I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Writerly Linkee-poo

"Want a child-friendly way to introduce your little one to the traditions of the Old Cult?" So begins the Adventures of Lil' Cthulhu Had to watch this without sound, but what a friggin' excellent cartoon. Much laughing was had. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

Scott Westerfield give some tips on writing for NaNoWriMo, Tip 1 Dialog Spine, and Tip 3 Dialog Spin Analysis. Justine Larbalestier wrote and hosts Tip 2 The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts and Tip 4 Word Count Is Not Everything. Lots of good stuff there. I've done the Dialog Spine thing for short stories (although I didn't know it had a name). As for the Draft Zero thing, yeah. It certainly helps. As to word count, I put my own up here as a personal whip to do more. It's also a way of saying, "Hey, I don't do 1500 words a day, but I am finishing my stuff and sending it out." If I can find time with two jobs and a freelance gig, most people can (the one thing I don't have is kids, they would take up a lot of that time).

Joshua Palmatier discusses the dread monster, exposition. He ties it into POV and a few other things. Exposition is one of those things I end up doing around the third draft, although I'm getting better and including some of it earlier. I know for my writing it leads to my first reader(s) going, "I don't get it." Take for example, the "cell" in my WIP. Yes, it is based around a cell phone, but that's not all it is. One of the commented I received in the first round of edits was, "This is supposed to be in the future, but I'm not seeing a lot of future tech" (well, that's the paraphrase). Well, in this world Silicon Valley never happened (California, mostly destroyed and economically crippled, remember?). So tech went a different way. The "cell" as I envision it is like an iPhone, but is a real computer. Making calls on it is the least of it's capability. When we encounter actual computer towers we call it "server porn" because most people, as they have personal computers now, use their cell. And I hope the flashback chapter worked well. People seemed to like it, although without italicizing the kata moves, it left some people a little confused.

A cartoon's humorous take on NaNoWritMo. Ha! I like NaNo, never been able to participate, but I think at heart it's a good idea. But, yeah, this is funny.

2 comments:

Mer said...

Booo, hiss, on that cartoon... Another unnecessary slam on Stephenie Meyer. :/

Steve Buchheit said...

Don't worry, Mer. She can't hear us giggling all the way at the bank as cashes her royalty checks. She's in good company with Stephen King, Dan Brown, Daniel Steele, etc.