We're starting week 2! I'm not going to ask you what you think...not yet. But I shall endeavor to remind you to get your fix over at: http://CatBytes.atfmb.com
Thanks for the support, and if you have any comments, both Patrick and I would love to hear them.
Best regards.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Who runs this show?
Is it the puppet, or the puppeteer?
Or, in the case of who controls the varied twists and turns of a story: Is it the writer or the character?
The answer is always, to me, and most everyone else I hear from: the characters. So much so that a complaint of a character hijacking the story to do something entirely new and unanticipated is: commonplace.
However that's not how I feel about my stories...not yet, at least. Perhaps it comes with time?
I would never want a character to do something out of character (just for kicks) unless there was a good reason they had been forced that way, but...I don't know. So why don't I feel that way in my "gut" quite yet? Maybe it takes time to digest.
I like to think that I do a decent outline (I also thought this a while back, and then realized that I was horribly, disaster-laden...wrong, but I'm certain I'm better now...), and perhaps I get into the character's head well enough that what I "want" from the story and what the characters end up doing goes hand-in-hand.
Maybe.
Or maybe I'm just not cognizant of the character-upstaging phenomena quite yet.
For the writers out there, what is your experience?
Or, in the case of who controls the varied twists and turns of a story: Is it the writer or the character?
The answer is always, to me, and most everyone else I hear from: the characters. So much so that a complaint of a character hijacking the story to do something entirely new and unanticipated is: commonplace.
However that's not how I feel about my stories...not yet, at least. Perhaps it comes with time?
I would never want a character to do something out of character (just for kicks) unless there was a good reason they had been forced that way, but...I don't know. So why don't I feel that way in my "gut" quite yet? Maybe it takes time to digest.
I like to think that I do a decent outline (I also thought this a while back, and then realized that I was horribly, disaster-laden...wrong, but I'm certain I'm better now...), and perhaps I get into the character's head well enough that what I "want" from the story and what the characters end up doing goes hand-in-hand.
Maybe.
Or maybe I'm just not cognizant of the character-upstaging phenomena quite yet.
For the writers out there, what is your experience?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentines Day...and...a New Webcomic
It starts tomorrow. And hopefully you will find it: Funny, Furry, Techie and Bitey. Tell your friends, shout it from the rooftops and...enjoy.
More info will be coming soon right here and from Patrick's own blog.
...oh and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! (Maybe you should print this out and give it to that special someone...I'm just saying!) Now go grab yourself a friend.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Book Review: Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
(This is a repost of my review that appeared on SF Signal recently - reposted here for posterity)
Hardcover: 864 pages
Publisher: Tor Books (November 2, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0765325942
ISBN-13: 978-0765325945
How do you even approach reviewing something like a Wheel of Time book? I mean, it’s the thirteenth installment in the series...kind of hard to recommend to someone not already indoctrinated, and utterly futile to even try with an ex-reader—turned off by the scope and sluggish pace midway through the series.
So, what’s even the point? *scratch head, shrug shoulders* Come on! It’s the bloody Wheel of Time. Blood and bloody ashes! I’ve got to review it. The wheel weaves as the wheel wills. I am but a thread caught in its tapestry. *Yoink!* Off I go.
Hardcover: 864 pagesPublisher: Tor Books (November 2, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0765325942
ISBN-13: 978-0765325945
How do you even approach reviewing something like a Wheel of Time book? I mean, it’s the thirteenth installment in the series...kind of hard to recommend to someone not already indoctrinated, and utterly futile to even try with an ex-reader—turned off by the scope and sluggish pace midway through the series.
So, what’s even the point? *scratch head, shrug shoulders* Come on! It’s the bloody Wheel of Time. Blood and bloody ashes! I’ve got to review it. The wheel weaves as the wheel wills. I am but a thread caught in its tapestry. *Yoink!* Off I go.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Choose your religion.
Wow. Todd Newton relates an amazingly ignorant comment he observed at COSine 2011, during a panel on Theology Building (in fiction), when an audience member commented:
"Maybe Islam and Buddhism just aren't that interesting."
"Maybe Islam and Buddhism just aren't that interesting."
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