Friday night, a break from gothic-lit reading

[cleolinda]

So. Another backlog of linkspam, but what're you gonna do. After struggling all week in front of blank paper (what's that old line? "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood stand out on your forehead"?), I finally sat down today and decided to write out the story from the POV of three major(ish) characters whose storylines are giving me hives. I think one of the reasons Black Ribbon has become so hard for me is that there are suspense and mystery elements--what's happening? Who's doing it? Those people, what are they doing over there? TUNE IN TOMORROW--and I'm having a hard time sussing out everything that's supposed to be going on. Honestly, it's usually not this hard for me, but then again, I usually don't write things this complex, and I think that it being the first story in the series, given that I work from the big picture down, is part of the problem. I mean, I only wrote a page or two for each person, but it's like, what did she come here to do? What did she expect or hope to happen? And a couple of times I realized, this or that thing could only happen by sheer coincidence, which is total crap. And not even the good kind of narrative coincidence you can use to show the role of fate or whatever. Just sheer, lazy, narrative flab. So I started going through these characters and trying to figure out why they would want to be at this or that place at a certain time, what they were expecting to accomplish. And a lot of good ideas came out of this, is what I'm getting at.

I did go through a couple of days of despair where it seemed like I had this fantastic novel in my head on one hand and then on the other hand I had what I'd actually written, and suddenly I felt as if I was in over my head... really, really deep. I wrote out a basic outline of the story, one sentence per major scene ("Rose Hannah comes home, stranger is there. West goes to work. Rose and Camilla go somewhere that is not totally lame, fix that in revision"). There was one scene I liked, but I couldn't even figure out how the hell it related to the other two scenes around it--it was a rough order, but the logic of the conversation didn't seem to make any sense in context at all. And then I had these sequences in the first half that were kind of like, "Stuff happens, here's some ideas," but I just felt completely at sea. So writing a similar outline from the POV of those three characters helped--to continue an overly involved metaphor, it was a little like building a raft out of some shipwreck debris. I at least felt like I could keep my head up now. There's still some major When and What and Who and How issues, but at least now I don't feel too queasy to even contemplate them.

Also, since I'm in a Halloween mood--the most marvelous sentence in the history of the English, from John Stagg, "The Vampyre," The Minstrel of the North (1810): "It was then asserted, that, in several places, dead persons had been known to leave their graves, and, by night, to revisit the habitations of their friends; whom, by suckosity, they drained of their blood as they slept."

A sampling of my linkspam backlog:

The Bride Buyers: "A controversial Web site purporting to be a place for families to sell their teenage daughters as brides is revealed to be bogus. Wait till you see what the would-be grooms wrote in—and what states actually allow." This is the Marry Our Daughter site, by the way, if you heard about that in the last week or so. Turns out "[Ordover] says he was hired by a group of women from a local support group who'd been married out in similar fashions—and wanted to draw attention to a very real problem."

David Bowie donates to Jena 6 defense fund; Large crowd expected for 'Jena 6' rally in La; Louisiana Protest Echoes the Civil Rights Era (God, this headline makes me so sad); Jena attorney: No link between nooses, beating; 2 arrested in [new] noose incident near Jena; Teen in 'Jena 6' case denied bail.

'God' strikes back at lawsuit, claims immunity.

Students stunned, tired about Taser incident.

'Leave Britney alone' guy hoping for stardom.

Scientists: Velociraptor had feathers.

From particle_person: Myspace, Facebook to mine profiles to produced customized advertising.

Call him cuckoo -- Chavez changes time in Venezuela.

Americans giving up friends, sex for Web life.

A Very Brady Sapphic Awakening.

I’z will takes the ring.

Someone tries to sell Belgium on eBay.

The Chicago Tribune censors Get Fuzzy (hi, David!).

I honestly cannot figure out which one is more hysterical: lolsecretz, a mashup of lolcats and the PostSecret blog, or LOLTHULHU (UR SANITY HAS A FLAVOR).

Jim Macdonald revisits the Betty and Barney Hill case in fascinating, debunkatory detail, and in the comments, Teresa Nielsen Hayden offers the best explanation for alien abduction "memories" that I've heard yet.

Panettiere Threatens To "Kill" Journalist at Emmys

And the winner for Best Named Reality Contestant in the History of Ever is... from Montgomery, Alabama. *facepalm*

"Half-Blood Prince" Filming News: Threat of Strike to Affect Harry Potter Six? In the same article: HBP's cinematographer will be Bruno Delbonnel... who did Across the Universe and, more importantly, Amélie. Okay, now I'm excited.

Review: 'Jesse James' different, terrific.

Brad Pitt Replaces Matt Damon in Aronofsky's 'The Fighter.'

Seven Join The Women. I'm... not really as excited about this as I was before.

Brett Ratner and Chris Tucker Take On ... Sinatra?

Simon Pegg And Nick Frost To Take On America In ‘Paul.’

Wolfgang Petersen Confirms Ender's Game.

Taymor picks the most beautiful films ever.

Superhero Spoof Casting.

'Blades of Glory' Duo to Tackle Childbirth.

007 Gets His Gadgets Back?

Ryan Phillippe and Eva Green to Star in Futuristic Thriller 'Franklyn.'

'House of Wax' Director Gets Medieval on 'Vurdalak.'

Bloggers Choose the 100 Best Non-English Films Ever Made.

Lucas Financing 200 'Star Wars'-related TV Episodes.

Gosling Ready To Tackle Jackson’s ‘Lovely Bones.’

Ribisi Joins Cameron's Avatar.

Justice League Goes With George Miller.

trailer_spot: Southland Tales, P.S. I Love You, Counterfeiters, Beowulf, Aliens vs. Predator 2, Control.

Comments

Oo! Oo! Exact quotage!

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Douglas Adams, in Neil Gaiman's Don't Panic: the Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion: "Writing comes easy. All you have to is stare at a blank piece of paper until your forehead bleeds."

You're welcome.

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

Miss Cleo! xD

I have found the most amazing Halloween-type music ever.

www.noxarcana.com

Seriously, check these guys out. They are amazing.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Coincidence is okay! Even Jane Austen used it!

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

Possibly of interest: there's a new HDM story by Philip Pullman (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6480616.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=857222478)

That link's pretty bare bones, so I pulled a quote from the press release dropped on a library email I belong to.

"A new and completely original episode from Philip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials universe will be published on 3rd April 2008 by David Fickling Books Ltd, part of The Random House Group in the UK. The book, Once Upon a Time in the North, opens another extraordinary window into the universe of His Dark Materials, and is Philip’s first new work for five years.

Once Upon a Time in the North will appear under the David Fickling Books imprint in the UK and will be published in association with Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books in the USA.

Once Upon a Time in the North is a companion volume to Lyra’s Oxford (though about double the length of that story) and, like that work, set in Lyra Belacqua’s world and not our own.

The events of Once Upon a Time in the North happen before Lyra was born and in it we meet two of the most popular and enduring of Philip’s characters, the tough American balloonist Lee Scoresby and the great armoured bear and Lyra’s guardian, Iorek Byrnison. The story recounts the very first meeting of these two heroes, an encounter eagerly awaited by all Pullman fans. Lee Scoresby and his hare daemon, Hester, crash land their trading balloon on to Novy Odense, a port in the far Arctic North, and so find themselves right in the middle of a political powder keg that threatens to explode into a street-fight. Honour is at stake and Lee is not a man to duck a matter of honour. And this is the very first time that Lee gets to use his trusty and celebrated Winchester rifle . . .

Like Lyra’s Oxford, the story is presented as an exquisitely designed cloth-bound book and includes many other teasingly authentic memorabilia and clues from the His Dark Materials universe gathered together, it seems, by Lyra herself. This includes photographs, newspaper cuttings, bills of lading and an exciting and gorgeous Arctic Balloonist Board Game, Challenge the Wind, all beautifully illustrated and rendered by master engraver John Lawrence.

Philip Pullman says, 'Writing this story was a matter of pure enjoyment. The two characters at the heart of it, Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison, were old comrades-in-arms when Lyra met them first in Northern Lights. It was obvious that they had a history, and it was my son Jamie who first suggested that I should write about it. When David Fickling had the idea of doing that in a similar format to Lyra’s Oxford I leapt at the idea at once. I hope readers will enjoy this tale of the first meeting between these two honourable but down-at-heel adventurers.'

[alexthedevil.livejournal.com]

So I saw Stardust on Thursday (when it came out), based entirely on your recommendation. Well, I saw the trailers after hearing you talk about it, but I'd decided to see it already.

IT. WAS. AMAZING. I am definitely buying the DVD when it comes out here.

Also, I keep seeing the trailers for Dark Is Rising. DO NOT WANT ;_;

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

re the net sruvey thing: "I don't suppose their partners are too pleased about it."

Dude, there's a damned good chance their partners are on their own computers, some of them right next to them ;)

I love these kinds of stories. It's not necessarily bad, it's just a new dynamic. Most of my friends ARE online, and live all over the world - if I had to wait to see them face-to-face, I'd only have contact once a year or less.

I really dislike the prejudice against net contact vs. face to face. Contact is contact.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

What the People Scared of the Internet don't seem to realize is that it helps people keep in contact with Real Life People they might otherwise fall out of contact with, and that people who meet online have actually been known to meet up in person. It's not a binary one-or-the-other thing.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Word! Hell, I've run a mailing list for my family - mom, uncles, aunts and cousins - since 1995. We're all over the country and some are out of the country (military, work) and we keep in touch this way.

I can IM my hubby when he's working and not disturb his conference calls - evne though he works 15 feet down the hall from me. It preserves the professionalism he's supposed to demonstrate as a telecommuter.

I talk to my best friend every day, but we see each other maybe once a year, because she lives 1500 miles away.

And, of course, there's the fact that hubby and I *met* online, over 13 years ago.

[elsajeni.livejournal.com]

The keeping-up-with-real-life-people thing is pretty much the only use of Facebook for me. I joined groups related to my junior high and elementary schools, and a girl I thought I'd lost as a friend forever in the ninth grade over a stupid, stupid argument looked me up and we're back in semi-regular contact. If she hadn't been able to find me easily on the internet, there's no chance we ever would have spoken again -- we live in a crowded city, we go to different schools, we have no friends in common anymore, and I doubt either of us would have recognized the other on the street.

[karaph.livejournal.com]

And the glorious thing about the internet is that you can meet and talk with people who share your interests. When I tried discussing Harry Potter and Stardust at work I was met with blank stares and the sound of crickets chirping.

I work full-time at a job that provides plenty of face-to-face, but I need the stimulating conversations that the internet provides.

[camisado.livejournal.com]

I don't understand... does George Lucas have amnesia? Clone Wars (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361243/) is already an animated Star Wars series.

And duh, there's a whole block of programming called Adult Swim that George Lucas also previously knew about when he approved the Star Wars themed Robot Chicken..

Maybe he's having a senior moment? Because I don't get it.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Seven Join The Women. I'm... not really as excited about this as I was before.

The original film is a great script. It will be interesting to see how it's updated.

[alankria.livejournal.com]

I think you're going to have to get that sentence into the book. Or at least the word "suckosity".

[eruvadhril.livejournal.com]

Simon Pegg And Nick Frost To Take On America In ‘Paul.’
YAY! I hope they keep making movies forever...

[fuchsoid.livejournal.com]

"whom, by suckosity, they drained of their blood as they slept" Yeah, I've had friends like that too

[elbales]

Suckosity. Best. Word. Ever.

[meandstuff.livejournal.com]

Superhero Spoof Casting Hasn't the world had enough of these genre parody (in the broadest possible sense) movies? Their jokes are already worn out on the internet before the ink on the scripts is dry.

Cleo, I took my friend to see Stardust last night and she LOVED it (so did I). I'm going to drag everyone I know to see it.

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

"Suckosity"? *falls over*

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

The guy who did Amelie is doing HBP? YAY. I am excited by this.

On another topic, what do you usually do with anonymous trolls? I know you've had them. This Anonymouse responded to something on my journal, and, on the one hand, I want to refute things they're saying because they're annoying me, but on the other hand, I feel like that's just going to escalate it and waste my time. It's against my nature to ignore someone who speaks to me condescendingly, but I feel like maybe I should. What do you usually do? For now I've blocked anonymous comments.

P.S. What is it about anonymity that makes people asses?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think it's only happened to me once or twice--I turned off anon commenting afterwards. I think I just said something like "Thanks for playing" and froze the thread. It may be a good approach because you get the last word in, but you're still able to dismiss them without actually addressing the topic of their comment, because the thing about trolls is that you don't want to validate them in any way. Like, it's not even worth arguing. So just, you know, "Have a nice day!" or "Nice try" or "You're not worth my time" or whatever. Or there's even the FW classic "Okay!" And then just freeze the thread and walk away.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I made the mistake of replying to them before I realized it was probably a bad idea. Oh well, I'll know better next time!

On a completely different topic, I am VERY excited, because today is the day I (and some others) got the go-ahead to announce something very cool that we've been working on. I'd love it if you'd help spread the word by posting it in your links list or in an entry. It's the:

First North American Discworld Convention (http://www.nadwcon.org). The official LJ community is disc_con_usa. Terry Pratchett will be the Guest of Honor, and we have some other authors that we are working on lining up for panels and things. It'd be great if you could help us let people know!

[starlady42.livejournal.com]

Cleo, if you get a chance, could you pimp http://www.asbrand.com/ ? This is a friend of mine who is trying to navigate the nightmare that is the US government's permanent resident (green card) process for his wife and daughter. All the details are on his site -- they've been jerked around by the bureaucracy several times already, and are running out of time and money. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

for the Alabamian

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

LifeNets (a Darfur Activism online group) is launching a mission to get 500 personal responses from Alabama in one week to help convince Senator Shelby to fast track the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act (http://www.lifenets.net/?q=node/554) when LifeNets meets with him. I myself am not from Alabama.

[entropy-and-me.livejournal.com]

Hi Cleo,

I stumbled upon a neat site called the Steampunk Workshop this weekend. You may have already come across it in your research of the steampunk era, but just in case you hadn't, I thought I would pass along the link.

Of particular awesomeness are the refits he did to make his monitor and keyboard look all...uh..Steampunkish.

http://steampunkworkshop.com/

[raghnaid.livejournal.com]

has anyone pointed this or anything like it (http://www.mindjet.com/us/) at you yet? it's a chunk of change, but it's worth it.

and also, here's a great story and interview (http://www.elisanders.net/chriscrocker.html) with Chris Crocker, the Britney kid.