Destroy All Humans

Yes, I know it’s the title of a video game; and as a standalone, it’s probably a dangerous title. But I mentioned last week about humans and the almost universal sense of us as defilers of nature. Now, obviously, it depends who you ask: but I think in the main, those who care for the environment see any trace of humanity as making impure that which is pure. This is called worshipping the creation.

Biographies

It’s that special time of book-writing – at least, fantasy-book writing – when things start to come alive. I’ve had a map up on my wall for a while (more fully fleshed out from something I’ve had for quite a number of years now), with all the little towns and castle and villages and things; names that carry some amount of meaning; a little bit of history and culture worked out, and a description of a key point within the story that epitomizes the culture of the land today. Which is all well and good. But it hadn’t truly come alive. Yet.

OMG OUTLINES!

Sorry for my teenybopper outburst there, but I’ve just spent a few hours today revising my book, now that I have character arcs – complete with necessary scenes, incidents, and internal and external manifestations of each stage of the arc. It went so much better than any of the other of my attempts at revision, I just had to tell you about it.

Stuck in the Middle

A little apropos, seeing as how this post is supposed to be on Monday, two days before the post on Wednesday. But, having missed two Monday’s in a row, I’ve stuck this one in the middle. And I want to talk about middles – no, this isn’t a fitness blog, and I’m not making up pet names for the Duchess of Cambridge: I’m talking about the war between two ideas that refuse to consider that the answer lies in the middle.

New, Magical Waters

The day has come; the time is rotten (I let it ripen a little too much; lot’s going on, you know). I have character arcs in hand – well, in Word, but you know – I have scenes planned, even a couple all worked out in my head. It’s going to be fun.

You're Showing Too Much

If you’ve been interested in writing for more than a year, and have read at least two blogs or books on writing, you’ve heard “show, don’t tell.” I talked about it here myself. And as I also talk about there, sometimes we lose the point among all the emphasis – we tell, instead of show, how to show instead of tell. But it doesn’t end there.

Plan to Look at Planning Ahead

Be careful of those who look too far ahead, because they often don’t know where they are. The downfall of the idealist is they don’t often know how to get from where they are to where they want to be – they’re so intent on what should be that they can’t recognize what, for now, only can be. But there is a good way to look forward, that I’m practicing right now with my writing.

A Taste of Spring

Going to take a different track, today. I’m still holding steady in the novel-writing arena, without any major, major breakthroughs (outside of some new ideas for book 3, and finishing up minor tasks toward the revision of book 1). So I thought I’d talk about another passion of mine: cycling.

Original Selfishness

Oh, the things that come out in middle-of-the-night conversations when you spend your night with someone like Courtney Dydek. “Sweet nothings,” you might think; well, let’s see what you think by the end of this story.

Blundering Along

Don't be an intestine: they're full of crap!

Dreams: having them can really suck, sometimes. Like when you try to fulfill them, and they refuse to be fulfilled. Or when you think they’re about to be fulfilled, and then suddenly it seems like it’s going to be years. Or maybe they are fulfilled, but they’re not nearly as dreamy as you hoped they’d be. I’m on the second one, right now.