Saturday, May 21, 2011

The cars gliding. Engine fell out


Just finished On Writing by Stephen King along with a bottle of barley wine just to help with the pain from drilling so many plaques into my brain. No more adverbs or beer. Thats ridiculously impossible. Ha! But the book was good. Gave me a good insight into what I'm doing, why along with a number of tools and things to look for. I of your a writer l, get it. Even if you don't like his work I recommend you check it out. Since it's been out a while I take it I'm the last to check it out so...anyway that's my take on it. I've been reading classics up till a couple months ago.
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Eating words

I recently posted a blog about how annoyed I was at the use of vampires as the protagonist in novels. I felt they had been over killed and all shared the same tropes. A day after I posted that I read Vampire Empire book one the Greyfriar and finished it in three days. Damn I feel stupid. This isn't young adult nor is it Ann rice; it's a steam punk action story with political conquest at its heart set in an awesomely horrible world where vampires have taken over the upper half of the world. Human societies exist in warm climates because heat makes vampires weak in this book. It doesn't break the mold as far as doing something completely different but it does put our blood sucking friends in a new area with all the awesomeness of a good steam punk book.
So yeah, I'm chewing on words and eagerly awaiting the second in this series. I think as a guy I'm sick of seeing vampires portrayed as a romantic. I read Dracula. That mother fucker seduced women so he could drain them, not so he could turn them and live thousands of years with their soul mate. It's counterintuitive for a vampire to be seeking a life long mate. I could go on but I won't. Vampires in war: good. Vampires in high school: bad. Simple as that.


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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Source code review & jake torn in half

I'm drinking summer honey wheat by blue moon. Cigarettes and tequila drown out the craftiness of the beer but kudos to blue moon for the effort. I don't think I'll ever put an orange in my beer but that's more from pure laziness. As to the movie, it's good. Parallel universe theory? Don't know it but it's a good time and the director is a pro.


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Coagulated blood yesterday

I have nothing against twilight but I don't like it because of the poor writing , the bland characters, the fact the whole thing read like a diary but mostly, that she warranted an army of writers to write their own cheesy teenage vampire story. They're mostly successful too which bugs me more. What I don't like about all of this is the lack of true creativity. Why have people fixated on only Dracula? What's to stop someone from writing the next good monster book that's a literary work as well? No profit? Doubt it. Monsters in books are thrown in as candy or fanfare just to kick the plot up a bit or give it a cooler cover.
That being said the real reason for this post is to say one thing. The overuse of vampires as, not only that strange secret about the new boy which everyone sees coming now, but as lead characters has destroyed their value as a lead character. They should be secondary characters in the background now. Or, perhaps; back to being the antagonist. Are vampires strong enough to bear the burden of a narrative? Yes and they probably always will be able to. But the way they've been used recently, especially making them as these vegan good guys, is getting old. Did I put a vampire in my book? Yes but he was in it for five pages, had steam powered organs and simply moved the plot forward. But hey it'll look good on the cover.


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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Peas please! You jacka**

Podcasts are awesome for writers and everyone else but I don't care about them. No I'm focusing on writing podcasts in particular. I probably haven't heard all of them but I've heard a good portion of a lot of them to know the flavors. Here are some of them in no particular order.
1. Writing excuses. (hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor and a ton of co hosts)
This one is all about the nuts and bolts of writing as long as the comedic styling of Dan and Howard. My only complaint against this one is that its only 15 mins. That's their tagline but still I could listen to them discuss for an hour. By far my favorite.
2. I should be writing ( Murr Lafferty: sorry if I misspelled the last name)
This one is more for your emotional support as you witness Murr's own struggles as a writer. It's comedic and does provide a nice boost every once in a while. Some say the host is a downer but that's definitely relatable in the life of a writer.
3. Adventures in sci-fi publishing ( Shaun Farrell)
I was at first adverse to this one thinking I was only about science fiction but it's more genre then anything. The host is professional and gets interviews all the time. Plus it's usually around 45 mins so it takes a good chunk of the work day when surf the backlist.
4. The writing show ( Paula B)
This one is the barest of podcasts with no music or humor but it's educational. The host goes over a wide array of subjects, talks to authors and gets good content. The show has changed recently to the host going over the slush pile which is good but there are still a lot o interesting shows in the backlist.
5. Wordplay ( K M Weiland)
This podcast is so short it's almost not worth mentioning. It's a good spring board for the writer and she does offer content but it's recycled from others. That and the average episode is around 6 mins.

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