Random Update

I feel as though I’ve falled on a case of writer’s block. Having writer’s block is like having a nervous breakdown for me. I don’t know what to do with my time. I just sit around looking clueless and doing nothing. 

I finally started a DeviantArt account. I’ve always kept tons of images on file for reference, so I decided it wouldn’t hurt to make an account and keep some more on file there. Besides that, there are so many good artists on DA, it’s ridiculous. I know that there are places to upload texts, like poems and such, so I figured I could start putting some scripts on there and try to use those to make connections. [I tried posting one on here and it got so screwed up by the posting mechanism that I said fuck it. Next time I'm just going to do it all in HTML myself and upload it as-is.]

I’m in need of decent conversation. I really need someone knew to kick ideas off of. I guess that’s just kinda how it goes.

Linguistics, Revisited

After writing my  post on the use of language, I had the privilage of sitting down and watching The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid Part II all the way through for the first time. I know– wow, right? But that’s not the point.

The point is, The Karate Kid Part II was awful with their use of language. I know it may not seem like it, but it was pretty bad when you think about it. To make it worse, I watched The Last Samurai before The Karate Kid, and The Karate Kid before its sequel.

In The Last Samurai, English was spoken in Japan primarily between Katsumoto and Nathan Algren. Few others in Katsumoto’s village spoke English, so the rest of the dialogue among the samurai village spoke Japanese. It was a rather realistic depiction, if I do say so myself. On the other hand, you have The Karate Kid 2, in which most of the people in Okinawa spoke English for no apparent reason. On top of that, the dialogue between Mr. Miyagi and Sato, which is usually based around Sato’s cultural honor grudge, is in English. The dialogue between Mr. Miyagi and Yukie– also in English. 

Now, I enjoyed all three movies very well. In fact, you almost have to overlook the bad dialogue in Part II on account of it being an 80s  movie. But, what you do have is two very good examples of how and how not to use language in similar situations. If you wanna do it right, do it like The Last Samurai. If you don’t really care, Part II style is for you.

A Thought on Linguistics

You know, I’ve watched Stargate SG-1 for quite a long time now. I didn’t catch it when it was on Showtime, but back when it was on Scifi Fridays with Farscape and Lexx… Them were the good ol’ days.

Now, I have a bit of a problem with Stargate SG-1, and it stems from the use of language. I’m not talking about the technical terms; I’m talking about the fact that the Goa’uld and even the fucking Ori speak English. Everywhere they go, in fact, English might as well be the main language. The Asgard, the Nix, the Furlings, the Tok’ra, even the Wraith on Atlantis speak English. The only race I can recall off the top of my head to not speak English is the green-skinned race with three digits that used to be the Goa’uld hosts.

I understand that it’s hard to do a show with a bunch of subtitles, I know this. But if there a national language barriers on Earth, then for the sake of realism, there should be intergalactic language barriers in science fiction. To top it off, the show doesn’t even introduce language barriers in the show and find their way around them; the audience is just left to believe that the rest of the universe speaks English.

On the fantasy side, though, the linguist JRR Tolkein actually created his languages prior to making his elves and stuff like that. His languages entirely predated his story, and were the basis of his creations. He said something to the effect of, “When you create the languages, the cultures make themselves.” 

I’m not saying that everytime you create something, you have to create a language. It does add something in the way of realism without a doubt, but I would suppose that badly-constructed languages would take away from a story much more than it does to have the whole universe speak English.

Form a Band

Warren Ellis via Bad Signal, “Building the Imperfect Beast,” 08-12-2008

Okay, I’m pretty sure I did do this last year, but I
think it’s reconfigured in my head since then. So.

What you need is one writer and three artists.
Essentially, you decide to Form A Band.

And you decide up front that all the money from
the anthology comic is divided 4 ways equally.
This is for simplicity’s sake — people argue this
point with me all the time, but I have had
publishers say to my face that they avoid
anthologies, especially creator-owned ones,
because THE SUMS ARE TOO HARD. Keep
it simple. 25% for everybody.

What you’re going to do, you see, is one writer
writing three serials for three artists.

You’re doing a two-dollar book. That’s FELL format.
A 24pp unit, all on the same paperstock, including
covers. “Guts” of 20pp, with the “cover”, constituting
4pp, wrapped around it, yes?

Three 6pp episodes is 18 pages. Your cover and
inside front cover for indicia etc are 2pp. So that
leaves you 4pp, including the back cover, to play
with. Use them to interleave the serials, use them
as backmatter, let the artists take turns doing
full-page pieces, whatever.

The cover art is a rotating job between the three
artists.

Collect it every six months as a 128pp book (therefore
still splitting everything four ways) or collect each
serial on its own as best fitting (each book therefore
splitting 50/50). (As is blatantly obvious, but people
like to ask these questions instead of thinking for
themselves.)

Go and do it. I need something to read.

Form a band, boys and girls. Form a band.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ellis is nigh a genius. And I know that some people would read this be like, “Well, it’s certainly easy for him to tell others to go make comics.” The fact is, if you have a story, an artist, a scanner, and a little dough and you can make your own comics.

ComixPress is a website that allows indie comic teams, or individuals if you’re that talented, to have their comics made. Not only can you choose the size and format, but ComixPress also allows you to place ads in the comics to make them cheaper for you, and will put them in their store to help you sell them. Beyond that, they aren’t incredibly expensive anyways. Pimp shit, really.

TV and Text Messaging

Just a random thought I had, and I’m not entirely sure how it came about.

You know how television has been marketing with text messages and whatnot? Like, you send them a message and they’ll tell you when the next new episode of your favorite show comes on– stuff like that.

I’m going to use Heroes as an example, because I love the show and can’t wait for the next season.

I think it would be cool if, during some crazy plotline, Claire was to send a text message. Now, in the show, the text message generally wouldn’t be shown– but since you’re an uber-nerd and you signed sent them a text message– a synchronized copy of the text message was sent to your phone. Depending on what it said, you may or may not know who it was to, but there would be an added bit of interactivity because you have some insight on what Claire was thinking and needed someone else to know at that moment.

Looking…

I’m currently looking for other writers and artists who are interested in working on comic projects. I’m not expecting to make it big or anything like that, but I think the time has come for me to start trying to get out there. If anyone’s interested, shoot me an e-mail: orionx103@yahoo.com .

For the Love of God, Why Elves?

I’ve made this case on another forum, but I believe it bears repeating: I’m sick to fucking death of Elves. I hate the fact that all new fantasy writers want to write about are mythic tales with the good ol’ EGOD formula [Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Dwarves]. It’s tired, it’s done, let it fucking die.

You know, when Tolkien did Elves and Dwarves and shit, he gave them culture. He gave them a unique spin that set him apart from others. Then, D&D included Tolkien’s races, to the point of being sued over it. And ever since, movies, TV, video games, and literature have sapped and sucked the uniqueness of the elf out of it.

Let me put it this way: If every alien race on TV or in movies was Klingon, everyone would be pissed. Nobody wants all the aliens to look alike, which is why scifi writers generally diversify their species [even if they're not scientifically credible, like all aliens being humanoid and speaking English]. But no, fantasy writers don’t. Most of us newbies don’t see that. We see a pre-set pattern, which means we do less work.

Part of the problem I have with this is the fact that those elves, which are constantly used and re-used in fantasy works, are a form of elves that were, at one time, unique to Tolkien. Although based on mythical elves, his elves are not the same. That goes for the dwarves and such as well. He created a pattern that is being copied blindly. Agh, the aggravation.

You know what, if you want to use elves, at least make them different. No one has really done elves the way they originally were. Put some crazy-ass spin on them that makes them unique to you as a writer. Don’t have tall, blonde, pointy-eared archers. It’s been done.

Writing Prompt 1

“Here is a very different kind of writing prompt. Imagine that you could step into the mind of any writer, living or dead, and experience firsthand the world(s) that he or she created, as though it were real. Who would the writer be and into what world would you step?”

[Give credit where credit's due, kids: Link.]

You know, I’ve never given thought to this before, and I really like the question. I think I’d like to be in Stephen King’s head, right around the time he wrote The Gunslinger. He wrote in the 70s, when he was still on drugs, and that’d be how I would want to experience it.

This is partially because I love a kind of love for drugs, and this is probably a bad thing. I love to get fucked up and write; I don’t particularly know why. Stephen King said that drugs aren’t a true source of inspiration– which is traitorous– and I disagree.

At any rate, I would love to be able to imagine Mid-World as he did when he wrote The Gunslinger. How hard it must be to go through an entire book without naming the character! The storyline is great and imaginative and vivid, so I can only imagine the things he saw when he first visioned it.

Again, the Importance of the Notebook

Oh, the Almighty Notebook.

It’s been many a year since I started writing down random shit into a book that I carried with me everywhere. I’ve learned that this is, essentially, the writer’s greatest tool. Any spare time becomes the time you practice your skill and write your ideas down on paper. Oh, it’s just a wonderful thing.

I’ve never understood why I get excited when I buy a new notebook and a pack of pens. I usually go for a big notebook, because anything smaller than a five subject simply won’t last me long enough. It’s just a good feeling, like finding a fresh new field to play in. That’s how I’ve always thought of it.

At any rate, all writers need a notebook, regardless of what you put in it. A lot of the time, my notebook would be a research pad, a diary, and an idea journal at the same time. Almost anything you experience can be a entry into the notebook. I used to write about my day just so I would get that extra practice.

I’m fully aware some people are capable of carrying around a laptop in lieu of a notebook, but that just doesn’t work for me. I, not having much computer-based art talent, sometimes need to do a sketch of something in the notebook to help clarify myself. [That is, even though my non-computer-based art skill isn't much better.] Besides that, my pen might run out of ink, but the battery on my notebook isn’t going to die. Low-tech can be convenient, too.

Now, you’ve got a notebook but you don’t know what to do. Well, you write, and write often. Anything that comes into your brain that interests you is worth writing down. When you write, take care to use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. [Personally, there are times when I'm just making a list, and it doesn't matter so much then, but when you practice good grammar, it becomes more natural.] Flesh out your ideas as much as possible. The more details you put into your writings now, the more you’ll have later when you need them. Don’t be afraid to include divergent details, like if you have two different ideas about how a story should turn out or something.

-Jaron

Ideation

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.
-Neil Gaiman

I think this is a funny quote, but only because of how damn true it is. I can’t tell you how many good ideas (meaning simply ideas I like) have came while lifeguarding, or doodling in class, or not paying attention in class, or not paying attention when I was forced to go to church, or when I’m trying to sleep, and so on. I think I’ve come a little closer to figuring out why I’m that way.

Imagine your brain is a box, and everything you read, watch, or hear is a super-bouncy ball in that box. Every time you read a book/comic/article, watch a show/movie/documentary, or hear a song/lecture. you throw another ball in the box. Anytime the balls collide with each other, you get an idea. Thus, the more balls you throw in, the more collisions there will be, the more ideas you get. Not exactly a perfect analogy, but pretty damn close.

The reason why I always have ideas is because I’m constantly throwing balls in the ol’ box. That isn’t to say that I’ve got all the right balls going in, but I think it’s good anyways.

Someone once asked me if I read a lot, to which I replied “no.” Thinking about it later, I realized I lied. I answered “no” because I don’t read too many books, but I didn’t consider all the reading I do online. For some reason, I have a tendency to read article after article on various wikis*. Between those, forums, other websites, and downloaded RPG supplements, I actually read quite a bit.

*[Now, I know wikis can be easily manipulated and give wrong information, I know this. But, when you want to jump between articles about Scarlet Witch to evolution to light sabers to Susano-Oh to Africanized bees to ironbore beetles, Wikipedia is the way to go. I also enjoy media wikis, such as D&D, World of Warcraft, Marvel Comics, and so on.]

I have a tendency to look for things (be they comics, movies, whatever) that I think are going to inspire me in new ways. I like to broaden my horizons in both artistic and intellectual ways. Part of the reason why I have a lot of ideas is because I look for things to give me new ideas. I guess that just kinda makes sense.

I got into Greek mythology when I was real young, prior to my sixth grade year. I moved to a better school prior to my sixth grade year and would spend my free time in the library. There, I found books about mythology and went head-first. I liked mythology so much that I wanted to re-write the myths and re-write them as my own. It was at this time that I got serious about writing started carrying an extra notebook with me for just that.

This came around the same time I started to get into after-school anime and things like that, so I started would write down all my made-up Saiyans and Pokemon in the same notebook as my mythology research and my own ideas for myts. As my tastes changed, so did my notebooks. In my high school years, I started making different notebooks for different reasons: one for mythology, one for an idea journal, and so on. These progressed into binders filled with my writings and ideas for superhero comics and video games, along with all the “good” ideas from earlier.

After about eight years of constant writing, I’m left with a collection of notebooks filled with research and ideas. It’s gotten to the point where, the source of my ideas aren’t just the movies and television I watch or the articles, comics, and books I read, but the various ideas I’ve received from them over several years.

I guess the moral of the story is: Find one inspires you, write as much as you can about it, and your keep your writings, even if you think they’re dumb, because they’ll come in handy later.