J: i started dune. the pov stuff is interesting to track.
J: the book seems to lie at a certain point on a historio-literary axis, between the 'old days' of omniscient-pov, and the nouveau age of limited or close 3rd-person pov. he does it very very well, and it's quite appealing. Just a bit unusual to a "modern" ear
Marsh: i really enjoy it
Marsh: it's a fast adjustment
J: yeah
J: WAY more as-u-know-bob than heinlein. but than, which of us is not?
Marsh: i'm not
J: i know YOU'RE not
Marsh: i always err on the side of leaving out every important detail instead
J: my only question is: 'balance it out' doesn't quite connote causal
Marsh: "wtf, her main character is a staple gun??"
J: "is this a space opera-mystery-romance? or a COOKBOOK?"
Marsh: i'm cutting and pasting this into listeme, minus frivolous smooches
J: don't you dare excise my frivol
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The most important thing is to remember that everyone -- everyone -- has a story. It's probably a long story. Life is terribly and wonderfully complicated, and if I can just remember that everyone is in the moments of their own life, I can have mercy and patience. Or at least I try to.
It also helps my fiction when I keep this in mind. People are not furniture. (Except mannequins, kind of, but that's a long story.)
It also helps my fiction when I keep this in mind. People are not furniture. (Except mannequins, kind of, but that's a long story.)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Dangerous skins
Pulling on the skin of a new book, a new author -- I adore that feeling, but right now, with the pile of things I have on my desk and life, I am relying on the safety of familiar books instead. Sometimes it's better to know how the story ends, especially when you have a ton of dangling threads in real life. (Why do I sound defensive?? I reread books. Why else would one own them?)
So a few, in no particular order -- heh, speaking of no particular order, I picked up Harry Potter 5, in anticipation of the movie coming out, to lead up to 6. I got about a chapter in and grabbed the wrong volume when dashing out to do some chauffeuring and car waiting. So I read 7 instead. Of course, then I was at the "beginning" of reading the series backwards and decided to go ahead with that.
What a different look at a well-known (to me) series. For one thing, the flaws JUMP out at me. Especially the time-turner. Mainly the time-turner. Ugh, the time-turner. Little detail things like calling the dementors guards until partway through volume 3 and then not really again. For another, it doesn't matter. They are familiar to me because I have read them multiple times, and this is because I enjoy them. But I do recommend sometime reading a series backwards for a different take on the author's plotting. It's very instructive. I am going to do this with GRRM's next, in anticipation of the upcoming release, whenever the heck that will be.
The current top of the stack in the bathroom is Bisson's Bears Discover Fire. I can't remember which story I brought along to Odyssey as my "favorite", but this story (the title story) would be really high on my list, and there are several in this collection that are recommendable, as well. I feel, dimly, that old stirring of inspiration. Those bears can do that for me. So can Atwood and Oates. They make me want to add to the world, something, something new and different and dangerous, something that someone will want to call familiar.
So a few, in no particular order -- heh, speaking of no particular order, I picked up Harry Potter 5, in anticipation of the movie coming out, to lead up to 6. I got about a chapter in and grabbed the wrong volume when dashing out to do some chauffeuring and car waiting. So I read 7 instead. Of course, then I was at the "beginning" of reading the series backwards and decided to go ahead with that.
What a different look at a well-known (to me) series. For one thing, the flaws JUMP out at me. Especially the time-turner. Mainly the time-turner. Ugh, the time-turner. Little detail things like calling the dementors guards until partway through volume 3 and then not really again. For another, it doesn't matter. They are familiar to me because I have read them multiple times, and this is because I enjoy them. But I do recommend sometime reading a series backwards for a different take on the author's plotting. It's very instructive. I am going to do this with GRRM's next, in anticipation of the upcoming release, whenever the heck that will be.
The current top of the stack in the bathroom is Bisson's Bears Discover Fire. I can't remember which story I brought along to Odyssey as my "favorite", but this story (the title story) would be really high on my list, and there are several in this collection that are recommendable, as well. I feel, dimly, that old stirring of inspiration. Those bears can do that for me. So can Atwood and Oates. They make me want to add to the world, something, something new and different and dangerous, something that someone will want to call familiar.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
What's on my desktop
It's fun and creepy to research mannequins. I love the sites that have used ones for sale: "Just one crack on this toddler's skull," like that's a real plus. Considering that other descriptive phrases include "headless" and "hangable", perhaps it is.
I am using the word research to make it clear that I'm not just googling broken naked dolls. At least it is not puppets, although I dread the day that my brain will decide that puppets are in the next story. Marionettes = nightmarish. They collapse in a buglike way, a jerky centipede/spider way, and lie there with painted garish human faces and strings and sticks, like they have been smacked with a supersized magazine.
I am using the word research to make it clear that I'm not just googling broken naked dolls. At least it is not puppets, although I dread the day that my brain will decide that puppets are in the next story. Marionettes = nightmarish. They collapse in a buglike way, a jerky centipede/spider way, and lie there with painted garish human faces and strings and sticks, like they have been smacked with a supersized magazine.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The so-called writing business
Got a slightly personal rejection for Putty Brother, which is both encouraging and a rejection.
I have now sent the enrollment form for TNEO, as well. I have no earthly idea how we will manage to coordinate things this summer, but I'm going ahead with it anyway.
I have now sent the enrollment form for TNEO, as well. I have no earthly idea how we will manage to coordinate things this summer, but I'm going ahead with it anyway.
Monday, March 30, 2009
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