A Writer’s Mantras

The first week of National Novel Writing Month was glorious. I was consistently ahead of my daily word count, I had a routine that not only allowed me to write, but encouraged me to write. It got me off to a good start so that when I flagged in the middle of the month, I could still grind through and reach a total 50,065 words. I’m not entirely satisfied because a significant portion of my NaNo entry was fan fiction and various rants about life, but it achieved its purpose: it established habit.

I have never felt quite as focused on writing as I have in that first week. Writing became all-encompassing. My world. My life. And while everything else crumbles around me or changes at lightning speed, I have created some rather intense writing mantras. They may not be for everyone. But these mantras are what give my life structure, my existence meaning, that keep me moving forward when all I want to do is break:

This is my life now. There is nothing beyond this computer in this room.

The rest of my life is nonsense; writing is the only thing that matters.

THERE IS NO LIFE! THERE IS ONLY WRITING!

This is the point. This is it. This is the reason I exist.

Write every day.

Everything else is my life is fluff. It’s extra. This, writing, every day, is what matters. Not my day job, not socializing, not even my family.

Geek La Femme Shout-Out

Hi everyone! Just a short entry this time, since life has been a little crazy. I’m currently a little sleep-deprived after going to see Steven Spielberg give a speech at the 149th Dedication Ceremony of the Gettysburg Address. (My friends and I were within 5 feet of him at one point! *happy nerd dance*). So that was very cool. (And I have the best onii-san EVER! He gave me a Nintendo DS, so now I can play Okamiden! ^_^ Hooray!) So, between that, seeing friends, various life events, and a bad encounter with Pizza Hut food, things have been a little hectic.

The biggest eater of my time has been National Novel Writing Month. Yep, this is my third year and my second serious attempt at reaching 50,000 words in 30 days. I was doing well for a while, but hit some snags this week so I’m about 4,000 words behind schedule. Hopefully I’ll make that up this week. As a result, most of my attention has been on filling my daily word count rather than thinking of topics for The Cat’s Cradle.

However, I do have some good writing news! I am now a weekly contributor to the nerd blogsite GEEK LA FEMME! While my blog is dedicated to writing, Geek La Femme is dedicated to all things nerdy with a mostly-female writing staff. I’ve been enjoying the opportunity to fangirl squeal on Geek La Femme, something that I don’t get the chance to do as often here on The Cat’s Cradle (since this blog is dedicated to writing.) Speaking of which, I need to get back to my NaNo entry. So much to do!

So if you are interested in reading about some awesome, weird nerd topics, like stop-motion animation, fantasy maps, Latin codes, Halo and Skyrim, and weird music videos, please stop on by! You can also follow us on Twitter at @GeekLaFemme. Hope you enjoy!

How To Gain Power

Election Day. Anyone else sick of the endless debates, backbiting, and overall nonsense? I know I am. However, I do think it is a rather appropriate time to talk about power.

I find the politics of reality range from soul-crushingly boring to enraging to utterly laughable. However, I do find the cut-throat politics of fantasy worlds fascinating. (Perhaps that’s because the outcome of fantasy politics won’t have an effect on my own life.) Alas, I am not particularly good at writing about politics, probably because I’m too honest for my own good. It’s hard for me to come up with political scenarios on my own, but if you give me a scenario, I can usually see a couple ways the situation could go and who would benefit most from what choice.

When writing about politics, one must remember this: the goal of any politician is to amass power. That power can be used for good or ill, for the betterment of the country as a whole or for personal gain or any myriad range of combinations in between. Politics is rarely painted in black and white. But in order to change things or have influence, no matter what the intention is, one needs power.

WAYS TO GAIN POWER:

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The Dogs of War

Warfare and fantasy go hand in hand. There is something visceral and exhilarating about medieval-style combat…although I personally would never want to be in one. It may be cool to watch elves, orcs, and horsemen fight each other, but in reality, it was brutal, bloody, and no fun at all. Still, that doesn’t stop writers, including myself, from crafting massive campaigns and emotionally charged duels. What can I say? Humans love to fight.

Now, please understand that I am not a soldier. Everything I know about war I have picked up from reading, watching movies, listening to my dad lecture on history, and plain common sense. If you want to learn what should and should not be done in war, I recommend reading a lot of history books. Human history is littered with good and bad generals, close calls, narrow escapes, massacres, ambushes, traps, intrigues, bad weather, advantageous terrain, underdogs, overlords, battles that went the way they were supposed to and many that did not. History is the best teacher. I also highly recommend keeping a copy of Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Land Forces and Warfare beside your desk. Its focus is on modern armies, but much of the tactics, concern with morale, supplies, terrain, weather, etc. can be applied to old-style armies. And I’m sure there are plenty of other books at the library covering most efficient ways of killing people.

Adding magic and fantasy creatures into the mix can be a little tricky because, obviously, such things aren’t a factor on Earth, so there isn’t an easy answer about how wizards or giants can affect the course of a battle. That’s where your own creativity and judgment come in.

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Pride and Perception

As we approach the November elections and debates, both formal and informal heat up, I’ve noticed a distressing trend:

It’s easy to fall into the mindset that everyone sees the world the way you do. And those who don’t are “obviously” delusional, blind, or just plain stupid.

We all fall into this kind of trap in our daily interactions (moreso when intrinsic bias is challenged), and, since our stories and characters come from us, it’s also easy for them to follow the same pattern. I think that’s actually one reason why flat characters are so pervasive; their creator hasn’t tried looking beyond the obvious or from a different perspective. After all, each one of us is shaped by our experiences, our raising, how we interact with the world and how the world interacts with us. No two people even experience with world in the same manner…literally.

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We Are Grammar Nazis

Have you ever gotten a message from someone via a text or e-mail or post on Facebook that was illegible? One that you couldn’t understand, or one you misinterpreted because you couldn’t read it? Or perhaps you receive messages like this on a regular basis. “How is that possible?” some may ask. After all, with the advent of typing, you don’t need to worry about translating bad handwriting, so how could you not read a typed message?

Easily. If the person sending you the message failed to capitalize, punctuation, or write a grammatically correct sentence, you honestly may not be able to understand what they said, regardless of your intelligence. I’m sure you’ve seen it all over the web, the decline of the capital letter, the lack of any punctuation beyond the exclamation point, the abysmal state of spelling. More and more sentences are sent with net-speak abbreviations rather than complete thoughts. And, what’s worse, nine times out of ten, if you correct any of these mistakes, you will be called “a grammar Nazi.”

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The Game of Thrones: A Review

Well.

I just finished watching the first season of The Game of Thrones…and, to be honest, I was not especially impressed. I know I’ll probably catch hell for saying that, but it’s the truth.

Now you’re probably wondering, “But you’re a huge fantasy buff, Kat! How could you NOT like it?” So let me be clear: I do not think that The Game of Thrones was a bad or poorly done adaptation. I did enjoy watching it. HBO did a wonderful job on locations, costuming, sets, music, cinematography…all of the technical details. The level of visual detail is superb…even stunning. And it is extremely faithful to the book, which is a mark in its favor.

That being said…the characters did not really engage my sympathies. The thing that’s often overlooked when adapting fantasy is that fantasy is about people. Take away the people and all you have left is fancy window-dressing.

Those were the generalities; now, on to the specifics.

This post may contain SPOILERS! You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk!

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Bonus Blog: The Liebster Award

Hey, it’s a bonus blog! Yes, normally I’ll be posting every other Tuesday, but I was tagged by Pearl of Tyburn, author of “Longbows and Rosary Beads,” for the Liebster Award, so here are the questions she gave that I answered. Thanks for the tag! Feel free to answer them and post them on your own blog or website.

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Write This Down!

I recently read an article about how the average American goes for weeks without writing anything by hand. At first my brain rebelled at the idea, but, after giving it more thought, I realized that this was a reasonable assessment. Aside from the occasional Post-It note or shopping list, most folks prefer to type rather than write.

So I’m curious to know: do you prefer to write out scenes and notes by hand or with a keyboard?

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Modern Mythology

In case anyone missed the Twitter memo (and I’m sure some of you did), I will not longer be posting an entry here on The Cat’s Cradle every week. Life has just gotten too insane for me to keep up that kind of pace. At least, not and maintain some quality control. So, from now on, I’ll be posting every other week, roughly 2 entries per month. I hope that you’ll all stick around and continue to enjoy them!

With things in my own life fluctuating madly, I thought it rather relevant to say that we live in an increasingly uncertain world. As Don Henley says, “The more I know, the less I understand.” Nihilism and existentialism isn’t new, but I personally feel it encroaching further and further into the human psyche.

What do we have to believe in?

If you watch the news, not much. Every day there appears to be more death, destruction, and wanton waste of life. Corruption and exploitation run rampant. Ignorance and idiocy walk hand in hand as common sense becomes more precious than gold or diamonds. The honest and the honorable are pushed to the sidelines, trampled on, or ridiculed. And in an increasingly secular world, faith doesn’t seem to have a place anymore.

So, what can we believe in? Who can be role models? What can inspire us to become more than we are, better than we are? Or to at least help us make some kind of sense of this insane world of ours?

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