Ass-Kicking

          Both ways really... I've been getting my ass-kicked by this last chapter and then did a little ass-kicking myself. What happened you may ask?

         Part of my novel involves the main characters finding a boat in a hidden grotto. The original chapter where they find it was useless, it required an entire rewrite. Halfway through the rewrite, I discovered that part of my research was incomplete... vastly incomplete, actually.

         One of my characters worked on the docks in his homeland and worked on a ship... he should know the types of ships and nautical words. The main character grew up in a town that had a dock and her family did high-end trade, so she's heard most of the words, even if she doesn't use them herself. I know none... What can I say? I love the water, but I grew up in land locked Calgary. Our outdoor pools open in June and my family never had enough money to go boating. Since I've grown up, I've had the opportunity to go boating once... but other than that, I have little to no experience. So, research, research, research.

          As well, learning about the ocean and nautical terms made me realize that ocean water in May at my characters latitude might be too cold for prolonged swimming. It totally is, in case you're like me and don't know. There isn't any ice in the water, but the chill is still there. Trying to find a different way for them to find the grotto left one option and that one option destroyed most of my plotting and would have required a complete re-write of the end chapters. Which was an option, but in the end, not the better one.

          Instead, I played with thermals and raised some of the waters temperature up so that it was actually warm and went back to my original plot. Sometimes, it isn't a darling that needs to be killed, but is a lover that you need you seduce back to your bed for the night.

          It was exactly what I needed. I'd been working on that chapter for 6 days already, trying to fix and unable to figure out why it wasn't working. One simple change to the original idea and I was able to rewrite it from scratch and edit it within a twenty-four hour period.

          I celebrated by playing Don't Starve and learning to play a Japanese card name called Koi Koi. Now, its back to editing before I hit the sack. Less than ten chapters to go before this novel is done and can be sent to the editor!

Pokemon Pictures

          I said I'd post some pictures. I don't have too many right now, but the one is my character with the other character being my favourite critter so far, an Eevee that I caught. She isn't my highest level guy by a longshot but she is a fun little critter. She may be one that I keep an Eevee since one of her powers is dig!

          What's your favourite pokemon and highest level pokemon so far?

Gotta Catch 'Em All

          This week, I'm feeling the need to talk about Pokemon Go. In case you've been living under a rock, Pokemon Go is a new mobile game based on the popular game of the same name(sans the 'Go' part). Basically, your job is to catch mostly adorable pocket monsters and teach them to fight to the death for your honour (don't worry, you can always revive a fallen ally).

          I'm only exaggerating a bit here, as is my usual wont, of course. While I was never a huge fan of the show, I kept abreast enough to become at least casually acquainted with it. The video game always annoyed me though. What I always wanted from the game was more a strategic game like Final Fantasy Tactics, played with the critters as your pawns and ally's.

          Still, when they announced the mobile game I was excited. The early ads for the game showed movement, outside, having to find your pokemon, train them, trading them and fighting battles not only at gyms but with friends and strangers.

          The current game is not offering us all of that. There is movement, outside wandering... We can train our Pokemon to a point and battle them in gyms, again to a point. And I have to say, I'm enjoying it.

          It is nice to have a reason to get outside, to have fiero moments while out walking. Walking is one of my least favourite things to do and I went out walking on both Monday and Tuesday. Not for very long, as I had a killer head cold, but I was getting out.

          There have been news reports about people getting hurt of course. As with any new-fangled thing, some people seem determined to find ways to misuse it. As with anything, blame the idiots, not the technology. You wouldn't blame books because someone was reading while drving, right? It's the same thing.

          Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll have some pictures of the game to share. Until then, are you playing? Are you enjoying it? If you're not playing, why? Let me know in the comments below.

Adaptation Makes you a Stronger Writer

          I don’t usually talk about non-writing hobbies of mine on here (or at least, I try not to) but yesterday something happened that made me want to talk about it.

          I have been a pretty avid gamer since my late teens, 20 years or so now. The latest incarnation that I play with my friends is Pathfinder, the non WotC successor to Dungeons & Dragons. Soon after I started playing, my boyfriend (now husband), suggested I try to run a game. With the amount I read, he thought it would be a good fit. He was right.

          I’ve always been creative and while I haven’t always proven up to the task, I am very good at the games part. I prefer running open world adventures, where my players have their own stated goals and I simply match the world to their desires. This isn’t to say that my players aren’t adequately opposed, but I have a knack for creating and encouraging conflicts and resolutions that my players may not have considered.

          For this reason, whenever I’m running a game, my players get nearly (and sometimes more) experience and wealth from talking down the monsters or dealing with them as business associates than they would from simply yelling “Attack” and slaying all-comers.

          Adapting on the fly is something I’m good at, but there are times when my players will confound me. That’s what happened yesterday.

          I’ve been running my players through a book adventure (the last one for a while I think) called Mummy’s Mask. While some of the Pathfinder adventures are well-written and entertaining, some are distinctly more lack-luster than others, being just a general slog of “I hit it until it dies of it. What did it have on the body? Alright, every silver piece has been counted, let’s go… Oh, it’s a what? And looks, like what? Cool, I hit it until it dies of it. What did…”

          I’d have honestly stopped playing it ages ago, but my players do like finishing campaigns, rather than leaving them hanging, so we’ve been bravely soldering on. The bad guy told them that to get to him, they’d have to go through the “trials of the pyramid”… and my players just lost it.

          What started out as a rant from one of the players turned into an actual discussion of whether or not it was feasible, with the tools they had on hand to burrow their way past the defenses. I insisted they do the math to prove that it was, but when they had, I agreed that nothing in the game said they had to run on rails to get to the last bad guy. They’d figured out a new way through. I adapted.

          Which is something that you have to be able to do in writing too. People always get so frustrated when they’re writing and you’ll often hear the lament (if you know a writers) that the characters, “aren’t doing what I need them to do”.  This always makes me laugh, since for the most part, my characters aren’t as separate from me as they are with other people. Not to say that they always do what I want them to; they often don’t and it’s usually my mind giving me a hint that the original idea is unstable or unfinished.

          Learning to adapt and going with it is a really important part of writing, obviously. Fortunately, as with most writing, it’s a skill that can be learned – even taught, to a certain degree.

          My first suggestion would be to try improv. There are usually comedy clubs around most cities where adults can get together to try it out. If younger, check out your local school activities. If you don’t see one, create one. Another suggestion is to try your hand at gaming. Whether on computer or in person, creating stories in your mind about your character is not only a darn fun way to pass the time, its teaching you to react with the punches that come your way.

          When we’re only dealing with our own selves, we can feign surprise, fear, gladness and sketch out what our characters would do, but only with other people will you be able to accurately put that learning into use.

          Not only is it great for your stories (I have 5 or 6 people I ask to be my characters aren’t making dumb mistakes simply because I missed something obvious), but its teaching you to react on the fly and continue on the story, despite hitting a bump or 63 tons worth.

Lets Talk Stationary!

          I started listening to a new podcast recently called The Write Gear. The show is wonderful, spending most of its time and episodes dedicated to the gear that writers use in their craft; Moleskines, paper, notebooks, pens and also the more technological stuff like computers and software that help us to do our work. One of these were devoted entirely to discussing what the perfect pen was.

          The general consensus was that a pen needed to be ballpoint or gel to be considered (fountain pens being different enough to deserve their own little niche). They had to be cheap, smooth to write without applying tons of pressure, have a very clear distinct line, not feather on the page, be long-lasting, dry quickly when used, and they had to be able to sit in a bag for a few months between uses (because some of us don’t use pens as often as others, but you still need to know its going to work when you crack it open).

          My immediate thought to all this was to think happily of my favourite pen and agree entirely with everything they said, at least as far as the requirements went. I don’t know about you, but for me, this essentially describes what I look for. Usually you have to compromise somewhat. If it’s super cheap, then it won’t write smoothly or the ink will remain wet for ages, or it will be cheap, but not smooth to write with and dries up after just a few weeks or something.

          The pen the original survey decided on is one that I’ve never had a chance to try, the Uniball Jetstream. It sounds really nice for me, aside from the size. I have always found that with my messy writing, I like thinner ink trails, .3 is my favourite, though I will take a thin little .1 given half a chance. The pen The Write Gear podcast suggested as theirs was the Pentel Ener-Gels, specifically, with a certain type of gel rollerball refill.

          Neither of these are mine, though I totally want to give both a try. Mine is a pen that has a slightly uncomfortable base, but everything else about it is incredible. Just known as the Sharpie Pen (size Fine was the thinnest I could find… I’d say it’s a .3-.5 width), this pen writes like a gel, smooth as silk, though it isn't a gel pen. Its an ink pen like a sharpie where you have a tip that fills with ink and so long as you have a tip and ink its writes wonderfully and they last a super long time. It doesn't dry out (I've had these ones for over a year and really have only started using them in the last month or so) and they come out to under $2 a pen (I think I payed$12 for a pack of 10 when I bought these). 

          My only gripes about them is that the case is super thin and very hard, so it is less on the comfort side of the equation. The other part is that while it doesn't feather a lot, the tip is so full of ink that it will get all over you if you aren't careful (not from smudging; I'm just super bad at holding my pens on or near the paper). It writes so nicely though that I am usually willing to ignore those two minor issues.

          I have a picture here done that shows the three colours I used off to the side. I usually draw with pencil and then redraw with pen and then begin adding colour, but I wanted to show what the pens could do.  Which reminds me that these are the only three I have left... I'll have to buy another set before When Words Collide later this year. 

         Anyway, those are my favourites! What are yours? Let me know in the comments below! 

50% and Counting

It has been too long!

Sorry about that delay! I have been driving myself mad trying to get everything done. I've been editing like a madman. I'm 34k finished, which puts me at my halfway point. Here are some interesting points I discovered.

• So far I have editing 34,353 words.
• According to the Hemingway App, it would take 2 hours and 17 minutes to read that 34, 353 words. 
• I have three main POV's. They are... An Asian woman named Kuzunoha, a Norse man named Jocelin and a black man named Richard.
• Though I spent nearly two months working on the first 10,000 words of this story, I finished the rest of the rough draft (60,000 words) completely during the month of November 2015. 
• I began editing this book on the 1st of May. I'm hoping it won't take another 2 months to finish the last 35,000 words. 

It's been slow editing this week, because the three chapters prior to this one all needed to be written from scratch and then edited. I'm hoping that most of my book won't require that level of work. Since less than half of the first 35,000 needed that level, I definitely have high hopes for the rest.