As My Computer Lay Dying

Sick of my Job by ign74 www.flickr.com/photos/ign74/5353786737

My computer is protesting more than usual. There’s whirring and grinding and, the other day, I swear I heard “I think I can, I think I can…” as it booted up.

Many, many moons ago, I read an agent’s blog post commenting on what about certain queries made them go with an author. One author’s query said how her computer had died and she finished her manuscript on her phone. Obviously, that author was dedicated and believed in her manuscript. There was no doubt she’d work hard to polish it and promote it.

As my computer whirs and grinds its way into old age, I wonder if I could complete Julia on my phone.

Warming up my thumbs.

 

How this Writer Builds a Set

Chocolate eyes and classes by net_efekt www.flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/1823892441

I’m a visual writer: I watch a scene play out in my head before I write it. And I’m also a little far-sighted and most of my characters have fuzzy faces.

What I can see in detail, however, are floor plans. I may not be able to see the art on a character’s bedroom wall, but I always know where the closets and bathrooms are. When the scene plays out in my head, it’s not on a green screen with TBD background. All my scenes have sets: four walls, windows, doors, furniture.

I don’t write descriptions of the floor plans (no one would care…or worse, they’d fall asleep), but it’s important for me to know where a character is walking. Having a completely built set helps keep consistency when I visualize scenes. It keeps characters’ actions real and believable.

The back door always leads to the garden, rather than the driveway in one scene and the garden in another.

If a character always paces in his bedroom and I know he’s pacing from the closet to the window, I know that what he sees may change his actions. Perhaps he can see that someone is approaching the house or that someone’s stolen his shoes. It could help with set up for later, a transition to the next scene or pacing the scene in my head.

Some sets are created entirely by my mind, others are cobbled together from places I’ve been but most are complete rip offs of places I’ve been. Julia, for examples, lives in an apartment I used to live in and she grew up in a house my parents used to own. Julia’s cousin lives in an apartment that one of my friends used to rent.

I have trouble working with sets that are created in my mind. Moving around in their space is more awkward. I’ve actually sketched out a mind-created set and found that it was such an odd configuration of rooms that it would never have been built. Did that matter to the story? No, but it did mean that my character spent a lot less time in his apartment because I couldn’t see it properly.

So far, every set my characters have inhabited have been different. I wonder what will happen if (when?) I run out of new places for them to be. Can Julia and some future character really live in the same apartment? Would the rooms feel like they’re haunted? Will I just have to get better at mixing and matching real places or creating new ones?

How important is it for you to know the space your characters are living in? Do you always have a specific place in mind or are you comfortable with scenes playing out with no particular set in mind?

Or, flip that, how important is it for you as a reader to know the layout of the locations?

 

Is It OK To Have Just An OK Scene?

I had one of my writer’s groups today and I forgot about it until the last minute. Since I knew I was on the reading list, I quickly printed out a scene that I’d just shared with another writing group. I’d made their changes, so I could see if the changes worked…not a total cop-out.

I love big writing groups because of the different voices and opinions it provides…but sometimes those diverse opinions leave me scratching my head.

Comment One:

What can I say? You got it right!

Comment Two:

This is OK writing, but you’re capable of more.

Um. Thanks.

Everyone else seemed to think the scene worked and did what I needed it to. I agree with commenter two that the scene is not beauteous. It’s a workhorse scene as far as I’m concerned. It’s not supposed to be pretty. It’s not supposed to be deep. It has one job…to convey one piece of information. I can’t convey it any other scene.

I can see the end of the manuscript. And, boy do I want to get there. Am I just racing to the finish line without  making every scene perfect? Or is it OK to have a scene that isn’t layered and deep and more?

 

Norwegian Carrot Cake

like to post my entertaining spam every once in a while. Really not sure if anyone else enjoys it, but I find the creativity of the writers amusing if nothing else.

Today’s featured spam goes against the flattery-will-get-you-anything idea:

Hrm, Not the best post unfortunately. Sorry to be so blunt! You should try some Norwegian carrot cake ( gulrotkake ) to cheer you up instead.

I’d never heard of gulrotkake and was intrigued if it would indeed cheer me up, even though I didn’t realize I needed cheering.

Turns out the spam post was correct. My little internet journey* to find out about Norwegian carrot cake lead me to this great little blog: My Little Norway.

I do think Norwegian carrot cake would cheer me up…but I’m not sure it will dethrone my love of chocolate cake.

And since this is a writing blog, I especially liked the How Vikings Changed the English Language category.

*No, I did not use the link that the commenter provided. Google to the rescue.

 

Speaking of Reading Lists…

arlier this week, I mentioned that my To Read Pile had grown and that I was aiming to read 50 books in 2012.

Here’s the newly-minted blog by a teenager attempting to read 176 classics. He’s not restraining himself by time, which is probably smart, however the goal to get through ALL those books is still laudable.

I’ve read about 20 on the list, several thanks to high school English.

How many have you read?

When I see lists like this floating around, I wonder, did earlier centuries keep lists like this? What were the 100 must-read classics of 1812? Or 1712? How many of them do we still know about — not read, just know about — today?

 

50 Books in a Year?

New edition!

We had Christmas 2 over the weekend (one of the benefits of having families in multiple states is a prolonged Christmas season). I received one more book to add to my To Read Pile.

Which leads me to Goodreads. At the end of last year, a lot of my friends were talking about how close they were or weren’t to their Goodreads reading goal. You can set a goal of number of books to read in a year and Goodreads will help you track it.

When my friends mentioned reading 25 or 50 books in 2011, I tried to count off what I’d read and couldn’t remember. What I could remember was embarrassingly low, so I think I’m going to jump on the Goodreads Goal bandwagon. I’ve set my sites on 50.

That’s less than a book a week, so it seems doable but I’m already almost a book behind!

Have you set a reading goal for yourself this year (whether or not you’re using a website to track it)?

If you’re on Goodreads, you can find me at Goodreads.com/theemptypen.

 

Astrópía

Astropia picture from http://yumizuno.pinger.pl/m/2952031/astropia

Astropia was on one of my local public television stations that other day.

From Antiques Road Show to Check, Please! to Dr. Who to documentaries I stumble upon (Botany of Desire) to foreign movies, I love PBS.

Astropia was a little slow to start and quite for a movie. I forget how much American movies and TV shows use sound to steer the viewers until I watch a foreign language film…it’s eerie how quiet they can be. It’s like they’re just rely on dialogue and acting – crazy!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a fish out of water story: how becoming a gamer dork can make a socialite a better person. The movie switches between “real life” and gaming adventure which adds an element of fun…although, that did muddy a scene at the end because I wasn’t quite sure what happened. Felt a little like the writer wasn’t sure how to handle the scene and used the element as a deus ex machina. However, I can see others really enjoying the way that was handled to show how the characters all came together in the end.

However, I’d still recommend it as a fun movie to watch on a rainy day…besides, how often do you get to listen to a movie in Icelandic?

PS Because of Hollywood, I expected a make-over scene. I’m thankful that it didn’t happen!

 

Is My Head Left-Handed?

Don't sit to my left at restaurants!

When I was growing up, the downtown mall in my town had the most awesome kiosk. Sadly, it didn’t last long. My allowance wasn’t enough to keep it open, but I would have loved to try. That kiosk? They sold only left-handed items. Mugs that you could pick up with your left hand and the wording or picture would face the world. T-shirts declaring left-handed pride. Rulers printed with the numbers that read right-to-left. Of course, that’s the item I proudly bought and have been having difficulty using ever since. I’m not going to toss it, I’m a proud lefty!

I’ve never tried to become right-handed and my parents never tried to force me. I can use a mouse with either hand, but keep it to the left of my keyboard out of habit. On my laptop, I have a track pad which I can navigate with either hand, but tend to click and zoom using my left hand.

The other night, I was in bed with a Sudoku puzzle. I was laying on my left side and propping up my head with my left hand, all so that I could see by the light on the nightstand. With that configuration I needed to use my right hand to write the numbers…or I’d have to flip and turn my back on the light. I figured, how hard can that be to write with my right hand? It’s only numbers after all.

I never got to find out.

I picked up my pen with my right hand and my mind went haywire. Like most Sudoku-ers, I have a strategic plan of attack. I couldn’t follow it. My eyes bounce from box-to-line-to-box but didn’t take in anything. I couldn’t establish patterns. I couldn’t even focus on what numbers were shown in the puzzle.

It was like I was having an allergic reaction to the pen being in the wrong hand.

Perhaps my mind was telling me that after my long, stressful day, I just needed to go to sleep.

Maybe I’m just a little nuts.

 

Look at the Pretties

Christmas 2011

My lovely Christmas presents may keep me busy for a week or so… The question is where to start.

 

2011 in Review

Thanks to everyone who helped me fill three virtual NYC subway trains this year!

Happy New Year and happy writing!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

For more stats about you, my audience, click here to see the complete report.