Nanowrimo 2004

Well. Planning for this years nano proceeds well. Have a web page set up, a setting done, and lots of fun planning things out. Now, if only I could sleep.....

The comic proceeds

Shockingly, I'm finding writing a comic quite fun. I never thought I would, but was asked to do a script up for someone to draw and began it. It's been fun. Have done two issues so far and some of the ideas in it are resonating with a novel I've planned to write for well on five years now that I may get arond to come November. Dunno yet.

Well.

Done the poem a day deal on Xanga. Was fun, but ate up a lot of time and creative energies. So back to the HUNTER story for awhile, and a comic script I was asked to write. Shall see how things go.

Canadian Couple Jailed for Beating Sons

OSHAWA, Ontario (AP) - A Canadian couple who pleaded guilty to charges they beat and sometimes put their two adopted sons in a cage were sentenced Monday to nine months in jail.

The sentencing judge said the stepparents behavior was cruel, demeaning and damaging.

"Both accused share equal responsibility as parents," Judge Donald Halikowski said. "Both failed."

The couple, who pleaded guilty in January and had been free on bail, were jailed after the sentencing.

The boys were toddlers when they were taken in by the couple, their aunt and uncle.

The woman, 43, and man, 51, pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and failure to provide the necessities of life. They cannot be named to protect the identities of the boys, now 17 and 18.

The boys were taken from their home in Blackstock three years ago after a tip from a relative.

Investigators who visited the ramshackle, two-story farmhouse, said one boy was found in a makeshift cage that was strapped to a wall and padlocked.

Although they were allowed to go school, officials said the boys were often tied to their beds and sometimes handcuffed and beaten. They were also not allowed to use the toilet and forced to wear diapers.

"... failure to provide the necessities of life."



I wonder what necessities of life they forgot.

The Ring 2

My tagline for the sequel:



"First it was VHS, now it's on DVD"

Fahrenheit 9/11

Just saw the film, and decided to write out my thoughts before they became less immediate. I have problems with the film, like remembering how to spell Fahrenheit. Moore made some good points, but was too - I'm not sure. Manipulative? Heavy-handed? Yes, propaganda can only be fought by the same, but to point out how the "enemy" has used emotion to manipulate people, and then have a mother crying about her son who died fighting in Iraq is the same thing. But probably inevitable. One can only fight rhetoric with more of the same, in the end. Words, words, words. Pictures, pictures, pictures. But this will not bring back the dead, will not offer any justification for lives lost, with not console or explain anything, nor really.



Perhaps, in the end, the person I felt saddest for was, obscurely, myself. Or, in terms of self-interest, not that obscure. I watched the mother cry on the screen, and part of my noted her sorrow, part of me was moved, and another part noted it was probably the part of the film with the most impact. However, the largest part of me said "He joined an army. Armies fight wars. He died. It was a risk he had been willing to take. And that is that. If it had not been your son, you would never have cried, never wondered, never blamed." But it happens, and you need someone to blame. So Bush is blamed. Rightly, in this case, but I'm not sure it *matters* if it was right, or wrong. We always blame others, we seldom blame ourselves.



I understood Abu Gharib at a new level ,as well. As Moore pointed out, it is the poor who join the army, the poor who fight and die in this. The backbone of a nation. Defending it? Hardly. It's a job, they're paid, and they do it. But there is pride, as well, somewhere, and when that pride is tarnished, when trust is broken - then you get frustration, taken out on innocent people who are frustrated at you. No one understands how they came to be where they are, and no one sees any way out. So, violence. Met with violence. Anger with anger, fear with fear. Not right, no, but in a war there is seldom any right.



But, as I walked home, annoyed at the movie for appealing to emotion while understanding that, in the end, that is all anything can really appeal to, I wondered if George W. Bush really new what he was setting in motion, really planned this, really let it happen at some level. And, if so, I wondered if he could sleep at night. And I thought of soldiers, earning money for college and driving by corpses, and I realized that he can, and likely does. Humans are very adaptable creatures. Sometimes, I wonder if that is really a good thing. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if we did not forget what had gone before. And I know I will sleep tonight, and soon. And that it will be a normal sleep. And I hate myself for that - but perhaps not enough. And in the end there is no one else to blame or hate, just the eyes that stare back at each of us from the mirror, and "whys" we dare not answer, for fear it would all come crashing down.

Two Poems

Todays poems from the fun I am having over on xanga doing a poem a day for the month of July. They're both from today (July 2nd)



Private Thoughts (#2 of 31)

(July 2004)



Waking things inside me.

Mute, I dare not name.

"What beautiful eyes she has,"

They say, "with flecks in them."

They don't know

My eyes are broken

And they're all fractured pieces,

Each one of them a dozen people

Judging me with their perfect eyes.

My voice, unheard buzzing

In the back of my throat,

Like a frog stuck.

I long to hide from them

Or rip out all their normal eyes

And hide in the darkness

Of their delicious screams.

And you laugh without laughing

Because you see it

And because you know

I will do nothing

As I do nothing

Every night

When you open the door.

I don't even

cry anymore.





I knew

(July 2004)



I knew it

Was over

When you told me

That you loved me

But I had forgotten

Your name.

Ah, love, let us be true to one another...

Or

A romance story



Okay, geological features, place names and beverages as character names is a staple of romance, it seems. So this is my contribution to the genre.



"Hey, babe," Stalactite said, but New Kemptville had never been able to tell him from his twin brother Stalagmite.

"Hey," she replied. "Sorry I'm late. I was with Paris and Amber, window shopping in Paris. It was fantabulous."

"Oh?" Stalactite gave her a smouldering raise of his gorgeous eyebrows that left her feeling week-kneed, but fortunately only in her left knee.

New Kemptville hop-skipped down the path, returning his stare with one of her own, like liquid water. "I bought clothing," she said, leaving unaid that it was for her ski trip to the Aspens and let his mind wander. His slow smile showed where it was wondering and left her feeling like here were butterflies in her stomach, but they were doing tantric sex.

"I could help you try them on," the hunk offered, the white of his teeth when he smiled reminding her of moguls.

"I'd love that," she said, emphasizing love delicately, like eating a truffle. "But Cliff said he'd rather do it."

Stalactite scowled, his brows moving downward like his namesake. She knew he hated Cliff almost as much as Sedimentary hated Igneous. "I could take Storm, or Gintonic," he said, referring to her own rivals.

Stymied, they stared at each other, wondering who was bluffing, their faces like jewls in the sunshine, and then he laughed his deep belly laugh. "Ah, Kemp. You always know what turns me on...."

Same story.

"You had much experience in other worlds?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well? It's a yes or no type of question."

"No."

"You could have just said so."

"I didn't even know there were other Earths!"

"What did you think Faerie was, then? There are a lot of Earths, a lot of Mars's, and even a handful of Mercurys, and that's just this solar system. It's God's way of curing boredom, unless all the realities are meant to be used in a large game of twelfth dimensional pool. "

"Now I know you're joking."

Amanda grinned. "I am. I'm not sure if God was. It's hard to tell sometimes."

Excerpt from a current story...

"I used tricks, here. Things get noticed when you toss power around, and can't provide good expense claims for the expenditure."

I stared at her. "What?"

"Energy isn't free."

"You have to - to justify energy used?"

"Of course. Well, not right away, but we have to have explanations ready for when we're audited."

"Angels get audited?"

Amanda nodded, drinking her coffee. "Of course. It's the big reason you don't see many real miracles these days. Too many people in the world to look after, so we can't break the budget like we used to in the old days."

Layout change

Because I could. Though, thanks to it, the previous posts look all wonky due to removal of the <br> etc tags no longer being needed as of this post.



So, writing wise, the LoLaD novel is continuing onward, slowly but surely. The Continuum game is taking up a lot of the LoLaD novels time, but that's to be expected. Once the idea is done and out of my head, I'll finish up the Toon story, work on this novel, and the fantasy spoof novel. And, with luck, finish 'em :)

There's music in the air...

Or poetry. I like poem/song things, for novels. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just me. So, here is from the LoLaD novel... (Or, more accurately, something that probably won't be in it)

You’re dead and buried in the grave, it’s true.


Not even my love could save you.


They grave’s a cold comfort they say


But you didn’t come back from it today.


How could you go on without me?


The questions will not cease.


Just tell me how, and I’ll be


At peace - and maybe if souls are real


One of us shall be free to heal.


Free of the ideals, making it all unreal,


And able to call it a good deal.


I’ll don a mask of cheer upon


My face; not wonder if you’ve lost or won


I’ll pretend Life is a race with the end forgone,


That we’re all life pawns, that what’s done is done.


My love withdrawn I’ll solider on - and on.

Life... and stuff

I don't use blogs like diaries.

I just thought I'd get that off my chest and out into the open. A diary is something private. Mostly a blog isn't. And besides, it's not like I have lots in my life I'd write about. So.

I got to thinking today. Things I'd like to do before I die. 'cuz we never know, do we? It's going to be a nice, simple list.

• Publish something.
  
  
• Laugh in the face of rejection (and don't return to visit it with a tire iron).
  
  
• Fall in love.
  
  
• Do something so that I I can, at the end of my life (if I live a long time), look back on it and be proud. Preferably something legal.
  
  
• Finish the bloody novel(s).
  
  
• Fall out of love.
  
  
• Have my ashes spread in the woods when cremated. Actually have people show up for the wake.
  
  

Novel wise, I plan to finish chapter 3 today (hah) and begin chapter 4. It should be funny. I've begun writing it in my head at work.

And that's all for now.

Ah, relevations :p

<Chaos`^> he's young


<Chaos`^> you allways try to kill off the young ones


<alcar> lol.


* alcar has never really noticed that


<alcar> added incentive to never have children :P

Yes, the LOLAD novel goes well :)

The problem

isn't having ideas, more than having too many ideas. I begin one thing, and midway thrugh get a deluge of other ideas that are cool but won't work for said idea. Ah well. such is the life.....

and in the amusement dept...

The producers of The Life of Brian, Monty Python's celebrated 1979 film, are to rerelease it as a response to Gibson's movie.



"A lot of people in America have said that they couldn't figure out a way to deal with the public reaction to Mel's movie," Life of Brian producer John Goldstone told Daily Variety. "This is a kind of antidote to Mel."

Revisions..

yep, site has been revised. Simply because nanowriye, while fun, wasn't working time wise and I set goals that were stupid. So that's that. I prefer to write to get good prose, but for wordcount that can excuse crap.

Okay this sucks. The novel has NOT being going well. It's barely been going, and only on page 55 or so. Which is really, really crappy.



OTOH, my LoLad (Lords of Life and Death) novel is going great and short stories for it are coming out of me like someone denting the porcelain god after too much beans and corn for supper.



Ah well. It's all word count. Yes....



And, shortly, I shall begin to plot it in earnest! (If only he would help)

Power tends to corrupt...

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad man."


- Lord Acton





I find it rater amusing since everyone knows the first part, but few know the quote quotation. Much like


I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.


- Thomas Jefferson



Which is really:


The clergy believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyrrany known to the mind of man.


- Thomas Jefferson



Nothing to do with the novel. Just an amusing bit of knowledge.

Well, the 2nd novel has been plotting itself in my head. Mostly: What if the supernal existed and they were all morons?

Should be fun. But in the meantime I have this novel to finish ...

Some Quotes

The wind begins to die down as I reach the edge of the town, a scattering of homes along dirt roads. The snow is falling, and they say everyone of them is unique. I asked Ms. Corman that at school once and she said that they were al six-sided. Which wasn't really much of an answer. Andrew says that they all began begin the same but change in shape as they drft dowards and connect to other snowflakes, so it would theoretically be possible for two to be exact if they fell and connected to all the right snowflakes, the right weather, the right wind gusts, the exact same spot n the ground. Of course, he also said that we can levitate if all the molecules in the body drift up at the same moment so that we leave the ground. I grinned, remembering her face when he told her that just because things are possible doesn't mean they happen. I think he failed that year.

---

I snagged an apple off of the bowl on the counter and looked at him. "So what brings you over? I thought we were meeting tomorrow night after I finished work."


Andrew hesitated a moment, as if uncertain, then said "The paper."


"I read it today. What about it?"


"No. I mean, it was late."


"Uhm, Pat is twelve. It's bound to happen sometimes."


"He was four hours late, Pete. And he threw it in front of the garage. He never does that."


"So?"


"So don't you think it's suspicious?" he demanded.


"No. Why would I?"


"It could be -"


"Andrew, please no conspiracies today, okay? I mean, the one about the nuns who are inventing a virus to wipe out all women who are not Raptured and naming it Pandora was a bit much."


"It exists," Andrew said firmly. "The government -"


"Made it? Paid for it? Thinks it has the antidote but is secretly infiltrated by an order of nuns disguised as call girls?"


"Very funny, Pete."


"No, really," I said, beginning to warm to the theme and looking over at the phone. "They have cell phones and call 463 - 3266. Or, GOD - DAMN, for orders."


"Area code 666?" Andrew said dryly.


"How'd you guess? I know - you're one of them! A nun in disguise!"

---

"Teachers are different," Rachel Tanner said firmly. "They aren't people."

Still slow. Only 17K, and decided to switch to 2nd person narration, because otherwise my plan to have the storyline end by Sunday in it just ain't going to happen - and I find switching POVs more fun.

Update...

8139 words... not too bad so far. It's coming a lot slower than I thought but characters and events are gelling in my head and I even know who the first death is going to be!



I'll likely start setting specific hours to get writing done in, to push myself. Will see how it works.

Ah, plotting....

<Alcar> I know! I could write a romance!
* Alcar snickers
<Alcar> soap-opera style.
<Chaos`^> all romance are soap-opera style dood
<Chaos`^> you should write pr0n
<Alcar> lol. Do both!
<Rooks> a romantic soap opera pron
<Rooks> same old same old
<Alcar> "Maxine realised that Greg really wasn't greg at all as he penetrated deep intom her and she whrithed as he lifted her off the ground, his breath coming out in heavy pants.
<Alcar> Wetness flowed over here and she could her half-brother Carl, currently a German Sheperd, bark "NO!" and looked down to see that Gregs horns has penetrated her stomach, and that it was blood, and she would have fainted but he was doing things with her intestines that felt sooo good.."
<Alcar> like that :p
<Alcar> but more.... pornish.
<Rooks> and more bowchicawowwowish
<Chaos`^> OMFG alcar
<Chaos`^> You need help, seriously
<Alcar> what?
<Rooks> yes he does
<Alcar> Why?
<Chaos`^> <Alcar> Wetness flowed over here and she could her half-brother Carl, currently a German Sheperd, bark "NO!" and looked down to see that Gregs horns has penetrated her stomach, and that it was blood, and she would have fainted but he was doing things with her intestines that felt sooo good.."
<Rooks> in writing that story :P
<Chaos`^> Those are not normal thoughts dood
<Chaos`^> I'm just gunna put it off as you making fun of how soap operas run out of plots and make up fucked up plots like possession and demons but... fuck man...
<Alcar> what?
<Chaos`^> First of all...
<Chaos`^> Her half brother carl is a german sheperd... WTF? next... he's watching her have sex with some dood named greg, even though she knows he's a demon... THEN the demon penetrates her stomach with horns... but it feels good...
<Chaos`^> none of that is normal
<Alcar> It is if her husband became a demon.
<Alcar> Duh.
<Chaos`^> Alcar, you scare me. seriously, you scare me...

First Day Done

Well, day one went well.


Word Count: 2230


Though to get 150K in two months I should be doing 2500 a day or so. But the first hour was 1300 words so that's nice. Just need to get the plot rolling and hope it builds itself up ...

We have a plot!

The plot (well, first chapter) and ending of the novel (which itself is not tentatively titled Tinctures) gelled in my head today. So as of midnight it'll be off to a running start, though dinner plans Sunday may cut down on the wordcount.



So hoping for about 2K a day in wordcount, to keep me a little ahead of schecule. Managed the 50K NaNo in 20 days so it should work. Wish me luck :)

Characters and Other Fun Things

Well, starting on character sketches today and the plot is finally coming to me. Starting to hear the voice of the narrator in my head and re-reading brief sketches to get a better feel for who is who and what is what. Should be fun.



Added a writing schedule to the side so people can see the goal, and how far I will be for it.



250K during the summer? I must be mad.....

Progress?

Well, have yet to be added to the NaNoWriYe list or forums (sighs) but progress on the plotting itself is going rather well. I.e. I Actually have one :) I think it'll be a rough five days plotting it out in depth since it will require very in-depth characters to pull off but it can be done.

Theme: Horror, preferably with terror as well.


Subtexts: Alienation, why save the world etc.

No Title, but one may come....

Writing Blog

Because I think one would help. There are comments, too!