At Orycon, we had a panel intended to produce a piece of collaborative fiction within the hour of programming. This involved substantial audience participation and some fairly whacky behavior. Panelists were Brenda Cooper, Jay Lake, Theresa Reed, Ken Scholes and Ray Vukcevich.
As promised at that event, here is the story posted for general approbation:
( The story... )
Posted: 4:21 pm Wed December 03 2008 | Comments(0) |
After a rump session of the Fireside group tonight, HJ and I went to the Iron Horse for a quick, light dinner. He’s a pretty quiet guy, so it was nice to get to converse with him without the Olympic-class competitive talking that characterizes most writer gatherings.
I was laughing at myself as I got there, however, because I carried into the restaurant with me both my computer bag and the galleys of Green. This is because if I left them locked in the trunk — the Genre car is a convertible and I leave nothing that might look important or valuable to a meth-head in the passenger compartment, ever — and someone were to steal the car, the hassle of replacing the car would be a lot less than the hassle of re-marking up the manuscript and replacing the computer.
Which ought to tell you something about my priorities. And you should see me with a copy edited manuscript. Sooner I would part with my voolnerables than with a CEM.
Posted: 8:50 pm Tue December 02 2008 | Comments(1) |
Wondermark on Rudolph as R. Clement Moore fanfic
Asher at The Guru Handbook on grading and concurrency — I’m more interested in the grading model Asher cites as applied to writers, both in a workshop environment and as a critical tool in the published world. There certainly are books and stories which can be identified as “first wave” and “second wave” — I’m not so sure if the reviewer step is better reflected in the critical/critiquing apparatus or in another layer of writing.
My new word for the day: Abugida — Picked it up while reading this fascinating piece on textual analysis being used to investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks. (Specifically, the comments section, which is very good on this post.) From an auctorial perspective, the whole thing is worth reading if you write fiction about multilingual societies.
Fuel-cell powered devices getting closer — Mmm. Multiday batteries.
Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home — For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides. (Thanks to swan_tower.)
From my cell I scent the reeking soul of US justice — Conrad Black writes from prison. (Thanks to danjite.)
Obama Birth Certificate Rears Its Head - Again — Mmm. I can smell the bipartisanship from all the way over here. Because there’s nothing Republicans love more than a good, enraging lie. Keeps the base energized, donchaknow. This is like Whitewater, it will never go away. (Thanks to lt260.)
Jones at NSC; Even knows French (Eat your Heart out Tom DeLay) — I’m posting this one mostly for the headline, which I find hilarious, but it’s also a discussion of Obama’s new National Security Advisor.
This Modern World with a brief (and sadly fictional) history of the past eight years
?otD: Why oh, why oh, why oh; did I ever leave Ohio?
12/02/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 220.8
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Posted: 5:24 am Tue December 02 2008 | Comments(0) |
My to-do list of late has been somewhat insane. Two sets of galleys, the Sekrit Projekt novelette, the Sunspin synopsis, a pair of collaborative novel synopses completely outside sf/f, several articles, some editorial reading for friends, some blurb reading, and of course, Herman Melville. This doesn’t even account for the novella I owe Real Soon Now, plus some short stuff I want to write, plus another collaborative decadent fantasy effort to which I am committed but not yet empowered to discuss in broad daylight. Early spring will bring Tourbillon revisions, possibly one or another of the collaborative efforts, then bleed into the process of drafting Sunspin. (Plus, erm, Real Life, including a trip to China.)
Meanwhile, it’s been just under a month since I finished the first draft of Tourbillon, and yes, I have been resting. Which is to say, not drafting new fiction. Until this past weekend.
Apparently Fred really wanted to write, because I banged out an 11,600 word space opera novelette on Friday and Saturday, with two revision rounds on Sunday. A few details here: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. By rights this ought to go into a drawer for a month or three, but deadlines forfend.
And as mentioned yesterday [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ], this sucker ties directly into Sunspin. Which I now must set aside yet again to work on Green.
Still, the writer brain will out, and march where it would on lettered feet. I never fail to surprise myself.
Posted: 6:34 am Mon December 01 2008 | Comments(0) |
Holiday weekend reacharound, for those of you who weren’t online much:
Here at this blog, we read Herman Melville so you don’t have to. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
A writerly career meme: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
More wit and wisdom of the_child: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Wisdom of Fred: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Plus the usual assorted bill of fare:
Lego safe — Um… (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Next Year In Birobidzhan? Stalin’s Siberian Zion — Strange Maps with a very odd bit of Jewish history.
Climate change juggernaut on the horizon, UN talks told — More liberal balderdash from the world scientific community and the pinko climate itself. Thank God we have the Republican party and its talk radio surrogates to keep us politically insulated from the inconvenience of reality.
A Handpicked Team for a Foreign Policy Shift — The New York Times on Obama’s foreign policy and national security team. …the United States has more members of military marching bands than foreign service officers. Because that’s what the War on Terror demands! The GOP, keeping you safer with clarinets.
The GOP’s McCarthy gene — Think Goldwater is the father of conservatism? Think again. A fairly cogent explanation of the profound cognitive dissonance between the GOP’s idealistic self-image and the party’s vicious behaviors. (Hat tip to Talking Points Memo.)
Juan Cole on Pakistani Reaganism — A very illuminating precis on the history of radical Islam in South Asia, and how much the current issues with the Taliban owe their roots to Reagan’s anti-Communist policies. Not news to most reality-based readers, but very well-explained. (Facts not valid for FOX News viewers.)
?otD: Who let the dogs out?
12/01/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 221.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Posted: 6:12 am Mon December 01 2008 | Comments(0) |
Whilst reading The Confidence Man: His Masquerade, by Herman Melville, I continue to marvel at the shifts in literary style over time. Consider this sentence:
While the merchant, strange to say, opposed views so calm and impartial, and again, with some warmth, deplored the case of the unfortunate man, his companion, not without seriousness, checked him, saying, that this would never do; that, though but in the most exceptional case, to admit the existence of unmerited misery, more particularly if alleged to have been brought about by unhindered arts of the wicked, such an admission was, to say the least, not prudent; since, with some, it might unfavorably bias their most important persuasions
I have several observations here.
First of all, this is a typical sentence for Melville, at least in this book.
Second, I have probably written entire novel chapters with fewer commas than this single sentence. One imagines a mid-nineteenth century fire sale on punctuation. Try reading the damned thing aloud.
Third, if I turned a sentence like that it to Tor, editorial ninjas would come to my house and choke me to death with my own copy edit. To general approbation and good cheer, I should think.
Nonetheless, I soldier bravely onward, for like all fiction, ’tis not the bottle but the contents which makes the play.
Posted: 9:33 pm Sun November 30 2008 | Comments(3) |
Well, the Sunspin synopsis now stands at 8,800 words. And I’m almost ready to think about plot and character! Seriously…this is all backstory, worldbuilding, and what will be my world bible later. Context, context, context.
And as some of you clever lot have noticed, the most recent Sekrit Projekt is in continuity with Sunspin, although about six centuries into the past of the trilogy’s narrative present. As a result, part of today’s work was aligning the relevant bits and pieces of character, history and setting with the existing material in the synopsis.
By gummies, this is fun. Once the Sekrit Projekt is a little less sekrit, I’ll discuss this more. I am now considering writing several other backstory pieces simply because this one has been so damned productive for me. Not to mention which first readers report it’s a pretty neat story.
For now, you may shop as usual. No need to return to your homes.
Posted: 3:09 pm Sun November 30 2008 | Comments(0) |
A writerly meme, gleaned from a locked post elsewhere but provided here unlocked. In case you thought this was a quick or easy career path…
Posted: 8:05 am Sun November 30 2008 | Comments(5) |
Sekrit Projekt has come into a first full draft (with some minor revisions) at 11,200 words. Eine kleine Space Opera. That’s what I did with my day, at any rate. You?
WIP: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 8:10 pm Sat November 29 2008 | Comments(1) |
5,300 words on the Sekrit Projekt today. I plan to finish it at about 10,000 words tomorrow, assuming a quiet day for a change.
It’s nice to be writing short fiction again, as opposed to the various articles, outlines and whatnot I’ve been working on of late.
Meanwhile, since I pulled a double Lake, here’s another WIP:
Posted: 8:39 pm Fri November 28 2008 | Comments(0) |
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