Futurismic has posted about the latest in the ongoing death spiral of old media journalism (by which everyone really means American journalism) which is, the idea of Arianna Huffington starting a foundation to fund proper investigative journalism. While the motive seams laudable in the abstract, I kind of fail to Read more…
Io9 had a recent blog post about Story vs. Plot, which was interesting (though I’m not sure I buy the argument it posits, but that’s another post for when I’ve had more sleep) and embedded in it is this little bit of commonly accepted wisdom I decided to take issue with:
When people talk about a “plot-driven” science fiction book or movie, they’re usually implying that the characters are as wafer-thin as the exploding mint in Monty Python’s Meaning Of Life.
Yea, the woeful canard of the Plot/Character duality, that has way more currency than it should. I don’t know where it originated, but it rightfully deserves to be stomped. If your story has paper-thin characters that just move around your authorial pinball machine bouncing from plot bumper to plot bumper, you don’t have a plot-driven story. You have a story with rotten characterization. Plot and character are not opposing poles on some creative spectrum, they are not mutually exclusive, any more than setting and narrative, or dialog and exposition, or any of the other ingredients of a full blown work of fiction. If any one of these ingredients, as written, suck, well the suck will affect the story. This applies to the cardboard action hero as much as the deeply introspective antihero in plotless literary porn.
Apparently, if you’re a Ron Paul supporter, profiling is ok. For reference, you might have heard of the Missouri state report that warned of the impending takeover of the US Government by armed Neo-Nazi Ron Paul supporters. A report they subsequently rescinded by saying, oops our bad, you weren’t supposed Read more…
Sometimes it’s so frigging blatant. One of the ugliest parts of repressive regimes of all stripes is the fact that the State gives up upon the rule of law, and begins operating by fiat. Please those in power be rewarded, displease them and be punished. According to the Washington Post, Read more…
I’ve learned a few things so far on Wolfbreed #2, a number of which relate to getting the thing done. As you can see by the rather swift progress I’ve made on the meter below. I’ve had creative spurts before, but oft-times they’re short-lived affairs that burn out after a Read more…
The government wants in your network. (Via here.) According to the Washington Post (emphasis mine): The proposals, in Senate legislation that could be introduced as early as today, would broaden the focus of the government’s cybersecurity efforts to include not only military networks but also private systems that control essentials Read more…
Just to let you all know, there’s a discussion open about Prophets on DAW’s LiveJournal site. If you’re a LJ inhabitant you might want to check it out.
This past weekend I gave my worldbuilding lecture at the Western Reserve Writer’s Conference. Most of what I covered is in the essay I have posted here. But I have updated it for the 21st Century (I removed the reference to pagers) and I added some additional introductory material. I thought I’d repost the new material here:
The term “world-building” is thrown about quite often, most often in regards to SF or Fantasy. Less often is it mentioned what is actually meant by the term. After all, all fiction takes place in some sort of world constructed by the author. Even in fictions that take place in the real world as the author happens to know it. A literary novel about a English professor has a “world” constructed only by placing words on the page. That “world” bears no more essential connection to reality than a alternate history where the zombie apocalypse happens during the Battle of Hastings.
Or, if you prefer rock & roll (NSFW): Update: If you like folk:
Tomorrow will be the day I will be talking about Worldbuilding at the Western Reserve Writer’s Conference. I’m looking forward to the first actual classroom setting I’ve done in a while. I’ve even updated my venerable Worldbuilding article to remove the anachronistic pager reference 🙂