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[Writer's Exercises] [nancy fulda lives here] [Wen Spencer over here] [Wen's Writing Tips] [Diane Duane along here] [Sarah Hoyt] [liaden readers] [Tamora Pierce] [Tamora Pierce (unexpurgated)] [Wrede around here] [Howard Taylor] [Dave Freer] [sry lives here] Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "mbarker" journal:

[<< Previous 20 entries]

July 14th, 2009
02:00 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Seven: Genre Blending Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Seven: Genre Blending From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/07/12/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-7-genre-blending/ Key points: Mixing genres can alienate readers. So don't tell them. Borrow and hide it. Well stolen is half composed. Even the writer doesn't always know what he will grow when he blends genres. Beware the Western Stigma! ( tossed genre salad under cover ) [Brandon] We have our writing prompt. Combine horror and Western, and don't make it look like either one. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write. Current Mood: triffle Current Music: These Are My People, Rodney Atkins Tags: genre blending, tropes, western stigma, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
July 13th, 2009
02:28 pm [Link]	Superstitions I caught part of a "Cool Japan" TV show this morning. This has a panel of foreigners, who are looking at various Japanese trends or news events. In this case, they had interviewers in Tokyo in the streets asking Japanese young women -- teenagers -- how they make wishes come true. They dug in their purses and started showing off... candy wrappers with 10 pictures? Train tickets with matching first and last numbers -- 9549? Or on a cell phone, certain graphics and their colors apparently have mystical interpretations. If you get a red one, you're going to get a new boyfriend? ( meandering ) So much of our lives is really not under our control. National economies, grand disasters, even the fickleness of personal relationships, are not really something that we can simply decide and control. Still, any influence is better than none, right? So there's a temptation to look for things that might improve the odds, things that might let us shake the case. And I'm not sure that it makes any sense to criticize such superstitions. After all, if someone carries around a lucky ticket, or a lucky rabbit's foot, and it makes them feel more empowered, more in control of their lives, what's the harm? Current Mood: randomized Tags: control, japan, luck, superstition (Leave a comment)
July 12th, 2009
04:21 pm [Link]	Where do you keep your ancestry in a fire? One of the TV shows was looking at old Japanese houses, and showed us a sort of stone-lined hole in the floor. Kind of like a chimney, but going down, not up. Apparently this was a somewhat common feature in relatively well-to-do houses at one point. The kind that had a stand-alone safe building for keeping their family treasures, which is another common feature of some older architecture here in Japan. However, this hole was in front of the little family shrine, the butsudon, inside the living space. Under some wood slats that were easily lifted out of the way. Apparently in case of a fire in the area, the family was supposed to pull up the wood and push the family memorial bits and pieces into this hole. I guess preserving the ancestral tablets was reasonably important. And what happened to the family member who was designated to push stuff into the hole while the fire gets closer? I wondered if anybody ever used it. Or was this just a sop to fears that was never actually used? Current Mood: twirls Tags: architecture, family shrine, history, japan, tv (Leave a comment)
July 10th, 2009
03:15 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Six: Dramatic Breaks Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Six: Dramatic Breaks From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/07/07/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-6-dramatic-breaks/ Key points: A dramatic break makes the reader want to go onto the next scene. Use cliffhangers, a tense lack of resolution, a sense of satisfaction, emotional ploys -- and mix it up. Pay attention to your genre -- thrillers like cliffhangers, epic fantasy prefers satisfaction. Be aware of the sense of time. Dan parks his flying car outside. Satisfying installments keep people coming back. Scenes need to progress the character or the plot to satisfy readers. Let the reader know the scene is over -- walk out the door, step into the street, etc. ( no drama, just hiding the extra stuff ) [Dan] Write a story in which Howard hates elephants and dramatically breaks one. [Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write. Current Mood: edgy Current Music: Because of You, Reba McEntire/Kelly Clarkson Tags: chapter endings, chapters, cliffhangers, dramatic breaks, lack of resolution, progress, satisfaction, scene endings, scenes, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
July 6th, 2009
01:26 pm [Link]	Nose-bleeds? In many anime, manga, even some TV shows in Japan, boys get nose-bleeds around pretty girls. Depending on the show, it may be a simple small curl of blood, or a firehose blast of blood, but... see a pretty girl, have a nose-bleed. ( A cultural hint ) Just a symbol...but not one that's familiar to most Americans. Current Mood: laughing Current Music: I'll Just Hold On, Blake Shelton Tags: anime, japan, lust, manga, nose-bleed, tv (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
July 1st, 2009
10:41 am [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Five: How to Take Criticism Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Five: How to Take Criticism From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/06/28/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-5-how-to-take-criticism/ Key points: Insults are not criticism. Don't defend your work. You don't have to believe or accept reactions, and you don't have to change your work. But other people do have the right to their reactions. Watch out for the turd in the bowl of oatmeal. Rejection letters are trophies for submitting your work. Sometimes, you just have to give it a try and see. ( All the lonely words... ) [Brandon] Writing prompt. I'm going to go ahead and do this one. Let's have you write a story about a critic who is the hero, instead of the villain. We always want to make the critic the villain. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses. Now go write. Current Mood: spinning Current Music: Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right, Billy Currington Tags: criticism, extreme dungeon mastery, rejection letters, writing excuses, writing group, xdm (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 29th, 2009
10:44 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Three: Q&A, Also Stump Howard, At CONduit Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Three: Q&A, Also Stump Howard, At CONduit From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/06/21/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-3-stumping-howard-at-conduit/ Key points: Laughter, consistency, and admiration make different beliefs easier to swallow. Eyebrows help aliens emote like people. Similarities can help us identify with aliens so that the differences can hit us in the face. Scenes that are hard to write may be the best scenes you ever write. Write your novel, submit it, and repeat -- 3 or 4 novels later, take another look at that oldie and see if you can't fix it up. To write about megalomania, read about it! Make sure the Evil Overlord's plans are believable and smart. ( All the little stumps ) [Howard] Writing prompt. We're going to go to the supervillain here. You've got a device that vaporizes water using microwaves a la Batman Begins. Now turn it into a believable superweapon that's not being used to destroy the world. [Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. Thank you for listening. You are out of excuses. Now go write. Current Mood: late Tags: aliens, conduit, megalomania, reader identification, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 23rd, 2009
02:38 pm [Link]	Celebrate Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! By virtue of the authority vested in me by being a reader of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby join in Sharon Lee (and others) declaration of June 23 as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! Let the celebration begin! ( Celebratory Ideas ) Go, celebrate today, recognizing that every day Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers are at work somewhere just for you. So let's give them a day to remember! Current Mood: swizzled Tags: fantasy, science fiction, writers (Leave a comment)
June 20th, 2009
12:32 pm [Link]	A rain of tadpoles? The Japanese newscasters are mostly playing it for laughs, but apparently some people here in Japan are having mysterious showers of tadpoles. Now, at this time of year, we do have lots of tadpoles in the rice fields, but how are they getting from there to . . . one person had a pile in front of their garage. Someone else had them turn up on the second floor balcony. The two explanations being advanced are birds and winds. But birds normally don't drop their food -- or if they do, they go back and pick it up. And no one seems particularly convinced that we have little tornadoes picking up tadpoles and then dropping them in selected locales. So far I haven't heard anyone suggesting that there might be kids laughing, although that also seems possible to me. But then, I grew up in America where kids are perhaps a bit more prone to pranks such as this. I'm wondering what thinks that humans can be propitiated with a suitable offering of tadpoles. Unidentified Flying Tadpoles? A rather odd, if minor, mystery. Current Mood: out of the sky Tags: japan, offerings, tadpoles, tv (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 18th, 2009
04:23 pm [Link]	Warning, Will Robinson. Danger, danger. Apropos of nothing particularly, except that it was interesting. The Japanese TV show Science Zero the other day showed us what happens if you do those things that the labels say don't do. ( What can go wrong with dry ice and desiccant? ) Seeing what happens certainly gives the warnings a little bit more emphasis. Current Mood: twice burnt Current Music: Best Days of Your Life, Kellie Pickler Tags: desiccant, dry ice, japan, science zero, tv, warnings (Leave a comment)
June 16th, 2009
04:04 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Two: Keeping It Real Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Two: Keeping It Real From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/06/14/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-2-keeping-it-real-with-aprilynne-pike/ Key points: Make your characters feel real by studying real people. Research (Google maps, pictures, etc.) can help with setting. Also, distill the essence for imaginary settings -- how do places like that work? Ground your fantasy in science for plausibility. Give your readers convincing gnats, then don't try to explain the black boxes. Real characters who react in believable ways help make even ludicrous plots believable. Research can suggest plot hooks and twists that make the plot more real. Baby steps -- start small, then work up to big stuff -- can help writers to create and maintain the illusion of reality. ( the nitty-gritty ) Current Mood: fantastic Current Music: Last Call, Lee Ann Womack Tags: aprilynne pike, fantasy, reality, wings, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 14th, 2009
07:45 pm [Link]	With a little help from my friends? That was puzzling. ( A short tale of life in faculty housing ) Oh well. The flowers got watered. Current Mood: puzzled Tags: faculty housing, help, japan, watering (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
June 11th, 2009
03:53 pm [Link]	Walk a Mile In Those Shoes... Interesting little bit on TV the other day. The lunchtime human interest folks were visiting a high school that trains guide dogs for the blind. Apparently there is one high school in Japan -- perhaps a technical school -- that does this. The part I found particularly interesting was the first step for the trainers. They spend several weeks in pairs. One person is blindfolded, while the other holds a harness and leads them upstairs, downstairs, and around the halls of the school. The students practice being blind and being a guide dog before they ever get close to a dog. Current Mood: thankful Current Music: Redneck Woman, Gretchen Wilson Tags: blind, guide dogs, japan, practice, tv (Leave a comment)
June 10th, 2009
11:34 am [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Four: Nonlinear Storytelling Writing Excuses Season Three Episode Four: Nonlinear Storytelling From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/06/08/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-4-non-linear-story-telling/ Pivotal iotas: Use nonlinear storytelling sparingly. Don't lose the reader in the flashbacks. Beware the explanatory info dump. In medias res -- starting in the middle of the story -- and flashbacks to fill in the backstory can provide suspense, but don't overdo it. You can fill in backstory with dialogue and other means, you don't always have to do major flashbacks. Pay attention to the reader's learning curve -- speculative fiction plus nonlinear storytelling can make it really hard to read. ( juicy stuff in the middle? ) [Brandon] We're out of time. Let's have Dan give us a writing prompt. [Dan] I want you to write a story about a flashback that is completely false and made up. [Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write. Current Mood: baroque Tags: flashbacks, in medias res, nonlinear storytelling, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 8th, 2009
10:29 am [Link]	Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day: June 23 Tell your friends, tell your booksellers, tell everyone! As explained right over here, http://rolanni.livejournal.com/439604.html Sharon Lee invites everyone to join in celebrating Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers (that would be the people who write the books and stories that we all read) on June 23. So plan to thank a writer that day. To blog where speculative fiction has never been blogged about before? To read a book for the cause? Anyway, to give three cheers for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers on this very special day. Please pass this meme along to make Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day bigger and better than ever! (All right, so the first one is automatically the biggest and best yet. But still, pass the meme, please?:-) Current Mood: noisy Tags: fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, writers day (Leave a comment)
June 6th, 2009
06:28 pm [Link]	Watch out for the lobster -- he's got a stun gun! This was a very short piece in the middle of a collection of aquatic oddities on TV. Apparently there is a type of lobster that can be seen pointing his claw at a nearby shrimp or small fish, then moving it oddly, at which point the shrimp or small fish usually jerks and floats, stunned! The lobster, of course, scuttles over and eats his stunned prey. They showed what was happening in a diagram -- the claw has a special chamber that produces a sonic blast which stuns the fish. Admittedly, I suspect part of the effectiveness may be due to characteristics of water -- allowing it to transmit the force more effectively -- but it is still interesting that here is an actual "stun gun" except it's a lobster claw. Current Mood: stunned Tags: japan, lobster, stun gun, tv (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
June 5th, 2009
01:20 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Two Index Writing Excuses The Transcripts Season One Index ( A large table that friends don't need on their pages ) Current Mood: crossed fingers Tags: index, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 3rd, 2009
10:24 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Season Three Episode One: World Building History Writing Excuses Season Three Episode One: World Building History From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2009/06/01/writing-excuses-season-3-episode-1-world-building-history/ Key points: You don't have to write a history book, you need to create the illusion that the history exists. You need to know which parts of the history are important to your story. Small details can give historical rounding and fullness. You can't spell history without spelling story, too. People like to believe that there are causes in history, but beware monocausationalism -- everything has multiple causes. Pay attention to the reason you are worldbuilding history -- and if it isn't adding to the story, stop. Write your story -- then look for points of conflict and worldbuild there, or as you stumble across important parts, worldbuild those. It's always okay to go back and fix it. ( moments on the tides of history ) [Howard] Writing prompt. There's a war. You're writing a historical paragraph about a war that has five distinct causes. Come up with all five and justify them. [Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. We are done, you are out of excuses, now go write. Current Mood: unspelled Current Music: I'm Already There, Lonestar Tags: history, illusion, monocausation, multiple causation, world building, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 2nd, 2009
03:20 pm [Link]	Writing Excuses Indexed? And over at http://www.aist-nara.ac.jp/~mbarker/writingexcuses/ you will find links to Writing Excuses, the transcripts, Season One Index, and Season Two Index. http://www.aist-nara.ac.jp/~mbarker/writingexcuses/IndexSeasonTwo.htm is the new one! With all of the episodes listed, titles, links to the podcasts, and links to the transcripts. Just in case you really want to find that session with Bob Defendi, or the Three Act Structure, or something? Let me know if you find a mistake! Current Mood: obsessive Tags: index, writing excuses (Leave a comment)
June 1st, 2009
10:48 am [Link]	Remembering Rhubarb Pie I happened to be exchanging recipes with someone this morning, and had to dig this out of my PDA... So just to make it easily findable, here's the pie recipe I used -- straight out of Betty Crocker. ( pie crust and filling ) Current Mood: hungry Current Music: I'll Just Hold On, Blake Shelton Tags: pie, recipe, rhubarb (Leave a comment)

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