Meanwhile, in my other blog...

For those of you who've wondered what's become of me, I've been focusing on my other blog the last month or so. It does relate to this blog, in that it is writing. I know I need to be getting back to my drawing table, but it is just sitting there. I've been spending all my time either trying to deal with my topsy-turvy career turns or dreaming about my big summer road trip (probably my biggest yet!). Have a look, and make some comments, at myhomeistheroad.blogspot.com.

Inspiration - Fiction

Well, it's been over a month now since I posted my short story. Time to come to terms with the fact that no one is going to read it. I don't think that even my immediate family is reading my blog. But, enough self-pity (though self-pity is a good writerly trait, don't you think? Some of our best writers were self-pitiful).

On to what inspires me as a fiction writer. I do actually know one published novelist. My former boss, Keith Raffel, has one novel published and one in the pipeline. Keith is nine years older than me, and just got his first novel published, so that gives us all hope. His book, dot.dead, is a straightforward contemporary murder mystery, set in Silicon Valley. It's a fun read, with an engaging protagonist and a good mysterious plot. Also, a lot of nice local color. I lived in the Palo Alto area for 12 years before moving to Tucson, so it was a lot of fun to read about my old haunts.

But murder mysteries aren't really my thing, in general. I can't see myself writing one.

So what fiction do I like to read? You'll find it odd. I like little stories about small town American life. I like Garrison Keillor, Fanny Flagg, Adriana Trigliani. These are stories where generally nothing really big happens -- no murders, car chases, sinister forces of evil, possessed saint bernards, savage bio-engineered killer gorillas, etc.

All the good stories I've written are like that. I write about road trips. I write stories that, if they were made into movies, would be made into little indie films, shot by a first-time director and featuring one big star who decided to work for scale just because he/she really believed in the story.

Now, like all good nerds, I went through the fantasy/sci-fi thing. I loved the Chronicles of Narnia. I actually read the Lord of the Rings in its entirety when I was in High School. I read just about everything Zalazney wrote. I read all those strange Fritz Leiber short stories. I read the requisite amount of Azimov and Heinlein and Crichton.

But my attempts to write fantasy have always fallen flat. It always feels forced. Because it is forced.

What I really like these days in that sort of realm are the things that Douglas Adams wrote. And I like the stuff by his variouis imitators, like Terry Pratchett and Robert Rankin. I've been trying to slog through a theoretically hilarious book by Tom Holt, called Who's Afraid of Beowulf. The book has all the right ingredients but it's undercooked or overcooked or something.

If I could just decide to write a readable fantasy novel, I would love to write something like The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocolypse. Something imaginative and off-the-wall, and that makes the reader laugh out loud every couple of pages or so. I might even be capable of something like that. I don't think I'm capable of writing a great sword-and-sorcery epic.

You're still reading? That's impressive. I'd have wandered off to something more interesting by now. You must really like me. But I'm sure you're also wondering where I'm going with all of this...

Inspiration - Comics

First of two posts on inspiration -- this one for the 24 hour comic. Then a post on NaNoWriMo, and maybe another post on reconciling it all???? Well, one word at a time:

I just got, and read, the 2006 24 hour comic highlight book. This is a "highlights", in contrast to a "best of" collection. The intention is to show a nice cross-section of what is produced on 24 hour comics day. I found it pretty encouraging. Plenty of cool stuff in different styles; different levels of detail.

Of course part of the idea of 24 hour comics is to come in with no set agenda -- no pre-made plot or script. Nevertheless, from page 3 of the book, the familiar visages of Mayberry Melonpool and Ralph Zinobopp looked back at me. In other words, it's okay to come in with existing characters and situations.

Not that I necessarily have a stable of existing characters and situations to draw from these days. Maybe I'll do a post of all the sets of characters I've created over the years.

I have my drawing table set back up. I have sketch pads and pencils and art books setting out -- if I turn 180 degrees from my computer desk I'll be at my drawing desk.

And I have lots and lots of books of comic strips. Of course, superhero comics have also inspired me, but my drafting skills aren't at the level they would need to be for something that realistic. So, my comic strip heros, in terms of both writing and drawing....

Have to give a shout-out to the late, great Johnny Hart, who just passed away.

Jim Toomey, creator of the hilariously twisted Sherman's Lagoon (hey, anybody besides me think that Thornton was the real inspiration for the tropical polar bear on Lost?)

Frank Cho, amazing draftsman and author of the truly unique Liberty Meadows. Frank is the world champion at drawing women whose breasts are bigger than their heads.

Corey Pandolph, creator of the sublime Barkeater Lake. I recently purchased an original Barkeater Lake drawing.

Walt Kelly, who managed to sometimes fit a dozen or more jokes into a 4-panel strip. Walt was a master of dialogue right up there with Shakespeare and the Coen brothers, and also an incredible social satirist. And he draws the world's sexiest skunk.

Gary Trudeau, creator of characters that you come to know and love, characters who can exist for years and still be interesting, even though they don't have any super powers (well, maybe Zonker and Duke have some super powers...)

Well, that'll do for now. I have those books in front of me. When I get some time to spare (won't be real soon), I will start sketching. Watch this space for the results.

Quoted

Just for grins, I searched for my name on Amazon.com, and it turns out I show up in the index of two books. So I bought them. One of them just mentions me along with the other Rogue creators, but the other, Twisty Little Passages by Nick Montfort, actually has a paragraph quoted from my Brief History of Rogue. The book looks pretty interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

But wow, this Nick Montfort guy. In 2002, he wrote a tale, called 2002, which contains 2002 words exactly. And the whole story is a palindrome. I'm just in awe. Given the incredible constraints he laid out for himself, the story is remarkably coherent.

I mean, okay, it doesn't seem all that coherent at first blush. You have to twist your brain around to accept the awkward syntax. But, there's an actual story with characters and things that happen, and there's an introduction and a conclusion. The story is about how the year 2002 played out for our hero, Bob. If I pull this creative triathlon off completely, it still will not be as cool as Nick's story.

Go look at it!

Published

Once again I am a published author (I had an article published in SunWorld magazine back in the '80s). Now I am published on a webzine! The latest issue of Roguelike the Magazine is out, and it has an article by me about Roguelikes and Javascript. At last, my writing will be accessable to literally dozens of readers!

Maybe сыровата is a compliment?

Just discovered a post from a russian blogger named Arvi the Hacker, which contains a mention of the Seven Day Quest.

According to the computer translation of his post, to his taste, my game is somewhat damp.

What do you suppose the odds are that this amounts to high praise in the Russian culture?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Still, at least it's only somewhat damp, right?

The Name The Short Story Contest

Okay, for the two of you reading my blog... :)

As promised, I have uploaded a short story I wrote back in aught-four. It's not my best story, but that's what you get for free.

It's about 2600 words, which is just a bit more than I will need to write every single day in November for NaNoWriMo (gack!)

I realized as I dug up the file (off the hard drive of my old computer), that I never gave this story a name.

So, read it, comment on it, and help me come up with a name for it!

Here is the link: http://www.babelsphere.com/7dayquest/story/ThunderBay.html