Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

A listing of available James P. Hogan books.

Not a heck of a lot to report right now. I have three stories out right now looking for publication; one sort of dark post-apocalyptic science fiction, another very short horror story, and another very short Gothic fantasy. I really haven’t been writing a lot lately. July is always a slow month for me anyway, because I typically keep my daughter for that month, and we’re normally doing stuff.

I have been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately. Generally, I’m not that big on television shows. I’d really rather write than watch TV, but there’s something about the world and characters of Doctor Who that’s kind of captured my fascination. So I’m watching all the new episodes and a few of the older ones. I did watch a few of these when I was a kid, but I don’t have the sort of diehard fan commitment that a lot of sci-fi folks seem to have toward the good Doctor.

I saw Avatar: The Last Airbender with the kiddo the other night. It’s terrible. I just don’t see how someone could screw up the movie that bad. I mean, did he even watch the cartoon? Why didn’t he just hire the original writers to work on the script? I believe this is what working in a vacuum can do to your creativity.

I am stocked about seeing Inception though. It looks fantastic. Very exciting stuff.

So I am working on cleaning up a few of my older works to get them out there door. It’s a little slow going, but I’m ok with that. I have another old novel I was working on about seven years ago that I’ve pulled out of the folder and started rethinking. I think I can start committing more time to my writing after July. So hopefully you’ll see more work come out of me.

Publications however, are beyond my control. I’m doing my best to get more work polished and out the door, but there’s not much I can do about not getting acceptances, accept try to write better.

I’ve been in my new apartment now for almost two months. It’s wonderful having my own place. Solitude, to a certain extent, is an absolute necessity for me. My daughter now has her own room and it does seem we have more time together than we’ve had in the past, and she has more room for all her stuff.

I’ve had more time for reading and writing lately, but most of that focus has been on reading. I’ve returned to some earlier science fiction in an attempt to better understand the overall conversation. I’m mostly reading works that came out during the ‘New Wave’ movement in speculative fiction. It’s been an interesting education.

I’ve been working on revisions for some of my older works. Hopefully, I’ll have a few of those completed and ready to send around to publishers soon. This time last year I was doing a much better job of completing works and sending them out, I plan to step that up and get back to work.

One thing I have managed to really stick to has been my healthier diet and exercise routine. I’m running daily and eating healthier than ever. Most of my diet consists of raw fruit. I’ve stopped drinking everything but water. That’s right, I quit drinking beer. I might have an occasional beer for very special occasions, but it will be rare.
This healthy lifestyle has had some physical benefits. I’ve lost a little weight and feel much better.

Additionally, to all this good health and new dedication to writing and reading, I’m changing jobs. This is my final week at 1000 N. Main Street. I’ve enjoyed everyone I’ve worked with there, but it’s time for me to move on to greener fields.

So that’s the update. Not a lot to report. See you in another three months.

This is the start of a mind map I’m working on. Its purpose is to help me make sure I’ve covered all the things I feel are important to get a complete story covered. This is a little too verbose for something like a short story, but would be ideal for a shorter novel or screenplay.

It’s not finished yet. One of my goals is to build in the various relationships between one node and another. For example, how does the character’s force of antagonism interact with the character’s fatal flaw? Eventually, I should have a long list of questions to help get the ball rolling. The end goal would be to have some sort of report that resembles a story.

A large mind map showing various areas of story

This from Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut [originally found this on Mystery Man on Film's old blog]

“In many of the films now being made, there is very little cinema: they are mostly what I call ‘photographs of people talking.’ When we tell a story in cinema, we should resort to dialog only when it’s impossible to do otherwise. I always try to tell a story in the cinematic way, through a succession of shots and bits of film in between.

“It seems unfortunate, that with the arrival of sound, the motion picture, overnight, assumed a theatrical form. The mobility of the camera doesn’t alter this fact. Even though the camera may move along the sidewalk, it’s still theatre.

“One result of this is the loss of cinematic style, and another is the loss of fantasy. In writing a screenplay, it is essential to separate clearly the dialog from the visual elements and, whenever possible, to rely more on the visual than on the dialog. Whichever way you choose to stage the action, your main concern is to hold the audience’s fullest attention.

“Summing it up, one might say that the screen rectangle must be charged with emotion.”

Of Melei, of Ulthar by Gord Sellar

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The judges have made their choices and yours truly was not selected, but I’m fine with that considering the quality of the stories that did win out. So go give the top picks a read and help vote for a winner. This was a lot of fun and I hope Jay’s open to doing it again in the near future.

Go here and then click the link to the poll.

Second only the World of Warcraft for world’s greatest time eating distraction.

• Nope, didn't see 9 this weekend. For some reason, I'd rather see Cloudy w/ Chance of Meatballs. Looks like more fun. #
• Been checking out StoryTracker for iPod. Not a bad tool, but I still like Duotrope's much better. Mobile is nice, but not necessary. #
• http://tinyurl.com/lvtzkx – nerd pr0n #
• @ALeeMartinez LTP NUB! in reply to ALeeMartinez #
• I meant bling.com. I'm liking bling.com. #
• Put a story in the mail, working on editing one back from workshop, and later working on a new story-busy little bee is me. #
• I hate cancer. #

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• Good responses from critique group on my story. Now to dress it and send it out to the dance. #
• No power this morning. Still raining. This sucks. #
• Still no power at the clan dwelling and rain enough to make a Seattlite overjoyed. Looks like me and the laptop are heading out to cafe. #
• Delicate flowers of maidenhood shouldn't skip atmo at 8 gs. #
• Hanging with National Space Society of North Texas. We just watched a couple episodes of Rocket Girls anime. #
• Arrived home to discover I still have no power. I have edits and laundry to do! Ack! #
• I finally have power! #
• Almost blood time. #
• Giant egg! #
• When you came in the air went out…. #
• Your turn to make Yahtzee. #
• Squish. #
• If a tree falls in the woods, it's still a tree ain't it? #
• Squee! #
• Ah, unsquee that last squee. #
• NOOOOO! #

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