Site Report

As I'm figutively spinning my wheels on how to approach the next essay and the novel is doing its weird holding pattern (I'm writing stuff I think it needs, but there's no backing to it yet), I thought I'd add the first Index Pages I talked about in the revised Statement of Intent. They will be for Poems and Essays, as those are the two I have the most (any) of. I'm going to set the time to before this post in the hopes of avoiding confusion.

On Writing in General

On some of the message boards I've been frequenting, I've been talking about my opinions on writing. This should show the type of writer I am working towards being. As they also form some of the basis for how I judge certain entertainments, I figured it could double as a start for the previously promised standards of review.

Every writer, no matter the field, promises to divert, to inform, or to provide some combination of the two. Failure to deliver on this promise leads to an unsatisfactory reading experience. Whether or not a story, poem, or essay fails is not always up to the writer. No matter how well a piece is written, there will be some people left cold by what they've read. Worse, there will be people who'll be infuriated.

The only thing a writer can do is write the best, truest way possible. Which means make sure facts are straight, dates are right, and the last sentence written really says what it's supposed to say. Clarity is a virtue, not a sin.

The fiction writer has additional concerns. The characters should behave in a believable way. For instance, the kindly family dog shouldn't turn into a killer for no reason; there has to be a cause for the effect. The dog has gone rabid, or has been mistreat. Something like that.

On this, the story should continue on it way in an equally believable fashion. Cheats such as a deus ex machina (the gods rescuing the good guys) or a diabolus ex machina (the other team rescuing the bad guys) should be avoided like a hungry tiger searching for a little breakfast. When the story ends, whether with the protagonist in triumph or failure, the reader should be able to look back at what was read and say, "I believe that could happen."

Now, I don't believe that any of this is engraved in stone. One can be long winded and not bore and audience; one can lower the gods from on high for a last ditch rescue and not alienate the audience. It's just risky to do so. One would have to really know their stuff to get away with it, or be lucky enough to catch the reader in a good mood.

The next couple of days, I think I'm going to go into the subject of writing a little bit more. In and amidst that, I'm going to say what I think makes a good ending and a bad ending, my opinion on the nature of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and just why I call myself a Writer of the Fantastic. There is also a chance of Short Story and more bad poetry, with even more tweeking of the site and adding of pictures of dubious artistic worth.

Hopefully with a loose schedule of things to do, I'll cut back on the frothy posts and seem a little more like a man of 30+ and less like a teenager new at the whole writing gig. Not that that's a bad thing.

Entirely.

Stealth Post!

BWAHAHAHAHA! The day's just begun, and already I've made my daily quota!

Actually, I'm going to put out a larger one later. I just wanted to use that title. So silly!

I'm in good humor right now. Between this blog and some of the message boards I've been posting on, I've begun to feel like a real writer. Now if only I could write something of substance.

Keeping the Streak Alive!

I'm in sort of a blah mood right now, so I'm not sure how much writing I'm going to do. However! As this is the longest I've kept ANY JOURNAL EVER, I felt more than a little obligated to make at least a small post.

Easter came and went at my household. A good day by far. Hopefully everything came out okay for everyone else.

And with that, I'm outie. I'll try and give a bigger post later, and DEFINITELY will post again tomorrow.

Keeping my streak going!

Happy Easter

For those who celibrate the season, Happy Easter.

Iffin I can, I'll post again later today. If I can't... well, this'll have to do.

A Most Curious Advertisment - A Poem

Remember when you

last ran beneath the blue skies

feeling so alive?

Remember the sun

whose warm fingers caressed all

with the kindest love?

Remember when the

future promised joy and awe

hope and excitement?

Do you wish to have

those days again and spend them

as you wish you had?

Do you wish to live

the way you thought you would live

when you were still young?

We can give you this

If it is what you desire

We can give you this

Memcall 1-Arthur-7363-6237
That's 1 - Arthur - Remember

---

You'd think I was trying to be a poet, what with all the poems I'm posting. I found this one on one of my files and thought it worth sharing. I think it's an ad placed somewhere on another world, or in the future someplace. Is Arthur the name of the person providing the service or the place the service is located at? What will the cost be, and will what was promised truly be delivered? And will you want it once you had it?

I can't tell you. Except that, if I had access to something that provides a memcall (whatever that is), I'd be very careful. Very careful indeed.

Prologue - The First Word Count

Now here we go. Just finished the Prologue, and it's a keeper. Feels good. Feels right.

The word count is now at 229.

That looks pretty bad for a full day's work, but I also wrote several other scenes while I did that. Some won't go into this novel, or perhaps even the next. Those that will won't count until I weave them in with the rest. (However, just as a kick, I have counted them: their total is 235, making a grand total of 464. Way below average for me.)

I'm not going to stop just yet, in the hopes of keeping things going, but I thought I'd note it here. 'Cause the last [Novel] entry was just too depressing...

Getting a Word in Edgewise

I'm making this post now in case I get too busy with the rest of the day. (Fat chance that; I've found ways of squeaking in a post or two before on message boards; I can keep this blog up...) Right now things are progressing on the novel. Not great stuff, but, if things work out, enough to warrant some crowing.

I have put up a link to my other brother's Live Journal,
Broken. He is eleven years my junior and he tends to be a bit... crass. Readers beware.

Nothing else springs to mind. Except that this is the longest I've kept a journal of any sort up to date. Yay me!

General Comments

No Novel post today because I spent yesterday spinning my wheels. The rambling MegaMan post (as eh as it might be), the haiku, and my usual ravings on message boards were as close to actual work as I got. Still, I'm writing every day and that's what counts.

My brother, Eric, has been inspired to Blog as well, the copy cat. His blog is
ßlü Brutal, and it looks like he might be better than me at it. Figures. I have a link at the side for it, and now I'll have to do the same for my other brother's Blog. Which I can't guarentee is as clean or as rational as Eric's or mine.

The next really big post should be own my standards for review. I've been dwelling on it, but as it should be a wee bit long, I've been putting it off. The hopes of actual writing on the novel spring eternal.

A Dream Haiku

When we dream of real places

Do we really dream

Or do we haunt the places

[I did warn you all about the bad poetry, right?]

Cheap Animation

On a slightly less... Humiliating note, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled across "MegaMan: NT Warrior", one of the wide variety of Pokémon clones littering animé of late. As I was and still am a fan of MegaMan (though I know nothing of the game the show is based on) I hung out and watched a little bit.

(Small bit of honesty here: I've seen exactly one episode before this one. It's okay, but really, if you're into animé and not in your preteens, you can find better out there.)

Digression passed, I'm watching MegaMan fighting what looks like BubbleMan in a computer environment. BubbleMan looks as he always looks; white bubble body with a strange mask over his face. MegaMan looks... Well, he doesn't look like the MegaMan of my youth. Instead of the sort of squat little fella we have a more lithe figure. Different game, different version of the character (Though as I write this, I seem to remember him moving in that direction by the time MegaMan 8 was released... Never mind.)

I notice, however, during the fight, that MegaMan is also wearing a mask, something he never did Back in the Day. I thought it strange at the time, but hey, I came into this mid way. It probably made sense to those watching the episode.

MegaMan unleashes an attack on BubbleMan, which sends the villain flying. The scene then cuts to BubbleMan slamming down in the foreground, while MegaMan descends in an ever so cool manner in the back ground. And I notice as he does so that he has no mask. Next scene the mask is back in place.

Now, I'm not going to slam the show because of that. I doubt than many of its intended viewing audience noticed, and I'm sure the few that did didn't care. It just struck me a little sad, is all. All these years, and still the same level of sloppiness in animation exists.

It's probably very stupid of me to think that. After all, MegaMan: NT Warrior is just a cash in for the game. It's just that I think kids deserve better than that, some how.

But, then again, perhaps it really doesn't matter. As a (admittedly) very young lad, I never noticed all the screw ups in Scooby Doo back in the days I was watching it. How the plots and escapes the Gang and their foes used really didn't make much sense. It was just fun. I'd hate to think becoming an adult means losing the ability to just accept and move on.

Of course, it could also mean I've gotten a bit of taste. Who knows?

Public Humiliation

As public humiliation only works as a motivator if I public humiliate myself, I have to actually confess my sins. This is not to say I didn't work at all yesterday; I did. Pretty good stuff, too.

I just shut the word processor down without saving it.

Thus it doesn't count.

So the official word count since starting this blog is: ZERO

I'm just going to go into the back and smack myself around for a little bit. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Finnegan Begin Again

Today I begin my bijillionth attempt at the novel.

HURRAY!

I will begin this attempt at the beginning and hope to move through the middle portion and reach the end. Which isn't as obvious a course as one might think.

To be fully honest (and why not?) I've already got portions of the novel completed. It's going to come down to working the stuff in and making everything a seamless whole.

And what is the novel about, pray? Well, I'm not going to go into that with this entry, as it is subject to revision, but right now its a mesh of Pinnochio, Doctor Who, one of Bing Crosby/Bob Hope's "Road to" pictures, a dash of Adams or Pratchett (depending on the point of view) and a smattering of Tolkien, mixed with various fantasy stories and myths I've read over the past something something years I've been alive.

The trick will be taking these elements and moving them as far as possible from the source, so that the knowledgeable reader doesn't go, "Here Cullen is cribbing from 'Evil of the Daleks', and most obviously, I must say."

Not that I'm going to use anything from 'Evil of the Daleks.'

Not that that's a bad idea...

Any who, to make a long post longer, I intend to post brief updates every day. A note to show how many words I've finished, and a thought for me to consider as I write. It might be interesting for the casual reader to see how one author manages his novel.

Assuming, of course, someone other than me ever reads this thing...

Harping on matters? Why yes I am. But it'll pitter away eventually. Trust me.

Notation, Divination, Explanation

Another thing readers will notice (assuming, of course, there ever are readers) is that the hours are in flux. My sleeping habits are bizarre and I tend to post at odd hours.

Not that that'll change the quality of the posts.

Sad but true.

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

At one point I considered adding a Dream Journal to this thing. Relaying my dreams. Because, like oh so many people, I feel my dreams are special and important.

And better than yours.

Obviously.

Arrogant asides aside, I didn't remember to note it in the Statement of Intent and, frankly, I don't wanna go back in there and add it. So, assuming anyone is out there reading this, you're getting by lucky. And you'll never know just how lucky...

However, I am going to talk a little bit about dreams here. General, unsubstantiated stuff as well as a wee bit personal. Y'know, something to guarantee a post today.

From the start of history, dreams have been regarded as something special. Messages from the Gods, that sort of thing. As we advance into what we laughingly call civilization, our understanding of dreams changed until we believed (and, more likely than not still believe) that they were the voice of the subconscious, wanting our attention on something.

For the most part, this is true. However, not all dreams have meaning. Or, at least, I hope not.

Since I was about fourteen, I've had... Well, it's not a recurring nightmare. Rather, a recurring source of nightmares. There is this creature, a bogeyman, who returns every now and then to torment me. Sometimes what he does is relatively benign, sometimes it isn't.

You know the old saw: "If you die in your dreams, you die in real life?" It's not true. Take it from one who knows.

I don't know what I did initially to draw his attention to me. (No, no. I don't mean that at all. He's a figment of my imagination. I know this.) But I do know why he lingers.

I had a writing assignment in eighth grade English. Short story. And, lacking any better ideas, I wrote about a dream I had once. Not exactly the same, mind you, because the specifics of the dream were as dull as the dream was powerful. Something was coming to get me and I had to wake up. I threw myself from my bed, hoping the fall would wake me. Only the thing that was after me was waiting under the bed...

Nothing to it.

I gave the bogeyman an name, Harv, gave the teacher my story (complete and on time for once), and forgot about it.

That short story was one of the few A's I got that year. My teacher even read it aloud and I got complements on it. (Not to my class, thank God, but I've often wondered why not, or if I missed it some how...) Ever since I've wanted to be a writer.

And I owe it all to Harv.

I think that offended him. For ever since, he's visited me, seeking to do harm.

There I go again, giving him a reality he simply does not have. He's an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a little bit of dickens inside my head. A little switch inside my mind flips to "Harv" every now and then and nothing more. I know this as well as you do.

And yet, in dreams I believe it all. In dreams he is real. He is real and he is malign as anything can be.

Like I said, dreams are powerful things.

Profile

I have just finished the profile, and no, I won't be telling you ever little thing I do. How dull do you think I am?

Though the thought has crossed my mind.

A lot.

Something to fill... the emptiness that is my life...

Stupidity aside, I went and did my profile. I don't expect to do that again any time soon. Well, maybe to add a photo or something. I guess. I dunno.

Maybe I'll explore the wonders that is my blog page.

I will tell you this, though. That random question they gave me threw me for a loop. "When you open your eyes underwater, do you ever worry that you'll drown?" I mean, what kind of question is that.

Cracks me up, it does.

The Obligatory First Post

I have literally no idea what I'm going to say here. What do I need a blog for, anyway? What can I offer that millions can't?

The only possible use I can think of for this thing is improving my writing, and I have NO intention of publishing fiction here. Essays maybe? The occasional review? Pretentiousness all the time, every time!

That's me.

Maybe this will go with all the other blogs, started then discarded, forgotten amidst the wasteland that is the Internet.

Whatever. Who cares.

Here's to hoping that something fun develops.

Any one out there?