I've finished writing the rough draft of my labyrinth story. :) I just need to fix a ton of things and add a scene or two. Hopefully I can keep it below 5000 when I'm done revising.
I hope I don't do what I did with this story ever again. I started writing it months and months ago. I knew the ending of it and then just got bogged down in the middle. It sat and sat and sat and I never finished it.
As a writer who tends not to write outlines, I think that by knowing the end I just wasn't excited about writing it as I already knew what it would be. However I am using outlines more and more these days.
If I want to be a professional writer, I need to stick to the writing no matter what. I need to make myself outline and blow through the rough draft then revise. Otherwise I just won't make the deadlines and therefore a living.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
05 July 2010
04 July 2010
Spellwright by Blake Charlton
So this one is not quite a classic. I needed to take a break from the classic fantasy literature and get into some fresh work by someone new. Well, I may have decided that after hearing about this book. I came across it during the Amazon/Macmillan kerfuffle at the beginning of the year. As this book was set to release in March, it was used as an example of how Amazon was hurting the authors more than the publishers. Charlton is a new author so having Amazon pull his publishing house near the release date would really hurt his numbers if it wasn't resolved quickly.
So I took a look at the book. The cover was intriguing, it had great blurbs from trusted sources and, and the title was a pun. Yes I love puns, deal with it. But the pun didn’t just end with the title, it extended throughout the book in a beautiful conceit. It was a high fantasy to boot, something that is losing steam in the publishing industry. This book was something I had to read. And a few months later, I checked it out of my local library. I can’t afford to go and buy hardcovers these days, and read it cover to cover blowing off the other things I should have been doing…
There aren’t just puns! There are also many fun linguistic twists that really tickled my love of language. The magic system is entirely based on language, so Charlton had many opportunities for word-play that he took advantage of.
I liked more than just the language of this cute, quick read of a book. The fantasy tropes were used in a fresh way. The main character, Nicodemus, is prophesied to save language but something wasn’t quite right. He has a language disability, what we’d call dyslexia, which affects his magical abilities in profound ways. Like I said in my last post, I really like when prophecies are used differently. “There was this prophecy, but it’s wrong and we can’t use it to guide our steps.” The notion brings a very realistic flair to the lives of our main characters and makes me appreciate their problems much more.
Much of the story is rooted more in the local and broad politics and religion of Nicodemus’ world. This is a complex and full world. On all levels, different powers have different magical languages and they all have their own political agendas. Charlton expertly weaves a complex political web, letting characters represent different factions and letting the conflicts center in one small place. The political, religious and academic factions cross paths seen from the front row inside a small wizard’s school. Yet this is no Harry Potter. Nicodemus must win a war to save language, but first he must overcome his own limitations.
Charlton also pulls from mythological traditions. As far as I could tell, Norse, Celtic and Greek. And then he pushes them around and alters them for his own uses. These gods are not just figureheads in stories, they are real beings and are seeking their own ends, but they must first get by the humans who oppose them. They are not all powerful and they have their own rules to live by. This makes them interesting and complex characters, and another layer of conflict.
Charlton’s style is smooth and I really didn’t have too many complaints about the story. If I have to put one in this post it would be about the pacing. It felt to me that he had the most tension built up for a turning point in the story as opposed to the final denouement, and the end didn’t wrap up nicely, but dragged out a little bit (hello sequel?).
I think I will buy the paperback when it comes out because I know I will want to re-read this book, and lend it out as well.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
So I took a look at the book. The cover was intriguing, it had great blurbs from trusted sources and, and the title was a pun. Yes I love puns, deal with it. But the pun didn’t just end with the title, it extended throughout the book in a beautiful conceit. It was a high fantasy to boot, something that is losing steam in the publishing industry. This book was something I had to read. And a few months later, I checked it out of my local library. I can’t afford to go and buy hardcovers these days, and read it cover to cover blowing off the other things I should have been doing…
There aren’t just puns! There are also many fun linguistic twists that really tickled my love of language. The magic system is entirely based on language, so Charlton had many opportunities for word-play that he took advantage of.
I liked more than just the language of this cute, quick read of a book. The fantasy tropes were used in a fresh way. The main character, Nicodemus, is prophesied to save language but something wasn’t quite right. He has a language disability, what we’d call dyslexia, which affects his magical abilities in profound ways. Like I said in my last post, I really like when prophecies are used differently. “There was this prophecy, but it’s wrong and we can’t use it to guide our steps.” The notion brings a very realistic flair to the lives of our main characters and makes me appreciate their problems much more.
Much of the story is rooted more in the local and broad politics and religion of Nicodemus’ world. This is a complex and full world. On all levels, different powers have different magical languages and they all have their own political agendas. Charlton expertly weaves a complex political web, letting characters represent different factions and letting the conflicts center in one small place. The political, religious and academic factions cross paths seen from the front row inside a small wizard’s school. Yet this is no Harry Potter. Nicodemus must win a war to save language, but first he must overcome his own limitations.
Charlton also pulls from mythological traditions. As far as I could tell, Norse, Celtic and Greek. And then he pushes them around and alters them for his own uses. These gods are not just figureheads in stories, they are real beings and are seeking their own ends, but they must first get by the humans who oppose them. They are not all powerful and they have their own rules to live by. This makes them interesting and complex characters, and another layer of conflict.
Charlton’s style is smooth and I really didn’t have too many complaints about the story. If I have to put one in this post it would be about the pacing. It felt to me that he had the most tension built up for a turning point in the story as opposed to the final denouement, and the end didn’t wrap up nicely, but dragged out a little bit (hello sequel?).
I think I will buy the paperback when it comes out because I know I will want to re-read this book, and lend it out as well.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
20 June 2010
Been Doing Some Reading :)
The Runelords by David Farland
I've really been trying to step up my reading. And hey, two books in a month, next I know it'll be three! Also, I’ve been busy lately with a new project, which I’ll talk about another time, so this is going to be a fairly simple review.
Premise:(From the back of the book)
The very Earth is in pain. Its wounds must be healed. There must arise a new king: the Earth King must be reborn. Only then will humanity have a chance to survive.
The Runelords takes you for a fun. ride It offers a few things that most fantasies don’t--as far as I’ve read anyway. It has a very medival culture feel to it, but is not set in the landscape of Europe as we know it. So Farland definitely did his research for this one, and some creative work to boot. Tossed into this culture is a new concept, that of the Runelords themselves. These kings use a magical process using runes and branding (I love Scandinavian mythology so it’s almost automatic for me to like this idea) to take the best qualities donated from their loving or purchased from broke subjects theoretically to rule better but we know better than that, someone will twist this benign practice and we will get a story.
In the runelords, old traditions have changed over time and when a war unlike anything these people have ever seen marches into Rofehaven the only answer is to go back to the old ways, to follow the Earth King for this war is much more than it seems.
3 Things I liked:
• An existing prophecy doesn’t happen the way it is supposed to--now the men don’t have their guide, their script to play out. Kind of refreshing. It makes you feel like the characters don’t know what they are doing they are shooting in the dark just like real people.
• Characters fail, and fail hard and then they feel the guilt for it and have to find other answers. They see that they could have done a million things differently but they didn’t and have to cope with that and go on with life.
• They beautiful princess loses all her physical beauty, the common peasant girl becomes beautiful. It’s interesting to see how this affects them.
3 Things I didn’t like:
• The endowments sound too much like stats in role playing games. Quantifying one’s strength, speed and brains as concretely as Farland does here seems so unnatural to me.
• If I could give David Farland one piece of advice about improving the writing of this book it would be R.U.E. Resist the Urge to Explain. Some explanations are necessary for world building and catching up on previous events, but he does a great job of showing many actions and conclusions but then clutters the pages with loads of telling.
• Sloppy proofreading--I could nitpick little things extensively. This bothers me the most, for two reasons. For the last ten years or so I’ve trained myself to pick up on continuity errors in my own writing and in workshops, and I know that as an unpublished writer, one mistake like that could get my entire manuscript rejected but it’s fine for him (or his editor?) to mar his work with imperfections because he’s a big name author. Second, letting those little things through feels like taking a sharpie and squiggling lines on, say a da Vinci painting or some other masterwork. Does he have no pride in his work?
anyway, I'll get to reading the three remaining volumes of this series but I think I'll let this review stand for them all. Like I said, I'm a bit busy working on a new project. More coming on that soon.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: Spellwright - Blake Charlton
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
I've really been trying to step up my reading. And hey, two books in a month, next I know it'll be three! Also, I’ve been busy lately with a new project, which I’ll talk about another time, so this is going to be a fairly simple review.
Premise:(From the back of the book)
The very Earth is in pain. Its wounds must be healed. There must arise a new king: the Earth King must be reborn. Only then will humanity have a chance to survive.
The Runelords takes you for a fun. ride It offers a few things that most fantasies don’t--as far as I’ve read anyway. It has a very medival culture feel to it, but is not set in the landscape of Europe as we know it. So Farland definitely did his research for this one, and some creative work to boot. Tossed into this culture is a new concept, that of the Runelords themselves. These kings use a magical process using runes and branding (I love Scandinavian mythology so it’s almost automatic for me to like this idea) to take the best qualities donated from their loving or purchased from broke subjects theoretically to rule better but we know better than that, someone will twist this benign practice and we will get a story.
In the runelords, old traditions have changed over time and when a war unlike anything these people have ever seen marches into Rofehaven the only answer is to go back to the old ways, to follow the Earth King for this war is much more than it seems.
3 Things I liked:
• An existing prophecy doesn’t happen the way it is supposed to--now the men don’t have their guide, their script to play out. Kind of refreshing. It makes you feel like the characters don’t know what they are doing they are shooting in the dark just like real people.
• Characters fail, and fail hard and then they feel the guilt for it and have to find other answers. They see that they could have done a million things differently but they didn’t and have to cope with that and go on with life.
• They beautiful princess loses all her physical beauty, the common peasant girl becomes beautiful. It’s interesting to see how this affects them.
3 Things I didn’t like:
• The endowments sound too much like stats in role playing games. Quantifying one’s strength, speed and brains as concretely as Farland does here seems so unnatural to me.
• If I could give David Farland one piece of advice about improving the writing of this book it would be R.U.E. Resist the Urge to Explain. Some explanations are necessary for world building and catching up on previous events, but he does a great job of showing many actions and conclusions but then clutters the pages with loads of telling.
• Sloppy proofreading--I could nitpick little things extensively. This bothers me the most, for two reasons. For the last ten years or so I’ve trained myself to pick up on continuity errors in my own writing and in workshops, and I know that as an unpublished writer, one mistake like that could get my entire manuscript rejected but it’s fine for him (or his editor?) to mar his work with imperfections because he’s a big name author. Second, letting those little things through feels like taking a sharpie and squiggling lines on, say a da Vinci painting or some other masterwork. Does he have no pride in his work?
anyway, I'll get to reading the three remaining volumes of this series but I think I'll let this review stand for them all. Like I said, I'm a bit busy working on a new project. More coming on that soon.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: Spellwright - Blake Charlton
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
01 June 2010
another one done
John Crowley-Little, Big
I have to preface this entry by saying I’m a little biased about this book. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it: It’s so awesome, Oh my god you have to read it, If you want to start reading fantasy start with this one, this book is so great and so on. So I dove into the pages with high expectations. I thought, if they think it’s so great, I should also think it is so great.
I should have known better. What others like is not what I like. I know I like high fantasy and epic fantasy. I like other world fantasy, including futuristic. Urban and Contemporary rarely does it for me, though rural can work sometimes. I like clever and witty narrative and dialog.
I should have quizzed these people more on what they like before I thought I’d like this monumental work of fantasy literature. But I can respect Crowley for what he did in this book.
Going into it blind, I thought it would be about a peculiar family and the house or estate they live on. But in the end, not so much. It’s about what is done to them. So the whole book is getting us familiar with their tale, with them. Making us get attached to them and feeling for them when the standard bumps of life show up in their lives. This book is about 500 pages long, and covers about five generations. Every time he jumped into a new one I got bored and agitated with it. So there were many people to whom I was supposed to empathize and develop a relationship with.
Meanwhile there are hints dropped and heavy handed (I think) foreshadowing--I actually rolled my eyes at the most prominent instance. To be blunt, it’s dodging of the fantastic annoyed me. The questioning and uncertainty irked me. And the two most main characters never even entertained the possibility. That certainly adds tension, but one makes me feel left out and two makes me want to be in someone else’s head more. There are a few brief respites though, like Crowley wanted to give us some glue or something.
The thing I disliked the most was dialog. They spoke in a halting and staggered fashion. A word, a descriptive phrase, then the rest of the sentence. People do not speak like that. Sometimes they might, but not ALL THE TIME. So he was trying to pass these people off as eccentric, sure, but I think my blood pressure went up when certain characters were speaking.
But none of that really matters in the big picture. Roz Kaveney said in a review she wrote in 1982 for “Books and Bookmen” that this is one of the few stories that reconcile humans and fairy, which it does. And I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t like it until I read that. The characters in this book seemed so askew for “normal” people. They’d have to be to do that job. So they didn’t appeal to me on the front of normal people exposed to fairy, or occupants of a fairy land who happened to be in our world. To me they were awkward, with a very exclusive feel, but not pretentious (otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered).
So hearing Ms. Kaveney’s conclusion, and having read “From Homer to Harry Potter,” I can easily classify this story as literature of fairy. This fantasy pulls very strongly from traditional “this world” beliefs and doesn’t take it to another world. I’ve always held stories that deal with actual Faerie slightly apart from the other fantasy I read. Usually when I refer to fantasy, I’m thinking of epic or high, or even some urban and contemporary if the fantastical elements are strong enough.
So, maybe I read it wrong, or just missed something. I don’t feel the need to read the rest of Crowley’s work to see what is particular about this book or just him. But as I’ve said above, much of this story didn’t grab me.
Okay, so what did I like about this book? Why did I read all of it? There are a few reasons. I’m a little obsessive about finishing what I start. It’s a highly influential work. I hoped it would get better. And after I got about a quarter into it and didn’t like it, I wanted to at least be able to say why honestly.
On another note... hopefully I'll have another story out for sub soon.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Runelords - David Farland
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
I have to preface this entry by saying I’m a little biased about this book. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about it: It’s so awesome, Oh my god you have to read it, If you want to start reading fantasy start with this one, this book is so great and so on. So I dove into the pages with high expectations. I thought, if they think it’s so great, I should also think it is so great.
I should have known better. What others like is not what I like. I know I like high fantasy and epic fantasy. I like other world fantasy, including futuristic. Urban and Contemporary rarely does it for me, though rural can work sometimes. I like clever and witty narrative and dialog.
I should have quizzed these people more on what they like before I thought I’d like this monumental work of fantasy literature. But I can respect Crowley for what he did in this book.
Going into it blind, I thought it would be about a peculiar family and the house or estate they live on. But in the end, not so much. It’s about what is done to them. So the whole book is getting us familiar with their tale, with them. Making us get attached to them and feeling for them when the standard bumps of life show up in their lives. This book is about 500 pages long, and covers about five generations. Every time he jumped into a new one I got bored and agitated with it. So there were many people to whom I was supposed to empathize and develop a relationship with.
Meanwhile there are hints dropped and heavy handed (I think) foreshadowing--I actually rolled my eyes at the most prominent instance. To be blunt, it’s dodging of the fantastic annoyed me. The questioning and uncertainty irked me. And the two most main characters never even entertained the possibility. That certainly adds tension, but one makes me feel left out and two makes me want to be in someone else’s head more. There are a few brief respites though, like Crowley wanted to give us some glue or something.
The thing I disliked the most was dialog. They spoke in a halting and staggered fashion. A word, a descriptive phrase, then the rest of the sentence. People do not speak like that. Sometimes they might, but not ALL THE TIME. So he was trying to pass these people off as eccentric, sure, but I think my blood pressure went up when certain characters were speaking.
But none of that really matters in the big picture. Roz Kaveney said in a review she wrote in 1982 for “Books and Bookmen” that this is one of the few stories that reconcile humans and fairy, which it does. And I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t like it until I read that. The characters in this book seemed so askew for “normal” people. They’d have to be to do that job. So they didn’t appeal to me on the front of normal people exposed to fairy, or occupants of a fairy land who happened to be in our world. To me they were awkward, with a very exclusive feel, but not pretentious (otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered).
So hearing Ms. Kaveney’s conclusion, and having read “From Homer to Harry Potter,” I can easily classify this story as literature of fairy. This fantasy pulls very strongly from traditional “this world” beliefs and doesn’t take it to another world. I’ve always held stories that deal with actual Faerie slightly apart from the other fantasy I read. Usually when I refer to fantasy, I’m thinking of epic or high, or even some urban and contemporary if the fantastical elements are strong enough.
So, maybe I read it wrong, or just missed something. I don’t feel the need to read the rest of Crowley’s work to see what is particular about this book or just him. But as I’ve said above, much of this story didn’t grab me.
Okay, so what did I like about this book? Why did I read all of it? There are a few reasons. I’m a little obsessive about finishing what I start. It’s a highly influential work. I hoped it would get better. And after I got about a quarter into it and didn’t like it, I wanted to at least be able to say why honestly.
On another note... hopefully I'll have another story out for sub soon.
Currently Reading
Fantasy: The Runelords - David Farland
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
24 April 2010
Where I am in my writing
When I graduated from SHU, almost a year ago, I was really hyped up on doing all the right things, taking all the right steps and getting my writing career off the ground. So I made a little list, and it looked a little like this:
Write short stories and submit them (read: get published)
Make a website
Make a reading/writing blog
Read a lot, classics, genre criticism, fantasy simultaneously
Rewrite novel
Fix synopsis
Get an agent
These items are generally arranged in the order that I would ideally complete them, but I didn’t expect it to necessarily to go as planned.
And this are the writing related things I’ve done since I graduated June 2009:
Created a website
Created a reading/writing blog… but it’s really boring
Written 3.5 stories
submitted 2 of those stories, both rejected
read 4 fantasy novels
read 1 folk tale collection
0 literary
Made a list of agents to submit my novel to
Critiqued a lot of other people’s work
Not too bad right? I’ve at least attempted to do most of the things on my list…Well, Yoda said “do or do not, there is no try.” So, I’m going to get a little more focused “doing” now.
What I need to do this summer:
Read more…learn to speed read?
Revise both rejected stories and re-submit
Finish partial story and submit
Rewrite novel and submit to agents
So hopefully with this spelled out right here, I can keep myself on track and get a foothold in my writing.
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
Write short stories and submit them (read: get published)
Make a website
Make a reading/writing blog
Read a lot, classics, genre criticism, fantasy simultaneously
Rewrite novel
Fix synopsis
Get an agent
These items are generally arranged in the order that I would ideally complete them, but I didn’t expect it to necessarily to go as planned.
And this are the writing related things I’ve done since I graduated June 2009:
Created a website
Created a reading/writing blog… but it’s really boring
Written 3.5 stories
submitted 2 of those stories, both rejected
read 4 fantasy novels
read 1 folk tale collection
0 literary
Made a list of agents to submit my novel to
Critiqued a lot of other people’s work
Not too bad right? I’ve at least attempted to do most of the things on my list…Well, Yoda said “do or do not, there is no try.” So, I’m going to get a little more focused “doing” now.
What I need to do this summer:
Read more…learn to speed read?
Revise both rejected stories and re-submit
Finish partial story and submit
Rewrite novel and submit to agents
So hopefully with this spelled out right here, I can keep myself on track and get a foothold in my writing.
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
thoughts on a rejection
I just received another story rejection. So that makes 2. I’m not suffering madly here, though I did go through the standard rejection blues for a while. So yes, that means I didn’t “just” get the rejection but it was recent, okay?
I waited a few weeks to let the story and the rejection get out of my head before posting this for a reason. I want to get further away from the story and see if I could tell why it got rejected-the editor (John Joseph Adams) didn’t give any explanation.
So in looked back on this tale, Trials of the Night, I think that despite the fact I really love this story, were I an editor I would not have chosen to purchase this story either.
To be up front, my story has a few things wrong with it that I let myself ignore when I submitted it: The imagery isn’t as strong as it could be. The plot is a little out of whack. Pace and description aren’t helping each other. And the structure is not optimal.
So why’d I let myself submit this? There was a deadline, and I hadn’t planned ahead enough for it. I didn’t even have another person read the story.
So why didn’t I just say “no way! This doesn’t have a chance?” I really love the story, and it is good, it just really needs more work. And if I didn’t submit it, then I would never know if it might have sold.
What is writing if not just one long learning experience?
So now I have this story out to a friend for some critiquing. I’m interested in seeing if he has the same problems with it that I think I do.
Currently Reading:Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
I waited a few weeks to let the story and the rejection get out of my head before posting this for a reason. I want to get further away from the story and see if I could tell why it got rejected-the editor (John Joseph Adams) didn’t give any explanation.
So in looked back on this tale, Trials of the Night, I think that despite the fact I really love this story, were I an editor I would not have chosen to purchase this story either.
To be up front, my story has a few things wrong with it that I let myself ignore when I submitted it: The imagery isn’t as strong as it could be. The plot is a little out of whack. Pace and description aren’t helping each other. And the structure is not optimal.
So why’d I let myself submit this? There was a deadline, and I hadn’t planned ahead enough for it. I didn’t even have another person read the story.
So why didn’t I just say “no way! This doesn’t have a chance?” I really love the story, and it is good, it just really needs more work. And if I didn’t submit it, then I would never know if it might have sold.
What is writing if not just one long learning experience?
So now I have this story out to a friend for some critiquing. I’m interested in seeing if he has the same problems with it that I think I do.
Currently Reading:Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
19 April 2010
The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
I’ve just completed Patrick Ford’s The Mabinogi, a translation of medieval Welsh folk tales and mythological cycle. Reading this book lets me tick off one more on my list of reading to catch up on non-Greek mythology. I can say, with some embarrassment, that I have never heard of any element of these stories before, so when someone in my office glanced at the title of the book I was reading and commented, “obscure Welsh literature, great,” I felt a little absolved.
When I was just getting into the book, I was a little disappointed in the story telling. The story arcs rambled, and changed seemingly without explanation. Story lines ranged far beyond the interest point. And the laundry lists of heraldic titles and accomplishments; tasks and quests made for really dull reading. There was practically NO SHOWING. But that is what was recorded in the original manuscripts, which were written down by someone who heard someone else tell the oral story. Would the people back then simply “understand” all the tactile imagery that was possible when the characters go riding across the land? Had they done it all themselves, in an uneventful journey? The author of this book could only decipher what his modern day learnings let him to reach back and translate the Mabinogi.
The author, Patrick K. Ford is the Margaret Brooks Robinson Research Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Needless to say he wrote this book with academic interests and not story telling in mind. Despite being very sparse, with little imagery and barely three dimensional characters the stories serve to give us 21st century denizens a peek into the ways of old cultures. However I can see how each of these 6 – 40 page stories could be turned into a rich novel, however dark.
These tales aren’t for the weak-of-stomach. From crushing skulls barehanded, stealing, rape, murder, torture to animal cruelty they show the worst of human nature. They show what people do to get what they want: woman, money, power, land, respect, honor and revenge. And sometimes people do terrible things to breach hindrances.
My favorite story was that of “Manawydan son of Llŷr.” Even though this story is rangy, and the events a little jerky we see magic, trouble, rescue, punishment by social decree and then the wrongs are righted. I just love happy endings; well I like it more when the jerks who were wrong get what’s coming. Mainly I like the story line where a group of people are displaced from their own land and must wander to find a new place, yet no matter how hard they work, they cannot find a place they fit in. And after some time they return home and break their curse. I like this because they didn’t give up. They didn’t sit idly waiting to find a way. Even when they weren’t trying to break the curse, they were working hard, trying to get by because they had to.
That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll come back to these tales for story fodder, or for further study.
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
When I was just getting into the book, I was a little disappointed in the story telling. The story arcs rambled, and changed seemingly without explanation. Story lines ranged far beyond the interest point. And the laundry lists of heraldic titles and accomplishments; tasks and quests made for really dull reading. There was practically NO SHOWING. But that is what was recorded in the original manuscripts, which were written down by someone who heard someone else tell the oral story. Would the people back then simply “understand” all the tactile imagery that was possible when the characters go riding across the land? Had they done it all themselves, in an uneventful journey? The author of this book could only decipher what his modern day learnings let him to reach back and translate the Mabinogi.
The author, Patrick K. Ford is the Margaret Brooks Robinson Research Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Needless to say he wrote this book with academic interests and not story telling in mind. Despite being very sparse, with little imagery and barely three dimensional characters the stories serve to give us 21st century denizens a peek into the ways of old cultures. However I can see how each of these 6 – 40 page stories could be turned into a rich novel, however dark.
These tales aren’t for the weak-of-stomach. From crushing skulls barehanded, stealing, rape, murder, torture to animal cruelty they show the worst of human nature. They show what people do to get what they want: woman, money, power, land, respect, honor and revenge. And sometimes people do terrible things to breach hindrances.
My favorite story was that of “Manawydan son of Llŷr.” Even though this story is rangy, and the events a little jerky we see magic, trouble, rescue, punishment by social decree and then the wrongs are righted. I just love happy endings; well I like it more when the jerks who were wrong get what’s coming. Mainly I like the story line where a group of people are displaced from their own land and must wander to find a new place, yet no matter how hard they work, they cannot find a place they fit in. And after some time they return home and break their curse. I like this because they didn’t give up. They didn’t sit idly waiting to find a way. Even when they weren’t trying to break the curse, they were working hard, trying to get by because they had to.
That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll come back to these tales for story fodder, or for further study.
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
01 April 2010
another sub
I made the deadline for John Joseph Adams anthology, Way of the Wizard. I submitted my story Trials of the Night, no it's not a vampire story.
It comes in very close to a 5000 word count. I wrote most of it in one day. The first bit came over the course of the week. The very final wrap up came the day after I wrote the end of the beginning, the middle and the beginning of the end.
The words kept coming and I kept driving the characters along their arcs. I had 2 subplots and a main plot. For a short story I think I did pretty well. In fact, my short story crafting has come a long way. I'll take this moment to be a little proud of myself.
I think it was a really great draft, which I then moved to revise immediately. I didn't get to let anyone else read it first, or even let it sit for a couple days as I would have liked. I wound up working on this story pretty much right up to last minute. I guess I didn't remember from college how much I hate doing that. From now on, I'm going to ah, try to get a jump on things and not wait for panic to hunt my muse down. Sit down and crank it out. Plan everything before I dive into the words. This phrase witch has learned. I'll say that much.
I have a new problem word, "now." It seems that I've gotten over some of my past ones such as "felt" and "looked."
Maybe I'll get a chance to finish those books down there...
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0
It comes in very close to a 5000 word count. I wrote most of it in one day. The first bit came over the course of the week. The very final wrap up came the day after I wrote the end of the beginning, the middle and the beginning of the end.
The words kept coming and I kept driving the characters along their arcs. I had 2 subplots and a main plot. For a short story I think I did pretty well. In fact, my short story crafting has come a long way. I'll take this moment to be a little proud of myself.
I think it was a really great draft, which I then moved to revise immediately. I didn't get to let anyone else read it first, or even let it sit for a couple days as I would have liked. I wound up working on this story pretty much right up to last minute. I guess I didn't remember from college how much I hate doing that. From now on, I'm going to ah, try to get a jump on things and not wait for panic to hunt my muse down. Sit down and crank it out. Plan everything before I dive into the words. This phrase witch has learned. I'll say that much.
I have a new problem word, "now." It seems that I've gotten over some of my past ones such as "felt" and "looked."
Maybe I'll get a chance to finish those books down there...
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0
11 March 2010
Dismal...
I seem to have a weakness for creating short story length plots for characters I spend any time on creating. It is now the 11th of March, and I have no plot for my wizard character. I've tried ditching the character and finding new ones and spending less time on development and more on plot. But my brain is not budging. Wizards are not inspiring me right now. For that matter neither are Witches or Sorcerers. I'm trying to hard and stifling my creativity.
Adding to the pile, as I work on my outlining skills I realize that I am not very disciplined in crafting stories on demand. I can do it, but nothing I come up with speaks to me, or has an ending. The stories are boring and I don't get excited enough to write the thing.
Maybe I just need to write the story by outline and see what happens. Doing so will help me feel out what I am doing with outlines verses characters.
At this rate, I don't think I'll make my deadline on March 31st. Hmm... maybe no Internet for a week if that happens?
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
Adding to the pile, as I work on my outlining skills I realize that I am not very disciplined in crafting stories on demand. I can do it, but nothing I come up with speaks to me, or has an ending. The stories are boring and I don't get excited enough to write the thing.
Maybe I just need to write the story by outline and see what happens. Doing so will help me feel out what I am doing with outlines verses characters.
At this rate, I don't think I'll make my deadline on March 31st. Hmm... maybe no Internet for a week if that happens?
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
07 March 2010
burnt and busy
I've been busy and regrettably not as much with reading and writing as I'd like... GUILT...
I have been feeling a little burnt out with everything. There's been drama at work, drama with my apartment, travel and taxes. I've been so busy with work since the holidays I'd even taken time out from my local writing group, Rocketship Unicorn, and skipped this year's Boskone. Much Sadness.
But now, work has calmed down and I've ironed out many of the wrinkles that have cropped up recently. So I've said enough. Enough wishing, enough wasting time. I'm back to doing and getting things done. Finally getting back to my writing group last Wednesday really helped. We've changed the format a little and I think it was a great change. We're actively working instead of waiting for work to come by. Everyone was really energized about it and it just felt great to talk about writing to writers again.
I recently got a peek at Jeff Vandermeer's blog and one of the lines on it has impressed me greatly. "I'm not online tomorrow." Meaning he'll just be working on writing, not reading e-mail, surfing or reading blogs, or posting blogs, or sending e-mail. "Oh, my," I thought. "Just imagine how much time I'd save, how many more words I could write if I limited myself like that." When I think of actually doing it, I think that I can't possibly not check my email every day, not read my blog list, not chat with all my distant friends and check up on facebook's feeds. This, to me, looks like I'll need to change my lifestyle a little to fit my priorities, to accomplish my dreams.
I'll end this with some writing updates. I don't have any page counts, but I can say that I've written one story, a cyberpunk about the Ark of the Covenant that I got 'shopped in my group. I look forward to revising it and submitting that soon. Other than that I've been brainstorming on two other stories that I just can't pin down.
My next deadline is March 31st for an anthology called "Way of the Wizard" edited by John Joseph Adams. I have a really great character, now all I need is a plot. Looks like I shouldn't "be online" tomorrow huh...
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
I have been feeling a little burnt out with everything. There's been drama at work, drama with my apartment, travel and taxes. I've been so busy with work since the holidays I'd even taken time out from my local writing group, Rocketship Unicorn, and skipped this year's Boskone. Much Sadness.
But now, work has calmed down and I've ironed out many of the wrinkles that have cropped up recently. So I've said enough. Enough wishing, enough wasting time. I'm back to doing and getting things done. Finally getting back to my writing group last Wednesday really helped. We've changed the format a little and I think it was a great change. We're actively working instead of waiting for work to come by. Everyone was really energized about it and it just felt great to talk about writing to writers again.
I recently got a peek at Jeff Vandermeer's blog and one of the lines on it has impressed me greatly. "I'm not online tomorrow." Meaning he'll just be working on writing, not reading e-mail, surfing or reading blogs, or posting blogs, or sending e-mail. "Oh, my," I thought. "Just imagine how much time I'd save, how many more words I could write if I limited myself like that." When I think of actually doing it, I think that I can't possibly not check my email every day, not read my blog list, not chat with all my distant friends and check up on facebook's feeds. This, to me, looks like I'll need to change my lifestyle a little to fit my priorities, to accomplish my dreams.
I'll end this with some writing updates. I don't have any page counts, but I can say that I've written one story, a cyberpunk about the Ark of the Covenant that I got 'shopped in my group. I look forward to revising it and submitting that soon. Other than that I've been brainstorming on two other stories that I just can't pin down.
My next deadline is March 31st for an anthology called "Way of the Wizard" edited by John Joseph Adams. I have a really great character, now all I need is a plot. Looks like I shouldn't "be online" tomorrow huh...
Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)
Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0
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