Daily prompt: The Great Divide

Tags

books, fiction, postaday2014, Reading

When reading for fun, do you usually choose fiction or non-fiction? Do you have an idea why you prefer one over the other?

I don’t have a preference for either one because I love both. When I want to escape this world I choose fantasy/science fiction in the genre of Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, The Dragon Lance series and other wonderful series. One of my favorite things about science fiction is the very fact that these stories exist in serial form, making for enduring and lasting friendships between myself the reader and the characters. The Wheel of Time series gave me a group of young men and women who grew into their heroism and courage through much trial, loss and tribulation to at last emerge victorious over the ever present great evil plaguing their world; the boys who grew into men were Rand, Perrin and Matt and the girls who developed into such strong women were Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne. In a series as dense and intricate as The Wheel of Time there are hundreds of vibrant secondary actors, but each was painted as vividly as the core six, my dear friends.

However my love for science fiction doesn’t make me love non-fiction any less, sometimes I find myself juggling several books at once which can make for some confused reading at times. I love Jared Diamond as an author; he penned two fantastic books; “Guns, Germs and Steel” and “Collapse” ; both of these books will strip away any bigotry or prejudice one might have of the “other”, trust me. I also adore reading historical biographies and Edmund Morris is one of my favorite biographers. His series on Theodore Roosevelt is beyond fascinating; he brings Teddy to life in all of his assets and deficits and you can tell how much Edmund Morris admires and loves Teddy and I fell in love with Teddy as well. Then there is the other Roosevelt, Franklin, his biography “Traitor to his Class” written by H.W Brands gave me a whole new appreciation for how truly great Franklin D. Roosevelt was and that is even after knowing all about what he did for us during and after the Great Depression.

These few examples of the type of non-fiction that I gravitate to and love seems to be a continuation of my political science classes, a field that called to me from a young age. History was my favorite subject of all time and by extension political science; this isn’t a love that just goes away when schooling is over.

That is why I adore books, they open up worlds and philosophies to everyone, all it takes to enter that other world is to flip a book open and read.

Daily prompt: Brevity pulls

Tags

academic, fiction, postaday2014, writing

I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” — Blaise Pascal
Where do you fall on the brevity/verbosity spectrum?

In all of my experience writing, I deeply appreciate Blaise Pascal’s wise words. Prior to blogging, my only experience with writing lay in the academics from elementary school all the way through to graduating from university. I remember learning the structural requirements of term papers, learning proper research techniques and learning the morals and ethics behind sound writing. At first being handed 10 pages writing assignments seemed such a daunting task: how am I going to find the words to fill 10 long pages? But as any skilled and talented writer will attest to, (I can only imagine, not being one myself as of yet), all of this experience is a necessity in order to exercise your writing muscles and develop your skill and voice.

While I was writing at this level, it did give me the opportunity to hone my argumentative skills, my logical progression and the development of a strong narrative that I was able, point by point, build upon a solid foundation of fact.

I thought by this point that I was standing on solid ground by way of writing until I took one course that changed my writing style forever, at least academically. The course funny enough wasn’t even a writing course or an English course, it was a political science course analyzing the Israel/Palestine question. The academic requirements for the course were simple, four 3 pages papers over the course of the class. This was the most difficult writing assignment that I had ever been given, I’ll never forget one of the topics “Explain the dynamics of the wars of 1947, 1953, 1967, 1973 on the region”. Do you know how extraordinarily difficult it is to explain and dissect 30 years of war between two peoples and the ramifications in only 3 pages. It taught me so much in terms of achieving concise and precise language. It taught me how to edit, how to strip away all of the flowery words, all of the hemming and hawing and get to the heart of the matter.

I would not say which is better after all that I have written; academically I would lean more towards brevity and strong precise arguments. However when it comes to personal writings, fictional writings of all genres, I would not criticize long passages of descriptive language, they paint pictures for the reader and that is as important as the ideas that words bring to life.

Basically writing in whatever shape or form is a blessing and a beautiful endeavor.. If you have something inside that wants to be said, put it on paper however long or short you want to make it, as long as it gets written down, that is the most important part.

Daily Prompt : Back to the future

Tags

fiction, imagination, postaday2013, writing

Anachronism (noun): an error in chronology; a person or thing that’s chronologically out of place. Write a story in which a person or thing is out of place, or recount a time when you felt out of place.

There have been so many interesting novels written about a person being out of time such as “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, this excellent novel has spawned countless adaptations and variations, it’s easy to lose track. The most basic explanation is that the mere concept is so intriguing and curious. The late Michael Crichton wrote Timeline about a scientist and his team seeking to time travel but for nefarious purposes and at the end the evil man behind the team of scientists learns a most valuable lesson. There is no place like home. Dorothy herself said it best.

In all of these stories, the principal character most often simply wants to go back home where his or her’s realities make sense to them. These stories make the whole idea of the grass is always greener on the other side stand a little on its head. In the end it is always the sense of family, of belonging and one’s own comfort level that is what makes one’s own personal timeline so special and why rarely would someone pick another timeline to spend the rest of their days. The curiosity and adventure wears thin after a while, and the normalcy and the familiar are things to be missed and appreciated.

Ahab’s Wife the book; just getting better and better

Tags

Ahab's Wife, fiction, novels, postaday2013, Reading

The gift that my cousin Nancy gave me, the book Ahab’s Wife, is revealing itself to be one of the better written books that I have read in a long while. The author’s ease with descriptive language is pretty incredible and it is giving me inspiration for my own novel. The descriptive language that the authoress employs is used towards nature, thoughts, relationships and the physical persons in the heroine’s, Una is her name, world whereas I use descriptive language to describe food, cooking, eating and tasting. I think that I will try to incorporate more descriptive language to further communicate the sense of what Paris or now the lack of Paris means to my own heroine, now that she is ready to travel overseas to the new world.

I have often heard that to be a good writer, one needs to read a lot. Now that I have been at Ahab’s Wife for a while; reading a writing style that really has drawn me in and impressed me in a way that I haven’t been since I don’t know when, I feel moved to better my own writing. I know that I could seriously use improvement in my writing style. I think that for my novel, my style may be a little to matter of fact, not descriptive enough. I need to learn how to paint a scene with my words, I know that I paint scenes surrounding food and eating, I would like to try and branch out to my characters surroundings, feelings and physical persons.

It will always be a work progress just the way I am a work in progress as a person. That’s fine, I hope that I will get better as I continue writing, only time will tell.

Exercising some discipline

Tags

challenges, fiction, heroine, historical fiction, novel, postaday2013, protagonist, writing

Today is one more day that I have spent a few hours working on my novel. I think about it every day and you would think that with the amount of time that I spend thinking about the story, the book would be done by now, but for some reason, the typing process and the actual putting thought on “paper” is much more time consuming than simple thought streaming as you walk. As I walk and think, I get whole scenes that seem to transpire in a matter of steps but when I am seated in front of the computer, the flash in my head is many, many words that need to be typed and after a while my brain feels as if it is overheating, believe it or not.

I know where my story is going, the plot is outlined and I know where they are going and how they get there and how it ends. I just need to continue with the discipline of sitting down for several hours at a time to get it down. I don’t do well with sitting down for several hours, so I do get up and walk up and down the stairs several times during the hours and I take Jack for walks and sit back down again and continue typing. I could never have worked in an office because I have never been able to stay in a seat all day long. I need to move and stretch my legs often. Having said all that, it is no wonder that this exercise in novel writing is taking such a longish time. Two solid years and counting, however if I think this way I am probably just shooting myself in the foot and focusing on the wrong thing, putting unnecessary pressure on myself with imagined time constraints, I just need to focus on the positive, writing and continuing to write.

I am very happy that I spent a good deal of time writing my story today. I feel that the end is very near and it feels good. I am aware that I have said this before, every time my characters go out and do anything there is always food involved and those scenes don’t write themselves, but they do seem to have a mind of their own and take forever to get through. I can talk forever about food and that is what is taking so long. What may be taking me so long may just be the thing that distinguishes my novel from others. Only a finished book will tell.

A tentative book review

Tags

Albert Brooks, book reviews, fiction, futuristic, novel, postaday2013

I named this post a tentative book review because I confess that I haven’t yet finished Albert Brooks novel “2030”. I am a little more than 3/4’s into the book and though I find it to be very well written and engaging, I haven’t reached the punchline yet and I am still waiting wondering when and how it will appear. I say punchline because I have always associated Albert Brooks with comedy, not fall down laughing comedy, more a thinking man’s comedy, but comedy nevertheless. Albert Brooks has had a varied body of work. He has written and directed several films such as Modern Romance and Defending Your Life. The last one is one of my favorite movies of all time; not only is it an optimistic view of the hereafter, but it also informs you that in heaven you get to eat what you want and never gain weight and everything tastes as the most phenomenal bite that you could ever imagine. The whole point of defending your life isn’t about not going to heaven; rather it’s about entering heaven only when you have become the best possible you and not a second before. Essentially your flawed life allows you for a do over until the day when you finally get it right. As I said optimism in all of its glory.

I associate this vision of the world with everything that Albert Brooks does so when my sister gave me his book “2030” for Christmas. I was first and foremost excited and second I was intrigued as to how he was going to weave a story in the future. As I said it is very well written, the characters are interesting and the themes are universal. You would imagine that a medical miracle, the cure for cancer, would be cause for monumental celebration but after some time it is no longer just a celebratory occasion. The cure starts to produce issues and devastating problems the world over and the issues aren’t what I had expected. The quandary revolves around the resources pie and who gets a share of the pie and what to do when there isn’t enough pie to go around. Another question is when do you outlive your usefulness to yourself and to others? Is there a point that if you aren’t set up for longevity economically, you shouldn’t be allowed to continue living on the government’s dime? As I said, I am still waiting for the punchline and I have a sinking feeling that there isn’t going to be one.

I am enjoying this book because I appreciate the questions and issues Albert Brooks raises throughout the book. It is thoughtfully written even when it is pitting the young ones against the “olds”. Within the book, I can’t help but feel empathy for the younger generation who are born into a society that no longer has any opportunity left unless you are already from a wealthy family. In my opinion it’s showing what has happened throughout the industrialized world but depicted as if on steroids.

I am not the book reviewer that my dear friend Jackie Paulson from getreadingnow.org is and I’m sure that if she read this her review would be far superior. I am essentially simply airing out my thoughts and impressions on a very well written novel by an interesting man.

Writing for nanowrimo, day one.

Tags

challenge, difficult, fiction, postaday2012, writing

Writing is hard. I should be more specific, when I write everyday either with a prompt or without one, the most difficult thing for me is to find something to write about. Once I find it, be it Jack or the storm or the loss of our beloved Rex, once I start writing to you guys, the words flow and my two fingers type along without a care in the world.

Not so with my book. It feels like the words are being torn out of my head and it is almost painful to type them. It is only fiction, well you can argue it is historical fiction because I have researched the setting of my novel, the gay 1920’s of Paris and prohibition era New York City, but still it is fiction. I have the story in my head, I know that it is a grand love story between my two principal characters, I know where they are going and why. It seems to be the whole emotional aspect that is perhaps difficult for me.

 

Maybe it is because I want to try to get it published that makes me so very apprehensive as I write it? Perhaps I am questioning whether or not it is any good? For how can it be good if it is similar to pulling teeth out of my skull?

I have written 2000 words today, part two of my book. I will not spend everyday bemoaning my insecurities and anxieties, I promise you that. I just needed to vent all of this so that tomorrow I can start writing with less baggage weighing me down. One needs to off load every once in a while. Thank you for listening.

By golly, stop skewing the treadle and crossbeam!

Tags

fiction, nonsense, postaday2011, skew, treadle

One day, long past today, there was an odd-looking physician called Dr. Jiggybones. He had a practice that served the little village in the Berkshire Mountains called Wyben. The community as a whole was an exceptionally self-sufficient bunch. The church group made the rounds throughout the village and kept the Minister and the good Doctor apprised of whom needed medical attention, blessings, and the general welfare of all the patients and patrons of the church. They had their own butcher, blacksmith, grocer, many farmers, a barber, a seamstress and even a weaver. Life was comfortable and orderly in a the village of Wyben.

During the late winter however, the Doctor started to get an unusually high numbers of patients complaining of twisted knees and ankles. Each time the Doctor would ask his patients about the origin of the accident, the patients would clamp their mouths down tight and not be truthful with their good Doctor. He conferred with the Minister and the church group and they were as baffled as he by, not only the high incidence of twisted knees and ankles, but by the strange stubbornness shared by all, not to divulge the reason why.

The Doctor and Minister were in agreement that the study in the refectory needed a new rug, so they decided to pay the Town weaver a visit; Miss Belle, was her name and it suited her very well, indeed. She welcomed them both into her shop and when they stated their purpose, she took out her notepad and asked for the dimensions, color and type of wool. When asked how long the rug would take to make, she replied “I can’t make any promises because I’ve been having quite a bit of trouble with my loom and no one seems to know how to fix it.” The Doctor and Minister, looked at each other and asked her “who have you asked for help?” to which she replied “well every man in town has attempted to help, but they have been the worse for it”. “Ah, so that’s it” said the Doctor and Minister in tandem.

The Doctor offered to take a good look at the loom from underneath and asked the Minister for some aid, when the Minister accidentally applied pressure on the treadle, he started to stress his knee, at which point the Doctor braced the Minister from beneath his shoulder alleviating the pressure. Having learned his lesson, it was the last time Doctor Jiggybones would let the cross beams get off skew on the treadle.