Tomorrow can be a day of ranting about early Christmas celebrations. Tonight was filled with Cranium goodness with Brianne’s family, complete with her cousin Kimmy saying “You all can suck my duck”.
Author Archives: fictionalpenguin
The 2014 NaNoWriMo decision is…
Tonight is surprisingly devoid of Halloween-related goodness. No scary movies until tomorrow, as Brianne has coursework to focus on. Trick-or-treating happened last night ’round these parts. I’m not feeling particularly motivated to dig out any scary video games or read any spooky stories. Oh, and I’m starting to feel sick but I think that’s mostly thanks to this awful warm-and-cold alternating weather (get your shit together, Mother Nature). I’ll chalk it up to the stars being in a funky alignment or some witch putting a particularly unimpressive hex on me and move on.
It’s NaNoWriMo Eve after all, and there are thousands upon thousands of writers all over who are currently full of anticipation and anxiety for the next thirty days of self-torment under the disguise of writing. After a fair bit of consideration, going back and forth on the topic, I’ve decided to not go for the crazy glory this year. If I’m not doing a great deal of writing already, I can only imagine how much additional stress and frustration this will produce.
Best of luck to everyone who does participate.
Getting into the spirit of things
Wishing everyone an early, happy, and safe Halloween.
Don’t let the monsters get you. They know where you are, where you may hide, and when you won’t be ready.
Jump scares are the absolute worst
Obligatory warning message: there will be a video clip that features jump scares. If anyone tries saying they were shocked, surprised, or not expecting such things from this point forward, I reserve every right to call bullshit on such claims.
It’s a month of celebrating all things that would, under most normal circumstances, leave people safely tucked away in an impenetrable, supernaturally-warded bunker until the screaming of less fortunate people stops. I enjoy horror slightly less than the next guy, unless the next guy happens to be someone who openly weeps at the slightest indication things are about to get scary; that guy and I are close to on the same level. I attempt to endure scary movies and video games, and the results don’t typically involve me retaining a whole lot of my dignity. Continue reading
Attention span versus modern epic storytelling
I am one of millions of people who can say I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (plus The Hobbit; no Silmarillion for me, however) from start to finish. It took over a year, what with school and life-related distractions obligations. This isn’t something I say with pride, pushing my glasses up as part of the standard act of nerdy superiority that accompanies such statements. They were some really magical books, and the way Tolkien built such a rich and elaborate world populated with many interesting characters has stayed with me since. Yes, I did see the movies. Yes, I loved them, but I’m also one of those people who really questions the need for The Hobbit to have been split into a multi-film event. That’s a topic for another time, however, when I’m more drunk and willing to draw great and terrible ire from fans. Continue reading
The question of NaNoWriMo revisited
I hesitate to admit this, but apparently it’s almost November already. I’m fairly certain it was mid-July just last week, but perhaps time has gotten away from me. At least I didn’t somehow miss Halloween. Yet.
November means NaNoWriMo, which I’ve brought up relatively recently(ish). It’s that special kind of self-inflicted torture writers endure/enjoy for one full month, attempting to produce a 50k word novel before November wraps up. This is only appropriate as The Thanksgiving Food Coma usually spells doom for writers who have failed to maintain a moderate to intense level of daily writing discipline throughout the month. Nothing about NaNoWriMo is easy, from balancing writing against other obligations to fighting against the madness-inducing 50k final word count.
This begs the following question: why in the Hell am I thinking about throwing all caution (and reasonable thought) to the wind and giving it yet another go? It would be in the shadow of the ass-kicking, brain-draining Hundred Days of Blogging (which is so close to being over but still so far away). The holiday shopping season will be upon us too soon, and I still happen to work in a retail setting that is going to get absolutely stampeded. There’s also the small matter of my birthday happening at some point next month, which I imagine will involve plenty of its own distractions as well. I’m still considering it, though. Not a damn clue why. Brianne posed a reasonable question in response to me voicing my interest in tackling NaNoWriMo: “Do you want to torture yourself?”
Perhaps? On one hand, it could be a good way to really kick-start my currently-unnamed novel project. On the other hand, I know too well that working under pressure usually doesn’t make for my best creative moments (although, to be fair, it’s hit or miss because sometimes it lends to me producing my best work). I think the answer will have to wait until November. Around midnight, November 1st. We’ll see where this ends up from there and then.
Justifiable character homicide?
There are few easier ways to really tug at a reader’s heart-strings than by killing off one of their favorite characters. It’s a pretty common practice, and something any fan of Game of Thrones is far too familiar with: the sudden, perhaps unexpected offing of a beloved character, or a not-so-beloved character. The important difference here is that loved or loathed, these now-deceased fictional folks had names and families. Above all else, they had plot relevance, and so such deaths are tailored to have tremendous impact. It could be to push the plot forward, to give a protagonist that extra push towards heroic deeds, a means by which to turn a could-be villain into a fully-fledged monster, or a number of things.
Regardless, there are an awful lot of characters who seem to be marching right into the grave. It raises a curious question for writers, really. When, if at all, is it really necessary to kill off one of your darlings? At what point does such a play cheapen the story instead of strengthening it? Are there worse things for characters than death? Continue reading
Hundred days? Not quite yet.
I’m almost certain I hit one hundred days worth of daily blogging about a month ago. Maybe a year ago. Probably decades or millennia or even eons ago. The official count for posts in this category, however, sits at eighty-eight, which I find peculiar since I swear a couple weeks ago it said eighty-three. Or perhaps I’m mistaken. I probably mislabeled some of the mobile posts (way to go, past-me).
However, in the spirit of following the post-count, I have twelve more days. Eleven after this post.
And now to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be better, albeit still somewhat sleepy I fear.
Writer seeks good reading
Today was a good day, more or less, and the less parts will be left out for the sake of not ruining a perfectly good post. Ahem.
I met an old high school friend for lunch, as he happened to be in the area for work (which I assume means his company also employs yetis as there are an abundance of those living in these here mountains). We had relatively tasty food and caught up, talking about nothing and everything just as people who haven’t seen each other for greatly extended periods of time often will. It was an enjoyable time that, in hindsight, seems to have gone by too quickly. I’m immensely fond of visitors as well as lunch outings, even if they contribute to my financial stress more than they alleviate it. Instead of heading home immediately after lunch I stopped by Barnes & Noble. I had nothing in mind in terms of purchases, but I hadn’t wandered around a bookstore in far longer than I care to admit and so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I ran into the problem I often run into at Barnes & Noble, or any other bookstore for that matter. I had an idea of the kind of book I’d like to buy, if I were to end up buying something, but I couldn’t quite put a name or specific author to it. The end result involved a fair bit of wandering around the store without aim or idea of where I should be looking. I eventually left without buying anything, which is just as well as I shouldn’t be buying too much for myself. I’ve been given the dreaded pre-birthday warning, and god help me if I choose to ignore that.
Part of the problem is this: as a writer, I have stories I’d like to read, and I know I’d like to read them, but some of them are stories I just haven’t written yet. Looking for some sort of comparable tale only works so well, especially when I can’t think of an author or title or genre even. It’s a big part of what drives me to continue writing. So I can one day hope such a story sits among the shelves of a bookstore, waiting to meet the expectations of a story-hungry reader.
Ultron seems delightfully evil
All right, folks. Confession time. My comics knowledge is pretty limited, and my Marvel comics knowledge is especially limited (my DC comics knowledge is largely based around Batman with a particular focus on Joker-related graphic novels). I came to appreciate different characters as they were portrayed in the Marvel Comics Universe movies, but I’m that guy when it comes to really having any clue about how those characters were before they made their way to the big screen.
The point I’m dancing around here is I had no idea who the Hell Ultron was, much less why there would be an entire age dedicated to him/her/it. I’d heard of Thanos before, somehow, and Loki…Well, let’s just say I’ve had my fill of Loki for the next century or so. Sorry, fan-people; Tom Hiddleston seems charming enough, and he’s certainly easy on the eyes, but I am thoroughly bored of seeing super-damaged Asgardian antics and I’m especially tired of people trying to justify Loki being a great big bag of dicks by saying how he just needs to be loved/get a hug/whatever. No. He’s just really twisted. But that’s also not the point.
One of the big selling points of comics-turned-movies for me is the villain. The bigger, the badder, and the more insurmountable an obstacle for the heroes a villain is, as far as I’m concerned, the better they are for the movie. I could have quite easily looked up Ultron, but for a baddie who was sandwiched between Loki in the first Avengers movie and the promise of Thanos in Avengers 3, which I’ve heard may be two movies (DAMN YOU, HOLLYWOOD)…Well, this villain I’d never heard of just didn’t seem to matter much. A palate-cleanser between one major nutcase and the next. And then I saw the Avengers: Age of Ultron teaser trailer and found out Ultron is voiced by James Spader. I’m simultaneously ready and not ready for May of 2015. Before I continue, for those of you haven’t seen this yet, here’s the trailer in question.
Aside from being extremely creepy, this teaser trailer made me wish I had a time machine all while making me grateful I don’t have such a device as I wouldn’t be able to really talk about how amazing (or bad, but I hope that the former is the way this will go) this movie is. Ultron seems like the kind of villain I can really get into, if only because I have strong biases 1) in favor of James Spader ever since I started watching The Blacklist and 2) in favor of sinister, self-aware artificial intelligences.
What are you folks looking forward to most in Avengers: Age of Ultron?
Phil's Misadventures In Fiction 