NaNoWriMo 2006 (T – 3 Days and Holding)

Commence NaNo Ignition Sequence.

Although not as massively outlined as Scott Oden's bouncing 37 page Orc synopsis extravaganza, or Gabriele's well thought plot, complete with pictures, I ended up with 15 pages of outline, two of which are backstory for the main characters – basically everything that leads up to where I open the story.

I have 25 chapters with 2-5 scenes in each chapter. There is a short paragraph describing each scene, enough to get the idea of what I want to accomplish in that chapter, and enough to see where I need to plant things for later on. I can see some trouble spots but I went ahead and left them in, because for NaNo, overwriting is a good thing. I don't feel at all 'constrained' by the outlining I've done as a friend commented. Instead I feel excited and a bit liberated from the task of plotting as I go. I'm ready to roll.

Now the purpose is to keep myself on track with the scene outlines and not nitpick. For practice I have been giving myself assignments to write little backstory pieces on the main characters. It helps prime the pump, and some of writing will probably make its way into the final draft.

My main purpose for doing NaNo is to find some ways of plowing through and finishing what I set out to write. My other WiP, The Gate To Paradise suffers from a lot of stop and start because I went into it without outlining. I found my first draft of it on the comp and the story is totally different, although the characters are the same. It took me about half a book to realize that I had the wrong protagonist and whose story it really was. In the interests of expediency, I decided I needed to figure out how to plan my novels. It's a giant leap from planning a 40-80 line poem to planning a 100K novel, but the mechanics are the same.

My last mission will be to learn to muzzle the internal editor, the one that wants to comb back through previously written sections and nitpick, grammar check, rewrite and rearrange. I may be forced to shove the editor in the same place my closet perfectionism comes from. I'm glad I outlined and am ready to go, because I'll be out of town at training until November 2nd. I'm bringing my laptop with me. The minute training is done on the 1st, I'll be putting fingers to the keyboard. Wish me luck, my ADD brain is going to need it.

NaNo 06 Novel:
The God Hunter
When a woman conceives a child by a god she ends up with the means to not only destroy her kingdom but also the father of her visionary daughter.

It's Hunting Season

I think they know. Every day when I drive to work the antelope are hanging out along the roadsides and mingling with the horses in the pastures. Hunters aren't supposed to shoot around those areas. It's a bit disconcerning to see a huge buck strolling along the fence line while cars whiz by 20 feet away. I half expect him to hang his tongue out and waggle his ears as everyone drives past...

We seem to have had a bumper crop of antelope this year, I see many, many twin fawns that made it through the summer, I even saw a set of triplets! Of course, antelope are a little smarter than the deer, who think the highway shoulder was planted just for them to graze on. Nothing worse than driving home in the dusk and seeing mile after mile of eye reflections by the side of the road.

I also can't believe people come from other states just to hunt antelope. Maybe for the mount, but for eating? Antelope do not in any way, shape, or form, taste like chicken. I'd rather chew on an old dried piece of sagebrush. It tastes about the same. YMMV.

DVD Review - The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

It's a shame this indie movie didn't get more critical acclaim. Most of the major reviews seem intent on bashing the movie for what it lacks instead of concentrating on its numerous positives. Directed, produced, and written by Iranian-American Kayvan Mashayekh, the film tells the story of a present day descendant of the Persian poet/mathematician Omar Khayyam who is determined to keep the oral tradition of his Persian ancestors alive by telling the tale of how his 11th century ancestor Omar ended up being the legendary man we remember today.

The film jumps back and forth between the present day storyteller and the past as we watch events unfold from Omar's childhood through his rise to Seljuk Sultan appointed astronomer/mathematician/poet of Persia. Woven into his story is Omar's long relationship with a slave girl, speculated to be the inspiration for his poetry. Filmed almost entirely on location in Samarkand and Bukhara, Uzbekistan, I was more than willing to overlook occasional directorial clumsiness to immerse myself in a rarely glimpsed view of Persian history and culture.

For a Persian/Byzantine history buff, the scenery and costuming were worth the price of the DVD alone. Throw in the nifty commentary by the director, another by an authority on Omar Khayyam, and a haunting musical score, and I am ecstatic. I found this DVD at Wal-Mart- sometimes big box stores do good. I don't know how this independent film slipped under my radar, it is the type of movie I usually seek out in my quest for a satisfying cinematic experience. One of the drawbacks of living in a rural area is the lack of theaters playing indie films. Now I wonder what other gems I missed this past year. Any good period films hiding out there that you've seen? Let me know.

Fictional Characters – The Soldier

Scott Oden, over on his blog, posted the question "As writers, what do our characters say about us?" and more specifically, why write about the soldier more than other types of characters? Many Fantasy/SF/Historical writers DO tend to choose soldiers as main characters. What attracts us to them? Why a soldier and not a ditch digger or cheesemaker?

I think one of the attractions of the soldier theme besides the obvious dramatic background of war or potential war is the underlying sense of a soldier working for something outside himself. Soldiers can't be concerned with ME, because too many other people are relying on them; superiors, underlings, governments, civilians, the entire free world…

This is the kind of situation where you can really see what a character is made of. If ordered to slaughter a village by higher-ups, would your character do it? As a soldier, saying 'Screw you, I don't feel like it" doesn't fly. Soldiers take oaths that imply legal and moral obligations. The penalty for failing to fulfill those oaths can be steep. Imprisonment, or even death. Soldiers are constantly weighing the greater good, individual freedoms, and personal ethics against each other. They are master jugglers. Knowing that you can't please everyone is inherent in their position, but how to preserve your own sanity and morals while still doing the job you signed up to do?

There aren't a lot of privates in the fantasy/sf world. Face it, privates are boring. You do what you are told, no real moral decision making on your part. The big choices are made for you, and if you disagree, too bad. You are a private, good for cannon fodder and grunt duties, but little else. You don't have the training or expertise to BE much more. Not yet. Until you prove yourself worth it, the military isn't going to waste a lot of time or resources on you. There is very little a private can do to affect change. Most characters in novels that start out as privates don't stay that way long. They are promoted to some position of authority, cherry-picked for a special forces kind of operation, or turn traitors.

Besides, do you really want to read about some guy that digs latrines for 8 hours, stands guard duty and sleeps when not busy being scared shitless by battle? I don't. I want to read about the people that have to make the life and death decisions, the ones who agonize over the morality of defending one part of their world at the expense of another. The guy (or gal) who keenly feels the death of everyone under his command, but doesn't let it stop him from doing his duty, because that is what it all comes down to in the end. Duty. Honor. Country. Or some form there of. A sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself.

That can be very seductive. It can also be corruptive. While you may belong to this unit, the unit of soldiers also belongs to you. Responsibility and temptation all in one. A strong military leader can change the course of countries. The decision making capability in the hands of one person is what attracts me to the soldier as fictional character. As a writer, Scott wants to explore what he missed by not being in the military. As a writer who was in the military, I want to reexamine my decisions and actions through my fictional characters. Are they still valid? Knowing what I know now, would I do the same thing? This is my second chance. In real life, you don't get too many of those.

C.A. Brewer, Captain (Ret.) US Army Corp of Engineers.

Fade To Black - A Samhain Story

Someone has been trying to speak with me. I see him there, on the periphery of my vision. I ignore him. To acknowledge would be to give him form and substance. As long as he is ethereal, I remain in control. I have all the power. But in doing so I also let my fears dictate my behavior, conduct unbecoming someone of my upbringing. So I do the unthinkable. I speak with the dead.

It wasn't the thought of people returning from beyond that bothered me, it was the idea that somehow they would be lesser, and only worthy of our derision. While we run through the streets shrieking, "Zombie!" at the top of our lungs, or head to the library for a poltergeist removal book, I fear the dead stare after us in bewilderment. Here they are, with wondrous tales quivering on transparent lips, and we are only concerned with appearances or how they smell or the fact they might have acquired a gourmand's taste for brains.

Look at it this way. The dead have been places. Places we are reluctant to even think about, much less discuss. They could tell us, for example, which religion is right. If any. Does religion even matter? Ask the corpse, I'm sure he has fantastical stories to tell. The dead doubtless join fraternities for the newly departed- Phi Theta Mortis. Some come back just to play pranks on the living, but I like to think the majority that bother to return are trying to tell us something. This is the reason I acknowledged him.

There is a communications gap between Us and Them. Because we don't want the dead near us, we don't listen to what they have to say and their voices come as grumblings on the wind. Most of the dead would rather explore their new digs rather than haunt the unbelieving, but they are compelled to give it a fair try. Maybe it's in the contract, maybe honor takes on meaning when you are newly departed. No entering heaven, hell, or GhostMart until you make one attempt to connect with the living. Some of the dead really go above and beyond. They make numerous attempts to get through to us dense brained air breathers. They haunt our days, appear like bad salesman at inopportune moments performing every trick in their limited repertoire to get our attention. We are immune, caught up in the intricacies of Living. No matter how much we loved, they have moved on and left us behind. It smarts. It rankles. It is out of our control, and out of our experience.

I understand now. The dead want contact with the living. Contact is the gossamer thread that keeps their memories alive. One final chance to make a lasting impression on the world. I was here. Do not forget me, for I will fade far more swiftly than your recollection. Tether me to this world, so even when I move on, even when I am only as dense as a breeze, part of me remains.

So I turn and face that which lurked in the corner of my eye. I invite him into the sanctity of my beating heart. I study him, dressed in ancient clothes, from a time I only read about in history books. How has he hung on so long, how has he bound himself to a plane that relentlessly moves forward when his roots are in the past? Why is he so tenaciously determined when others sip and slip happily down the River Lethe to vanish? He won me over with curiosity. I'm listening, I tell him, what did you want to say?

As he speaks, he gains substance. He solidifies until I can't imagine a world that didn't have him in it. He anchors himself to my soul. A dirty trick, because now I know about eternity. About heaven, hell, and planes of existence far beyond my imagination. I know what God looks like.

There are some things I didn't want to know. Now that I know, I can't return to my state of ignorance. I can't die and float off on a cloud to a wondrous place. No ripple of anticipation will flicker through my mind as I draw my dying breath. Damn him.

Maybe that was the idea.

####

Book Review- Tripping To Somewhere

Kristopher Reisz has a new urban fantasy novel out called Tripping to Somewhere. Billed as Young Adult fiction, this Old Adult started out with a bit of skepticism. I received the book on a Friday night, courtesy of the generous author. Saturday morning I picked it up, intending to read a chapter or two, get a feel for the story...

I read the whole book in one sitting.
(* NOTE: This is not a short book. It is 368 pages. I just read really fast. YMMV.)

Tripping to Somewhere is a well-done, fast-paced read. It's about two high school girls named Sam and Gilly whose home lives aren't exactly out of any Disney movie. A chance encounter with a mystic sends them off on a road trip to find the Witches' Carnival, a loose group of hedonists who transverse the world throwing wild parties. They've been doing it for years- hundreds of years. The girls' goal is simple, find the Witches' Carnival and join up. But nothing is simple when you're on the run, one of you is gay, and oh, yeah, you've stolen thousands of dollars from someone who'd rather you kept quiet about the theft. No one ever said following a dream would be easy, and the Witches' Carnival tests the boundaries and depths of Sam and Gilly's friendship. Moral of the story- Don't underestimate the power of two girls on a mission.

The characters are very well drawn and sympathetic, including Gilly's father, who could have come off as a cliché, but in Reisz's hands rises to the role of anguished parent torn between doing what is safe, and saving his daughter. Watching each character being presented with choices, and how they each deal with those choices is what made this such a fascinating novel. I know there will be howls about the swearing and the fact a character is gay, but the presentation is such that everything works. It is believable. If you think high school girls don't act and swear like that, then get thee down to the nearest institute of education and stand around at lunch time. Reisz was restrained in his use of language.

An extremely well done first novel. I look forward to reading more from Kris Reisz.

Blog Gnomes Strike Again!

In a moment of weakness I let three different people talk me into the insanity that is NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. From the website: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

The accounting gnome whispered in my ear, "That's only 1666 words a day. It takes you 1500 words to get warmed up on anything. Piece of cake."

The procrastination gnome rubbed his hands together and said, "Hey, some time away from The Fantasy Novel will do you good. Maybe you work on the SF Novel in your spare time too. Don't forget to surf the 'Net, lots of fun stuff out there. Oh, look, a bird! Maybe you should read up on birds, just in case. And research, don't forget to resear-- AIEEEEEEE."

(Blogger's note - It is with regret we announce the sudden vacation of the procrastination gnome. He had the uncontrollable urge to mail himself to Uzbekistan.)

The underpants gnome merely smiled. The sissypants gnome sat in the corner, beating his head against the wall and wailing, "What have you done? What have you done?!?"

50,000 words. 30 days. Is Captain Chaos up to the task? The gnomes are already taking bets. Will this coveted GnomeAward be won? -------------->

Stay tuned. It's going to be a Chaotic November.

Just the way I like it.

The Writing Process

Over at the Kenyon Review, Jerry Harp has a pair of essays on the writing process. The first essay, On Writing, talks of how 'the muse favors the prepared mind...' and how sometimes in writing, less is more.

In the second essay, On Writing 2 , Harp dissects an Edmund Spencer sonnet and describes writing as an 'act of displacement'.

The Kenyon Review has also started doing podcasts. You can listen to interviews with the likes of poets Mark Strand, Jason Schneiderman, Dana Roeser, and the publisher of Graywolf Press, Fiona McCrae.