tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77815832024-03-05T02:44:14.608-06:00The Chipster ZoneAnnouncements of updates to my web site, The Chipster Zone, and other tid bits.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.comBlogger250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-28348670532687850852023-10-19T21:20:00.001-05:002023-10-19T21:20:20.221-05:00Take advantage of your 5% off coupon.ChipsterZoneBlog
<br>
<br>
<br><a href="http://entelgaming.mzzo.com/frm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsuperiluqq.world">http://entelgaming.mzzo.com/frm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsuperiluqq.world</a>
<br>
<br>
<br>crpattonttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-42415691548502328202019-09-02T11:09:00.001-05:002019-09-02T11:09:46.674-05:00GenCon the Third, Part Only<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Best decision</b> this year for GenCon was to pre-order the sack lunch from St Elmo for Thursday. Two filet mignon sliders, house cooked potato chips and a triangle brownie. Quick pickup, no long lines like at the food trucks. Ate in the shade a block up from the convention center. The horse radish sauce was the coup de grace.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Two Autographs</b>: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/48665843867/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Heath Robinson</a> of Infinite Black on his photo in the GenCon program, and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/48665684251/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Cherie Priest</a>, Author Guest of Honor on her book "Four and Twenty Blackbirds".</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Worst Time to Host a Game</b>: Thursday morning. Hundreds, maybe thousands of con goers were still in the Will Call line, not a lot of gamers in the playing hall. I had no one for my 11:00 am session of Throw Down Seven.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Good Hosting</b>: Four folks came and played <a href="http://chipsterzonegames.com/about" target="_blank">Throw Down Seven</a> on Friday afternoon at three. They were dice lovers, so were perfect for this. They had each bought a set of dice in the exhibit hall and used their own to play. They emailed me later to say they had played again at dinner.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/48665843552/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">In the Booth</a></b>: Throw Down Seven from ChipsterzoneGames was for sale in the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/48665340638/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Indie Game Alliance booth.</a></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Pricey but Convenient</b>: The Holiday Inn Express was quite nice, with a full hot breakfast and is far from the most expensive hotel within a couple blocks of the Convention Center, but at over $200 a night, it's still much more than I'm comfortable paying for a hotel room. They handled the crowd well.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Overwhelming</b>: The exhibit hall was huge and packed with people the entire time. Nice to be with the bustle, but would have been nice to have more elbow room.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Top Technical Innovation</b>: Dice, physical dice, that know what they roll, and tell your software. These are way cool, though still under development: </span><a href="https://www.electronic-dice.com/">https://www.electronic-dice.com/</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Gorgeous Game: "</b><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://keymastergames.com/parks" target="_blank">Parks</a>" designed by Henry Audubon and will be published by Keymaster Games in October.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Sold Out! But I played them:</b> "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/KLASKGAME" target="_blank">Klask</a>" is a bit like miniature knock-hockey with magnet-limited sticks. And </span><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"<a href="https://www.alderac.com/big-game-night/point-salad/" target="_blank">Point Salad</a></span><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">" is a card drafting game with vegetables on the cards. Odd, but kind of fun.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><a href="https://www.schlockmercenary.com/" target="_blank">Schlock Mercenary</a>, <a href="http://weirdgiraffegames.com/" target="_blank">Weird Giraffes</a>, and<a href="https://infiniteblack.net/" target="_blank"> Infinite Black</a> in the exhibit hall:</b> Pleased to talk shop briefly with Howard Tayler in his booth and said "hey" to fellow Alabama game producers in a couple other booths.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Only Three: </b>seminars I attended this time. The writing track was still big, but I recognized fewer of the authors. I only went to a Revisions panel there, other talks were from <a href="https://pandagm.com/" target="_blank">Panda Games</a> and on Script Writing (in the film track).</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>Script Writing:</i> Thomas DeCarlo, from Bloomington (where we spent Wednesday night pre-con, about an hour out from Indy), he does animation; Kylie Eaton, "Dispel", Writer/Director; May (somebody), Australian comedienne/actress/writer; Timothy Tray, ABBY; Dan McGuire, ABBY</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Writing is solitary, directing is social.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Fit your script to time/budget: 3 locations, 2 speaking parts, 4 days to shoot -- if really going to film it</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://johnaugust.com/2019/scriptnotes-ep-403-how-to-write-a-movie-transcript" target="_blank">Script Notes Podcast #403</a> recommended (w Craig Mazin and John August)</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Recommended books: <u>Screen Play</u> by Syd Field and <u>Save the Cat</u> by Blake Snyder.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Hook in the first couple pages</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Write for visualization (setting or character come first)</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">E.g. describe a person sitting quietly reading, then describe the chaos around them</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Use cards, one scene per card, can rearrange them easily</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">"If you watch a movie w/no sound you should get 80% of it" - Alfred Hitchcock</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Outline in Word, or Final Draft</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Find screenplays on line, e.g. Aliens (try </span></span><a href="https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Aliens.html">https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Aliens.html</a><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">)</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Costly, worth it ?: </span></span><a href="https://blcklst.com/">https://blcklst.com/</a><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Know what you're writing for: spec? Go big! short film to shoot with friends, or for demo? time/budget/locale</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Accept that a script is a living document, will be interpreted, re-written, etc.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Only write what can be seen and heard -- tough to script smell, touch</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Don't give direction, but help the cast/crew: "sitting alone weeping in a bathtub" and not "he felt sad"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>Game Manufacturing</i> presented by <a href="https://pandagm.com/" target="_blank">Panda Games</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Online quote system -- get an idea of costs, even if you don't go with them as manufacturer</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Can Kickstart, or not.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">50% of per game cost + 100% of tooling costs up front</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Good to know things like what needs to maintain hidden info, e.g. matching card backs</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Cards per sheet (so target that number): 54 black jack size, 62 Taro size</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Chinese holidays will impact schedule</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Put a blurb on the quote to indicate intent of game, gives the project some context</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">PPC article is a hand crafted one off (Prototype Proof of Concept?)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">MPC is first game off production</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Suggestion: work with an experienced graphic designer (and fulfillment partner)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Adult Hobby Market: 14+ age designation avoids some safety testing</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Panda shipping is extra, does not do fulfillment</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Tariff issues are unknown.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">1500 game minimum, 2500-5000 is more the sweet spot.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>Panda Prepping for Printing</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">contact@pandagm.com</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Suggest to use a graphic designer or layout specialist with experience in print media</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Need your own UPC # (resale ones are fine for hobby market)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Black text should be pure black</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Panda has templates on their website</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Use Preflight Profile in Acrobat</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">(I really liked the folks from Panda, they were down to earth and clearly enjoy their work of bringing new games into the world.)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>Revisions Panel, Writing Seminar</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">John Helfers, Editor; Howard Andrew Jones, Author; Cerece Rennie Murphy, Author</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Finish the first draft!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Cerece kind of stole the show, an attractive 30-something African American, she introduced herself as a children's author, then proceeded to drop sporadic F-bombs.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Check the distance between what you wrote and what you thought you wrote</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Read it out loud. Try read aloud mode from MS Word. (I tried letting Word read some, not bad.)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Read it out of order. Maybe one character's POV at a time, or last section of a chapter and back by sections.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Know what each character needs from each scene, what their emotional state is.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Does the plot work?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Make sure if your character goes after some big magical item that it gets used (Ahem, HBO Game of Thrones)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Everything should serve a point (to keep readers turning pages) -- advance plot; advance character.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Good to use others to review: developmental editor, copy editor, proof reader.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Dr. McCoy Test: "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Recommended: Steve Pressfield "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026" target="_blank">The War of Art</a>"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Also: Save the Cat, same as from the Script Writing Panel</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Too Big?: </b>Once again I enjoyed GenCon, but since I wasn't focused on the sideshow that is the writing seminar I was more immersed in the larger show and it was a bit overwhelming. And crowded. But getting to play hot, pre-release games, and talk to a lot of friendly people, both ones trying to sell me something and those just doing what they love, is a good time.</span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-25804554178791915642018-05-17T16:03:00.000-05:002018-05-17T16:03:30.054-05:00Cooking for One, Part 5: Spring PastaThis is a simple dish, good for Spring: Pasta Primavera. I think of it like eating spaghetti but with vegetables instead of red sauce. The essential ingredient is the grated Parmesan cheese on top. For this I use regular, finely grated Kraft, not something fancy with longer gratings, though you may like that. For me it's a texture thing. That's also why I prefer regular spaghetti noodles rather than spirals or shells or something:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQhSkOWmUA9QVBFd8zoZNL5eyljYnpMlxS03qI0atQHNJj76aaPNQMe-8bGyqJQrDD3uSlxOfSoLQD9gZgpCrv0wOYEAuwCqT-f5RQwIb7F9S0PGRoXsZmAtoiz0JhcSTpbsX/s1600/PastaPrimaVera.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQhSkOWmUA9QVBFd8zoZNL5eyljYnpMlxS03qI0atQHNJj76aaPNQMe-8bGyqJQrDD3uSlxOfSoLQD9gZgpCrv0wOYEAuwCqT-f5RQwIb7F9S0PGRoXsZmAtoiz0JhcSTpbsX/s320/PastaPrimaVera.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I usually cut the noodles into pieces two to four inches long after cooking, this helps with getting both noodles and veggies on your fork at the same time. For vegetables I use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, ones without lima beans (again, its a texture thing) and with corn (that's a sweetness thing). In this case Greenwise, the organic brand from Publix. They microwave right in the bag. I keep them separate from the pasta and Parmesan cheese until ready to eat, just like you would traditional spaghetti. Then I layer them: pasta, veggies, and enough grated Parmesan to make it look like there's been a snowfall. No butter or anything needed, so pretty healthy, too. I usually pair it with some (less healthy) garlic bread. I've been partial to the Paisano bread from Whole Foods lately. Enjoy.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-49939781242427728002018-03-21T14:26:00.000-05:002018-03-21T14:26:05.411-05:00Cooking for One, Part Four: I Do SlawI've been enjoyed Gouda cheese slices lately, not smoked. It has an earthy flavor. Sargento has been fine, but this week it was Cracker Barrel brand on sale and they don't offer Gouda. I settled on Asiago slices. It's got a bit more barn than earth, but still worked well on my Corned Beef Bomber sandwich, that's toasted deli rye bread with stacked, thinly sliced corned beef, cheese and coleslaw:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYiL1mqWDPEGYH8lKbsuQ7xAl5hSX18LwimridlJizFHl3qj42onSOohDoSv6-HcnGPzD4V8DQHmOjf8k66Ft-sXzF8hGNQT2OYesKfhiiY107D8JnmgTXkNbb0vUFeY8B1cT/s1600/2018_03_18_CornedBeefBomber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYiL1mqWDPEGYH8lKbsuQ7xAl5hSX18LwimridlJizFHl3qj42onSOohDoSv6-HcnGPzD4V8DQHmOjf8k66Ft-sXzF8hGNQT2OYesKfhiiY107D8JnmgTXkNbb0vUFeY8B1cT/s320/2018_03_18_CornedBeefBomber.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
With St. Patrick's Day still large in the rear view mirror I had thought about buying a slab of corned beef and crockpotting up a batch with cabbage, but it was just going to make way too much. Publix also had fresh cut corned beef discounted at the deli, so I bought that. But to make a proper bomber I'd need coleslaw and I wanted to make something myself. The heads of cabbage were big and I know I weary of green cabbage quickly. I pondered the contents of my refrigerator and decided to try a carrot based slaw. It became the star of the meal, and two bouts of leftovers. Here's what all you need to do:<br />
<br />
Peel and grate 3 or 4 carrots<br />
Peel and grate a chunk of broccoli stem<br />
Grate 2 or 3 good sized cherry bell radishes<br />
<br />
Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on the grated veggies, mix<br />
<br />
In a small sauce pan place:<br />
3/4 tablespoons of olive oil<br />
2 tablespoons of rice (or similar) vinegar<br />
a couple shakes of dry mustard<br />
a few shakes of black pepper<br />
<br />
Bring these to a boil, then pour this hot dressing over the veggies, stir, and refrigerate for a half hour or more (you can also eat it now if your sandwich is ready)<br />
<br />
Enjoy.<br />
<br />ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-26960747143140903212018-02-27T17:00:00.002-06:002018-02-27T17:00:18.960-06:00Games without DiceThere's another sort of game that I like to play, one that doesn't involve dice, but where objects are also rolled on a table often covered with green felt: pool, or billiards so as not to be confused with lounging in and around a concrete depression filled with chlorinated water. That can be fun, too, but I'm referring here, in the context of Chipsterzone Games, to parlor pastimes.<br />
<br />
I've played a fair bit of 8-ball, and also of Cut-throat over the years. Much of my 8-ball was played a good while back, during college breaks at bars on coin-operated pool tables. I was never particularly good, but perhaps understandably I got a wee better after one drink, let me get out of my head so much, I suppose. My friend, let's call him Tim (since that is his name), got worse at pool with the first drink, but better at Space Invaders, the video game. I got only worse at video games with alcohol. Ah, comraderic competition!<br />
<br />
But even at its best my 8-ball wasn't very good. When we moved to Raleigh, NC during high school however the house my parents bought came with a full-size, heavy slate pool table in the basement. My father soon introduced me to an entirely different sort of pool game that they played at the Marine Corps Reserve Center on their lunch breaks (and I'm guessing any other time that things got slow).<br />
<br />
They called it simply "Pocket Billiards" and the main object, rather than to shoot balls into the pockets as in most games played on a pool table, was to make "billiards" to score points. That is, players try to make a stroke in which the cue ball strikes two other balls. This is wonderfully difficult, especially at first. It becomes somewhat less difficult as the player understands how, and when, to put various kinds of English, or spin, on the cue ball. Of course English is important in 8-ball or any other game on a pool table, but it's critical in shooting billiards to control where the cue ball goes after contact with another ball, or the rail, and to avoid letting the cue drop into a pocket and scratching a batch of points.<br />
<br />
I played a bunch of this game on my dad's table through the rest of high school and college, both alone and with family and friends, but then played it very little for a couple of decades. I've recently resurrected it at my own place of work where we have a pool table in the parlor games area adjacent to our cafeteria. Other games there include table tennis and Foosball. As I introduced it to some of my colleagues there was some confusion over the name and to prevent it being known simply as "Chip's Game", a title I hadn't earned since it's not my invention in the least, I dubbed it Billiards 321 (for reasons that the rules, below, will make obvious).<br />
<br />
I recommend it highly for anyone who enjoys playing on a billiards table, but not so much the standard sinking of balls. My chief rival at Billiards 321 here at work has begun this year by creating a spreadsheet to track our competition. He's broken it down into weekly and monthly increments, determined to best me at some interval. His specialty is making "pots" (sinking balls into the pockets), while mine is making the billiards, so we choose differing shots from similar positions and it keeps things lively.<br />
<br />
Without further ado, the rules:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Billiards 321</span></u></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIUb7ak54iuo74UAUqIjGv6PUMBE7nPIm4V2ZNJIpR2kWc6KEXS09miBa8sDlLio30jpoE3M9k83z0EjSzUGWZYO5PisxWZDCsXKo-QjfBUYZX9Qm0oiGtRqduSJMP_b1kt7R/s1600/Billiards321_Overview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIUb7ak54iuo74UAUqIjGv6PUMBE7nPIm4V2ZNJIpR2kWc6KEXS09miBa8sDlLio30jpoE3M9k83z0EjSzUGWZYO5PisxWZDCsXKo-QjfBUYZX9Qm0oiGtRqduSJMP_b1kt7R/s1600/Billiards321_Overview.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><u><b>Billiard:</b></u> hitting two balls with the cue ball during one shot; English (spin) can make all the difference!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><b><u>Break:</u></b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">A)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Set up the 3, 2 and 1 balls in their home positions as shown: 3 and 1 on the spots, 2 ball in center</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">B)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cue ball to one side or the other of the 1 ball, no more than a ball's width away.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">C)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cue ball must hit 2 rails, including the far rail, before touching any balls, then must hit 2 balls (make a billiard) to be a good break.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">D)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Players take turns attempting to break until either someone makes a billiard or each player has made an attempt.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">E)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If the last player fails to make a good break then the first player begins regular play where the balls ended.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><b><u>Play:</u></b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">A)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Must make a billiard to open a turn.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">B)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Subsequent shots can either sink a ball or make a billiard to continue a turn.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">C)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sunk balls are returned to their home position for the next shot (or as close as possible without touching any other balls)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">D)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If a player scratches during a turn all points accumulated on that turn are lost (A scratch in this game is when the cue ball goes into a pocket, or off the table, or the shooter fouls by hitting other balls than the cue ball with stick, hand, etc.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">E)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>After a scratch the next player must start from within a ball's width away from the one ball's home position and must hit the far rail prior to touching any other ball.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><b><u>Scoring:</u></b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">A)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A billiard is 2 points (hitting all 3 balls in one shot is 5 points)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">B)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sinking a ball scores the number of points on the ball: 3 ball is 3 points, 2 ball is 2 points, 1 ball is 1 point</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">C)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Both billiards and ball points can be scored in the same shot</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"> a.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is not required that the billiard completes before the ball falls in the pocket</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"> b.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Example: a player hits both the 1 ball and 3 ball with the cue and pots both balls; that is 2 + 1 + 3 = 6 points for that shot.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">D)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Players accumulate their points verbally during a turn and then record them at the end of their turn, this way only unscratched points are retained.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 115%;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">E)<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A standard game is to 50 points, it is not required to hit 50 exactly</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYd8gkA9F5CTqyVTJsowm1wMosU5t15LPwpVuwgAVg0SpPjOUjbBl47Vw_v_Xj8a4NoNz6vnu5zQBwUBZqYOLxruFONmysUt-Bj9WbTvU0HAwk9gL4ZpMYCP2WcWiAW-6Ymh8/s1600/Billiards321_Break.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYd8gkA9F5CTqyVTJsowm1wMosU5t15LPwpVuwgAVg0SpPjOUjbBl47Vw_v_Xj8a4NoNz6vnu5zQBwUBZqYOLxruFONmysUt-Bj9WbTvU0HAwk9gL4ZpMYCP2WcWiAW-6Ymh8/s1600/Billiards321_Break.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1KfngNGh0Yy2SUHmxjOOC5wkOaAF-E-DvYD_dCG1JRb-EUI1XTnZYLaofdK7nrQJoiYyGrL3IyE1oZ_uXbZGE_t7XGypWvdOj60vQ2NMW61xIHUcfXHLDCUAEF_hOQnFa2gZS/s1600/Billiards321_Scratch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1KfngNGh0Yy2SUHmxjOOC5wkOaAF-E-DvYD_dCG1JRb-EUI1XTnZYLaofdK7nrQJoiYyGrL3IyE1oZ_uXbZGE_t7XGypWvdOj60vQ2NMW61xIHUcfXHLDCUAEF_hOQnFa2gZS/s1600/Billiards321_Scratch.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Advanced:</u></b> This is a billiards game, if some players tend to score too many points by shooting balls then the “billiards rule” can be added, either at the beginning of a game, or during a game if so agreed prior to start. From the point the rule is put in place no more than 2 ball shots in a row without billiards are allowed. If a player shoots 3 ball-only shots then they can keep all points but their turn ends. The sunk ball(s) are re-tabled and the next player shoots as after a miss. (The other players should verbally note when 2 ball shots have been completed without a billiard so everyone is aware that the next shot must include a billiard for the turn to continue.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Higher Scoring Variant: </u></b>When a ball is sunk replace it with the next lowest ball that hasn’t been in play, always spot it on the farthest open home spot from the cue ball (if equidistant then farthest from the other balls). Balls continue to score their face value, wrap back to the lowest ball after the 15 has been used (e.g. back to the 1 ball). Billiards score 5, hitting all 3 balls scores 8. Play to a higher number, e.g. 200.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Have fun !!</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-67045477792467410812018-02-19T16:02:00.000-06:002018-02-19T16:02:07.894-06:00Cooking for One, Part ThreeI've become cavalier in my cooking. This is a disclaimer for the recipe below. I haven't actually measured any of this yet, but it was quite tasty. My only real training in food preparation comes from my mother and from watching Guy's Grocery Games. Oh, and from eating. I've been eating pretty much my whole life, at least three times a day. But I think it's watching Triple G (and Triple D: Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, though he doesn't seem to visit many real dives, or drive-ins, for that matter) that have set me free from a prior enslavement to measuring spoons.<br />
<br />
I'll go by look, feel and taste these days. Especially for add-ins, like walnuts into brownies. Half a handful seems right. But the real secret that I want to share with you today is about dumplings, the pan-fried Asian kind. I don't make those. I buy them. Either from the little Chinese place at the strip mall a few blocks over in the bad part of town (that place is a bit of a dive), or in the frozen food aisle, ethnic section, at Publix. Both of those come with sub-par dumpling sauce, though, and my prior attempts to whip up my own were unsatisfactory. I knew it was a soy sauce base, but that's all I could ever taste when I made some. Neither ginger nor garlic cut the over-salty, over-soy-y taste. And water just, you know, watered it down.<br />
<br />
The secret? Rice vinegar.<br />
<br />
As warned above, don't trust my measurements, they may lead you astray, trust your instincts, Luke, but these are my guesses at what I put together. Worked wonderfully:<br />
<br />
3 tbsp Lite Soy Sauce (Kikkoman is the name brand, but I don't think it matters)<br />
2 tbsp rice vinegar (I got Nakano All Natural, again, probably doesn't matter)<br />
1/4 tsp sesame oil (go easy on this, it can overpower everything)<br />
1/4 tsp ground ginger (I would've preferred 1/2 tsp fresh grated, but I didn't have it)<br />
1/4 tsp garlic powder (again, fresh, like one clove, would've been better)<br />
1 tbsp diced green onions<br />
<br />
Mix it up in your favorite small monkey dish.<br />
Dip away.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-8666502274310071592018-02-15T18:18:00.000-06:002018-02-15T18:18:50.299-06:00Cooking for One, Part TwoIf you enjoy eating your meals or snacks, as I do, by dipping a variety of rigid finger foods into some type of sauce, then the idea below may be for you.<br />
<br />
I've found that I really enjoy consuming potato chips and dip, tortilla chips and salsa (or cheese dip), vegetable sticks and dressing, and so forth. Even though I try to stick to reduced fat potato chips and low fat dip, I know that chips and dip are not my healthiest choices. So I'm trying to lean toward carrot and celery sticks and broccoli and cauliflower branches. They can be a bit dull, so: Amateur Tip (I know, the idiom is "Pro Tip", but I'm an amateur when it comes to cooking. I have worked at three restaurants in my life (bonus points to anyone who can name the establishments), but the closest I ever came to food prep was filling water glasses, foil wrapping potatoes for baking, and restocking a bottled beer cooler.): try Kraft Lite Thousand Island dressing. It's already tangy (says so right on the bottle in my fridge), and give it some extra zing by dicing up 3 or four pickled jalapeno slices.<br />
<br />
Very tasty. Happy munching.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-89141910705675101742018-02-14T16:49:00.000-06:002018-02-14T16:49:19.742-06:00Cooking for One, Part OneThese days I mostly cook my own meals and am the only one eating what I cook. I eat a wide variety of foods, not all of them healthy, but some are. I don't eat nearly as much seafood as is on this <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180126-the-100-most-nutritious-foods" target="_blank">scientific list of the most nutritious foods</a>, but I eat a lot of the fruits, vegetables, nuts and herbs listed there.<br />
<br />
Other times I'll order a large pizza (usually from Pizza Hut or Domino's rather than <a href="http://earthandstonepizza.com/" target="_blank">Earth and Stone</a> or <a href="http://www.samandgregs.com/" target="_blank">Sam and Greg's</a>, but that's just because I'm cheap) and I'll eat about a third of it right away, then I'll have it for dinner 2 or 3 times over the next several days, augmenting with a salad or petite frozen peas from Publix. I can eat half a week that way for about 10 bucks. Did I mention that I can be cheap?<br />
<br />
That leaves a few days to fill in with some other fare. Last night it was panko-breaded frozen fish (pollock, Publix branded, too, as it turns out). It's a bit less bad for me than Gorton's or Mrs. Paul's Beer Battered. I do like that beer batter, though. I also prepped some sweet potato fries -- slice them up french style, a bit of spray-on cooking oil and salt onto an aluminum foil covered baking tray and roast them at 425 degrees with the fish, so not fried at all. Very tasty and pretty good for me.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I managed to make some tarter sauce to go with it that I was quite content with:<br />
<br />
1 dill pickle spear, diced<br />
1/2 tsp prepared horseradish (I like <a href="http://beavertonfoods.com/product/inglehoffer-cream-style-horseradish-4oz" target="_blank">Inglehoffer</a>, mostly for the little jar)<br />
3 jalapeno rings, diced<br />
2 tbsp mayonaise (Hellmann's if you have it)<br />
<br />
Put it all in a small monkey dish and stir. Enough for two chunks of fish, you don't want there to be leftovers of fish or tarter sauce, anyway.<br />
<br />
Double it if you're cooking for two.<br />
Happy Valentine's Day.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-17514415778985326522017-12-30T11:30:00.001-06:002017-12-30T11:47:52.737-06:00Poker Solitaire RubricI've mentioned <b>Poker Solitaire</b>, the card game, to a few people lately (mostly when introducing them to my new polyhedral dice solitaire game, <b><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChipsterzoneGames" target="_blank">Throw Down Seven</a></b>), but apparently not everyone is familiar with <b>Poker Solitaire</b> so I thought I'd give a run-down of it, the way I like to play.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Background</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also known as <b>Poker Squares</b>, <b>Poker Solitaire</b> is a simple but challenging game with a nice mix of strategy and chance. I learned it from a book on card games, maybe one of the Hoyle books, decades ago. It's not as simple (and mindless) as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AEJEf8L95g" target="_blank">Clock</a> (click through for someone else's YouTube video that will give you an idea of the version of <b>Clock </b>that I grew up with), but it also has a nice tactile feel like <b>Clock</b> does. This is one reason I prefer to play it with real cards though there are many online and app versions available. The other reason is that none of the digital versions that I've found use my preferred scoring rubric. (I admit we adjusted the one from the original book slightly for more appropriate scoring, e.g. at only 2 points, pairs, were almost meaningless, but I get ahead of myself....)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Poker Solitaire</b> can be played as a win/lose (binary outcome) game, like <b>Clock</b>, or it can be played for score. In <b>Poker Solitaire</b> you try for high score, unlike in <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChipsterzoneGames" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Throw Down Seven</a> where lower scores are better. Win/lose <b>Poker Solitaire</b> was featured in the old western TV series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050037/?ref_=ttep_ep_tt" target="_blank">Maverick</a>, from the late 1950's and early 1960's. It was in one of the episodes with James Garner, but I don't know which one. (Please let me know if you do!) I'm not sure if they played it as <i>Jacks or Better</i>, or some other level. I find it harder to win at that level than <b>Clock</b>, which you should win about 1 out of 13 tries. I'll sometimes play the win/lose version if I'm only playing one or two rounds, but generally I prefer to play five rounds at a time. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>So How Do You Play?</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Simple, if you know your poker hands. Take a standard deck of 52 cards, shuffle it. Then draw cards from the top of the deck one at a time, placing them in (an imaginary) 5 x 5 grid. Once placed a card cannot be moved. (Apparently some people allow the location of the 5 x 5 grid to shift, but I call that cheating.) Like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5wbNlQVOhHQIpWCNfHnkVOmJQru5yj9E96FGT9e8IS5vS5HR1iDRfENZGDM_vc3n7j6Sy4aDzrBjmqeTVCVz7gJ9tre9DvbKnPxssjP_hw1Z1M6hJ7_XHDnvL9xNWRNRoep1Q/s1600/PokerSolitaire.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5wbNlQVOhHQIpWCNfHnkVOmJQru5yj9E96FGT9e8IS5vS5HR1iDRfENZGDM_vc3n7j6Sy4aDzrBjmqeTVCVz7gJ9tre9DvbKnPxssjP_hw1Z1M6hJ7_XHDnvL9xNWRNRoep1Q/s320/PokerSolitaire.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Poker Solitaire (hand in progress)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You build 10 poker hands simultaneously, 5 horizontally and 5 vertically. In the picture above you can see that the second row has a flush and the first column has a full house. I'm building toward flushes in three of the other rows and hoping for two pairs, three of a kind, etc. in the other columns. (There's a long shot of a straight in the second column, and the best I can do in the fifth column is a pair at this point. The bottom row is usually trash, though you never know.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>What about Scoring?</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
As I said above, I like to play 5 rounds with a goal of scoring a total of 1,000 points, or an average of 200 points per round. That's a challenging mark. Here's the scoring rubric:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Hand</u> <u>Points</u></div>
<div>
Pair 3 </div>
<div>
2 Pair 10</div>
<div>
3 Kind 20</div>
<div>
Straight 25</div>
<div>
Flush 25</div>
<div>
Full House 40</div>
<div>
4 Kind 60</div>
<div>
St. Flush 75</div>
<div>
Royal Flush 100</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(Didn't get at least a pair in a hand? That's zero points, sorry.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A perfect round is 775 points (4 Royal Flushes and a Straight Flush, with the 4 of a Kinds all lined up in columns but in practice rounds over 300 are very rare while it's easy to botch a round and score under 100.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I haven't found an app or online version that let's me set the scoring system, but if you know of one I'd like to see it!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is a good version for two players who don't want to compete against each other, you can alternate who plays a round and try to get to 500 together. The second time the other person will get to play three rounds.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Win or Lose Version</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
If you don't want to keep score you can try to get a certain level of hand, or better. I usually play this as <i>Jacks or Better</i>, but laying out 10 hands with at least a pair of Jacks or better is tough (for me, at least). No junk row! It's much easier if you play it as <i>Ace High or Better</i>, or <i>Any Pair or Better</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Have fun!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-85771243805903998052017-09-03T17:35:00.000-05:002017-09-04T12:23:58.428-05:00GenCon The Second, Part Last<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Once More into the Fray...</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">None of the five of us, all strangers to each other save two, had braved the food truck lines as of Saturday morning, so face-painted Matt-the-game-runner took the first turn. We were playing "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/35988326644/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy</a>" for the first time. It's a terrific board game where each player operates a food truck and chooses which venue to sell at (sporting event, convention, brew pub, etc.). F</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rom moment to moment y</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ou can cooperate or you can screw the others (I found this latter most entertaining). It also uses polyhedral dice, but only a little bit. I did not win. I did get the secret password, "roadkill", to get a discount to purchase a copy at the <a href="http://adamsapplegames.com/games/" target="_blank">Adam's Apple Games</a> booth, which I did. (This game was successfully Kickstarted for original delivery in March 2017.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Here We Go A-Paneling</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He was late but it was still too early in the day for Patrick Rothfuss as he hurried into the packed meeting room. The ticket-taker caught up with him half-way down the aisle, "Sir, do you have a ticket?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"I'm on the panel," Rothfuss replied clearly through his full beard and hurried on. The room cracked up and the tension retreated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Geoffrey Girard was also among the panelists. I listened to his Cain's Blood after seeing him at my last GenCon. He's good. Girard own's his New Jersey roots and only moments into the panel he was self-deprecating and deferring to Pat Rothfuss, touching him briefly on the shoulder. "Pat does not consent," came quickly from Rothfuss's mouth. And the tension gripped the room once more. Rothfuss let Girard off the hook shortly, but not before he'd squirmed just a bit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They'd demonstrated more than they could have planned for this panel: <u>Writer's Craft: Resolving Tension While Holding Interest</u>. Susan J. Morris was moderator again. Other panelists were Maurice Broaddus and Leigh Perry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Example of opening with tension: "They say he rode into town on a horse the color of milk but I saw him come out of the woods." (Attribution?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Advice: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Write small or go home - P. Rothfuss. You don't need death-stakes for tension.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's about desire and what do you as a reader feel - M Broaddus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rothfuss: watch out for false tension, it's like a wine glass placed near the edge of a table, it distracts focus as all seeing it worry it will fall and the other drama fades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tension needs release.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Can't have tension without expectation," said Rothfuss, "and managing reader expectation is the hardest thing."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He also told us about "bathos", that it is half of dramatic tension (Wikipedia: bathos is associated with anticlimax, an abrupt transition from a lofty style or grand topic to a common or vulgar one. This may be either accidental (through artistic ineptitude) or intentional (for comic effect)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And then he plugged his <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882053899/the-name-of-the-wind-art-deck?ref=nav_search" target="_blank">Name of the Wind playing cards Kickstarter</a> and offered preview art of the playing cards that could be shot and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/35988333204/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">posted as selfies</a> by us attendees. #NOTWArtDeck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Writer's Craft: Can a Hero Be Too Powerful?</u> With Howard Tayler and I didn't note who all else. Short answer: Yes -- stories where the hero isn't vulnerable aren't very interesting, e.g. Superman without kryptonite, otherwise it has to be about the other characters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My biggest takeaway was Howard's distinction among various types of good guys:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hero - drives the plot forward</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Protagonist - Has a story arc, i.e. character development, finds out who they are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Main Character - lots of focus on this person but they may have no power and may not have much of an arc, depending on who else does or what else the story is about</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Writer's Craft: The art of Adding Details</u>: Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal with Steve Diamond moderating.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this was essentially an unrecorded Writing Excuses podcast (missing Dan Wells, but they are often missing one or more cast members). It was sometimes silly and always fun, but still managed a few pearls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Details: Focus - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Internal motivation</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Breath of Rhythm - Meaningful motivation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tone, Pacing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mary gave nice examples of how details can change a scene: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>1) He entered the room, there was a blonde sitting in a chair.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>2) He entered the room, there was a blonde sitting in a chair with legs that went on for miles.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Zelazney: provide 2 details about a character, maybe later add a third.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Readers will fill in the rest, if the action is rich enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Exercise: take some of your own writing and pull out all the adjectives and adverbs. Put back just one or two per page. See which is better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Scaffold and Fade (quoted from Kelly McCullough). Provide a few details and then just hint at the world around those details. Especially with dialect in dialog -- if you keep it up and keep it true it gets tiresome and distracting, but sprinkle them in to keep the characterization, distinction, and tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Writer's Craft: How to Write Micro and Flash Fiction</u> with <a href="http://karenbovenmyer.com/" target="_blank">Karen Bovenmyer</a>. This was a small seminar and Bovenmyer had PowerPoint slides, which was great. I wish more of these sessions would use visual aids. She has published a bunch of micro and flash fiction (typically under 500 words and 500 - 1500 words, respectively, though definitions vary and other terms and constraints are widely used). She also has a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Swift-Sun-Karen-Bovenmyer-ebook/dp/B06XGSNSCX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504477644&sr=8-2&keywords=Bovenmyer" target="_blank">fresh novel out</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Someone said that of the 3 facets of story, character, setting and plot, a given flash fiction only really gets to explore any two of them -- but that may have been a different panel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bovenmyer uses the 7 point plot structure popularized by Dan Wells. The one time I really tried to use it I ended up with a 15,000 word novella, but she says it works. I plan to try. I liked her layout. The plot points appear in the story in numerical order, but you generally try to identify them in the order tagged by the letters, i.e. A then B then C, etc.:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">1. Hook (A) Something to grab the reader</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">2. Plot Point I (D) Reveal of what the story is about</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">3. Pinch I (F) Bad thing happens/complicating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">4. Midpoint (C) Characters commit to what's happening</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">5. Pinch II (G) Big bad thing, building to climax</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">6. Plot Point II (E) Climax itself, growth, attain power to win</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">7. Resolution (B) How things work out, or don't</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll give a high level outline of her presentation, but not the details, you should really get that from her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Character - what do they want (really?) why can't they have it. POV?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Language - engage the senses, evoke emotion through word choice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Setting - story could not take place elsewhere</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Balance - short -- need to show but have to tell sometimes. Get in, get it done, get out</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Editing - Sit on it first, cut 10%</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let it fly - get critique group feedback. Cry. Revise. Submit to pubs. Cry. Revise? Believe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was saturated. Left the Con for the night and picked up a local pizza en route back to my La Quinta home. Revised my piece for Sunday's professional critique. Fought with the hotel printer a bit. Channel surfed, and slept.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Everyone's a Critic</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sunday morning I read aloud two minutes worth from my WIP (Work In Progress) to two published authors and seven other writers who had brought something to be </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">professionally</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> critiqued. It was less painful than it could have been. (I've done this before. Still not easy.) Everyone got a crap sandwich -- some good comments, then some bad comments, followed by some good comments. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/37009716445/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Things which came up with more than one author went up on the wall.</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I celebrated by hitting the expo again. I bought dice, including <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/36821580096/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">a 30 sided one</a>. I got a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/36821578376/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">free GenCon50 die</a> with a coupon. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/35988330614/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">I collected another button or two for my lanyard (note the Dicey Peaks one from when I played on the Expo floor a couple days earlier.)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shortly after noon I pointed my car south. Despite total eclipse watchers gathering in Tennessee and slowing Nashville traffic to a crawl, it was a sedate drive. After the last four days at GenCon50 almost anything would be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-82137138404049896392017-08-27T16:13:00.000-05:002017-08-27T16:13:51.777-05:00GenCon The Second, Part Two<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><b>No Dice</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">I was scheduled to play <a href="https://petersengames.com/dicenstein/" target="_blank">Dicenstein </a>on Friday morning, but the other players were no-shows. So I watched the previous round finish up and read through the rules. Waaaay too complicated for me. I still had some time before my writing panels began so I started a systematic perusal of the exhibit hall. There are <a href="https://www.gencon.com/map?lt=13.81674404684894&lg=37.705078125&z=5&f=1&c=13" target="_blank">some 29 aisles </a>and each one took about 10 minutes -- if all you did was browse along.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><b>A Panel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><u>Writer's Craft: How to Write an Amazing First Page</u> (Susan J Morris (mod),<a href="http://thedanwells.com/" target="_blank"> Dan Wells</a>, Leigh Perry, Marco Palmieri, Dave Mack)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Dan: Don't worry too much about the first page at first.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Leigh (who writes cozy mysteries with a skeleton sidekick): Get your (dead) body out there as soon as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Marco (editor): likes to be dropped in the middle of things without preamble: total immersion; challenge readers to keep up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Some like to be grabbed by the throat, some like to start with dialog (to get the characters rolling)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Emotion. visceral. Double duty: show the promise/genre, e.g. magic (for fantasy), tech (for sci-fi).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Ground the reader pretty quickly, if not the first page then the first (short) chapter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">Great first lines: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">– William Gibson, Neuromancer.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">'He punched the door with a code combination, and awaited face check. It came promptly; the door dilated, and a voice inside said, "Come in, Felix."' -- Robert Heinlein, Beyond this Horizon (cheating here, that's 2 sentences, a full paragraph. And, heaven forbid, a semi-colon. I guess things were different in 1942.)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">" Stephen King, The Dark Tower.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">Make the reader want answers. Start with dramatic tension -- readers will read on without knowing exactly what's going on.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><b>Too Many Panels</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">I walked past a long row of food trucks with lines up to yar and on to lunch at the 24 hour Steak'N'Shake. It was booming but I grabbed a stool at the counter without a wait. They were handling the crowd with aplomb, yes-sirree Bob. Then back for two panels and a reading. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">The first was <u>Writer's Life: An Introvert's Guide to Interacting with the Public</u>. <a href="http://www.onecobble.com/about/" target="_blank">Sandra Tayler</a> was sage.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">The reading was Ilana C. Myer and Sandra Tayler. A very small audience of about 7 of us. Highly recommended because we got insights into the evolution of the things they read.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">The next panel wasn't part of the Writing Symposium, it was over in the Convention Center (the Symposium was in meeting rooms of the Westin hotel, attached to the CC by a skywalk). <u>Immoral Women in RPGs and Why We Need More of Them</u>. It was packed but largely lost on me. Margaret Weis, a big name apparently in early Role Playing Game design was there, I think folks came to hear her.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><b>Beware the Kickstarter, My Son</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">(Always with the apologies to Lewis Carroll)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;">I had a bit of a Hero's Journey of my own just to find my next presentation, <u>Kickstarting your Game, Book or Film 101</u>. It was at the Crowne Plaza hotel on the far side of the convention center. The Plaza was converted from the old central railway station with some rooms still in train cars and the architecture is of massive steel girders. My meeting room was in the farthest </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">basement</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"> corner. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">It was worth the trek. A trio of funding-woes weary Canadian game and film producers from <a href="http://www.lynnvander.com/" target="_blank">Lynnvander </a>told the several of us all about losing money through successfully funded Kickstarter campaigns.Kickstarter takes 5% off the top, Amazon payments another 3%. If you use a pledge manager (like PledgeManager, Backerkit or Stripe), and you should, that's another 5 to 8 percent. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">If you account for those, the one that most first-timers don't see coming is the delinquent accounts. Credit cards that expired or got canceled between pledge and funding -- and they don't feel like ponying up for that super-double-deluxe package they signed up for. Count on another 2%.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">And shipping will kill you. If you include it in the pledge you pay fees on it, too, so a $10 postage stamp costs you more like $12. Count on $11 to $16 to ship a two pound game within the continental US. What to do about a problem like Hawaii? (and Alaska?) More campaigns are handling shipping as extra after the pledging.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Give yourself at least a 15% cushion if you just hit your goal. You're gonna need it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">On the up side, if you blow past your funding goal you look super successful. on the down side if you sell a lot of copies of a game via Kickstarter then no stores will want to stock it. And 1,500 is about a minimum print run for a game, in order to get a good price from the (presumably Chinese) manufacturer. (Lynnvander had a bad print run, ended up telling the backers to throw them in the trash and Lynnvander paid for a second manufacturing run out of their own pockets -- your Kickstarter reputation will follow you, for good or ill. Oh, and so will your Kickstart, you'll be answering emails for years. Tell everybody what's happening every step of the way. It will make (almost) everyone less cranky.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Consider paying for art, like box cover art, yourself up front. Shows everyone you have skin in the game and you can use it on your Kickstarter page. And backers love the pie chart that shows where their money is going.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/">Board Game Geek</a> is a great resource. These guys were funny and forthcoming. And they've kept their bank accounts above water, unlike others who have used the next Kickstarter to pay for the shortfalls in the prior one. Uh-oh.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Your mileage may vary.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Writing Excuses LIVE!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I made my way back </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">to the friendly and familiar surrounds of the Westin, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">determined never to run my own Kickstarter, The recording sessions for the Writing Excuses podcast had sold out before I got my tickets but I got in as overflow part way through the first hour. The full regular cast was present: <a href="https://brandonsanderson.com/" target="_blank">Brandon Sanderson</a>, <a href="https://www.schlockmercenary.com/" target="_blank">Howard Tayler,</a> <a href="http://maryrobinettekowal.com/" target="_blank">Mary Robinette Kowal</a> and Dan Wells. This season they are interviewing experts in things other than writing. I saw a falconer (Larry Dixon), a street artist (Illus), a rap producer (Wild Style) and a lawyer whose name escapes me. All good shows. They ended after 8:00 pm.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;">I called it a night.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-38464397754187921322017-08-26T14:32:00.000-05:002017-08-26T14:32:55.292-05:00GenCon The Second<b>Beginnings</b><br />
<br />
I like dice. I'm not a gamer -- not a larping, cosplaying, role-embracing, miniature painting, up-all-night D&D-er. But I do like dice. I'm designing a polyhedral dice solitaire game. Maybe two. And I like board games. And I wanted another chance to discover new games and to hang out with writerly folks and friends from Writing Excuses and to hear wise instruction and tales from living-making authors. So I traveled to GenCon again this year.<br />
<br />
It was bigger than ever. Mostly that meant more crowded, even though they spread things out more, too, more, that is, than the other time I attended, which was 2015. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First there was The Journey, a leisurely six hour drive to Indianapolis with a stop in Louisville for some Skyline Chili. I listened to a small portion of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. It's 36 CDs long, so when I say a small portion I mean about a twelfth.<br />
<br />
It turned out I drove a little too leisurely, forgetting that Indianapolis, despite being almost due north of Huntsville, is eastern time; so instead of checking in to my hotel first I went straight to the <a href="http://www.indytabletennis.com/" target="_blank">Indianapolis Table Tennis Club</a>. I played a good couple of hours there and then headed back to the other side of town and my La Quinta home for the next 4 nights.<br />
<br />
Like all the area hotels it was sold out largely with GenCon attendees. I smiled to see the lobby full of gamers gaming. Even the desk clerk had done her hair blue for the occasion. It was late and I went straight to bed after showering and eating and channel surfing for a couple of hours.<br />
<br />
<b>On to the Show</b><br />
<br />
I really wish my first Writer's Symposium panel had been truer to its title: <u>Writing 101: The Basics -- From POV to Punctuation</u>. At one point Kelly Swails (moderator) started to dive into something, maybe dialogue attribution and when you could skip including "she said" and the like but quickly stopped herself saying that was more like Writing 201. <i>Exhale.</i> We did get some story and self-motivation basics:<br />
<br />
Persistence, Time, Discipline. Know what the characters want. Know what the villains are planning to do. (Eric Scott DeBie)<br />
<br />
First Draft: What you want to say (Heart). Final Draft: How you want to say it (Head)(Howard Andrew Jones).<br />
<br />
Starting reluctance means the scene isn't right (work your outline?) Read. Look at grammar and sentence structure in what you read. Butt in chair. "I won't screw this scene up if I don't write it." Allow yourself to write a bad story. (Swails)<br />
<br />
Time management. Write for yourself first. (Dan Wells)<br />
<br />
Panel Two: <u>Real Monsters and Vicious Animals</u> (Elizabeth Vaughn, Larry Corriea, Christopher Husberg, Eric Scott De Bie)<br />
<br />
Do description through POV reaction.<br />
Use other senses (than sight).<br />
Contrast the mundane with monsters.<br />
More on YouTube than most of us can stand. Shaved bear. Cryptozoology. Wikipedia.<br />
Perception gets blurry in a fight -- go a little bit random and sparing.<br />
Action scenes can be wordy and okay but really wordy can confuse a reader. Movies have the luxury of dragging a viewer forward to the next scene, words on a page can't.<br />
<br />
<b>Quick Trip to the Convention Floor</b><br />
<br />
After two panels I had a break and hit the exhibit hall. It is huge. Hundreds of vendors and thousands of people. I found Howard Tayler's booth and chatted with him briefly while he drew. I bought the well-worn version of the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/36652062012/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Schlock Mercenary Maxims book</a>. Howard signed it for me. Then I found Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells' booth and bought some of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/35988325074/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Dan's audio books</a>. Later I had him sign them for me.<br />
<br />
Next I went to the Calliope Games booth. I had backed a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/781219801/dicey-peaks" target="_blank">Kickstarter for a new game called Dicey Peaks</a>. The game wasn't expected until October but had come in early and they had arranged pick up and demo games at GenCon, which was sweet. I picked up <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/35988332394/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">my signed copy</a> and later got to play a round with the game's designer, Scott Almes. I did not win. But I did get to ask him whether there was a way to play it as solitaire. He said there was no official variant in the rules but that you could play and try to minimize the number of turns it takes to plant your flag atop the mountain. Did I mention I'm designing my own solitaire dice game? Cool to get to talk on the subject with an accomplished designer.<br />
<br />
<b>More Panels</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<u>Worldbuilding: Creating a Universe of Worlds</u> (Susan J. Morris, Brandon Sanderson, James Sutter, Dave Mack, Marco Palmieri)<br />
<br />
I was here, like dozens of others, to get a dose of Brandon Sanderson, but as usual everyone was terrific. In particular Susan J. Morris is a great moderator. Marco is also an editor so brings that perspective.<br />
<br />
How to avoid info dumps? Have a newbie/fish-out-of-water character that has to have other characters explain stuff to them. or just bring stuff in gradually, sci-fi/fantasy readers don't need everything clear from the get-go.<br />
<br />
Brandon: A grand skill is to be informative AND entertaining.<br />
<br />
Avoid tokenism, consider having more than one character from a culture and show differences and similarities.<br />
<br />
James Sutter is with Paizo who's new science fantasy role playing game, <a href="https://paizo.com/starfinder" target="_blank">Starfinder</a>, dropped on Thursday. Their booths had hundreds of people in line all day to pick up copies.<br />
<br />
<u>Writer's Craft: Are You Overthinking the Story</u> (Kelly McCullough, Richard Lee Byers, Beth Cato, ??)<br />
<br />
Stay in writer brain for first draft, keep editor brain at bay.<br />
<br />
World building iceberg -- only a seventh may end up visible in the story but the rest needs to be there, but not fully formed. How much? Who knows...<br />
<br />
Stuck on a scene? Look at it from another (tertiary) character's point of view.<br />
<br />
I'm interested to check out <a href="http://www.bethcato.com/breath-of-earth/" target="_blank">Beth Cato's Breath of Earth</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Not To Be Missed</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<u>An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
He sold out the large ballroom, so 1,000 or more seats and it filled. Once again he had us agree to not share the grittier details of his regalations, but if you get the chance, he is funny and real. A good storyteller. He's a relatively new parent and has found new connections with parents, the way he had with geeks before that -- just another tribe.<br />
<br />
He also asserted, strongly, something that I had already settled on in my mind: in stories, you don't have to kill people for drama. There doesn't have to be horrible death to make a story compelling. You need tension, and stakes, but it doesn't have to be gruesome and final. Especially not for works targeted for all ages. He had some psychology to back up why it might not be good.<br />
<br />
He also had some psych on why "spoiling" very young children is a good thing. The young brain decides what kind of world it lives in: nurturing and safe or cutthroat and dangerous. It gets ingrained and manifests in "do unto others". (My words, but I think I got the meaning.)<br />
<br />
<b>Late Dinner</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Me and some of my fellow Writing Excuses Retreat alumni met Dan Wells for dinner about 10:00 pm at the <a href="http://www.theram.com/locations/in-indianapolis/" target="_blank">Ram restaurant</a>. They had reprinted their menus just for GenCon (this con is a big deal for downtown Indianapolis). I had the occasionally named "Fry Haddock and Release the Dogs of War". It was delicious. They had also swapped the in-house TVs from their normal sports fare to showing Bladerunner. It had been a long day and dinner was cozy but sedate.<br />
<br />
It was followed by my 15 minute drive to La Quinta and a much shorter session of channel surfing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-16730430084159171302016-11-27T18:42:00.000-06:002016-11-27T18:43:54.537-06:00Odds and Endings: WFC 2016 Part ThreeMy notes become much sparser for Saturday and the half-day on Sunday, which may in the end be merciful. Nonetheless I'll put down here for posterity such highlights and attended agenda as I have marked in my program.<br />
<br />
First it seems that my final event on Friday was the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31079815966/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Starlit Wood release party</a> put on by the editors or the publishers or some such folks. It's an anthology of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Starlit-Wood-New-Fairy-Tales/dp/1481456121" target="_blank">New Fairy Tales</a>" by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone and about a dozen others. The party was very loud and crowded. They had decorated the suite by putting some nifty out takes up on the wall. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31079815116/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Here's an example</a>. I also hung out for a bit with some other <a href="http://www.writingexcuses.com/" target="_blank">Writing Excuses</a> retreat alumni, which was cool.<br />
<br />
Saturday started a little too early after the party but I wanted to catch a reading by Larry Hodges at 10:00 and I'm glad I did. Larry's short stories are pretty humorous and it's a good way to kick off a day. After that was "The Fantasies of James Thurber" panel. Thurber was a Columbus native and apparently his "13 Clocks" is not to be missed, or so said the panel and also Neil Gaiman who wrote an introduction for a recent reprinting that I heard him read on the drive home from Columbus as I was listening to "A View from the Cheap Seats". Mostly I remember Thurber because my dad loved watching "My World and Welcome To It" on TV. <br />
<br />
Next up I listened to artists and Guests of Honor Larry Dixon and Randal Spangler in conversation. Spangler is a pretty regular seeming guy and his art is fantasy but not what I'd call high fantasy. Dixon on the other hand is a character and the combination was entertaining. Dixon has done lots of book covers, been around film and TV (he has a gamers targeted series on YouTube) and is an aviary expert -- that is, he works with birds. He told us about an African Gray parrot that made up a word. It could recognize and say "banana" and "berry" but when given a piece of apple, something it hadn't had before, it said "banan-erry". He also told us that "laughter is a self-massage, electro magnetic pulses run through your muscles when you laugh" and that "calligraphy is swordsmanship writ small". <br />
<br />
We also learned that a (fantasy book) cover artist's job is to slow a customer browsing through a store down from 3/4 second per book to 2 seconds; by 4 seconds they are picking it up.<br />
<br />
I attended panels on new archaeology finds and how they inform fiction and on middle grade fantasy. I went to a reading by Guy Gavriel Kay. And once again to a panel that tried to define Weird fiction and mostly failed again. Horror editors Ellen Datlow and weird editor Mike Kelly couldn't quite agree. It has something to do with chthulu and the Old Ones (Lovecraft). Or maybe see Van der Meers "Anthology of the Weird". Steve Rasnic: idiosyncratic strangeness of individuals; impossible/improbable but a ring of truth -- not vampires and werewolves. Other thoughts: "bizarro" adds humor. Weird can come from a sad place. Horror must be dark. Weird has deadpan. Sounds a bit like some of my stuff, but not quite on the nose.<br />
<br />
Saturday I ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, on my own, which was a nice break from the press of people. Afterwards was the Art Show Reception with coffee and dessert. I broke brownies and had a nice chat with David Boop and Peter Wacks (Peter likes to write amongst activity, like at Perkins Pancake House, one of the only places open late in his town.)<br />
<br />
Sunday morning I think the only panel I went to was "Atheist Fantasy? Is God Dead?" The panelists (Larry Hodges, Max Gladstone, Auston Habershaw, Kevin Minerd and L.E. Modesitt) were careful not to tread on faiths, beliefs, or a lack thereof in their fellows or the audience but still managed to be interesting. Someone noted that the latin roots of the word "religion" has to do with a binding of will/self to something larger. I think Auston noted that Fantasy tends to contain powerful magical beings that can create life or grant wishes and sagely asked, "Isn't a god just one of those with a fan club?"<br />
<br />
There was another panel with a great title that I ended up skipping out on: "How to Make a Small Fortune in Specialty Publishing (Starting with a Large Fortune)". I packed up my books and commemorative <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31096840902/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">42nd World Fantasy convention glass</a> and checked out. On the drive home I stopped for a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/30477650833/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Skyline Chili</a> in St. Matthews, Kentucky.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-73574050841810406462016-11-20T23:13:00.000-06:002016-11-20T23:13:10.106-06:00Secondsies: WFC 2016 Part TwoMy second helping of World Fantasy Convention 2016 started at the very reasonable hour of eleven o'clock in the morning, plenty of time for me to have purchased a bottle of grapefruit juice at the convenience store just off the hotel atrium to go with my leftover cinnamon and raisin bagel.<br />
<br />
First up was "Keeping YA Weird" with Fran Wilde, Ellen Klages, Rani Graff and possibly Alan Smale -- members of some panels did not quite line up with the printed program due to last minute conflicts and what-not and my notes didn't always cover the differences. My apologies. Here "The Lie Tree" by Frances Hardinge was highly recommended by Fran Wilde, who's opinion I quickly came to respect. Also recommended was "Harrison Squared" by Daryl Gregory along with better known (to me at least) works like Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and Neil Gaiman's "Coraline". Any kind of a precise definition of the "Weird" genre continued to elude me.<br />
<br />
Next I went to Jerome Stueart's bizarre reading of a portion of his "Lemmings in the Third Year" short story, it's about some lemmings doing a scientific study of an owl in their territory and their fatalistic-come-suicidal ethology/ethnography. He left us hanging off a cliff. But I bought his book, so once I'm done savoring the suspense, I'll finish the story.<br />
<br />
I had lunch and then attended Fran Wilde's presentation on human self-powered winged flight. A surprising number of people killed or crippled themselves in this pursuit over the centuries, though one or two had some degree of success only to get shunned by their rulers. I'm also looking forward to reading her fantasy novel that includes this subject, "Updraft".<br />
<br />
I listened to the Guest of Honor talk by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. He has written a lot of books. I haven't read any of them and I'm not yet in a rush to do so, though he is obviously quite popular it just doesn't seem quite my cup of noodles.<br />
<br />
I attended an author reading by Ellen Kushner and a panel on "A Golden Age of Contemporary Asian Fantasy" wherein all the panelists were of Asian decent but none published in an Asian language or had even lived all that long in an Asian country. Panelists included Brenda Clough, Amal El Mohtar, and Mimi Mondal. I took no notes, though the discussion was interesting if not particularly memorable.<br />
<br />
The "Mass Signing" rounded out the day. Dozens of authors set up in the ballroom and signed (and sold) their books. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31117447465/in/album-72157672812456033/" target="_blank">Larry Hodges</a> signed "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31116022355/in/album-72157672812456033/" target="_blank">Campaign 2100</a>" for me and we decided that we could most definitely defeat any other duo at the convention in a doubles table tennis match. (Larry is a national champion and I am a state champion in the sport, and between us we know most of the players at that level and none of them are this involved in fantasy genre books.) Later he signed "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31002256751/in/album-72157672812456033/" target="_blank">The Spirit of Pong</a>" for me. I also chatted here a bit with David Boop about "weird" and short stories and bought an anthology, "The Weird South" from him that contains one of his stories. I'm enjoying all the stories in the book quite a lot. L.E. Modesitt signed two of his books that had been included as part of the convention package for me, "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/30973260912/in/album-72157672812456033/" target="_blank">Imager</a>" and "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31079807496/in/album-72157672812456033/" target="_blank">The Magic of Recluce</a>".<br />
<br />
Heavy hors d'oeuvres were served in the lobby outside the ballroom which made a lovely dinner for me, especially when topped off by a brownie from the dessert table and a cup of hot chocolate in lieu of coffee. I don't drink coffee, but the rich, warm beverage hit the spot and I trundled off to my room.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-70887579724261756912016-11-19T14:00:00.000-06:002016-11-19T14:00:06.172-06:00WFC Not To Be Confused With WTFFor some people it was a long flight, and I'm sure their arms were very tired (or their legs were broken, if so, they should have seen <a href="http://www.franwilde.net/" target="_blank">Fran Wilde</a>'s presentation "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31002246131/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Man Made Wings in Fantasy and Fact</a>" before attempting self-powered flight -- I bought her book <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31079814336/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Updraft</a>), but for me it was a long drive. So I traveled on Wednesday though the convention started Thursday afternoon. My back was stiff but I played table tennis at the <a href="http://columbustabletennisclub.com/" target="_blank">Columbus club</a> before going to the Hyatt hotel Wednesday night.<br />
<br />
The fun started with my first panel, where Peter Wacks was a bit wacky as Eric Flint (or was he S.M. Stirling?), who was running late. It was on alternate history and beyond Peter I was impressed by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/30973255222/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">David Boop</a> and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31002248681/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">Alan Smale</a>, I later bought their books and had them sign them for me. Jim Minz and Elizabeth Crowens rounded out the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/30973224712/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">panel</a>. Alan referenced Tolkien and the theory of "the second belief": Readers will go along with one whopper but not a second one, even if it's smaller. And we also learned: "get your reality right if you want readers to believe your fantasy." (Smale's current book is "Clash of Eagles", an alternate history about Romans invading North America while it's still just Native Americans here. I'm looking forward to it.<br />
<br />
As part of joining the convention attendees were given a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31116019555/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">passel of books</a>. The hope of course is that we'll read the authors and get hooked and hook our friends. I'll definitely read a couple, but others I'll surely never get to.<br />
<br />
"Fantasy of the American Heartland" was next with Gary K. Wolfe (erudite), Karen Kovenmyer, Rob Howell, Lynne Cantwell and Stephanie Loree. They talked about everything from native American creation myths to Tom Sawyer to American Gods. Sometimes sheer belief will make fantastic a reality was a theme: Field of Dreams.<br />
<br />
During "Costume Makes the Character" with Delia Sherman, Madeleine Robbins, Cinda Chima, Mercedes Lackey and David Levine (his Arabella of Mars sounds interesting) we heard that a POV character noticing garments of certain other characters is an indication of how interested they are in that character. And that characters are affected by the clothes they wear, e.g. shoes impact gait, stance, self-perception. Other garments impact interaction: weapons to a hijab. Describe details when needed but leave room for the reader, too.<br />
<br />
As we settled into our seats for the "Fantasy Writer-Artist" panel, a young man turned to me from the row in front of me and asked if I would sign his book. I was just about to tell him he must have the wrong person when he handed me a copy of "Rocket Dragons Ignite," the second anthology from Daily Science Fiction, in which I do indeed have a printed story. I was happy to sign for him, my first such request from someone that I wasn't already friends with. Thank you, Alec.<br />
<br />
This <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31079812776/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">panel</a> included Jerome Stueart, Charles Vess (of Neil Gaiman collaboration fame), Sally Grotta, Brenda Carre and Seth Lindberg. Sally told us that we "Need to know where the light is shining onto a painting. Need to know that too for your narrative." Also that Jerome would draw a custom beast for you over in the vendor area where he was selling his new book "<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/31002251661/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">The Angels of our Better Beasts</a>". I had him draw a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77656877@N00/30973260032/in/dateposted-public/" target="_blank">carnivorous goose munching on bees, beetles and crawfish</a>. Another day I went to his reading where he read from a wild story about lemmings that I am savoring finishing after I plow through a couple other books in progress. And that Charles Vess is doing a series of drawings for Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea books and that he had sketches on display in the vendor room. They are very cool.<br />
<br />
Before calling it a night I went to the Open Mic Poetry Reading session. Heard some interesting stuff, the limericks were the sharpest (and dirtiest). I didn't read.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-91035252319345402252015-10-29T14:33:00.000-05:002015-10-29T14:33:02.072-05:00Billiards with EagleTuesday after work I was shooting billiards down in the gaming area of Building 305 with my friend and coworker Pete. I may have been winning, but it was Pete's turn when I noticed out the floor-to-ceiling windows a large bird flapping slowly over Interlake, maybe 30 yards out. It was getting dusky, about 5:40 PM. There had been dozens of Canada geese around the last couple weeks but I immediately noticed the wingspan was too big and the cadence too slow for any goose. It was too bulky for a great blue heron, unless the heron had a dark brown or black fur coat on. Then I could make out the tail: white, and as it turned left, twisting its body against those large wings, I could see a white head. Yep, bald eagle over Interlake. It's been 8 years, almost to the day, <a href="http://thechipsterzone.blogspot.com/search?q=eagle" target="_blank">since I saw the one a mile or so away at Lady Anne Lake</a>, It continued the powerful wingbeats up the south bank and I thought it would land in the top of the taller tree there, but it veered further left and out of my sight line toward the south east. Magnificent to see such a work of nature here once again. They are making a slow comeback in these parts. I still don't remember whether I won or lost the billiards game.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-89969125702545734752015-09-20T23:00:00.000-05:002015-09-20T23:00:43.863-05:00GenCon 2015 Part 5: I Am Nailed to the Hull
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Part 5: "I am nailed to the hull"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My
final scheduled event on Saturday, August 1, 2015 was "Special Event:
Writing Excuses Podcast Recording LIVE!" </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This
is the second time I've had the good fortune to attend Writing Excuses
recording sessions. The first was at the inaugural "Out of Excuses
Retreat" in 2013. If you get the chance I highly recommend it -- you get
to hear the information and feel like an insider at the same time. (I also had
the chance to listen to Cory Doctorow doing some of his "With a Little
Help from my Friends" recordings live at WorldCon 2009 in Montreal --
again you feel like a real insider. That one featured Neil Gaiman in the role
of "friend" so was doubly special.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Only
Dan Wells and Howard Tayler were at GenCon this year so they pulled in multiple
guests from the Con to record the several episodes. These are starting to show
up now in the podcast stream, for example the September 13 episode is "</span><a href="http://www.writingexcuses.com/2015/09/13/writing-excuses-10-37-being-a-good-panelist-and-a-great-moderator-with-susan-j-morris-and-marc-tassin/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Being
a Good Panelist and a Great Moderator, with Susan J. Morris and Marc Tassin</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By
the way, Marc Tassin is the director GenCon Writer's Symposium and does a great
job -- you will see him in and around the seminar rooms all the time keeping
things running smoothly. He also has a great speaking voice so listen for that.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A
handful of us retreat alums also got to help out in a couple ways, either
facilitating the audience microphone during the Q&A episode or packing up some
of the recording equipment after the session. We then got to go to dinner with
The Dan Wells at California Pizza Kitchen where we toasted the event and each
other with maraschino cherries. The folks at CA PK were very gracious.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sunday</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
had a couple regular sessions ticketed for late Sunday morning but I see I took
no notes from those. I'm not even sure I went to the final one. Sunday
morning's first event had drawn my full attention: "Read &
Critique".</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've
read my work in public before: critique groups, open mike nights, and such --
but never in front of a panel of pro authors for the express purpose of telling
me what's wrong with it. And in front of a (small) group of other aspiring
writers to boot. I assure it gives one pause. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There
were about 24 of us writers that were there to be judged, split into 3
different rooms with 3 different panels of young but well-published authors. You
want your work to be well received but you know that you need the negatives,
too, however hard it may be to hear. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We
are there to get better, for us this is A BIG DEAL. And most of us are
sensitive.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So
I prepared a couple of possible things to read -- one fairly safe and one that
I felt good about but that needs to be better, and I showed up. The moderator
for my session was strict. Disciplined. We readers drew numbers for order. I
think I was number 5 of 8. Three minutes only to read. The moderator commanded
stop -- mid-sentence or not -- and we stopped. You can read only about two
pages in this amount of time. Not much! Then each of the four critics provided
a couple minutes of feedback -- with no commentary from the reader. As promised
they served up mostly "crap sandwiches": something good then some bad
things and then something good again. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
chose to read my piece that needs work. The first author said some nice things
then thought the tone of a metaphor I used was a bit off. The fourth author
also noted the metaphor, but felt quite strongly that it was well done. Which
just goes to show that there are no absolutes. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Due
to the rigor of the timekeeping we had about 15 minutes left for questions and
answers at the end. I kept quiet, content with the mix of praise, "I'd
keep reading if I was a slush reader", and pointers for improvement, but
one reader was quite upset -- she felt she hadn't read far enough to assuage
some of the criticisms and she asked her questions and made her points through
her tears. "Ignore these," she said, "I just get emotional but I
want to know." And she soldiered on with her questions.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
talked to participants in other sessions -- mine was not the only one with
tears. We are better for the experience, I'm almost certain of it.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some of us made one last trip to the dealer room. I wanted to
buy a souvenir, something with "GenCon" on it. The T-Shirts were
expensive and I'd been eyeing the gamer mats. These look like oversized dinner
placemats but they are padded and soft and typically have gorgeous fantasy
artwork printed on them. I settled on one with the show's </span><a href="http://www.gencon.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">signature art</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, the ship and three fantasy
people despite them looking a bit "uncanny valley" to me. But the one
I really wanted was more expensive and luscious: it featured Sandara's </span><a href="http://sandara.deviantart.com/art/Cats-party-2-508767010"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">"A Party
of Cats 2"</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. Now I've got non-buyer's remorse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe next year.</span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-88969576355335723212015-09-11T22:56:00.000-05:002015-09-11T22:56:56.395-05:00GenCon 2015 Part 4: Saturday, in which I finally play a game
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Part 4: Saturday, in which I finally play a game</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel, what, 12? Sheesh.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Character Voice with Steve Drew, Kameron Hurley, Brad
Beaulieu, Jay Posey, Aaron Rosenberg</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yes, some of the panel topics overlapped a bit. I'll try not
to overlap the notes.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Read your/other authors' dialog without the
tags/actions. Can you differentiate who is speaking?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Treat characters with dignity (Do your research)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is a lot of current concern about being
politically correct and not appropriating<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>culture inappropriately. If you are wondering exactly what that means,
don't feel alone. But treat it cultures with more respect than Hollywood gave
Native Americans in most earlier westerns and you'll be ahead of Hollywood, if
that gives you any solace.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Empathy. Each character is the hero of their own
story, we just don't know how long they intersect this story.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Add body language, habits to build
character/voice.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Okay to vary POV distance, e.g. when noticing
details or doing internal monologue use some voice/idioms but when doing more
expository description use less character voice.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel Next (that which is skipped when numbering hotel
floors): What Makes a Character a Hero (Kerrie Hughes, Steven Long, Sam Sykes,
Patrick fills-a-room Rothfuss)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was Rothfuss' first panel and he brought the attendees
in from the gaming tables, the room was more full than any of the prior writing
sessions I'd attended. And with good reason, he pontificates well and
entertainingly.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Consistent moral core - line in the sand; let
them bend, evolve but not cross/break</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Homer Simpson centers on Marge</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Good guys are heroes. The Greeks had great mean
who fell due to a flaw, typically hubris</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Considerable discussion of Superman/Lex Luther
then Batman, Rob Roy, Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher) and Ned Stark (Game of
Thrones)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Need people to interact with or there is no
story</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Need to have suffered an indignity</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bathos - humor that undercuts tension</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Identification with a hero needs to be emotional</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">9)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Earnestness is easy to identify with: Han Solo
and Luke Skywalker</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I spent some more time on the dealer floor, I hadn't covered
half of it yesterday. I saw some nice hardwood dice towers -- too expensive for
me but I might try to build one, someday. Best I saw for the price were from </span><a href="http://geekchichq.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Geek Chic Furniture</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> (lots of great stuff, not
cheap by any nuance of the word). The Cadillac of dice towers were on display
from </span><a href="https://wyrmwoodgaming.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Wyrmwood</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, in your choice of
seventy different woods.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I finally played a game!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I played "Code Names" from Czech Games. It's a more literary
"Guess Who?" The fellow manning the booth explained the rules and
then he and I played against a father and son that had also been watching the
previous patrons play. It was pre-release -- they sold out several hundred beta
copies, gone first day of the show -- but should be out about now, sometime in
September, 2015. I plan to get one.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fresh from my fun with Code Names I played another game at
the Steve Jackson Games booth. They had "Mars Attacks: the Dice Game"
set up for demo so even though I'm not a fan of Mars Attacks, I played a round
of that. It was fun -- typically the only dice based games I play are Yahtzee and
10,000, but this was engaging without much mental challenge. After that it was
time for the Guest of Honor session.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was a bit uncertain about seeing GoH Terry Brooks, author
of The Sword of Shannara. I read that book back in 1977 and it was clearly good
but I couldn't get past the hubris or mimicry vis a vis J.R.R. Tolkien and The
Lord of the Rings. I wasn't the only one. Turns out Mr. Brooks is insightful
and delightful and understands the burden with which he has been saddled. He
answered questions from the 200+ person audience about the dozens of books that
he has written and then they showed the </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjkQHnDYu0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">MTV trailer</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> from the
forthcoming series The Shannara Chronicles (January, 2016) which starts with
the second book, The Elfstones of Shannara. He then answered audience questions
on that. I'll be interested to watch some of that. I'm reading the book now. In
fact, I got a free copy and had Terry Brooks sign it on Sunday morning and I
got a chance to apologize for not reading more of his work over the past 37
years. He was very gracious.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 14: Character: Worthy Opponents (Elizabeth Vaughan,
Matt Forbeck, Christopher Rowe, Geoffrey Girard, Terry Brooks)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Girard sat next to Brooks and was clearly in a bit of awe,
especially as the panel introduced themselves; Girard has essentially one novel
(and lots of short stories), while Brooks has dozens and a major TV deal, etc.
Fun to see, both were good natured.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Need to balance villains against protags</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Try to understand the motivations of your
villains</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Christopher Rowe: "I don't like The Joker.
I don't even like Heath Ledger's Joker. How about that?" (This is going
out on limb, deriding a famous bat-villain with this audience, especially the
version played by a favorite son actor, deceased no less.) I believe Mr. Rowe
was saying he wasn't believable, all persona and no depth.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 15: Supporting Characters (Maxwell Drake, Elizabeth
Vaughan, Geoffrey Girard, Terry Brooks)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ask tertiary characters: What do you want from
this scene? - Maxwell Drake</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Plot drives everything." - Terry
Brooks (the observant reader will not that this does not well align with an
assertion in an earlier panel that plot is there to facilitate the characters,
give them something to arc against)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have love and hate in every chapter</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes supporting characters can show up the
main character -- builds character.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was one more event for me (well, two, if you count out
to dinner, which I do in this case) on Saturday, but I'm tired now and want to
go, so I'll lump that into Sunday. TTFN.</span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-88888585299969852982015-09-07T16:21:00.000-05:002015-09-07T16:21:25.505-05:00GenCon 2015 Part 3 TGIF, with other acronyms to come
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Part 3 TGIF, with other acronyms to come</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Before I forget, as I know some of this may border on
tedium, you won't want to miss the final installment in this series detailing
the events of Sunday morning wherein I undergo the most difficult moments of my
writing endeavors thus far: a professional writing critique.) </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">TGIF ! Not really. I was on vacation, it was all good. I
used </span><a href="http://www.parkwhiz.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Park Whiz</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> to reserve parking in
advance. I picked 3 different lots at an average cost of $6.00 per day. My
favorite lot was at 323 W Michigan St, it was small, flat and had a row of
trees along one side so I could park and have shade on my car in the afternoon.
It was an easy 12 minute walk, three-quarters of a mile, to the convention
center past the state capitol building and the Hyatt Regency.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 7</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Friday's sessions started for me at 9:00 am with Writer's
Craft 101 (Steve Drew, Geoffrey Girard, Josh Vogt, Jason Schmetzer, Kameron
"</span><a href="http://aidanmoher.com/blog/featured-article/2013/05/we-have-always-fought-challenging-the-women-cattle-and-slaves-narrative-by-kameron-hurley/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">We
Have Always Fought</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">" Hurley)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oh, I stayed out by the airport at the Baymont Inn and
Suites. Nothing to write home about, so I didn't. But breakfast was passable
and it was an easy 18 minute drive to downtown. Hotel costs remain the biggest
burden at these events, $92 per night for 4 nights pushed it well over $400.
Best if you have a roomie.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Josh Vogt is a good example of one of the authors writing
tie-in novels for RPG developers like Privateer Press and Paizo, as well as his
own stuff such as "Enter the Janitor" which sounds a bit like Ghost
Busters, but I could be way off. Anyway I had a good convo with Josh on the
dealer floor later at one of the game companies booths about how he got his
stuff marketed.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Steve Drew: "There's no leveling up in a
writing career." It was a good quip but they each then shared an anecdote
of how they had, actually, leveled up through various actions, e.g. attending a
writing workshop, joining a key critique group, etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jay Lake: "Do not start a new project until
you finish the one you're on." (First pass, anyways.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Authors tend to be authority averse -- writing
selects for that.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Persistence</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How to do dialog? Do multiple stuff at once:
authentic, tension, information, character -- do not write it the way people
actually speak: b-o-r-i-n-g. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Read dialog aloud though to see if it rings
true, but remember the end of the above note.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">See Elmore Leonard for dialog</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Read movie scripts -- </span><a href="http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=my-dinner-with-andre"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">most
are available on the web</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">9)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Recommended: David Mammot (Glengarry Glen Ross)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">10)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Recommended: </span><a href="http://rachelaaron.net/series.php?SID=4"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Rachel Aaron: "2,000 to
10,000"</span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">11)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">30 second fantasy editing: check a) character
motivations b) Inconsistencies c) swords</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 8 </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Character Craft: Motivation and Obstacles </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Howard Taylor, Elizabeth Bear, Gwenda Bond, John Howard
Jacobs, Lauren M Roy)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first session with Howard! But he was moderating so he
mostly tried to stay out of the others' way. He's a good moderator like that,
but it doesn't let his wit shine through. There was later for that.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think this is where I first ran into fellow Writing
Excuses "Out of Excuses Retreat" 2013 alumni Christy, Alissa, Scott,
and Kendra-who-goes-by-Kenny. Twas good to share with them again.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Make them want something -- then take it away.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What's their worldview?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remember the old standards: man vs. man; man vs.
nature; man vs. self</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Strip away character until essence exposed</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Revenge is a strong motivator; regret is not.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Connections: Mad Max to dog, then to feral boy</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Training montage / flashback to build competence
quotient</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Use other character reactions to main character
actions to build competence</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">9)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Build empathy in dialog by mentioning similar
experiences</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">10)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Put two things in front of character and make
them choose -- need to be consequences; sometimes needs to come out negative</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">11)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"When in doubt have a man enter through the
door with a gun." - Raymond Chandler</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">12)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The two-year-old's question: "Why?",
"Why?"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 9</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dialogue and Dialogue Tags</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Kerrie L Hughes, Robin D Laws, Elizabeth Bear, Chris
Jackson)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On tags: inclined to leave them in for a novel
but take out as many as possible in a short story.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"No, are you certain?" The water glass
was cool in her hand.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Long back and forth should have a certain amount
of tags.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remove 75% of "nodded" and ilk
(smiled, grinned, etc.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I actually scheduled myself a break in here for lunch. Was
hungry. Also I had signed up for the "Foam Fighting Arena" but the
weapons were heavy and my wrist and arm were sore and I was gonna feel silly,
which was wrong. The folks competing were having a grand time and it was
clearly definable as "research". Sigh.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did wander around the Dealers Floor for a couple hours. It
is huge. Hundreds of game manufacturers, collectibles dealers, furniture makers,
and an authors and artists section. Everything is set up for easy interaction
with the folks manning the booths. You can easily chat with game creators,
science fiction authors and fantasy artists. And in most cases buy their wares.
They also had scheduled autograph signings, mostly authors but I saw Summer
Glau (from the Firefly franchise, etc.) signing for a couple of hours and was
very cordial with all the fans that I saw her interact with.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 10 (Not actually a panel)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My final scheduled writing session on Friday was a paid
session with Michael Stackpole. This was him giving his prepared class on
characterization and while there was a lot of useful information the tone was
much more commercial than the panels and other sessions that I attended. You
won't find this information on his website since, as he noted, he makes a
portion of his living this way; and so I won't include it here for the most
part. Maybe just a tidbit or four:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plot is a way to facilitate characters</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Convey info through characters, e.g. one says
"All the trolls we've ever come across are eight feet tall."</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes it's okay to do blitzkrieg
characterization: George was always well dressed and sang along with the choir
but you never wanted to trust him with the collection plate.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Roger Zelazney: "A short story is the last
chapter of a novel that you haven't written." Get in. Define. Get out.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 11</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hadn't pre-registered but there was a late panel called
Advanced Kickstarter, not that I ever intend to run a Kickstarter campaign but Howard
Tayler was on it and not as the moderator so I stayed to get a little dose of
Howard. Rest of the panel: Susan Morris, Michael Sullivan, Brad Beaullieu,
Stephen Hood.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn't take many notes, but these things, done well, are a
ton of work. Clearly you would want to use the tools: kicktraq.com,
backerkit.com, etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did ask a question about setting the goal, e.g. is there a
formula that if you know you have X number of fanatic fans and Y number of more
casual fans that you could expect X*m + Y*n + C ? I think it was a bit too much
math to get across verbally, especially this late in the day, but it did spark
a discussion of how indispensable a good Excel spreadsheet can be.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A pleasant evening walk back to my car and then I hit Kroger
from some fruits and veggies for dinner; oh, and cookies; some for Saturday,
too.</span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-70638658677684616712015-09-04T10:41:00.000-05:002015-09-04T10:41:10.357-05:00GenCon 2015 Part 2
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Part 2</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So after what would have been a very tolerable 6 hour drive
to Indianapolis my first observation was that the area was very flat. "The
map is not the territory." Maybe, but it was certainly flat enough to be a
paper map. Why wasn't the drive tolerable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mostly it was the cracked windshield caused by a truck-spewed rock just
north of Nashville. But also the thunderstorm as I descended into a valley
someplace in central Kentucky was just plain frightening. Armageddon-end-of-the-world,
what-on-earth-are-all-you-drivers-doing-away-from-your-loved-ones frightening.
But we all got through it -- as far as I know.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second Panel: Atmospheric Writing</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This one included Dan wells, Kerrie Hughes, Erin Evans and
Elizabeth Bear. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">E. Bear will step into a void and fill it with
her opinions. That's not all bad, but wore on me in later panels. She quoted
Emma boll: "POV is everything". Also word choice as mood lighting.
Give some "telling details".</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Erin:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>let
characters mood show through the POV narration. E.g. for a rustic feel:
"It was darker than 2 feet down a cow's throat."</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But not just snark. "So, no shit, there I
am driving down the road and this truck..."</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Use "Just in time" exposition to
create atmosphere</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you're juggling, use both hands.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have someone describe your story back to you
after they've read a bit -- they may get the plot right but if they don't
mention it's set in the South then you may have failed to convey the
atmosphere.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paragraphing: an art for changing atmosphere.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Third Panel: Editing your work (Susan Morris, Erin Evans,
James L. Sutter, Howard Andrew Jones and Matt Forbeck</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Watch out for variance in voice, and
inconsistent character arcs</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finish your story, then polish it. Later events
may shift earlier stuff and early polish is wasted.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Put it away for a week/month then attack with
fresh eyes.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Read your work backwards -- not maybe word for
word but scene by scene to avoid getting caught up in it.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When a scene just isn't working, ask: what do
the characters that are present want?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Talk it out -- maybe draft an email explaining
-- send it or don't. Or muscle through it.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finish your story. <a href="http://writeordie.com/" target="_blank">Write or die software</a> makes you keep writing.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 4 (Hell, yes, it's still Thursday, only 2 pm) Defining
Genre and Why it Matters</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will recommend that you pull your itinerary together early
for at least the first day and get those tickets mailed to you with your
convention badge. Even though these writing seminars are mostly free, they
still had tickets. There were about 100 seats or so in the rooms and usually
far fewer people than that, like 35, but if you wanted a seat up front you
wanted a ticket, non-ticket holders had to wait and enter the rooms last. And
picking up a packet of late ordered tickets in the Will Call line on Day One
meant waiting in a line that was hundreds of yards long. No joke. But it
actually moved well, less than 30 minutes to wind through much of the
convention center. Still not a fun time, but I chatted with my linies so not
too bad.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Steven Diamond, Django Wexler (are people really named
Django?), Brian McClellan, Geoffrey Girard, Steven Long.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Geoffrey Girard is an author I hadn't heard of. He's also an
English teacher in New Jersey. He started as a short story guy, winning a
Writer's of the Future a decade or more back. I enjoyed his flippantry and
chatted with him a couple times between sessions. I'm currently listening to
his novel "Cain's Blood", a bit gory but you can see the
short-story-guy bleeding through -- some chapters could stand alone.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes from Defining Genre...</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Girard: Horror doesn't sell, Thrillers sell. My
novel, "Cain's Blood"... running gag joke as he held his new novel
aloft several times through panel.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For marketing, once committed to a genre, need
to hit it 90% (can't drift too much or be too mash-up-y and get good placement
at Barnes and Noble)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.stevenslong.com/articles/2011/12/28/defining-fantasy.html" target="_blank">Steven Long has an article defining essentialelements of fantasy and 6 sub-genres</a>. I haven't read it. I expect that
statement to be true a year from now. Two. Three....</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
did skip my 3:00 panel -- I hit the street outside the Center and selected a
food truck for lunch, had some Moroccan shawarma. Good flavor, a bit chunky.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel
5: Killing Off Characters: John Helfers, Dan Wells, David Farland</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Need to care about villains, make them real, or
their death doesn't matter. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Guides and sidekicks, too (Obiwan)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Fridging" a character: Green
Lantern's girlfriend was stuffed in his fridge so he got motivated to be Green
Lantern but was no emotional impact on reader.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Killing a character can indicate danger to our
protag: Indiana Jones and choosing a cup as Holy Grail (No frequency of Indiana
Jones references did not seem greater than it would have been had we not been,
you know, in Indiana)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Good: instilling a sense of "is it safe to
keep reading" -- the characters are in real and certain danger.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Death can't be the only thing for main /
recurring characters -- it just ain't gonna happen.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reference to Robert McKee who has theories about
"Story"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Panel 6: Researching Your Story (Geoffrey Girard, Dan Wells,
Thomas M. Reid, Delilah S. Dawson)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've researched a little -- spent a night at a <a href="http://www.saintmeinrad.org/visit-us/" target="_blank">monastery</a> for
example. (Curiously also in Indiana).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notes:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Docents at museums. Some of these geezers will
talk to you for hours. And they know their shit.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have something that you explain in unnecessary
detail. Covers a multitude of later sins.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have something that you don't explain enough
(boldly make them assume that you, too, know your shit.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My final activity on Thursday was "An Evening with
Patrick Rothfuss" (2 hours). I didn't know <a href="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp" target="_blank">Rothfuss</a>, only vague rumblings
that he is a bit bigger than life. And has a beard. I still haven't read any of
his stuff (although he read a couple snippets to us). This was in a bigger
room. Packed. About 300 people. Some folks without advance tix did not get in.
He regaled us with stories only tangentially related to questions asked from
the audience. He was good at it. And we all promised that tidbits would not be
repeated out of context. And so I won't. But if you get the chance, let him
entertain you. Different than, but almost as recommended as any similar event
with Neil Gaiman. Inspired me enough to buy his latest book and have him
autograph it, "The Slow Regard of Silent Things". I've also bought
the first book on audio, but haven't started listening as yet: "The Name
of the Wind". It's a tome.</span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-49287685387548596542015-09-02T19:47:00.000-05:002015-09-02T19:47:14.343-05:00GenCon 2015 Part 1
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">GenCon 2015</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Intro</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">GenCon had been highly recommended to me by the principals
at <a href="http://www.writingexcuses.com/" target="_blank">Writing Excuses</a>, specifically Howard Tayler, Dan Wells and Mary Robinette
Kowal (authors all), but not as the mega gaming convention that it is -- not in
my case, leastways -- but for the Writer's Symposium. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">GenCon has been growing every year as the premiere gaming
focused convention in the country, some 60,000 attendees strong at the
Convention Center in Indianapolis. There is also a much smaller contingent of
writer-wannabes. Some of these writers-in-development also love to game; or to
write gaming adjuncts. There are whole novels set in Dungeons and Dragons land
or in the card realms of Magic the Gathering. But here I know not what I speak
of. I know more about the couple hundred who go to hear authors share their
wisdom with us, mostly for free -- or more accurately "at no additional
charge". (GenCon is fairly cheap as these things go, a full four day pass
was just $88.00 -- but a fair portion of activities have add-on costs.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But let's get back to the authors -- or in this case, the
teachers. (I was quite happy when, one day on the dealers floor, Howard
introduced me and 3 fellow Writing Excuses Retreat alumna as "some of my
students.") There were names whom we may not have heard of like Josh Vogt,
to some of the biggest names in the SFF genre such as Patrick Rothfuss and
Terry Brooks (yes, for those of you as aged as I am that is Terry Brooks author
of The Sword of Shannara. Turns out he's a very nice and insightful person and
not the devil incarnate that some of us thought he must be to dare imitate our
favorite J.R.R. Tolkien back in 1977. By the way, MTV is bringing Mr. Brooks' book
The Elfstones of Shannara to the small screen in January 2016. I'm reading my
personally autographed copy now.) </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First Panel: Let's Get Emotional</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first panel I attended was on "Eliciting Emotional
Response". And for the most part the sessions were the typical panel
format: one moderator and 3 or 4 panelists. The moderator would spark the
conversation for the first 30-40 minutes and then the audience would ask a few
questions for another 10 or 15 minutes. John Helfers, Editor/Publisher
moderated this first session. Gregory Wilson was one panelist, among other
things he runs <a href="http://www.speculatesf.com/" target="_blank">speculatesf.com</a>, a podcast, with Brad Beaulieu, something I
hadn't been aware of but that I plan to check out.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here are some tidbits from this Thursday morning at 11
session:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beware the "audience insertion
character" -- you may try to use a generic anyman character to get at your
readers emotions but you will often be better served by creating a character
that the reader wants to be, or wants to love -- or that is interesting (example:
The Talented Mr. Ripley)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Create 3-D villains -- they are easier to hate
and possible to empathize with</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Readers love SFF worlds, but in the end the
"dongle of flarnovar" is not what they ultimately care about.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Useful characters run toward the sound of gunfire.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Conflict among an ensemble cast can be fun.
(Notice during the weekend, those of you who game, the people interacting at
your role playing table.)</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second Pirates of the Caribbean movie is
less good than the first in part because Jack Sparrow is more caricature than
character -- he's hard to connect to (a bit of a counterpoint to the
watch-out-for-the-audience-identification-character above).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Use voodoo: hurt/help the reader by hurting or
helping the characters.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Need highs and lows -- lulls in emotions allow
the reader to recover a bit and then attain new levels: action, action, action
(or emotion, emotion, emotion) tends to desensitize</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">9)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Movie recommendation: "Run, Lola, Run"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">10)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Someone quoted Chuck Wendig: "Treat humor
seriously"</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">11)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The cake is gone and I didn't get to eat it
either</span></div>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-30871242550732631272014-07-17T23:25:00.000-05:002014-07-17T23:25:56.332-05:00Science Will Be Truth For LifeThis article, <a href="http://wapo.st/U3I1cS">There’s so much that science will never be able to explain</a> from The Washington Post, was sent to me with the inference that it implies that God is lurking in the crevices of our unknowns.<br />
<br />
It is a concise and thought provoking piece. Here are my thoughts, as provoked.
<br />
<br />
I’m currently reading, with my ears, a story that posits FTL communication. Faster Than Light. Most modern scientists think that FTL-anything is impossible – they might categorize this story I’m listening to in the “fantasy” genre, rather than the “science fiction” one. As they would anything with time travel. Here’s a simple conundrum: the earth is hurtling around the sun and the sun is circling the center of the galaxy, etc. So if I get in a time machine and travel back 1,000 years, won’t I find myself in the middle of the deep void of space, having traveled in time, but not in place? So let us not travel, but rather use books to look back a more modest distance, a hundred years or so, to a time when most scientists thought heavier than air flight (HTA-Flight?) was of dubious scientific likelihood. Today we can “fly” in things like rockets that barely even have wings.
<br />
<br />
Then there was Dr. Bruce Lerner, with his somewhat ironic surname. He was a college computer professor of mine some 28 years ago. (Wow.) He told me, without a trace of doubt, that the new IBM personal computers in our university lab had more computational power than a family would ever need. After all, most of us never do anything more complicated than balance our checkbook or figure our taxes. Except these days, 28 years later, we also like to operate realistic flight simulators, and “chat” with our friends on the other side of the planet, and watch videos. All of these take more compute power than those original PCs packed within them, Dr. Lerner.
<br />
<br />
What we don’t know is a lot. But it’s less than it used to be. Is it a rainbow that ever slips away as we approach it’s base? For my part, I hope so. In any case, whenever I want to doubt science I look no farther than magnets. They can’t possibly attract each other without touching. Not anymore than two people can. Wait.... What?
<br />
<br />
Ever more,
<br />
- Chip
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-32407320685770108932013-09-28T11:17:00.001-05:002013-09-28T11:17:17.370-05:00Review: The King of Pain by Seth Kaufman<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15746942-the-king-of-pain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The King of Pain: A Novel With Stories" border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342028055m/15746942.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15746942-the-king-of-pain">The King of Pain: A Novel With Stories</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6439949.Seth_Kaufman">Seth Kaufman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/646187481">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is a fun book; a bit unusual in bouncing back and forth between the wacky world of producing over-the-top reality TV and a variety of prisoner stories. The weave is compelling and the Hollywood stuff makes we want to re-listen to Lynda Obst's "Hello, He Lied" which I remember enjoying several years ago.
<br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/21443651-chip-patton">View all my reviews</a>
ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-59680016537519782502013-08-04T00:49:00.000-05:002013-08-04T00:49:02.628-05:00<a book="" href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" show="" the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane="" www.goodreads.com="">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane</a>" > <br />
<a book="" href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" quot="" show="" the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane="" www.goodreads.com="">The">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane">The</a> Ocean at the End of the Lane<br />
by <a author="" eil_gaiman="" href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" quot="" show="" www.goodreads.com="">Neil">http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1221698.Neil_Gaiman">Neil</a> Gaiman<br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" quot="" review="" show="" www.goodreads.com="">4">http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/646190391">4</a> of 5 stars<br /><br /><br />You don't have to read this. Neil told me that I didn't have to read the Acknowledgements; that the story was over and that it was mostly names and thank you's. He told me just as he told everyone else, right there at the beginning of the Acknowledgements. I didn't stop there though, because some of the names I would recognize. I knew I would. So I read on. And I suspected there would be more meaning to pull out. And I did know many of the names and I had been along (from a very great distance) on that journey of writing this book and the longer journey of his coming together with Amanda and the coming of age of his youngest daughter and all of it. And in the end I was one of those "folk of Twitter", but by then I was already choked up again by my reading of the Acknowledgements that I didn't have to do (because Neil told me I could skip it, that I could be done now, before... before I read the names and the thank you's. But I choked up just as I did pages earlier, with the... well I'll avoid telling, but its allegorical and familiar and imperfect and nobody experiences the same experience the same. (I think Neil told me that too.) I've read the acknowledgements and now I am done with The Ocean at the End of the Lane. (After I rant a little about how it made me feel, I felt I had to write about it, after midnight or not, but you didn't have to read it.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><a chip-patton="" href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" list="" quot="" review="" www.goodreads.com="">View">http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/21443651-chip-patton">View</a> all my reviewsttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7781583.post-84633611692412785342012-03-25T22:34:00.003-05:002012-03-25T22:44:34.039-05:00The Letter D: Alpha-non-GrataI think it may be too pristine of a Sunday morning to work up a good rant, but since when did the letter "d" become alpha-non-grata? Everywhere I look, everything I read, final d's and ed's are getting dropped like winning young NFL quarterbacks that can't pass. "Some examples?" you say. Okay, Katy Perry lyrics: "...I would be your girl; we keep all our promises..." I'm no William Safire, so I may get the name of the construction here wrong, but in order to agree with the conditional past tense of the copulative verb "would be" you need the same form in the second clause, i.e. "we would keep", contracted down to "we'd keep" so that the syllable count holds the rhythm of the song: "...I would be your girl; we'd keep all our promises..." , but you can't just drop the 'd, because then one clause is past and the other present tense while they are talking about the same thing!<br /><br />Here's another example I saw recently "He was award a prize". No. He might be "astride a prize", if it was, say, a prize bull, but here it's intended to be used as the passive voice past participle form of the transitive verb "award", not as an adverb (there is no "award" adverb). So it has to be "He was award<em>ed</em> a prize". I know we slur it when we speak it and the extra ed gets lost, but come on people, not when you're writing.<br /><br />One more, that doesn't have the double-d and isn't tricky: "He gave back the prize that he <em><u>receive</u></em>." It happened in the past, "receive" needs the final d! If he hadn't received it already then he couldn't give it back. Come on, folks, it's an easy letter to type, it's right there on the left hand home row of your keyboard; use that middle finger (and not just to point it at me). Thank you.ttChipsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02391423684419317280noreply@blogger.com0