Today was a Butt In Chair Day. I worked on my 50 characters for about an hour. I should be typing all of that up right now. Obviously, I'm not. I'll do that after dinner or something.
I've been taking characters from Clockwork, When The Sun Was In Your Hair, The Family Business, as well as some abandoned projects. I've also been creating new ones, of course.
And wow, has this assignment evolved The Family Business. I've worked out a good deal more stuff about the characters you know about, added several more (Bubos Puth being the most hilarious of them), and decided some things about the world Jake and co. live in. I might have to bring some of the descriptions next meeting just so you guys can have the information. Clockwork combined with Homework (that was a joke) will likely be keeping me too busy to work on much else. I also have to work in some time for me to do nothing more than play solitaire and watch YouTube videos (yeah, lazy me. Too bad.).
I haven't actually written the ones for Clockwork yet, so no astonishing things about that, but I did figure out some more motivations regarding the robots on the way home last night. No, they are not all going to be robots, by the way. You will just have to wait and see.
When The Sun Was In Your Hair, in case you don't know (which you probably don't), is what I worked on for the latter half of 8th grade. At the time, I intended it to one day be a published novel, but now I realize that it's pretty crappy stuff I don't want anyone to ever read ever (yet more people [just 2] have read it than have read the entirety of any of my other longer works). It sits sadly at around 52,000 words, abandoned. Looking back, I see that it was actually my form of self-psychotherapy. I needed to work through issues in my life and tell someone some things about me. Now I've either evolved out of those issues or have come to terms with them. I don't need Sun anymore. The characters are there (a version of one of them turned up later in 2009, oddly enough), and I'm using them for the assignment, but that's all the use it will give me, I believe, without so much editing that it would probably end up being an entirely different book.
We're in the computer lab for some of tomorrow typing up some of the character stuff, and then Monday and Tuesday will also be Butt In Chair days. 1.5 hours a day in which I can write with little relent while listening to my iPod if I so choose (which I didn't until I got to Evendara Diabbla, since I didn't have appropriate music for any of the other ones).
And my teacher for that class has such a bias towards us. The other classes (he teaches AP and Standard English 12) aren't allowed their iPods, gum, food, or a few other things we get. Ah, the unexpected perks of being a writer. :D
Thursday, January 28, 2010
State of the Union Address- January 2010
I usually leave the political stuff to The Liberal Rocker. They're more interested in it than I am, are more knowledgeable about it than I am, understand it better than I do, and actually intended to talk about it when he created the blog. However, in the light of last night's State of the Union Address, I'm going to write a bit about it too.
Two things before I start in on the notes I took during the speech: Did anyone else notice the Gryffindor tie Obama was wearing? Not blue for democrat. SCARLET AND GOLD STRIPED.
Also: This is the first presidential speech I have listened to other than Obama's inauguration speech. I enjoy listening to him talk, plus this is the first State of the Union Address I have been deemed old enough to stay up and watch it.
Onward. All quotes are approximate.
"...Building cars... " Um, cars aren't the greatest things for our planet at the moment. I know our country is set up to use them, but that really isn't the greatest idea.
Comparing the bank bailout to a root canal: Great comparison.
It was amusing to watch the republicans applaud some things, and the democrats others. While observing the audience, I also spotted a man picking his nose, and a man in a brown coat who definitely looked like he was texting someone. We couldn't tell because a chair blocked our view.
"Yeah, I thought I'd get some applause for that." Ha. You succeeded in making me laugh.
"infrastructure of tomorrow" - If we're going to be making the infrastructure of tomorrow, why do we need to be building cars?
"... creating clean energy, clean energy products, jobs..." Again with the cars.
"...making sure jobs stay within our borders" What, are you afraid we're all going to move to Europe? Or Cananda? Well, I do know several people who might want to move to one of those places (granted, one moved here from Canada when he was in 1st grade). Note that nearly everyone gave a standing ovation to that statement.
Referring to the last decade as "The Lost Decade" because job growth was slow and we plunged into debt fighting to wars against people who were using our own weapons against us (that last bit is from Chaney, not Obama). - that was amusing.
"how long should we wait?" An excellent question.
He began talking about how we need to build more nuclear power plants, and lots of people clapped, but I couldn't tell who was clapping. I thought nuclear power plants were bad for the planet but good for electricity. Am I wrong? Are they "green"?
About global warming, he mentions the "overwhelming amount of evidence" supporting it (and the Democrats applaud and cheer), but then picks up the Republicans too by turning it into a competition whether or not they believe the evidence.
Skip forward in the notes to something related to the above paragraph. They tell us in school that school is nothing like the real world. Based on my observations on what Obama said throughout the speech and the people in the room listening, they are wrong. There were people texting, as I mentioned, people muttering to each other and clearly making fun of the speaker, people terribly exuberant, people being petty, and the mob effect going on. I mean, all this business between the two political parties is so much like the business between any two groups of people in a middle or high school (and probably college too, but I wouldn't know). There's fighting. There's the "trying to make the other group have more embarrassing headlines written about them." There's the people setting themselves against others just because of what group they're affiliated with. Sorry, teachers. Real life is a macrocosm of school with less knowledge, more weight and importance, and less equality.
School is required to be nondiscrimatory. Life outside? Not so much. We are being run by a bunch of people who never really got over their teen years. Why? Because the things associated with being a teenager aren't exclusive to that age group. They just climax and become the most visible then. When we're little, do we try to exact revenge on our siblings? Do we try to manipulate our parents into giving us an extra cookie or hour at the playground? Do we cry when we lose and want to pulverize the victor? Adults are the same. They just tend to have less visible and more complex ways of going about it, and the nouns are different.
Back to chronological order.
My mom commented that she "loves the way Obama looks at [Mrs. Obama], like he really, really loves her." That's nice.
He began talking about the budget and tax cuts and how there have been no tax increases. Don't we need tax increases to pay off all the money we owe to China and other countries? They're not going to sit still forever. There's a reason I recently wrote in a U.S. vs. China war in the relatively near future in one of my character descriptions (Space Commander Jezlak).
Somewhat early on in the speech, Obama mentioned that there needs to be no economic expansion. We need to save what we already have. Later, he says something about "finding new markets."
He places emphasis on educating the common person in math and science. Yay and all that, but what about English (and language in general)? I like math and science, I think they're extremely important and fascinating (I just don't want to do them professionally). But what about the person or people who wrote this speech you're giving us, Obama? What about the programmers (yes, programming is still languages) who keep the computers we depend on running and give us all of these great websites (and the Internet itself), programs, Apps, and stuff? What about all of the other important stuff English (or other languages) give us? What about reading and writing? You should have included Language Arts (there we go) in there too.
While he was talking about healthcare, there was a moment when Joe Biden and the other lady literally were talking behind his back. I had to laugh. I wonder what they were saying...
Did I mention those yellow shirts? There were people in red, blue, and purple, but what was up with all of the bright yellow? What does that represent?
"let's try common sense-- a novel concept" HA. My English teacher last semester would have definitely taken points off for something that cheeky. (is cheeky the right word?)
Much amusement when Obama mentions something about "gay people being allowed to serve in the millitary openly" and the cameras zoom in on the military guys who sit there solemnly while Democrats clap frantically in the background. I know they're supposed to look serious, but that was funny.
Last but not least: I love that he reads letters from people each night. It makes me want to write to him. The boy who sent him his allowance asking for it to be given to the people of Haiti was especially adorable.
Now I'm going to write another post that's back on topic.
Two things before I start in on the notes I took during the speech: Did anyone else notice the Gryffindor tie Obama was wearing? Not blue for democrat. SCARLET AND GOLD STRIPED.
Also: This is the first presidential speech I have listened to other than Obama's inauguration speech. I enjoy listening to him talk, plus this is the first State of the Union Address I have been deemed old enough to stay up and watch it.
Onward. All quotes are approximate.
"...Building cars... " Um, cars aren't the greatest things for our planet at the moment. I know our country is set up to use them, but that really isn't the greatest idea.
Comparing the bank bailout to a root canal: Great comparison.
It was amusing to watch the republicans applaud some things, and the democrats others. While observing the audience, I also spotted a man picking his nose, and a man in a brown coat who definitely looked like he was texting someone. We couldn't tell because a chair blocked our view.
"Yeah, I thought I'd get some applause for that." Ha. You succeeded in making me laugh.
"infrastructure of tomorrow" - If we're going to be making the infrastructure of tomorrow, why do we need to be building cars?
"... creating clean energy, clean energy products, jobs..." Again with the cars.
"...making sure jobs stay within our borders" What, are you afraid we're all going to move to Europe? Or Cananda? Well, I do know several people who might want to move to one of those places (granted, one moved here from Canada when he was in 1st grade). Note that nearly everyone gave a standing ovation to that statement.
Referring to the last decade as "The Lost Decade" because job growth was slow and we plunged into debt fighting to wars against people who were using our own weapons against us (that last bit is from Chaney, not Obama). - that was amusing.
"how long should we wait?" An excellent question.
He began talking about how we need to build more nuclear power plants, and lots of people clapped, but I couldn't tell who was clapping. I thought nuclear power plants were bad for the planet but good for electricity. Am I wrong? Are they "green"?
About global warming, he mentions the "overwhelming amount of evidence" supporting it (and the Democrats applaud and cheer), but then picks up the Republicans too by turning it into a competition whether or not they believe the evidence.
Skip forward in the notes to something related to the above paragraph. They tell us in school that school is nothing like the real world. Based on my observations on what Obama said throughout the speech and the people in the room listening, they are wrong. There were people texting, as I mentioned, people muttering to each other and clearly making fun of the speaker, people terribly exuberant, people being petty, and the mob effect going on. I mean, all this business between the two political parties is so much like the business between any two groups of people in a middle or high school (and probably college too, but I wouldn't know). There's fighting. There's the "trying to make the other group have more embarrassing headlines written about them." There's the people setting themselves against others just because of what group they're affiliated with. Sorry, teachers. Real life is a macrocosm of school with less knowledge, more weight and importance, and less equality.
School is required to be nondiscrimatory. Life outside? Not so much. We are being run by a bunch of people who never really got over their teen years. Why? Because the things associated with being a teenager aren't exclusive to that age group. They just climax and become the most visible then. When we're little, do we try to exact revenge on our siblings? Do we try to manipulate our parents into giving us an extra cookie or hour at the playground? Do we cry when we lose and want to pulverize the victor? Adults are the same. They just tend to have less visible and more complex ways of going about it, and the nouns are different.
Back to chronological order.
My mom commented that she "loves the way Obama looks at [Mrs. Obama], like he really, really loves her." That's nice.
He began talking about the budget and tax cuts and how there have been no tax increases. Don't we need tax increases to pay off all the money we owe to China and other countries? They're not going to sit still forever. There's a reason I recently wrote in a U.S. vs. China war in the relatively near future in one of my character descriptions (Space Commander Jezlak).
Somewhat early on in the speech, Obama mentioned that there needs to be no economic expansion. We need to save what we already have. Later, he says something about "finding new markets."
He places emphasis on educating the common person in math and science. Yay and all that, but what about English (and language in general)? I like math and science, I think they're extremely important and fascinating (I just don't want to do them professionally). But what about the person or people who wrote this speech you're giving us, Obama? What about the programmers (yes, programming is still languages) who keep the computers we depend on running and give us all of these great websites (and the Internet itself), programs, Apps, and stuff? What about all of the other important stuff English (or other languages) give us? What about reading and writing? You should have included Language Arts (there we go) in there too.
While he was talking about healthcare, there was a moment when Joe Biden and the other lady literally were talking behind his back. I had to laugh. I wonder what they were saying...
Did I mention those yellow shirts? There were people in red, blue, and purple, but what was up with all of the bright yellow? What does that represent?
"let's try common sense-- a novel concept" HA. My English teacher last semester would have definitely taken points off for something that cheeky. (is cheeky the right word?)
Much amusement when Obama mentions something about "gay people being allowed to serve in the millitary openly" and the cameras zoom in on the military guys who sit there solemnly while Democrats clap frantically in the background. I know they're supposed to look serious, but that was funny.
Last but not least: I love that he reads letters from people each night. It makes me want to write to him. The boy who sent him his allowance asking for it to be given to the people of Haiti was especially adorable.
Now I'm going to write another post that's back on topic.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A Character of an Assignment
Ah, cheesy post titles. At least you sound mildly interesting.
We spent most of Creative Writing today reading each other our character profiles/paragraphs. Many were interesting, many were depressing, and many were about a hitman-priest.
Our homework was all of the above, with the priest being optional. We have to write 47 more character profiles for 47 more characters. An interesting assignment, a depressingly large assignment, and an assignment to possibly include a hitman-priest.
I'm thinking of doing some of them on characters I already have. My teacher won't know, and this could really be helpful to me. That's the point, right? To improve my writing?
So far I've completed 5/50 (including the 3 already done for homework last night), and am working on another one. Two of them (Anthony and Alfred Zuckermangut) are brothers, and I might do one about Mrs. Paula Urga-Torie's husband Robert.
This has proven to be a difficult yet enjoyable thing to do.
Crap, I need to go to my math homework. I completely forgot about that. Grrr.
We spent most of Creative Writing today reading each other our character profiles/paragraphs. Many were interesting, many were depressing, and many were about a hitman-priest.
Our homework was all of the above, with the priest being optional. We have to write 47 more character profiles for 47 more characters. An interesting assignment, a depressingly large assignment, and an assignment to possibly include a hitman-priest.
I'm thinking of doing some of them on characters I already have. My teacher won't know, and this could really be helpful to me. That's the point, right? To improve my writing?
So far I've completed 5/50 (including the 3 already done for homework last night), and am working on another one. Two of them (Anthony and Alfred Zuckermangut) are brothers, and I might do one about Mrs. Paula Urga-Torie's husband Robert.
This has proven to be a difficult yet enjoyable thing to do.
Crap, I need to go to my math homework. I completely forgot about that. Grrr.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Creative Writing I
A new post because I forgot to mention everything in the last one and this stuff is irrelevant to the topic of the last one.
I started Creative Writing I today. I must say, I didn't have the highest expectations for it, but it's turning out to be pretty awesome so far (yeah, there's only been 1.5 hours of it, but still). We talked about common character constructs (like the Gandalf figure and the Orphan Hero Who Knows Not Of His True Background (Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Eragon)), the problems of writing urban fantasy in today's market (Twilight, it's all your fault the agents are tired of your genre), writing in general, reading, and mostly characters.
My teacher wrote some of these things on the board. There were ten total:
Our assignment for homework was to pick 3 of these things (the three I chose are up there, of course) and write character profiles of them. There was a lot of emphasis on the importance of characters today.
The first one I wrote (Jezlak) was just a paragraph describing him. Then I got bored with that mode of expression. This is creative writing. So the next one (the Creature) was dialog. Only dialog, no quotation marks or words in between. The third is a letter (the 8th grader).
We're supposed to bring a "popular book" (meaning something that is the sort of thing we'd like to write, meaning not Great Expectations) every day. Some days will just be Reading Days, some days we'll do exercises with the books, some days will be B.I.C. days (Butt In Chair) on which we write and only write, and some days we'll do other stuff like today.
My wrist is sore from typing. Why is this? I haven't even been doing much of it today...
In other news, I'm also taking Healthful Living I (NOOOOO), Algebra II (meh), and Band (yay).
I started Creative Writing I today. I must say, I didn't have the highest expectations for it, but it's turning out to be pretty awesome so far (yeah, there's only been 1.5 hours of it, but still). We talked about common character constructs (like the Gandalf figure and the Orphan Hero Who Knows Not Of His True Background (Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Eragon)), the problems of writing urban fantasy in today's market (Twilight, it's all your fault the agents are tired of your genre), writing in general, reading, and mostly characters.
My teacher wrote some of these things on the board. There were ten total:
- a lovesick dragon
- Space Commander Jezlak
- "The Creature"
- a repeating 8th grader
- a homicide detective in Baltimore
- a demon on holiday
- a time-shifting android
- a navy bomber in Vietnam
Our assignment for homework was to pick 3 of these things (the three I chose are up there, of course) and write character profiles of them. There was a lot of emphasis on the importance of characters today.
The first one I wrote (Jezlak) was just a paragraph describing him. Then I got bored with that mode of expression. This is creative writing. So the next one (the Creature) was dialog. Only dialog, no quotation marks or words in between. The third is a letter (the 8th grader).
We're supposed to bring a "popular book" (meaning something that is the sort of thing we'd like to write, meaning not Great Expectations) every day. Some days will just be Reading Days, some days we'll do exercises with the books, some days will be B.I.C. days (Butt In Chair) on which we write and only write, and some days we'll do other stuff like today.
My wrist is sore from typing. Why is this? I haven't even been doing much of it today...
In other news, I'm also taking Healthful Living I (NOOOOO), Algebra II (meh), and Band (yay).
A Contest and Fantasizing About Said Contest
Has anyone besides me noticed that my post count for this month has almost exceeded the post count for last YEAR? That's unexpected. I'm glad I'm using this blog more often.
There's this contest that just opened up for any writers with a novel to publish. I think you're technically supposed to have a finished manuscript, but since there's NO FEASIBLE WAY I'm going to finish Clockwork by February 7th, I'm going to submit what I have along with a summary of the rest of the plot.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Novel-Award-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=332264011
The idea is for people with unpublished books to get a chance at getting published. There are two winners: one for general fiction and one for young adult fiction. The winner gets a contract with Penguin Publishing and $15,000 advance money. Pretty sweet.
Now I'm going to have a little fantasy here about the 99.99% chance of me winning (actually, there's probably slightly better odds than that). My parents have a policy about any amount of money my sisters and I make disregarding birthdays and Christmas. We have to give 80% of it to college, and then the rest is free for us to use as we will (within limits, of course). D'you know what 20% of 15000 is? $3,000. That's still a lot of money. **daydreams happily about Harry Potter conferences and a new computer**.
I'm looking forward to the meeting tomorrow, for both listening (I love listening to you guys read) and getting feedback on my own stuff. Who's bringing what?
There's this contest that just opened up for any writers with a novel to publish. I think you're technically supposed to have a finished manuscript, but since there's NO FEASIBLE WAY I'm going to finish Clockwork by February 7th, I'm going to submit what I have along with a summary of the rest of the plot.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Novel-Award-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=332264011
The idea is for people with unpublished books to get a chance at getting published. There are two winners: one for general fiction and one for young adult fiction. The winner gets a contract with Penguin Publishing and $15,000 advance money. Pretty sweet.
Now I'm going to have a little fantasy here about the 99.99% chance of me winning (actually, there's probably slightly better odds than that). My parents have a policy about any amount of money my sisters and I make disregarding birthdays and Christmas. We have to give 80% of it to college, and then the rest is free for us to use as we will (within limits, of course). D'you know what 20% of 15000 is? $3,000. That's still a lot of money. **daydreams happily about Harry Potter conferences and a new computer**.
I'm looking forward to the meeting tomorrow, for both listening (I love listening to you guys read) and getting feedback on my own stuff. Who's bringing what?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Clockwork Turns
After the party this morning (the one for my neighbor's son's 1st birthday, did I mention that in the last post?), we came home and I sat down at the table with my sister's laptop (for some reason I have problems writing at my own computer) with my flashdrive and started working on Clockwork. I intended to just edit a couple of chapters (ironically focusing on eliminating the words "just" and "back" wherever possible, since I use them way too much). That didn't happen. I ended up moving to the couch and plowing through about 20 chapters in around 3.5 hours. I'm quite pleased with how things are going.
The robot-related accidental infrastructure is still showing up, which is good, and I'm discovering hints about the (new) climax that I unknowingly dropped. Some part of my brain was definitely heading in this direction anyway: it wasjust the rest of me that was ignoring that bit. The magic was considerably easier to delete than I thought it was going to be. Now the common populace of the Province thinks my shero (female hero) is a robot instead of a witch. Special effects can do wonders when combined with stupidity can work wonders.
I've found myself talking to my computer screen several times today saying "Oh, Reymfla. You're so naiive. I'm sorry I made you this way," and giggling to myself because I know what's going to happen and my characters don't. Ha. I see through Remnil's riddles and metaphors.
Speaking of Remnil's metaphors, it turns out that a passage of dialog between him and Remfla that originally had no purpose whatsoever has slightly altered into a delightful bit of symbolism. Pages 60-61 (when the pages are 8.5x11) completely reveal pretty much everything, but it's hard to notice unless you already know what happens. Ha, I love foreshadowing that only functions that way in hindsight. All I will say about that is this: stay away from the mosquitoes, guys, and don't make the mistake of accidentally becoming a spider.
It also turns out that the main male character in the book has remarkable similarities to one of my friends when it comes to appearance and food. This was completely accidental, and I find it amusing. Of all the things he could be eating in a particular scene, it was tacos.
The next chapter I have to edit is going to be the most difficult so far, I think, which is partially why I stopped for the day when I did. There's a great deal of plot holes and irrelevancy to the new main plot. I might have to twist it around and drive the big gathering in an entirely different direction. It also needs to give reason for Reymfla's future confrontation of the High Tribunal of the Dark Side.
There's also the matter of the following chapter in which a development in the romantic subplot depends on magic. I might have to replace it with accidentally taken drugs in this case (not random drugs I inventedjust for this purpose-- this particular plant is mentioned a few times beforehand).
Anyway, I hope I didn't spoil too much for you. Today was a productive day, but now all I want to do is sleep. This may be because I was up past 11 Friday night watching Star Trek: First Contact and up past 11 again last night watching Caprica.
So here's the big question: Do you guys want me to read some of The Clockwork Experiment next week, or Part 4 of Ascension: Enlightenment?
The robot-related accidental infrastructure is still showing up, which is good, and I'm discovering hints about the (new) climax that I unknowingly dropped. Some part of my brain was definitely heading in this direction anyway: it was
I've found myself talking to my computer screen several times today saying "Oh, Reymfla. You're so naiive. I'm sorry I made you this way," and giggling to myself because I know what's going to happen and my characters don't. Ha. I see through Remnil's riddles and metaphors.
Speaking of Remnil's metaphors, it turns out that a passage of dialog between him and Remfla that originally had no purpose whatsoever has slightly altered into a delightful bit of symbolism. Pages 60-61 (when the pages are 8.5x11) completely reveal pretty much everything, but it's hard to notice unless you already know what happens. Ha, I love foreshadowing that only functions that way in hindsight. All I will say about that is this: stay away from the mosquitoes, guys, and don't make the mistake of accidentally becoming a spider.
It also turns out that the main male character in the book has remarkable similarities to one of my friends when it comes to appearance and food. This was completely accidental, and I find it amusing. Of all the things he could be eating in a particular scene, it was tacos.
The next chapter I have to edit is going to be the most difficult so far, I think, which is partially why I stopped for the day when I did. There's a great deal of plot holes and irrelevancy to the new main plot. I might have to twist it around and drive the big gathering in an entirely different direction. It also needs to give reason for Reymfla's future confrontation of the High Tribunal of the Dark Side.
There's also the matter of the following chapter in which a development in the romantic subplot depends on magic. I might have to replace it with accidentally taken drugs in this case (not random drugs I invented
Anyway, I hope I didn't spoil too much for you. Today was a productive day, but now all I want to do is sleep. This may be because I was up past 11 Friday night watching Star Trek: First Contact and up past 11 again last night watching Caprica.
So here's the big question: Do you guys want me to read some of The Clockwork Experiment next week, or Part 4 of Ascension: Enlightenment?
Caprica and America's Culturally Blank Children
The above is an ad for the new show on Syfy called Caprica, as you can tell. My dad was looking forward to it all week (it was on last night), and talking about the ad. When showing it to my sister (who is 13), he remarked on the apple and asked her if she knew what it symbolized and what it was a reference to.
My Sister: Umm, OH, TWILIGHT!
Me: That's pathetic.
Her: What?
Dad: (laughs)
Me: How could you not know what the apple represents?
Her: Ummm, Snow White?
Me: NO!
Dad: (laughs)
Me: Have you ever heard of this book called the Bible, (insert her name here, but she has requested that I don't mention it)?
Dad: Snow White was a fair guess.
Me: No it wasn't! Oh, come on, (name), Twilight? Are you serious?
Dad: (laughs)
Dad: Adam and Eve. Temptation. It represents a choice.Me: Well, I suppose Twilight is about a choice too, but still.
Her: Oh.
I might have been a bit hard on my sister, but really. What have we come to that people see the apple and think Twilight? The apple in Twilight was chosen as a reference to the story of the Fall. a might equal b, but b equals c, so let's follow it through to the natural conclusion that a=c. Transitive Property of equality (and I'm reviewing for math next semester [not really]).
Summary of the Episode: SPOILERS
Caprica itself was really cool. It's a spin-off from Battlestar Galactica (which I have never seen, but it sounds cool). It begins with a subtitle "58 years before the Fall." Cut to a virtual night-club. These were invented so teens can go and do stuff without suffering any consequences in the real world. It is entered through a Holo-Band. The three real people in the night clun, Zoe, Lacey, and Ben, are part of a secret terrorist organization of a monotheistic religion (they decline to tell us which one, but it could be any monotheistic religion. That's not the point. The point is that they're radicals because the rest of the worlds (yes, there are several) are all polytheistic). Zoe & Ben blow up a train while Lacey bails out. Zoe's dad, working on androids for the military, enters the nightclub and finds a version of Zoe living inside. Zoe created her and had been trying to get her into the real world. Zoe's dad begins working with the father of a girl who had been on the train to get the virtual version of Zoe into the robot body.
Tangent:
Something I thought was funny: Zoe's parents are yelling at her because she's never had to work for anything, always has stuff handed to her, has no idea what it is like to "build something".... and she says to her mother "I guess I'll just have to learn how to marry into money then."
End of tangent.
He also tries to create a virtual version of the other guy's daughter, but that doesn't work very well. Zoe did/knew something that he didn't. Her virtual self feels real, while the other girl knows she's fake and can't feel her heart beating. Zoe's digital self gets transfered into the robot. She's really pissed because she didn't want to leave the virtual world in the first place, and she definitely didn't want to be a robot. According to my dad, who has watched Battlestar Galatctica, her rebellious nature will cause the robots to rebel and form the Silon, which are apparently important in Battlestar.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Writing Elementary School Style
I've made it my goal to either edit or write two chapters of The Clockwork Experiment per day that I either don't have school or get out at 12:00 or earlier. In other words, that's weekends, early release days, and this past week.
If you look at the time stamp of this post, it will occur to you that I should probably be in school right now. It's a Friday that's not a holiday, and it's almost 10:30. I'm not sick, and I'm not skipping. It's exam week, and I completed and passed all of mine, so I have the day off (yes!).
Since I didn't complete the above goal for any of the days this week, I'm at my old elementary school where my mom works catching up on the chapters I need to do. She's not in her office today, so I've got full run of the computer. The only downside is that YouTube is blocked here (oh no, whatever will I do?).
I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll say it again in case I haven't: it turns out that I already have a good deal of the infrastructure needed to give the robots a more prominent role (no spoilers for those who weren't there last week). The problem was: I wasn't doing anything with it. I dropped all of these suspicious hints, but they never came to fruition. The entire plot line the title is based around never came to fruition according to the outline taped to my wall at home next to my computer. What kind of a novel is that? Not a very well planned one, that's for sure.
The good news is that I haven't had much trouble changing things around (yet). Actually, most of the changes I've had to make so far are phrasing and grammatical stuff. The plot elements that need altering haven't even come into play yet (as of the beginning of Chapter 15, which is where I'm at now). Note: my chapters tend to be short. Some are scarecely more than a page long.
The even better good news is that I've found I still really like the story itself. I like the idea, I like the characters, and I like the world. My dad is always worrying I'll get bored with an idea before I finish it. So far, he's been wrong. Out of all of the ideas I've abandoned (or put on hold until further notice), it wasn't because I was bored with it. There's always been a different reason. I plan on staying in the Capital for a while yet.
It's pretty fun being here at the school. I kind of feel like a "proper writer" with my mug of hot chocolate and half a cinnamon roll. :) I know there really isn't a definition of a "proper writer," but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. All I'm missing is a MacBookPro and coffee instead of hot chocolate.
My old principal is giving me a hard time about growing up (actually, he was the assistant principal when I was here), as well as some of the other teachers who knew me before I graduated.
Being here brings back all sorts of memories, both good and bad. I miss coming over here in the afternoons after middle school let out. I'll be coming in for the afternoon on Monday as well, to hang out with my friends who are also teacher's children like we used to do. I just hope there will be some chicken in the teacher's lounge like there was that one time...man, was that good chicken.
When you guys were in elementary school, did they talk to you about personality types? (social, artistic, investigative, and one or two other ones). I never saw that until CFNC, but the video my mom's putting into the computer right now for a teacher's National Boards exam is of a lesson about that.
Speaking of which, I'd like to talk about our way of life for a few paragraphs.
Before we start school, our parents prepare us for school by teaching us things. This is all well and good.
Once we get to preschool, it's about preparing us for kindergarten. More about kindergarten later. The latter half of elementary school is filled with emphasis on "in middle school, such and such and such. It's my job to prepare you for middle school." In middle school, from the very first month, it's about preparing for high school. Now that I'm in high school, all of the emphasis is on preparing for college or "the workforce," or whatever it is we plan on doing post-graduation. I've never been to college, of course, but I'd bet lots of money that the emphasis there is on preparing the student for Adult Life. According to commercials on TV and tips on working I've seen at school, it is considered wise to begin saving for retirement as soon as you start work. If/when one gets married and has children, it becomes about preparing the children for their lives. Where's the actual living happening? It's all about preparing for whatever comes next. What about actually doing stuff just for the sake of doing it? This seems wrong. Preparing is good, but shouldn't we have a chance to stop preparing and jump into the pool? Or, since this is a writer's blog, stop prewriting and begin with chapter 1?
Now about kindergarten. In kindergarten, we had this thing called DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read). There were a few problems concerning this.
In preschool, we also had DEAR. There was a basket of picture books (many of them pertaining to Bible stories, since my preschool was at a church), yet they still turned off the lights. Our classroom happened to have many big windows with open blinds, so it wasn't as much of a problem. Unlike in kindergarten, however, I didn't read during DEAR time in preschool. I could read, but it was much more fun to look at the pictures in the Zoobooks. I couldn't read the Zoobooks, but the pictures of hippos running full-throttle at people with their mouths wide open were fascinating.
Speaking of reading (I've got all day here, so this post is going to be longer than most), you know how kids learn to read by reading aloud to their parents or whoever is teaching them? I always thought that you had to read out loud. When I saw my mom sitting on the couch with a book, not saying anything, I was confused. The conversation, to my memory, went a lot like this:
Me: Mommy, what are you doing?
Mom: I'm reading.
Me: But you're not saying anything.
Mom: I'm reading inside my head.
Me: (incredulously) Oh.
Obviously, I remember learning to read and that there was a time before I could read, but I also remember looking at words, and not seeing them. There's a sign near my house that says "Terminex," and I remember a time when the sign was an orange blur. Then, somewhere in my memory, it becomes words. Is that normal, or do most kids not pay attention to words before they can read?
On a related note, I've started reading Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World for the 6th time. I've never finished it before. I'm currently at Chapter 17 or so (less than 1/4 of the way through), and this is the farthest I've ever gotten. Have I posted this before? I don't think so, but maybe. Every time I started, I liked the book and wanted to finish, but it never happened. I'm noticing that there's some similarities between it and Lord of the Rings and Eragon, but it's not really bothering me. There are 11 books in the series. I'm taking a break after this one to read some books my friend David has recommended to me (Parallel Worlds and Hyperspace, both written by the same physicist (David's favorite) whose name I can't remember because it's hard to pronounce.
I've sort of run out of things to write about now, which is probably good, since this post is pretty long and I have more Clockwork to do.
I will add one last completely unrelated thing that I'm pretty excited about: I scored a 100 on my World History exam (yay!).
If you look at the time stamp of this post, it will occur to you that I should probably be in school right now. It's a Friday that's not a holiday, and it's almost 10:30. I'm not sick, and I'm not skipping. It's exam week, and I completed and passed all of mine, so I have the day off (yes!).
Since I didn't complete the above goal for any of the days this week, I'm at my old elementary school where my mom works catching up on the chapters I need to do. She's not in her office today, so I've got full run of the computer. The only downside is that YouTube is blocked here (oh no, whatever will I do?).
I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll say it again in case I haven't: it turns out that I already have a good deal of the infrastructure needed to give the robots a more prominent role (no spoilers for those who weren't there last week). The problem was: I wasn't doing anything with it. I dropped all of these suspicious hints, but they never came to fruition. The entire plot line the title is based around never came to fruition according to the outline taped to my wall at home next to my computer. What kind of a novel is that? Not a very well planned one, that's for sure.
The good news is that I haven't had much trouble changing things around (yet). Actually, most of the changes I've had to make so far are phrasing and grammatical stuff. The plot elements that need altering haven't even come into play yet (as of the beginning of Chapter 15, which is where I'm at now). Note: my chapters tend to be short. Some are scarecely more than a page long.
The even better good news is that I've found I still really like the story itself. I like the idea, I like the characters, and I like the world. My dad is always worrying I'll get bored with an idea before I finish it. So far, he's been wrong. Out of all of the ideas I've abandoned (or put on hold until further notice), it wasn't because I was bored with it. There's always been a different reason. I plan on staying in the Capital for a while yet.
It's pretty fun being here at the school. I kind of feel like a "proper writer" with my mug of hot chocolate and half a cinnamon roll. :) I know there really isn't a definition of a "proper writer," but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. All I'm missing is a MacBookPro and coffee instead of hot chocolate.
My old principal is giving me a hard time about growing up (actually, he was the assistant principal when I was here), as well as some of the other teachers who knew me before I graduated.
Being here brings back all sorts of memories, both good and bad. I miss coming over here in the afternoons after middle school let out. I'll be coming in for the afternoon on Monday as well, to hang out with my friends who are also teacher's children like we used to do. I just hope there will be some chicken in the teacher's lounge like there was that one time...man, was that good chicken.
When you guys were in elementary school, did they talk to you about personality types? (social, artistic, investigative, and one or two other ones). I never saw that until CFNC, but the video my mom's putting into the computer right now for a teacher's National Boards exam is of a lesson about that.
Speaking of which, I'd like to talk about our way of life for a few paragraphs.
Before we start school, our parents prepare us for school by teaching us things. This is all well and good.
Once we get to preschool, it's about preparing us for kindergarten. More about kindergarten later. The latter half of elementary school is filled with emphasis on "in middle school, such and such and such. It's my job to prepare you for middle school." In middle school, from the very first month, it's about preparing for high school. Now that I'm in high school, all of the emphasis is on preparing for college or "the workforce," or whatever it is we plan on doing post-graduation. I've never been to college, of course, but I'd bet lots of money that the emphasis there is on preparing the student for Adult Life. According to commercials on TV and tips on working I've seen at school, it is considered wise to begin saving for retirement as soon as you start work. If/when one gets married and has children, it becomes about preparing the children for their lives. Where's the actual living happening? It's all about preparing for whatever comes next. What about actually doing stuff just for the sake of doing it? This seems wrong. Preparing is good, but shouldn't we have a chance to stop preparing and jump into the pool? Or, since this is a writer's blog, stop prewriting and begin with chapter 1?
Now about kindergarten. In kindergarten, we had this thing called DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read). There were a few problems concerning this.
- Many of the kids in kindergarten can't read, or can't read well
- We were asked to bring in a mat or a towel to lay down on
- They turned off the lights
In preschool, we also had DEAR. There was a basket of picture books (many of them pertaining to Bible stories, since my preschool was at a church), yet they still turned off the lights. Our classroom happened to have many big windows with open blinds, so it wasn't as much of a problem. Unlike in kindergarten, however, I didn't read during DEAR time in preschool. I could read, but it was much more fun to look at the pictures in the Zoobooks. I couldn't read the Zoobooks, but the pictures of hippos running full-throttle at people with their mouths wide open were fascinating.
Speaking of reading (I've got all day here, so this post is going to be longer than most), you know how kids learn to read by reading aloud to their parents or whoever is teaching them? I always thought that you had to read out loud. When I saw my mom sitting on the couch with a book, not saying anything, I was confused. The conversation, to my memory, went a lot like this:
Me: Mommy, what are you doing?
Mom: I'm reading.
Me: But you're not saying anything.
Mom: I'm reading inside my head.
Me: (incredulously) Oh.
Obviously, I remember learning to read and that there was a time before I could read, but I also remember looking at words, and not seeing them. There's a sign near my house that says "Terminex," and I remember a time when the sign was an orange blur. Then, somewhere in my memory, it becomes words. Is that normal, or do most kids not pay attention to words before they can read?
On a related note, I've started reading Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World for the 6th time. I've never finished it before. I'm currently at Chapter 17 or so (less than 1/4 of the way through), and this is the farthest I've ever gotten. Have I posted this before? I don't think so, but maybe. Every time I started, I liked the book and wanted to finish, but it never happened. I'm noticing that there's some similarities between it and Lord of the Rings and Eragon, but it's not really bothering me. There are 11 books in the series. I'm taking a break after this one to read some books my friend David has recommended to me (Parallel Worlds and Hyperspace, both written by the same physicist (David's favorite) whose name I can't remember because it's hard to pronounce.
I've sort of run out of things to write about now, which is probably good, since this post is pretty long and I have more Clockwork to do.
I will add one last completely unrelated thing that I'm pretty excited about: I scored a 100 on my World History exam (yay!).
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
An Epic Announcement
Earlier today, a certain Henry Green was born. He is the son of John and Sarah Green. John is the award-winning author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns, and is also a very famous video-blogger along with his brother Hank. They are both extremely freaking awesome people.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A Quote
"The Venn Diagram of guys who don't like smart girls and guys you don't want to date is a circle" - John Green
My, I really am keeping to my commitment of posting more often.
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