Friday, November 1, 2013

It is november.

So it is that time of year again, and no not turkey.I am sure you know what I mean. After all i have gone on about it before so I will spare you. I just want to share this small bit of my writing. though be warned I think it is one of the dullest openings ever. It tells you very little about the book. maybe I will share another bit here if it get better. But if not it will be on my other blog. Yes it has a content warning, and yes there is a reason it dose. but so far this story doesn't need it. And I don't think it will, but then what do I know. Anyway here you go.


"“We must keep ourselves pure, free from the taint that fills the world. For our wise and knowing Lord commands that we suffer not the witch! We must keep all beings, all symbols of this corrupt and tainted world out of our town! We must sanctify our selves! Keep our selves and our lands clear of the magical plague.” Sara bit her lip so as to not laugh out loud. She didn’t need the lecture that would get her. She had enough as it was. Still it was so hard. How could he be so dense? There was a gnome standing on the podium in front of him, imitating his every move, and there he was saying we could not allow them into town.  It was times like this she really hated the way her eyes worked, as clearly only she could see it. If only she dared look away, but that would be taken as giving the pastor less than her full attention, and she didn’t need to be corrected again today. She forced her mind back on the words, hoping the sermon was about over."

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Writing. Making a story. Nanowrimo all in a ramable.



I know I owe you all a more complete post about book piracy. But to do it right I need to talk about a lot of things and right now I am not sure what I was wanting to say little own how to get to it. So I am not going there. Instead it be close to November and Nano I want to talk about writing. About how to form a story.
I am given to understand that this is a hard thing to understand. But I do not see why. They only thing I can think of is that people are over thinking. Getting caught up in having everything perfect the first time. That won’t happen. Just like an essay or a research paper a story goes though a lot of drafts and many changes. It will take work to get something good, and the long the paper the more checking and changes there will be. But to get there you have to something to start with. Some say that their first work is not even the first draft, but draft zero.
I think they do that because the point of the first draft, the first righting, is simply to get the words on the page. To give form and shape to the people involved and get a rough image of what is going on. There will likely be a changes that have to be made. Names that get mixed up, events out of order and such. More so if you are like me and simply can’t make an outline before you right as you have no idea where you are going until you get there. (Which is likely why these post bounce as they do. I make it a point to write as it come, go with the words for this. It is what I told myself when I started writing here.) But I think even the planers will agree that first drafts are a mess. Unexpected things happen to them as well, I would imagine.
As I said I am not a planer, but a pantsters, that is to say I go where my story and characters take me. I usually have a lose idea of the world and a few elements. Hopefully a name or two. But some need none of that they just write. A planer will know exactly where the story is going, but some leave a bit of room, others have, or hope they have, a full road map of what will happen when where and why. Though things can come up as you are writing. As you get used the players something that planed just might not fit with them any more. That is part of a first writing it is a good thing. It means you have found your character’s voice, that they are starting to become whole. You can work though it, just change a few things to fit. It might be bumpy, and mean changes need to be made to some things that came before. But don’t do that now, that is for the next draft. If you need to make a note about what has to be fixed. But don’t go back. Keep moving. The point is to finish, to get the words down. You can fix it in the next draft. There will like be many drafts to get everything done right. But you will never get to that point if you don’t get the words down in the first place.
There are just three things to a story. It is not that hard, though some times the side roads make it seem so. The beginning where you introduce the reader to the players. ‘This is Dog. Dog loves his back yard, it is nice and big.’
 The middle, where the big trouble happens. “Dog has lost his big bone. He is hunting all over the back yard, but it is nowhere to be found. Someone took it.” Ok so not that way but you get the idea.
Then the conclusion, where the big problem is solved and at least a few lose ends tide up. (Well ok in sires there is likely a big problem that is not solved, but that problem won’t be the focus of the story, just the thing that made the stories problem happen. Yes I know messy, but yet its not once you get into writing it will fall into place. The more you do it the more you will understand.) “Dog sits down under the tree and tries to think who would of taken the bone. It had to be Billy Tabor. He was saying how he never got such a good bone. Dog was getting up to go get his bone back when it landed on his head. Turned out the prank play chipmunk had it and thought it was a good joke to watch Dog run around looking for it.’ (Bad I know, but you get the idea I hope.)
So find an idea or a character, something that speaks to you. I can not tell you how to do it, where to look. Everyone is different. Some just know others are inspired by what they see, some by a dream or a bit of talk. I see stories all around. But some are not worth writing and some I don’t think I can tell right. No one will see the same story in anything, but everything has a story. Try looking at paintings and think of what was happing in the moments before and after. That might give you a start. Or if that won’t work take some other object and give it a life away from you. That is what happens to it when you are not there?
The point is just to get the words down. You will be surprised once you do.

For my nano this year at this time, two weeks away from start I have a 16 year old named Sara (but I think the spelling is off.) who lives in a world that was all most blown up, but old powers woke and stopped the bombs. however that messed up a lot of other things. But all that happened in her Grandfathers childhood, so her by now folks have kind of adjust. But the changes in the would has caused changes in beliefs and she is caught between two systems, the one she was raised in and the one she wants.
From that I will get 50+k words in 30 days. I have no idea how and there will be a lot of rough edges but I will do it. 
All it takes for me is a place to start. Others need an plan. But still it is not that hard. Just a place, a few chars and a problem that gets solved. With that you have a story.
I am sure you can do it if you try.
Good luck to those who are. May your fingers fly. And forgive me but to those who aren't may the ideas start hunting you until you are ready to try. I think writing, no matter if only you see it, will help you understand better what it takes to get those books made. It makes you appreciate the work that goes into them more.
Well with that I will say:
Good night Imaginary reader. Pleasant Dreams.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Re last post titled book piracy

Well now you see what happens when publish in clinked not save as one is rush to supper. A bunch of semi ordered words get out. but then as most of this is meant to be my thoughts on the page randomness is to be expected. Still there are ideas there that need to be better explained. And hopeful I will find the time and will do so. But not right now. for now It will stand as it is. There is more than one post to be made. there is a lot of different issues rolled into it. And it seems clear to me now that I had better start with a post on piracy in general as I tried to cover to much in to little words and totally didn't say anything that was clear. yet if it makes one think it is something.
But now it is [past bed time. So another night perhaps.
Dream Well Imaginary reader.
And this I mean to post for all it says nothing. lol

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Book Piracy

Hi all this is not my normal type on non-since, you will have to wait to find out why I sometimes think I am a BIV.  Today I want to talk about something that I think should be talked about more than it is. Something that few seem to even be aware of.  But yet it is a Thing, and it is not going away just because it is not news.  I know that my talking about wont matter, but at least there is one more voice out there. Even as tiny as mine is. After all a single drop of rain has little impact, but put enough of the them together and you get a flood.
I'm sure you have all heard of internet piracy, but then again it is best not to assume. So internet piracy is the label that has been given to the share of files on line. though torrents or other net works. It is what Napster was doing way back when.
I don't want to get into the whole right or wrong debate. but should note it is there. So here you go. there is an argument out there that share of files helps sales and the opposing view that it hurts them. There is the question about how this for of sharing differs of any other and that leads in to if any forum is right. There is the issues of how libraries and used stores fit into this. And then the ones who say the companies cause it. And a whole depet. but that is not what I want to take up time with. heck that would take a day on its own.
And when most here the internet piracy they think of downloading music or perhaps movies. Though by far I think most think of music first.  But the rise of e-books mean that book are now out there as well. There has been a few scanned books floating for some time, but most were poor quality, hard to read. Or so I understand. I know nothing of the early days of pricey. I do not know how ease it was to find songs. I am sure they took a good bit of time to download. But now it is a matter of seconds, a minuet at most, to have a book or an album transferred. Some sites say that you can have a library worth of books in less then the time it takes to make a pot of coffee.
I do not know how easy or hard it was to find the album you wanted but now the structure is in place. finding a book is as easy as typing in the name of it. I was shocked to learn. I had been here  bits about book piracy and the needs for writers to protect their work. But I had no idea just how easy it was to find the files. I didn't set out to find a book, I wanted to pricy one not download it. I had used Google to price check other things and so went to it. As I wanted this book in e forum I typed the title in and then add epub as I have a nook and it will read that format. The first results were sits offering a free download of the book. It would be easy to be fooled into thinking the sites had the rights to the items they were offering.  But this was a book i knew was not being offered for free. I wote it off as a fluke, it was a well know aouthor after all and went and posted something about how surprised I was on facebook and went on. But the fact I found it was there, so a few days latter I looked again and then googled a few other books. Clicked the links and found out just how easy it was.
Since then i have periodically googled book piracy just to see what was being said, and found that not much is. Not as much as I would expect there to be. Now if I goolge internet piracy I am more likely to find new links, but few of those talk about books. So I wanted to talk about books. but find that it is not so easy. There is to much to say and to litlle time.
But I must say I do hope that the person who said that there was no talk of books was because no one read was worng. Now I must go, but there is more to say so this will likly come up again.
Good night imaginary reader.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Hi Again

I know long time no word. bet you all have forgotten about me and my random silliness. Well there are a few things I have wanting to get said, so thought I would write them up. Then realized how long it had been and so thought I had better wright a post about that first to remind you that I just write what comes into my head as I am writing. So these tend to jump around a lot.
Yes I am indeed still alive. No Zombie is writing this. At least I don't think so. But then how do I know I am? There are times I do wonder if I am not just a BIV and all this some silly dream.  But then again I don't know why I would be, what any could learn from it. So most days I can banshees that idea. And I am rambling. Well you see what I meant about going where thought takes me.
Now there was something I was going to say here. Not about that, not tonight. Hyumm well. Oh ya why I haven't written? (Just think what my school papers looked like. Yap I asked myself questions in them to, and no they didn't always get edited out. bet I was a night mare for some teachers.)
Well that is not going to get fully explained. Just know I set certain rules for myself and the times I needed to get thoughts out they weren't fit by the rules for this blog or I wasn't on the computer.  Can't wright here without the computer and there I times I can't sit at it. Such as I will not let my self get out of bed and turn on the computer to write, no matter what. It must wait tell morning and not all thoughts live long enough. Which is a good thing, for if they can not yell long enough to be written they didn't need to be. Be it a blog post or a story.
A lot has and has not happened. none of which matters here, save for the changes the new post might have in sound. But i doubt if there is much. I don't think I have changed voice. But then I likely wouldn't know. It is often others who notice changes in a person first and the one changed only when shown them As they were there when it happened and so do not notice it.
Well that will do for tonight. it is late and I want to watch a show or two before bed. But I will try to not staty away so long. As I said I have something I want to talk about and feel this is the place. But we will see what comes.
Night my imaginary reader. Good dreams.