Rocket Scientist

I’m going to take a break from short stories (sort of) because I read a post on Bookish’ blog wherein someone wrote a book transforming the classic Pride and Prejudice to an alternate book:  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 

OK.  Zombies aren’t my thing and I’m very fond of the original.  However, bookish quoted a portion of the new book including a swashbuckling Mr. Darcy (and a courteously puking Mr. Bingley) and that got me to thinking.  Even if this particular incarnation doesn’t appeal, wouldn’t it be fun to play with taking a bit of classic and give it a different twist, either environment or condition?

Now I could tell you some possibilities, but here, I’ll show you.  Like “The Cask of Amontillado”…

“He is an ignoramus,” interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. At a small cozy room, and realizing he had reached the extremity of the corridor, and finding his progress arrested by the wall, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the couch. In its surface were two iron staples. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.

“Pass your hand,” I said, “over the table; you will find a catalog for tupperware. Indeed, it is the very latest lineup. I implore you again, would you not care to give me a ride so I can leave my damn house? No? Then I must positively tell you all about our new spring colors.  And let’s not forget our new core decor items!”

“I thought we were having coffee!” ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.

“Too bad,” I replied; “You could have sprung for Starbucks.”

Or, perhaps, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

They had now reached the road which turns off to Sleepy Hollow; but D8N40, who’s programming was clearly in need of an overhall, instead of keeping to the road, made an opposite turn and plunged headlong down hill to the left, it’s hovering capability malfunctioning so that the ride was unreasonably rough. This road leads through a delapidated ghetto shaded by disintegrating skyscrapers for about a four blocks, where it crosses the laserbridge which formed the boundary to the standard monitored city, where help was readily available.

As yet the the robotic steeds errors prompted full speed so that it gave him advantage in the chase; but just as he had got halfway through the ghetto the antigrav unit gave way and he felt the unit stutter and fail beneath him. He tried to fumble a backup program into place and run a diagnostic, but the unit whined back into power before he had a chance to do anything, but it was only half power and stuttered across the ground on one side, jolting him terrifically.  Now he could hear them, his pursuers, greedy for his technology, despite the malfunctions. For a moment the terror of his boss intruded as this was his transportation unit; but this was no time for petty fears; the aliens were hard on his heels, and (unskilled rider that he was) he had much ado to maintain his seat, sometimes slipping on one side, sometimes on another, and sometimes jerked backwards with a violence that he verily feared would rend him on the back lip.

A glow in the distance now cheered him with the hopes that the laserbridge was at hand. The wavering reflection of a blue glow in the bosom of the brook told him that he was not mistaken. He saw the gleam of the bridge dimly glowing under the broken street lights ahead. He recollected the place where other travelers had disappeared. “If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, “I am safe.” Just then he heard the, black chittering, the panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt their hot breath. Another clumsy fumbling at the control panel and he got the unit to lurch forward slightly faster; he thundered over the surface made of naught but light; he gained the opposite side; and now Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his pursuers should vanish, according to rule, unable to follow him across the beam of light. Just then he saw the aliens cluster at the laser’s edge and, as one, spit some vile concoction over the small river. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash; he was tumbled headlong into the plascrete, and transportation unit, the aliens and their greedy followers passed by like a whirlwind.

 So, you try.  I would stick to books or stories in the public domain, but, hey, knock yourself out.

Or, if you don’t want to go to that much trouble, hey, I’ll just field your ideas of new ways to transform old classics.  After all, it’s supposed to be fun.

We are still on short stories.  One of the interesting things about short stories is that much of what I’ll talk about is true for novels as well as short stories.  However, the tactics for how you do things in a short story vs. how you work them in a novel aren’t the same.  In a short story, as I mentioned last week, you need to set a scene briefly, but, in my opinion, more sharply than you do with a novel.  A short story needs to have a sense of immediacy, yanking the reader in at once instead of easing them in as you can in a novel.

This is true of dialogue as well.  As a character person, I’m really fond of dialogue.  Perhaps too much.  It is almost always the most effective way to get to know a character, listening to what they say and how they say it.  But, as with setting, you need to get the most bang for the words you use.  Each statement, each comment, should add to the story or the character.  What’s more, you need to make how they say things reinforce the character every time they speak, much like the sound can reinforce the meaning of words in poetry.

If what they say and how they say are at cross-purposes, the reader will be confused or, worse, knocked out of the story and it’s hard to pull them back in when you only have a few thousand words to work with.  Losing the reader in a short story is often unrecoverable.

So, how do you do that?  Actions, words, attitude should all be in concert.  From my short story, “Cauchemar “

“You had best move on, old man,” a fierce voice hissed from the tiny figure swathed in black. “You would do well to sleep further on this night.”

“But the road is open to all, child,” Marin said placidly in her rasping contralto, shuffling forward slowly to see better. “And the sun is setting.”

A bitter laugh escaped from the black-draped stranger. “None would know better than I when the sun sets, old man. All the more reason for you to make haste in leaving this place. You are not safe here.” 

Marin’s seamed face broke into a smile. “Brave soldier,” Marin clucked reprovingly, resting her slight weight on a staff of rowan wood. “To stab an old man as he sleeps. In truth, there are few who would harm one of my clan, child.”

The figure in black pulled herself up to stand more straightly. “I waste no love on men,” she spat. “Even old men would do well to flee.”

The tone, words, syntax are distinctly different.  Ideally, one can tell the difference between one character and the other by what they say, rather than the names we apply.  An old fashioned way of talking can be reminiscent of old lore or tradition (useful in fantasy like I write).  Youthful speakers are likely to use slang and unlikely to speak with good grammar or in complete sentences.  In fact, most people don’t.  However, having someone who does and speaks articulately, again, can emphasize characteristics and give a reader a good feel for someone right away.  It’s an opportunity that should not be discarded.

Contrast:

“Where are you going?” she asked, eyes slit with suspicion.

“I am not going to tell you,” he replied hotly.

“I would like you to tell me.  If you will not tell me, I will feel compelled to either cause you pain or report your behavior.  You have not completed the chores assigned you.”  Her voice was menacing and he had no doubt she meant it.

“What have you done to merit that information from me?” he asked more meekly.

With:

 ”Where do you thing you’re going?” she asked, eyes slit with suspicion.

“None o’ your business!” he replied hotly.

“You’ll tell me, boyo, or I’ll beat you blue or tell ma you left without finishin’ your chores.”  Her voice was menacing and he had no doubt she meant it.

“Why can’t you let nothin’ be?” he asked more meekly.

By changing only the words spoken, without changing the meanings, I have completely changed the tone of the conversation.  Originally the dialogue was stilted and unrealistic and there was nothing really to indicate anything about that characters.  It was so unauthentic, the characters were not even characters.  In the second rendition, however, they are clearly young, likely siblings, and there’s a rivalry and a secret.  It’s not perfect, of course, but clearly better than what was done before.

Now, your assignment is to take this following exchange and rewrite it so that the individuals are made individuals, without changing the gist of the conversation or anything outside of quotes.  Extra credit for trying it more than once and instilling genuine voices.

“What are you saying?”she challenged him, her eyes holding his own intently.

“I have deep feelings for you,” he said, dropping his eyes.  “I’ve never cared about anyone like I care about you.  I love you.  I expect you’ll laugh at me or scoff, but I’m telling you, I love you very very much.”

Her hand was gentle on his cheek, but he didn’t look up.  “I appreciate your honesty.  You and I both know why it can never be.”

For those of you who have been intimidated by reminiscences about poetry, fear not, I am now moving into short stories.  Short stories had many of their own lessons to teach me.  And, ’cause it’s writing workshop Wednesday, I’m going to tell you about one of them today.

 See, you’re not constrained by cadence and sound like you are in a poem and that gives you a great deal more freedom and flexibility.  But you are still constrained by length.  A short story can do many things:  cause surprise, set a scene, breathe life into a character… and, ideally, tell a story.  But it has to do so in a limited number of words.  

There are lots of skills in short story writing and, when compared to novel writing, calls for completely different approaches.  They usually do not have the same tone or pacing.  But many of the skills you build for a short story can be useful in a novel, like the poetry skill, in judicious quantities, adding power or magic at the moment you need it.

So, today, the skill we’re looking for is setting the scene with brevity.  In this case, the limit I’m imposing is a single sentence (not run-on) to bring a setting to life in a way a reader can identify with.  I’m not saying describing every leaf in a huge treehouse or each shade of color in a kaleidoscope wallpaper, but providing the right details to let the reader fill in the rest.   

Here are some examples:

It seemed he’d entered a hall of mirrors, except it was just an endless white hall with innumerable doors, identical, stretched out to infinity.

 The light was soft as the surf at her feet, warm, red, tinting the white sand pink and adding a violet lustre to the blue ocean under the cloudless crimson sky.

 It was an oasis, emerald, jade and sapphire, a jewel nestled unexpectedly in the endless gold of lifeless sand.

The air was so heavy and humid, it was like a being underwater and Terrence felt as though he were drowning in the heavy scents of the rain forest:  jasmine, orchids, ferns, mold, fungus and, under it all, the scents of decay as he plodded through the thick green undergrowth under the endless twilight under the dense canopy.

Now, it’s your turn.

 Oh, and don’t forget to vote on the poll.

One aspect of character building I didn’t mention before, but that’s important, is appearance.  One reason I don’t is that I don’t give it the kind of emphasis many writers do.  In fact, my physical descriptions of people are few and far between.  Why?

Beauty, of course, depends on the eye that beholds it.  And, more than that, there are so many kinds of beauty inside and out.  If you’re going to pick a beauty for your character, start with the inside.  The outside will take care of itself, believe me.

Well, it’s thieving Thursday and I have many choices.  However, I kinda have to go with a comment I made with regards to (a) something I never ever do in a book and (b) one of my all time biggest pet peeves in writing, which I’ll get to in a moment.

See, my friend, flitting on fiction , like so many of us, was commenting on reading Twilight , where she didn’t get the appeal.  I actually got the appeal, even though, on second read through, I got the flaws, too.  But she also noted that having someone able to read your thoughts and who came in to watch you sleep was creepy.  OK, putting it that way, it IS creepy in a Santa Claus kind of way, especially since our hero in Twilight is the one just saying “no.”  (And, no, no more spoilers).

I noted that there’s a fine line, actually, between romance and creepy and we see it all the time.  If he’s hopelessly in love with you and follows you on dates, dreaming about you from afar, it’s pretty easy to call it “creepy”.  If he follows you around to make sure you’re alright but also because he’s jealous of other guys even though he is your guy, that can be creepy or romantic depending on who’s doing the judging.  We can’t flirt with other fellows to get our guys jealous and not think it’s at least a little romantic.  And, let’s face it, that’s pretty common.

Jealousy, in small amounts, is sweet and romantic.  Big doses and it become creepy/dangerous/onerous.  Unfortunately, that distinction is often lost in books and other media, where things are portrayed black and white and where what is good and what is bad is more a matter of who’s doing it rather than what they’re doing.  Which brings me back to my pet peeve.

Rape.

See, I have two rules in writing.  One is, every longish work has to have at least one cat.

The other is rapists are always bad guys and die by the end of the book.  Always.  Those that target children don’t die pleasantly.

Why so vehement?  Two reasons.  Rape is one of those crimes that, in my opinion, never has an excuse.  I’m not talking about two sweaty teenagers where one (or both) is technically underage; in fact, it’s frustration to me that so many things get dumped into the same “term” - it cheapens it.  I’m talking situations where someone uses a woman’s (or a child or another man’s) body against her/his will.  I’m a relatively non-violent person (which, given I’ve written a book in the sword and sorcery genre, may be surprising), but I believe there is such a thing as justifiable homicide and justification for certain types of violence.  I just can’t think of a justifiable reason for rape.

As a woman with an ultra-feminist father, I haven’t faced it personally, but my father gave me just about every bit of rape literature he could find.  In his opinion, rape was the worst of the worst and he wanted me to be able to protect myself, which may be why I haven’t faced it personally.  But, if I have a well-ingrained prejudice, it’s against rapists.

The other reason?  I’m am appalled, disgusted, nauseated and dismayed at the tendency of women who write fiction for women to glorify and excuse away rape as romantic.  What kind of message do we send to impressionable young minds when we tell them that someone who can’t help himself and forces himself on you is a romantic hero, perfect to spend the rest of your life with?  And we wonder why date rape is so prevalent especially among our youth.

You want to be romantic, build a character who respects women, who is looking for a partner, someone who can challenge his mind not just inflame his body.  Inflaming one’s body is fine, too, but you can’t build a healthy romance on sex alone.  Protecting a woman from his overt desires, isn’t that really more romantic than overpowering her reservations through force?  So, sure, I could see Edward as creepy, but he never hurts her.  And that’s a pretty powerful message to send to girls who could use it.

And, yeah, I’m not objective

Also, if you haven’t read flit’s short story, Leaving , you should.  Seriously.

And vote.  There’s hardly any action going this week.  Don’t make me sick that baby on you!

One thing about that characteristic=character tendency that I discussed yesterday is that it can be utilized for good effect in fiction.  Which I’ll get to in a moment.

However, one thing that can be very effective is playing with the perceptions of one character with regards to another.  In books, you have characters doing what I’m telling people here not to do, judge people by a single characteristic, by what they are rather than who they are.  If you allow the reader to use their own judgment, you can provide a contrast between who the character is and who the other character(s) perceive him or her to be.  Aside from being useful in character development, it also can add to character interaction and plot development.  It also can be pivotal to another of Stephanie’s rules of great characters.  (The last rule , if you missed it, is that people who are nice to some people while treating others poorly are not nice people).

A great character isn’t static.  They must grow.

And that’s how I see it.

So, yesterday, I talked about expecting way more from celebrities than we ever had a right to as well as judging them on actions and characteristics that have nothing to do with whatever made them famous.  You might have wondered what that had to do with science or science fiction or writing or whatever.

Well, I’m getting to that.  See, the other side of that coin and tendency has a great deal to do with how people judge a person and why that’s different from how they judge a character.  See, in real life, people can be and often are as shallow in judging face to face people as they are in determining the actual worth of a celebrity.

Want the love of your life? Look for a cute butt.  Want someone to be a true friend?  Pick a popular kid.  Want to find an honest car salesman?  Pick the one that tells you what you want to hear.  WTF???  When it comes to thinking things through on what’s really important in another person, sometimes we are clueless.

Sadly, some people take that limited ability to judge the character of people with them as they read books or watch movies.  Handsome face, perky breasts: perfect mate!  They confuse rich with worthy, cultured with classy, show with substance.  They confuse poor with abused and pretty with innocent.  They confuse religious with virtuous and crusty with misunderstood.

But, as a writer, you don’t have to (or a discerning reader/watcher), you don’t have to.  Demand more!  For a start, there are some dos and don’ts this little character writer/reader follows.  That doesn’t mean that your list will be the same, but it’s mine.  And, since I’m like that, I’m going to be touching on this for the next few blogs, skipping my normal weekend specialties (probably).  To me, character is important and good characters are priceless.  And here’s the first one, courtesy of Dave Barry.

“A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person” - Dave Barry

That’s right.  People who treat some people well and others like dirt aren’t nice people.  They can be effective characters, but their roles as protagonists should be limited.  They aren’t nice people.  If you want to make one of these not nice people a protagonist, you should, in my opinion, either make ‘em grow up to realize the errors of their ways or you should rethink it.  Now, you can be a protagonist treating all people poorly (albeit, a difficult one) or treating all people well - or perhaps “fairly” is a better term.  But, if you choose to treat some people with respect and others without, there’s no really good way for you to be the good guy.  In my opinion.

Does that mean your protagonist can’t kick butt?  No defending oneself from bodily harm or rescuing others from misuse isn’t “treating someone like dirt” - that’s more like justice.  But it’s also a reaction to what someone has done, what they have shown themselves to be.  That’s entirely different than treating a woman like a possession or a servant like a piece of furniture.  That’s entirely different from treating a minority like a criminal or a someone poor like a leper.  Or even treating someone fat as a loser or someone ugly as a fool.  When we treat people based on a label instead of as a person, we are doing a bad thing.

It’s OK to learn better over time.  Not so much to let it be.  And that’s how I see it.

By all means, feel free to disagree.  Don’t worry, more of my opinions on character development will be coming.

Before doing anything else, you should got over to flit’s blog, flitting on fiction and read the short story she put up today.  It is, in my opinion, one of the five finest short stories I’ve ever read.  And I’m a connoisseur.  I love the classics like O’Henry and Sake, and some gems written by people no one’s heard of.  I can’t think of a short story that has impressed me more (or that makes me cry every time I read it).  Seriously.  Read it.Back to our regularly scheduled blog…Someone explain this drive for so many to idolize celebrity.  Or, more precisely, assign character traits to someone based on entirely different characteristics.  By the way, this is all my opinion, so just punctuate all the sentences with “in my opinion” as you read it.

I’ll give you an example.  Think about the movie Amadeus.  Here is this individual who maybe have been the greatest musical prodigy that ever lived, writing symphonies and operas while still a child.  Yet, Salieri’s opinion of Mozart (not his work) is completely tainted when he finds out Mozart’s an immature self-absorbed, impractical ass.  If Mozart had been a ditch-digger, no one would have cared if he were a jerk or had all kinds of personality flaws, but, since he produced such magnificent music, he should be some sort of paragon all the way through.  My question is: why?If he had been a saint walking the earth, would his music have been any sweeter?  (Is that possible?)  If he had spent his off-hours playing Sweeney Todd to street urchins, would his music have been less brilliant?  Why do we impose judgments on things that don’t have anything to do with us?

So, guess what?  I did it.  I finished writing my second novel last night.  Actually, saying I “finished writing” my second novel is undoubtedly inaccurate.  I’m sure I’ll be polishing and rewriting on it plenty.  I know of some tweaks I already need to make to the last six chapters (forgot to include something) but it’s the kind of tweak I can do in an evening, I think.

The big deal is that the story is in place.  The characters all did what I wanted where I wanted it and I’ve left it in a place where the book is a finished stand alone piece but where it isn’t hard to picture something else happening to the characters I’ve taken the trouble to create.  In another book.

And I did it.

Lee helped too, but I’m the one that puts it all together and edits it.  Mostly I read it out loud to him and he tells me why something won’t work or what stinks.  Which is useful, but I do the actual crafting.  I’m very pleased with this.  I like my main characters, like how they’re portrayed.  I’ve got some fantasy elements, some science fiction elements and some sociological elements.  Of course, having just birthed the thing, I’m not even slightly objective about it.  So, I need to let it sit for at least a couple of weeks - though a month would be better.  And I should let a few select people read it, the kind of people who would tell me when something smells to high heaven or let me know what made them laugh.  I should listen, weigh their advice and do another rework using it and, THEN, read it out loud again to Lee.

But rework takes me days, even for a big rewrite.  Writing it, taking the notion and making it come to life, that’s the challenge and this one I was driven to write.  It’s even the length I want (a least at the moment).

Want to know something freaky?  I have man-sized insects in my book and part of my book pivots around fooling them into thinking someone who isn’t the Queen, you know, is.  I’m not even a biologist or an entomologist, but I thought the idea was worth pursuing.  Then, having just finished the book, I read this news story about what?  That’s right, butterfly pupae that fool ants into taking care of them like they were ant larvae.  Not just that, taking care of them like they were Queen larvae to the point where they’ll sacrifice the regular ant larvae to preserve the butterfly larvae.  What’s more, they did an experiment where they put the butterfly pupae, worker ants and four Queen ants in a chamber (which is not how it is in a regular hive).  The Queens attacked the pupae, but the worker ants defended the pupae and even went so far as to attack their own queens.  Hey, are you shrugging?  Well, that’s because you haven’t read my book because, if you’d read my book, you’d think that was a freaking incredible coincidence.  Just sayin’.

And, in keeping with my notion of promoting Black History Month, I’m bringing you word of one of the few African American novelists in the field of science fiction: Octavia E Butler (which is, by the way, a cool name).  Born in 1947, she was a shy, introspective daydreamer who happened to be dyslexic, but she was also fond of science fiction and speculative fiction like the magazines Amazing, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Galaxy.  When she was twelve, she saw a bad science fiction movie called Devil Girl from Mars and though, ‘Heck, I can do better than that.’  Now that’s an author after my own heart because I’ve done the same damn thing.

She’s written many short stories and several series of novels (common the fantasy and science fiction) including Lilith’s Brood, the Parable Series and the Patternist series. Kindred, a novel with time travel back to the world of slavery, is the most popular of all her books to date.

Ms. Butler has won both the Hugo (twice) and Nebula (twice) awards and is the first science fiction author to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant in 1995.  Unfortunately, Ms. Butler died in 2006 at the age of 58.  Check out Wikipedia for more information about this remarkable novelist.

Author’s update and note:  My bad!  I completely forgot this was Thieving Thursday and I should have had something on one of my own comments.  Apparently, finishing a novel trumps regular features so you’ll have to wait until next week.  Also, get a load of the poll shenanigans.  It looks like there’s a poll cheating battle going on.  Who will win?  Really, it’s anyone’s guess!

Update #2:  Actually, that butterfly looks mighty mothlike.  I bet this actually does qualify given the plethora of butterfly/moth comments I made on JD’s I Do Things blog .  Whew!

Remember last week when I mentioned that, as a general rule, I had to be inspired to write , unlike many, that sitting down and forcing myself to write pages when I was dry was a big mistake?  Well (as I mentioned), there is a little exception to that and I call them bridge chapters.  See, my egotistical (megalomaniacal, actually) subconscious does all the clever stuff writing.  Often, early in the book, I have several clever and pivotal chapters either already written (though they’ll have to be adapted as the book progresses and are sometimes changed radically) or in my head.  Not an outline, just a general idea of pitstops I want to make along the way (along with an occasional ending).

(Don’t forget, vote well and vote often.  We’re neck and neck at the moment!)

OK, folks, finding good dragon quotes is not so easy.  So, I expanded it a bit to cover both magic and dragons and this is what I came up with. Sadly, I had to go searching for some.  I didn’t have them already in my collection.

 I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?
-John Lennon

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
-Arthur C. Clarke

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.
-Daniel Burnham

First rule of magic: Don’t let anyone know your real name. Names have power.
-Neil Gaiman

No magic can change something into something that it is not; the imaginative transformation at the heart magic is recognition, not creation.
-Susan Palwick

Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.
-Nora Roberts, as quoted in Rainbow Bridge Farm (2003) by Lynn Roberson, p. 127

If we are to have magical bodies, we must have magical minds.
-Dr Wayne Dyer

Poetry is a kind of magic that very few can create and even fewer can truly understand and appreciate in all its glory.
-Dennis Gabor

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans.
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.
-Caroline Gordon

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It’s a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.
-Martha Graham

One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word.
-Robert A. Heinlein

When you start writing the magic comes when the characters seem to take on a life of their own and write the words for themselves.
-Alice Hoffman

Books are a uniquely portable magic.
-Stephen King

The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.
-Blaine Lee

That’s the thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.
-Charles de Lint

I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.
-John Mortimer

A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.
-Earl Nightingale

The metaphor is perhaps one of man’s most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him.
-José Ortega y Gasset

There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment
-Norman Vincent Peale

It’s only in innocence you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.
-Sean Penn

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
-J. B. Priestley

There’s a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.
-Lou Reed

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
-Tom Robbins

Here we have a game that combines the charm of a Pentagon briefing with the excitement of double-entry bookkeeping.
– Cecil Adams (On Dungeons & Dragons)

Then, because I’m easily amused, I included some bumper sticker/T-shirt dragon slogans. 

If you can’t stand the heat, don’t tickle the dragon.

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and a Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon, you just have to outrun the halfling.

If you have any others you think I should add to the collection, don’t hesitate to share.  I always like to add to my collection.  And don’t forget to vote for next week.  Vote well and vote often!  Cheating encouraged!

It was overwhelmingly “Ask the Dragon” this week, and (don’t think I don’t know you cheated, honey).  For those of you who didn’t vote for it, you might be wondering, what the heck is “Ask the Dragon”?

Well, the dragon I know best is, of course, my husband, so when I’m the Dragon in Ask the Dragon, I’m channelling my hubby and his limitless knowledge of all things magic and magical.  That includes a mastery of magical beasts and protocols, the rules and responsibilities of magicians, wizards and magii.  It also, of course, affords an opportunity to look within the mind, philosophy and perpective of the greatest of all mystical creatures:  dragons.

Dragons, as you might know, are common to almost every mythology.  Coincidence?  They can be very large and come in every color, shape, size.  Some with wings, and some without.  Some breath fire.  Some do magic and speak in one’s mind.  They are both hated and feared as well as venerated.  There really is no limit to their permutations and variations.
I’ve done this before and, although I often go to my husband for information, I have a real gift for channeling it even when he’s not available.  It’s good practice for one of my shapeshifters, Xander, becomes the dragon and an impressive character he is.

Once again, I will do quotes tomorrow (of course, finding dragon-related quotes might be challenging).  And you’ll find a new poll to help me figure out who you want to ask questions of next week. Given my husband’s cheating this week, I’ve taken off restrictions, so do come, vote and vote often. By all means, let’s make this interesting.

If you’re stumped, here are some examples:

•  Why are dragons and unicorns such intent enemies?
• Is it true that dragons stole women away to have their way with them?
• And what’s the deal with that treasure trove (and can you provide a map)?

Now, it’s your turn.

I haven’t talked much about writing recently, largely because I’ve been doing a good bit of it, revising, actually, which is essential but nowhere near as fun as writing.  Meanwhile, like any other bibliophile, I’ve read a few books and it got me thinking about characterization.

I’ve said before (and I meant it) that characters are what draws me to a book and makes it rereadable.  The genre, setting, style and even plot play complete second fiddle to this ability to make characters come to life.  I also mentioned, using my beloved WALL-E as an example, that what brings an animated character to life on screen are the little mannerisms, the bits of easily overlooked humanity that breathe life into something lifeless.

This is no less true on paper.  And I thought I’d give you some examples.  I’m not going to even set these up because I think there’s a wealth of information available about these characters just from a few lines set deeply into a book.  See if you agree with me. 

The first is from a favorite of mine by Georgette Heyer, called These Old Shades.  I’m a huge Heyer fan and have collected many of her wonderful romances in hardback.  The fact that she died in 1974 and they are still reprinting her lighthearted sex-free romances (in hardback) should tell you something of their staying power and could even argue for their intelligence.  It didn’t hurt that they were also largely humorous.  I would also like to mention also my disgust with the covers on many of these historical works.  There were five covers to choose from on amazon.com and this was the only one that remotely seemed connected to the story.  Not one other one was of the right time period (two set in Regency times, one colonial and one - what?  Georgette Heyer was meticulous in her setting of the time) or reflected a scene (or character) from the book.

    “Nothing at all alarming, I assure you.  Dry your tears.”
Léon hunted through his various pockets.
“I–I have lost my handkerchief,” he apologized.
“Yes, you are very young, are you not?” commented his Grace.  “I suppose I must give you mine.”
Léon took the fine lace handkerchief which the Duke held out, wiped his eyes, blew his nose, and gave it back again.  The Duke received it gingerly, and eyed the crumpled ball through his quizzing glass.
“Thank you,” he said.  “You are nothing if not thorough.  I think you had better keep it now.”
Léon pocketed it cheerfully.
“Yes, Monseigneur,” he said.  “Now I am happy again.”

Would it surprise you to know that Léon, here the Grace’s page, was really a girl pretending to be a boy (once a common element of these types of romances but no longer in favor)?  And that she’s a love interest much younger than the Duke?  And mercurial of temper?  We have also learned about his Grace’s dry humor and imperious manner as well as his soft spot for a certain page…

Then there is Plan B by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, this excerpt is not only from the middle of the book, but a book fourth (or sixth) in a series of 5-9 (depending on your point of view).  I cannot recommend the Liaden series too highly.

    As he came even with the situation board, jin’Bardi abruptly spun.  “I want my knife back.”
Nelirikk stopped.  “If the captain pleases,” he coached, “may I have my weapon.”
Miri stopped, feeling the weight of the thing in her hand, and something tickling on the edge of her mind.  The balance was good…
“You want this?” she snapped.
“Yes,” jin’Bardi snapped back and that quick the knife reversed itself and she threw.
The knife tumbled in the air, traveling fast, much too fast for jin’Bardi to have time to move.  The blade passed so close to his cheek it seemed to glide over the skin, then buried itself deep in the situation board, a lock of his hair pinned tight.
“Say ‘thank you, Captain,’” Nelirikk directed into the absolute stillness that followed the knife’s thunk, “‘for returning my weapon.’”
jin’Bardi licked his lips.  “Thank you, Captain,” he said faintly, “for returning my weapon.”

Nelirikk is the bone of contention, untrusted because he’s a recruit from “the enemy,” yet in a very short scene we have not only added immeasurably to Captain Miri’s kick-ass factor, we have justified her defense of Nelirikk, contrasted the lack of discipline between Nelirikk and jin’Bardi and, quite possibly, laughed in the bargain.  It should surprise no one that humor is a fine way to make a character seem real.

And now, from my latest nearly completed novel, Beast Within:

        She stood, moving something around in her cheek, and came forward, embracing his muzzle against her full breast.  Tears slipped down her brown cheek and stained small spots on her borrowed shirt.  “You would give up your family for me?”
I would give up my family for doing what is right.  My fondness for you is just a bonus.  Almost, Xander laughed.
She smiled, tears glistening, before she stepped back, spitting a green-black paste onto her fingertips.  “Here, taste this.”
Xander stared at the paste for maybe 30 seconds, than back into her face.  You’re not serious.
“Trust me.”

I know I’m dabbling here, in the company of masters, but it was important to me that the reaction seem natural, that the trust, however deep, not make someone into something they’re not.  Xander, though mature, is a teenage boy (who can transform into a dragon).  I wanted him to seem real.  Did I manage it?

Update:  I don’t know how to convince my post editor to put in indents on my paragraphs.  I welcome any insight

And the winner is “Ask the Tarot Queen”! (’Cause I can count real good up to, like, uh, ten.)  Rocket Scientist put up a good fight, there, mind you, and I’ll be doing that next week, so save up your good science or rocketry or anything else you want to ask me.  I’ll be fielding them the end of next week.

Yes, I’m making this a regular feature.  I love doing these. OK, here’s how the “Ask the …” work in general.  You, the reader/commenter pose questions and I answer them to the best of my abilities.  I can be anyone.  I can be any one of the facets of myself: rocket scientist, researcher, mother, character in one of my novels and/or short stories.  Or I can channel one of my children or another perspective I think might be interesting to ask questions of.  Mostly, it will depend on my mood.  Sometimes, it will be funny.  Sometimes, it will be serious and factual.  I gotta lot of facets so no one knows what they’ll get.  Every once in a while, I might ask for input again for the kind of “Ask the …” article you’d like to see.

Now, when it comes to tarot, I make no claims to psychic powers.  I’m not precognitive.  That, in several instances the cards seemed to be precognitive, I can take no credit for.  I taught myself tarot as research for some short stories (which are part of a series I haven’t completed.  You can read three that I have finished here on my website .)    However, when I do readings, I try to answer the question posed as well as I can.  I use “Tarot of the Cat People” cards but I have researched and found my own list of meanings from several different sources.

Now, some rules I have for me.  I will always tell you the “truth,” i.e. what I’m reading in the cards.  Good news or bad, I’ll tell you “what they say.”  So be prepared.

Also, for your own good, it’s best to avoid yes/no questions and to ask a question.  I can do general readings, but, unfortunately, the more general the reading, the harder it is to determine what aspects of one’s life the cards are describing.  They can readily point out a particular small event, aspect, or person, or they can be all encompassing.  No way to know for sure.

So, I’ve got my cards handy and I’m ready for questions.  Here’s your chance for a free reading from The Tarot Queen.

(Don’t forget to think up cool questions for the Rocket Scientist next week).  I’m up for it.  Ask kids you know if you don’t know any good questions…

So, today we’re voting?  Why?  Well, I have a burning question.

I like to do things like my Ask Alex post of last week.  I’ve decided to make an Ask XXXX article a Friday staple.  The thing is, I don’t know whether it’s my sciency side that people love most or my avant garde, hip, edgy side that people find appealing.  ‘Cause it makes a difference which Ask article I debut on Friday.

Should it be, Ask the Rocket Scientist?  Where you, your kids, your friends, anyone who wants to, can ask those pressing questions you’ve always wanted to ask a rocket scientist.  You can ask about science, education, women in science, the space program, or whatever else interests you and I will do my damndest to give you a good answer, and, at the least, a truthful one, even if it’s “I don’t know.”  Every question will get an answer though I ask you keep it clean in case someone has questions from their kids.

Or, alternatively, I can take advantage of my self-taught tarot card reading skills I picked up to write a series of short stories on, well, tarot reading.  I might even post one of the short stories as a bonus blog over the weekend.  I make no promises as to accuracy, but I will tell you what the cards tell me, no lies and, sadly, no prettying it up.  And, it’s free.

So, what will it be first - noting that whatever I don’t do first, I will be doing eventually.

Today, it’s up to you.  Let your choices be heard in the comments.

And, Friday, feel free to pelt me with the appropriate questions.  The Scientist/Tarot Queen will be in and answering.

My sister, shakespearemom , wrote a blog today about expectations.  Largely, I think, she was pointing out that writers can’t please everyone and that, in the end, pleasing oneself is most important.  After all, who will read your stuff as many times as you will?  Actually, she was quite eloquent and I recommend anyone with even the vaguest interest to check it out.

However, as an example, she made a point that people could read books or watch movies and expect something only to be disappointed, not because what they found was bad but because it was different than they’re expectations.  Well, shameless thief that I am (and, as I’m about to explain, this is true in more ways than one), I thought that was a great idea for a blog.  Because much of my writing has stemmed from reading something, seeing a particular end coming and being disappointed.

As a writer, there is nothing I hate more than potential wasted.  Like the Elric series by Michael Moorcock in my opinion, where we have a stunning image, the albino elf-king, who needs his magic to stay alive and depends on his evil black sword.  I mean, this could have been so cool.  Instead, he betrays his own nation for no discernable reason and then roams the world destroying nations and bands of unarmed ruffians (which, by the way, takes the same number of pages and the same amount of effort - which I hated).  He is generally not close to someone, but, if he becomes so, you can bet he’ll betray him or her at some point and move on.  Oooookay.  Not my kind of guy.  True, I’ve never put an albino in any of my books (and don’t see it happening any time soon) nor do I have anything with that plot.  However, when I wrote my sword and sorcery book, easy fights are quick and painless and real battles take the appropriate number of pages.  And I don’t do anti-heroes.

When I was in high school, this disappointment was a big thing for me.  I’d watch Conan the Barbarian and then get all disappointed because he didn’t throw himself on the funeral pyre or something when she died (yeah, I thought that was romantic, then) so I’d rewrite the story (then in long epic poetry) to suit myself, of course fixing all the other things I didn’t like along the way until even I didn’t recognize it.  Why?  Well, because it wasn’t the same story, of course.  The story I expected was apparently resident in my subconscious and the other story triggered it with it’s “wrongness”.  Ditto with say Labyrinth (perhaps you’ve noticed by now the trend of less than stellar stories - I don’t have to fix the good ones, you know).  I defy you to find the story of a fairy tale age princess pining for challenge, called to answer it, doing so, being rescued by the elf-king, saved from goblins, thinking she won, then leaving the elf-king to pine away for lack of love, only to find her way back.  I mean, aside from her saying, “I don’t need you,” there was nothing the same.  Good stuff if you like long epic poetry.  No one does, of course.

I still get inspired with stuff, though the caliber has generally improved.  I still like to fix things I didn’t like or take the idea of a character to what I think is it’s natural conclusion.  And I think most writers do the same, find something they like or wanted to like and ask themselves how to capture what works but make it theirs.  But you can’t give me even the most benign thing and have it come out anything like the original.  Which, going back to my sister’s blog, means that, if you have any expectations of what you think ought to happen in my stuff, well, they’re wasted on me.

I think funny.

Warning: Don’t eat while reading this blog.

Have you ever noticed how books are seriously leery about describing anything remotely biological, even when biology is a key element?

It must have been great in those old Regency romances to be trapped in a cellar for hours on end and, when rescued by the tall, rich and cynical hero, the heroine emerges, free of sweat, having had no need to sully any corner of the cellar with, um, biological wastes.  At worst, she’s a bit dusty.

I’m not saying we need to focus on urination or evacuation of the bowels.  But there are times when one is trapped in a cell or lost in an enclosed space, it can become an issue.  For me, it’s more distracting wondering what the character did to address the issue than it is to just make mention of it.

Here’s another one that is rarely touched on in fiction: menstruation.  Whoops, should have warned you men.  That’s right.  Girls trapped on a desert island with randy males are either going to figure out something to help them out once a month, or they’ll be making little ones.  That’s reality.  Again, fiction doesn’t have to dwell on this, necessarily, but a mention can make the characters and the situation seem more real.

And failing to mention it can make it a distraction.  For instance, in the Twilight series I’ve mentioned in several past blogs, we have vampires, particularly one vampire, that is driven nearly mad with the smell of our heroine and a whole family that goes nuts at the scent of blood when she gets a cut.  She is nearly as sensitive herself to blood, the smell sending her into nausea and fainting during science blood-typing (though, throughout the rest of the book series, she doesn’t appear to be bothered even during serious bloodletting.  Hmm.  See what I mean about being distracting).  One thing that’s never addressed is how she manages during certain times of the month when she is making any amount of blood (of a particularly pungent variety).  I mean, if a drop of blood on one’s fingers does her in, how does she not end up in the hospital when she deals with her own biology?  And since females change odor during menstruation, how did Edward manage it.  It was an interesting and natural part of life and the opportunity was really wasted.

And, now that we’re on the subject of biological processes in fiction, why is it almost everyone has no hesitation to bring out vomiting.  I mean, if I’m going to pick a biological process I’d like to know less about, that’s about topping the list.  Yet authors, whose characters go on for years with pee or pooping will vomit frequently and in exceptional detail.

Now, am I innocent of all these transgressions?  No, but it is something I think about here and again.  I’m not going to dwell on any of this in fiction, either.  But I will make an effort not to ignore it either.

I’ve been distracted because reading/watching Twilight gave me an epiphany on my own writing and I’ve been busting a move on my own novel as well as *sigh* going back to work (a week off is like heroin to me).  But, I was pleasantly diverted today interacting with the always charming JD from the hilarious blog “I Do Things .”  Not just because it’s always pleasant to talk to JD (though it is), but because she sparked my brain again.

Since I’m getting up at 6 am, anything that sparks my brain is a good thing.  I’m not a morning person.

First, she was noting that I was one of those people who used the left side of my brain, all that science and logic and stuff, but was still creative.  JD is sweet.  I’ve always felt somewhat shortchanged in the creativity department.  My sister, who is not only brilliant intellectually, but sings, draw, paints, writes, acts in plays, plays the piano, etc, etc.  Well, believe me when I tell you, our creative gifts are not equal, so I was gratified and yet felt a little guilty at being described that way.

But then we touched on the subject of humor.  I love humor.  I love to laugh and my favorite books, bar none, are those that make me laugh out loud, time and time again. I’m in awe of those people, like JD, that delve into their own brains for humor day after day and provide it with apparent ease.

I like to think I have funny moments, too, but my humor tends to be on the sarcastic/mean side and generally expressed (in real life) as sarcasm and in fiction as characters I find funny.  Here’s an example of my fiction humor:

               Things may turn out for the best.
Tander snorted disgustedly.  “The whole things smells very much like unicorn dung and I don’t like it.  I’m here, on the heights of obviously impassable mountains in the depths of a skin-scouring blizzard, saddled with cats that I never asked for, searching for a woman who could be violated and/or dead at any moment, who didn’t even have enough respect for me to tell me what was wrong with her.  I’m crawling along a ledge little more than a foot’s width wide wearing so many layers of cloth that I could probably withstand the fall if I slipped—though it is certainly not helping my agility.  I have a temperamental, and dangerous, woman in front of me and a friendly, and therefore similarly dangerous, unicorn behind me.  There are any number of deadly people in the entourage who will kill me for entertainment if I’m leading them the wrong way, including a friendly assassin who thinks I should be skewered for considering using magic to help him.   Tell me some good news.”
Serenity made an effort.  You are a powerful sorcerer.
“Things have got to get better soon,” grumbled Tander.

But I have to sort of channel funny people.  And I give full points to those who can be funny without a meanness to the humor, like JD.  Check out JD’s blog and find out why I check it every day.

Now, I’m going back to writing.  Feel free to be amused among yourselves.

Glue 4 Families posed the question.  Effectively, which is sexier, vampires or werewolves?

Well, though I tend toward shapeshifters (as opposed to standard werewolves), it got my brain to thinking.  One of the really cool things about writing speculative fiction is that it lets you play “What if…?”  And, among the what if possibilities we can contemplate individuals who aren’t, well, normal.

Vampires, of course, fit into the non-normal protagonist (or antagonist for that matter) and so do werewolves in the classic sense.  But there’s the world of shapeshifters.  And “aliens.” Or genetic combinations of one or more of these.  There are people with unusual capabilities or psychic power.  People who might use magic or heal, control people’s minds or manipulate the world around them.

One could have combinations of people and machine, from true cyborg to bionic limbs.  Or people could be genetically enhanced or bred, manipulated or mutated.  There are variations on the Jekyll/Hyde phenomena, (such as the Hulk), and, of course, people who are trained to be something fantastic, warriors,  gymnasts, ninja, whatever.  Then there are the “regular” people who happen to have cool stuff, from Batman to Elric, technologically neato to magical in the extreme.

Of course, many of these conditions have down sides, often debilitating down sides.  Some are risky inherently or risky because of the enemies they attract.  But aren’t the down sides, the dangers, the angst, the being unique and/or alone  part of the appeal to these kinds of characters?

The point is, this kind of literature allows you to envision all those childhood dreams when you might have spun to see if you turned into Wonder Woman or speculated about falling down a well, requiring limb replacement with cool bionic limbs (and let’s be grateful that never came to pass).  Perhaps you dreamed about moving things with your mind or talking to animals.  Maybe you thought about being focus of love and yet deadly attraction to someone or even something dangerous.  Maybe you dreamed about being something dangerous.

So, what kind of skills or abilities, genetic makeup or toys, magic or mayhem sparks your curiosity or quickens your pulse?  What makes someone (or something) sexy and what makes someone repulsive?  It would be interesting to see how these vary.  Part animal?  Part predator?  Psychic or physical?

What pulls you?  Really, I want to know.

(I really do.  I write on topics like this all the time.  In fact, all three short stories I’ve written were based on people that weren’t “normal”: Windrider , Cauchemar (a shapeshifter), and Code of the Jenri (which became the base for my novel).  My personal writer’s page can be found here .

I’ve been given a lot of food for thought with the books I’ve just read, some very pertinent to my own writing.  Not to change my characters or the story itself, but in how to present them more effectively.

Since I know my own characters, I suspect it might be one of my failings that my introductions sometimes leave something to be desired.

And, of course, I still am missing a title.

But I also noted something and it reminded me of something I don’t want to do, one of those no-nos peculiar to science fiction and fantasy.  Let’s face, a book with shapeshifters (like mine) or vampires is going to have some scientific holes.  It might have sound science in other portions, but there will be some things that are likely, um, don’t make sense from science as we know it.

So, to all those aspiring speculative writers out there, if you’re dealing with something that doesn’t make sense from a science standpoint, don’t take the trouble to fake pseudo-scientific nonsense in the middle of the book.  It serves no purpose.  It’s tempting, I know.  I actually struggled a bit to explain how my shapeshifters’ mass changes radically.  It doesn’t work.  So, I’m going to not explain it, perhaps pointedly.  And explain in detail the many real scientific details that surround that wee little anomaly.

But, at least for me, nothing wrenches me out of a story like scientific nonsense especially if it’s not necessary.  For instance, in Breaking Dawn, the last of the Twilight series, the doctor vampire notes that vampires have 25 pairs of chromosomes and the werewolves have 24, as opposed to the 23 pairs of a normal human.  OK, tell me how being infected with vampire venom (the way vampires are made) causes you to grow 4 new chromosomes?  Mutate existing chromosomes, sure, but grow new ones?  Ditto for the spirit connection - people combine with wolves (dogs have 78 chromosomes) and we end up with one other chromosome pair, according to the good doctor.  Somehow, combining these shapeshifters with regular people (who only have 23 pairs) produces more with 24 pairs (instead of the reality: 23 pairs and unmatched chromosome or, more likely, a nonviable offspring).  Or that one with 23 pairs combining with one with 25 pairs results in a child with 24 pairs.

Um, no.  And it’s embarrassingly silly to say so.  If you have two unattached chromosomes from unmatched pairs, it doesn’t make an extra pair and it undermines a medical practitioner to say so with a straight face.  Describing these as mutated genes would have been much more believable and saved someone with a modicum of knowledge, readily gleaned from high school biology, from being wrenched from the story.

Now, science isn’t the only way to do so.  When one reads a historical novel or even a novel that touches on historical facts, reading where the author has thrown in something gratuitously (as is often done) that happens to be wrong can wrench a knowledgeable reader from the story, which is why I can’t read Tom Clancy.

Did I mention that my shapeshifters can’t breed among themselves?  They have a dominant gene that, like a manx cat, will kill the fetus if there are two of those genes.  But it doesn’t help my mass anomaly.