A Couple of Things, While My Internet Works

Aigaion Girl. I'm still plodding along with edits, and I'm actually just about done, I think. I've just got finish up a couple of things, then put it all back together and see how it reads. Overall, I'm quite impressed with myself.

Also, NaNoWriMo. Who's entering? Any ideas what you're going to write about? Any idea what I'm talking about. If not, I strongly suggest you check out their website. A/G is a NaNo story, and I'm looking forward to doing another one this year, if I can figure out what to write about. It has to be something that requires almost no research, because the Internet here is so sporadic and the closest thing we have to a library is a shelf with books that got left behind in hotel rooms (actually, I nearly stole The Gargoyle from an empty room last week, but ended up thinking better of it and putting it in the lost and found). Most of them look like Crap, but I'm going to have to start reading them soon anyway, on account of having only brought Pride and Prejudice with me and having finished it the week before last.

Also, I've been crazy busy with edits, and haven't gotten around to writing my prompt story yet, though I really, really want to.

I think that's all for now, folks. I've got some other places to visit before my Internet craps out on me again.

The Gargoyle - A Review. Of Sorts

My boyfriend bought this book the other day, because it had been recommended to him by someone at work. With very little urging, he returned it the next day. Because it was awful.

Now, a true reviewer would actually read the whole book, to give as objective a review as humanly possible - or, at the very least - to get ammunition. I didn't, and neither did my boyfriend, because phrases like "unholy yoga" made our collective brains dribble out our ears. Whatever - I am not ashamed.

The premise of the book is really interesting: a horribly disfigured man living in a burn ward starts getting talked at by someone from the psych ward upstairs, who is convinced they knew each other a few hundred years ago. I gather the whole point is to figure out whether or not Burn Ward Victim is being harassed by Crazy Girl From Upstairs, or whether or not she's actually telling the truth. I don't know. I didn't get that far.

The author is in love with colourful sentences. This, by itself, is not a bad thing. Sentences should be colourful. They should bring out images in the readers' heads and those images should be vivid and real, even if what you're talking about is riding a dragon through an ancient castle, or living at the bottom of the sea, or - getting into a car crash. But not every sentence needs to be this way.

For the author of The Gargoyle, every sentence is a 'colourful' one, packed full of metaphors and similies - even when he doesn't need them. His constant over-use of descriptive imagery is too much.

Plus, it became clear in the first five pages (as far as I got before I had to put it down)...well, a car flipping through the air as it careens off a mountain road and down into a ravine does not do yoga, no matter how unholy, and even if it did, it wouldn't be screeching as it did it. Scraping the old barrel bottom before the end of the first chapter...I'd hate to see what he'd come up with later.

Now, tastes being hard to account for and all that, I'm not going to suggest that no one read it. You might just like it, which is just fine. Whatever. Personally, I prefer subtlety when it comes to...well, everything. I don't need to know every detail about what it felt like to have your toes cut off, thank you very much, nor do I need a page-long instructional paragraph about deliberately charring my flesh on a stove element so I would know what it felt like to almost die by immolation. I'll pass. But if that's your thing...then whatever.

We returned the book to its shelf, and my boyfriend got his $21 back - a win/win all around.

Argh!

So, I was mapping out bits of The Story that Rainbow Brite Spawned using bubbl.us, and all was going well. I was working my way through the main characters, creating thought maps that put me in mind of neurons, with intersecting lines and bits branching off...all in rainbow colours too, appropriately enough. It's also quite interesting to see in communicative symbols the sorts of patterns my brain works in...it's far from orderly.

Whatever. I saved my work...got off the computer for a bit...had some food...came back...

And the damn program had erased well over half of what I did, obliterating three character profiles completely and a good chunk of the fourth. And this just when I was trying to figure out how to print what I had so far!

I is not amused.

Reinforces the old lesson, though: BACK UP YOUR WORK.

I should also add that it hasn't done this to any of my other files. They all seem to be intact and without any missing bits, which is probably good...perhaps it was a one time glitch. Either way, if you use the program, I suggest printing a few copies every time you're finished. It's just safer that way.

Prompts - Rules and Prompt Number 1

Since there was a favorable reaction to the idea of prompts, I figured I should go ahead and post the first one.

The Rules...uuummmmm....

- So we know what it is when you post, the title of the post should include which prompt it was.

E.g: Snazzy Story Title - Prompt 1.

And tags/labels - each prompt should have it's own numeral (this one's prompt 1), so when you post, you should include the label/tag for the original prompt in case anyone forgets what it is. And, of course, if you post a prompt of your own, keep track of which one it is in the sequence...

- Time...take what you need. We can have some prompts that are time sensitive, but - especially because Athena's internet access is sporadic - I think the majority of them should be a 'complete as you will' sort of thing. If anyone does post one with a time limit, of course, please mention it in the post.

- As for what...write whatever you want! Poems, short stories, long stories, scripts... Like with the time limits, I won't squash anyone's inspirations. Again, if you want to have a specific limit put on your prompt, mention it when you post it.

I'm fairly certain that's all of it...rating etc. This probably won't be a problem at all, though I should mention if, for any reason, there's überly* graphic anythings, you might want to point that out lest it come as an unwanted surprise to anyone.

If you do have a rating, please include it in the title of whatever your response is.

E.g: Snazzy Story Title - PG-13 - Prompt 1

I figure sticking with the Fictionpress ratings is a good idea, since everyone here knows what they are. I hope. >:)

Other than that...here's the first prompt:



Go nuts!

* yes, I know "überly" is not a word

Here's A Thought...

How would people feel about having a series of prompts for short stories/long stories/novellas/whatever?

For instance, I (or whoever) would post a picture or a phrase or a link to a song, and whoever wants to can write something to go with it...any length, any genre, any rating, all that. And, when the stories/whatever are complete, whoever finishes first posts the next prompt...

Or we can do it another way, if you'd rather. Or not, if you rather that too.

Just a thought...

Oooo...and the prompts can be used for pre-existing stories too, if you have a WIP and are stuck on a scene. I won't limit your creativity ;)