figure out what's important and what can be cut out, and it's becoming difficult.
Things at work are still crazy, and that has made it so the process in 'Feathers of the Dead' has slowed, but I also think I need to marinate some ideas regarding that story, so it's probably for the best. It's kind of hard to have writing be one of the ways you calm down and relax, but not be able to. In the spare time I do have, I've been drawing a bit more, so that seems to help some, however I will make more progress on that story. I'd love to be able to finish it before my center closes and the panic really sets in. (Unless I have a new job by then, then there won't be panic, only rescheduling)
Thanks everyone again for stopping by. I will be back on Wednesday where we'll talk about more writing stuff. Until then, I hope you all have a nice start to your week!
Friday, April 6, 2012
04/06/2012 Fantastic Friday!
Thanks for stopping by everyone! I apologize for not having anything on Wednesday, but I seriously just needed some me-time. With things being as crazy as they are right now, I needed time to just relax and not worry about stuff. I appreciate your patience for letting me have that.
For today though, I thought we'd look at 'Lesser Gods' by Tyler Vitt. It's a bit different from what I normally put up, so I hope you like it.
In the city of Haven, everything is protected by a Shield that is strengthened by divine energy. The world outside the Shield is covered in a poisonous mist, so venturing beyond it is certain death. The city is also protected by the Seraphim, angelic hosts that act as messengers and voices of His will.
When the attendant keeping Uriel in check loses track of his Seraph, eyes start to turn to him suspiciously. Uriel looked upon the people being protected as unworthy and weak. With Uriel missing, there's fear of what he'll do, so he must be found at all costs.
Anything that deals with the myth of the various angels I find incredibly interesting. It shows they aren't just the pretty people in robes and wings, but rather are the warriors and parts of an army that should be feared/respected. 'Lesser Gods' is currently available at Smashwords for $.99.
Thanks everyone for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this story as you have the others I've posted up. This weekend will involve me running around at hours too early for me anymore, but hopefully it'll be fun. I'll see everyone back here on Monday!
For today though, I thought we'd look at 'Lesser Gods' by Tyler Vitt. It's a bit different from what I normally put up, so I hope you like it.
In the city of Haven, everything is protected by a Shield that is strengthened by divine energy. The world outside the Shield is covered in a poisonous mist, so venturing beyond it is certain death. The city is also protected by the Seraphim, angelic hosts that act as messengers and voices of His will.
When the attendant keeping Uriel in check loses track of his Seraph, eyes start to turn to him suspiciously. Uriel looked upon the people being protected as unworthy and weak. With Uriel missing, there's fear of what he'll do, so he must be found at all costs.
Anything that deals with the myth of the various angels I find incredibly interesting. It shows they aren't just the pretty people in robes and wings, but rather are the warriors and parts of an army that should be feared/respected. 'Lesser Gods' is currently available at Smashwords for $.99.
Thanks everyone for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this story as you have the others I've posted up. This weekend will involve me running around at hours too early for me anymore, but hopefully it'll be fun. I'll see everyone back here on Monday!
Monday, April 2, 2012
04/02/2012 Magnificent Monday!
Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a fun weekend. I got my hair chopped off and prettified to give me a sporting chance with any potential interviews. It's also nice it's not getting tangled on everything anymore either (my hair was long >_>). Something I wanted to say right away, is that I would like to thank K.B. Robey for her reply. I got the e-mail notification, but whenever I look around the blog it says it's not there. Thanks so much for stopping by, I'm glad you liked what I said about your book!
I feel somewhat like a hypocrite, and it's making me sad. I talk about the importance of goal setting and what-not, and then I wasn't able to complete my own. Admittedly, I also talked about how there are going to be other circumstances that may cause things to change, and that did happen, but that doesn't change that I feel bad about it. I did manage to get 'Feathers of the Dead' to handwritten page 100 before the end of March, but 'Rending the Seal' while close, is not yet complete. Stress and physical issues were a factor in that, but that doesn't mean I don't feel any less bad about it.
Today marks the start of a new week, so hopefully things will be a bit better. I would love for them to calm down a bit, but anxiety and work don't always help with that. I know I keep saying it, but 'Rending the Seal' will be done in April. It has to be, because otherwise I've made that story far too long for it's own good. I know what you're saying: "It's not how long, it's how you handle it" but understand, that story is now at the 200 page mark, it seriously doesn't need 100 more. I don't think so at least...
Anyway, I hope to see everyone back here on Wednesday! I will continue to work as much as I can so that I can achieve what goals I do have. Have a good start to the week!
I feel somewhat like a hypocrite, and it's making me sad. I talk about the importance of goal setting and what-not, and then I wasn't able to complete my own. Admittedly, I also talked about how there are going to be other circumstances that may cause things to change, and that did happen, but that doesn't change that I feel bad about it. I did manage to get 'Feathers of the Dead' to handwritten page 100 before the end of March, but 'Rending the Seal' while close, is not yet complete. Stress and physical issues were a factor in that, but that doesn't mean I don't feel any less bad about it.
Today marks the start of a new week, so hopefully things will be a bit better. I would love for them to calm down a bit, but anxiety and work don't always help with that. I know I keep saying it, but 'Rending the Seal' will be done in April. It has to be, because otherwise I've made that story far too long for it's own good. I know what you're saying: "It's not how long, it's how you handle it" but understand, that story is now at the 200 page mark, it seriously doesn't need 100 more. I don't think so at least...
Anyway, I hope to see everyone back here on Wednesday! I will continue to work as much as I can so that I can achieve what goals I do have. Have a good start to the week!
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