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According to you guys, I'm still Trapped in Reykjavik chasing ninjas... Jerialy, JFK is a relatively nice airport; if you were stuck in LaGuardia I'd feel sorry for you.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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It occurred to me that our "Quest" really needed an antagonist... I've chosen our beloved mikemunsil for this honor. I hope that's all right, Master Munsil.
[This message has been edited by HSO (edited March 21, 2005).]
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Oh well, too bad for him -- after all he is a card carrying RPO.
quote:Ditto on the HSO critiques, and might I add that if you ever need to be offended, HSO's your guy! Just take offense to anything he says, no need for rhyme nor reason. There is even a professional registration now for HSO ofendees, of which I am the proud holder of Registered Professional Offendee License #1.
Now, I'm sure that soemthing HSO said on this topic offended me, but you know what? I don't even have to know what it is to be offended by it!
All kidding aside *smirk* HSO gives as good as he gets. ~ MikeMunsil
He should know what he's getting into if he turns his back for too long. Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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It would now appear that Master Munsil's role as evildoer has been handily usurped by Christine.
Perhaps the two will meet in battle at some point, fighting over who can prevent the heroine from reaching her goal? Such a thing might be very cool indeed.
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If it is, we're in the same boat, cause I did the same thing. But I figured that I'm the one who asked to do another story--shouldn't I get at least a cameo?
Posts: 437 | Registered: Feb 2005
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I got to be evil in the last one. I'm content to sit this one out completely. Being an evil antagonist twice in a row wouldn't be fair, and might be too much like a cheesy sequel to a bad horror movie. And suddenly being good in the new one would feel wholly inappropriate because I was evil last time. I'm happy to sit back, lick my wounds, and watch the action unfold without me as I dream up a plot to thwart our heroine in the next installment a few months from now.
Anyway, the Quest is all messed up for some reason, and I have to scroll horizontally to read it. Can something be done about this? I'm losing patience scrolling back and forth, and it's well known that I have little to begin with.
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Thanks... I had no idea why it was happening. Maybe it was your evil alter ego that did it and not the cat?
Still.... Blasted cats on keyboards! I was doing a crit a few days ago, and Shadow, our despotic black and white female, kept leaping on the keyboard to get my attention. I believe I got most of the "jsdkjfko;j9fkdjfk 2020200kdjkdjfk" out of the crit, but if I didn't, I'm sure the author will think I'm absolutely crazy -- or crazier, depending on who it was...
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There are some who would argue that cats are better than children. When the argument comes to disk drives and toast (not with butter and marmite, or butter and jam, I hope -- that would be bad), cats usually win. Posts: 1520 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Thanks, Dakota. Oh, well... maybe that HSO will turn out to be my nicer alter ego -- a clone perhaps.
I had to laugh when you gave me strong hands because I never really think of them that way.
They are strong because I play piano and guitar for several hours each day (I've been accused of having the "grip of death"). Yet I also have long, slender fingers which makes my hands look... how shall I put this... not-so-masculine, I suppose. Ideal for playing instruments, though, and typing. However...
...with the exception of the middle knuckle on each finger, every joint is double-jointed. This is not the advantage that it might at first seem, it is actually a hindrance, especially for guitar. But it does make for fun party tricks.
(Pointless note: My toes are double-jointed, too. Nearly impossible to break a toe when they can bend back a fair distance.)
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Sorry I have been off the boards for a while. I took an hiatis to actually work on my day job (i.e. do report cards, hold parent teacher conferences, and take a week to recover. Whyew!) Anyway, here I am, just tuning in. I must say I feel the need for an EveryReady Wit Sharpener on my HUB. Otherwise, I have not a chance of keeping up with this crowd. Hmm. I wonder if Saturday Night Life is looking for writers.... There are more than a few on this board who could really run with that!
Posts: 142 | Registered: Jan 2005
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two weeks, rocklover. Two very lovely, sun-drenched, warm weather weeks. Ah, the memories.
Sorry, Dakota, for giving you too much information. At least I didn't tell the story of when I learned my fingers were double-jointed... that, while funny to me, would probably have been far too much.
Mine came with Limited Edition Simplification Scissors. "Limited" is right. Mine have already gone dull, and I've been searching for a good scissor-sharpener.
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I've moved a copy of this topic over to the FAQs area, but I'm leaving this one here so people can find it a bit more easily.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I am looking for my belt. It has gone unused for far too long. Perhaps we should send Mary on another Mission? After all, SOMEONE has to restock the supply of Handwavium Pellets...
Why not take the old Penmanship out and cruise the Coast for markers? We can pick Mary up, on the way. And who knows which of the old gang might come out of the woodwork?
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If you are looking for Mary Robinette, she's a good personal friend of author Ken Scholes ("Lamentation" and "Canticle"). His blog: http://kenscholes.livejournal.com/ He mentions her and Aliette quite frequently, as they both proofread his novels. (I now own a galley copy of "Canticle" that is autographed.) Maybe we could send him a desperate plea to pass along to her. I've met the fellow and he is quite a nice guy. I'm sure he would take pity on us.
Posts: 2026 | Registered: Mar 2005
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After Hatrack Utility Belt discussion's long hiatus, a proposed new utensil: the Flip-Flopper 1000.
Many struggling narratives' more interesting and entertaining and engaging agonists are the opposition agonists. Flip-flop the viewpoint from the noble, heroic, less-complicated central agonist to the villian, the nemesis, the "antagonist's" more complicated viewpoint. If the opposition is flat and static, though, a flip-flop reveals that development shortfall.
Try out how the opposition perceives the "hero." The hero might just become more interesting from that viewpoint. Perhaps a villian is aware of natural, behavioral, and personality faults and frailties and shortfalls the hero is not. Certainly not!?
Further, perhaps the villian of the piece is the best practice viewpoint agonist anyway; maybe the villian is the agonist with the narrative's more relevant and dynamic complication. A villain certainly has a stronger moral crisis struggle than a presupposed hero, and more subject to drama's necessary struggle and consequent change requirements. Maybe the villain becomes a hero along the way. In any case, a flip-flop offers insight into how a forefront viewpoint agonist may become fully rounded and dynamic, not one-dimensionally flat or static as is often the case.
Flip-flop again back to the hero of the piece. Now the character is alive, larger than life and appealingly human for all her, his, or its forgiveable personality flaws, dramatic, complicated, and, most of all, appealing. At least from the human moral crisis struggle and satisfaction that delivers a really satisfying narrative.
Flip-flop again and again. Flip-flop one thousand times. Try different viewpoints: trial and error. Maybe an auxiliary character at the edges of the action is a best practice observer -- an objective, as in camera lens -- observer, not per se objective as in non-biased. Such a character as viewpoint agonist must be transformed by the complication satisfaction action, as well, necessarily or probably, as the contestants -- the agonists in contention.
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And that, extrinsic, is the exact advice I've given a writer whose MS I recently edited. The character with the greatest challenge and growth was the antagonist and, through him, his chief minion.
Quite frankly I had to get him to think beyond a one-dimensional bad guy and create a complex character for his heroine to battle. If the antagonist isn't greater in power and resources than the protagonist where is the struggle, how does the protagonist grow, learn, and show their larger than life character? How can you make the reader wish to be your hero?
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extrinsic- Makes me think of that gun from the Hitchiker's Guide movie (don't think it's in the books) that allows others to see things from your perspective. Man I wish I had that thing...
Posts: 80 | Registered: Sep 2014
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Isn't that "gun" in the real world labeled prose writing? How about a "gun" that allows writers to perceive from readers' perspectives? Now that I wish I owned and mastered.
Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008
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That is one area of writing sadly ignored by most writers. Just what do readers crave? We all know it in an abstract sense, but do we think about it when we write?
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As an English teacher once said, "Reading is like taking a harsh tonic. You'll take it and you'll like it, or else!"
Posts: 195 | Registered: Jan 2011
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I didn't encounter English teachers who were dispassionate about reading and who promoted reading as a mandated chore until eighth grade. By then, my reading delights had become irrepressible passions. Thank Providence. Such teachers should seek different career paths.
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The Hatrack treehouse just now morphed a gift shop counter where writers may order a personalized, framed Make a Scene permission certificate for their HUB's. Note, 65 columns and 13 rows, exactly thirteen lines' Standard Manuscript Format.
Get emotionally carried away on the page. Make a scene.
code:
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷<0>÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ By the power invested in [Writer Name] by the Muse, ÷ ÷ Permission is hereby granted for ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ [Writer Name] ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ To Make a Scene on the page. ÷ ÷ ÷ ÷ Hatrack River Writers Workshop ÷ ÷ Rights reserved ÷ ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
All-in-one linear wire scanner, plait printer, fax transmitter, wifi modem, smart phone, editor app, mind-transceiver, the size of an Ivory soap bar, made of pewter-riveted brass, powered by Thought. The 7.0 reads and spools a draft's linear-word dross wire monofilament, reorganizes extant content, flags missed and overwrought content, scrubs grammar, amplifies tone, and spews forth an emerald-encrusted gold-braided multifilament ribbon of suggestions amenable to revision considerations.
Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008
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