An excellent example of “taken to extremes.” And be warned, it contains a “description” of a naked woman.

In High School, I helped with the rejuvenation of our literary magazine. I was a fairly prolific writer. What can I say, High School was angsty and paper was cheap. Ms B is no slouch either when it comes to writing; she’s been known to put pen to paper and come up with some pretty good stuff. I’ve written papers on poetry, that’s how geeky I am. I worked my way from structured poetry like sonnets and haiku, through free verse, and back again to structured poetry.

I haven’t written a lot lately because, in a surprising (to me) turn of events, my codewrighting (I spelled that the way I mean it), uses a lot of the same energies that my poetry did. Also, a lot of my poetry was fueled by sadness, depression, the emo pain that a lot of teenagers feel.

Imagine my surprise (and pride, and pleasure) when I found the DQ’s school newspaper, and an entry by her.


As the world goes dark
when the sky turns black
thousands of lights turn on
when they fade
on dawn's return
the sky is once again alone
even though the stars were
mirrored by lights
they will never be caught
ever eternal they shine in the
darkest nights they are
stars


I really couldn’t tell you how impressed, pleased and proud I am of her. Being able to write, and being self-assured enough to place it in the school paper with her name attached. Just like a chip off the old blocks.

Middle school, by the way, is next year.

The Oregonian article reminded me how much better readers do in school; reading and writing skills are much improved in kids who read for fun. And one of the best ways to help kids read for fun is to help match kids to books they might like.

So, thinking about the flames in the discussion around The Golden Compass, I think I’m going to use that as a springboard. So, I’ll be looking for some sort of “reading guide” that’s not totally pro-or-anti Pullman, and I’ll be putting a… schedule(?) for lack of a better word.

I’m using the Portland Parents site for it, aiming it at other parents who are concerned about the same things. Let’s see how far I can take it. Wonder what we’ll read for March.

You can read some of what she’s written over at her blog. Please leave encouraging comments, or email me if you have discouraging comments. She doesn’t have an email address yet.

Or a myspace [shudder]!

Charlie Fletcher describes a character in Stoneheart and nails this technique to the wall.

George looked up. He saw a man made from tarnished bronze from the bottom of his army boots to the top of his tin helmet. The Gunner from the war memorial looked back down at him as he broke the revolver in his hand, shook out the spent shells, and reloaded in a movement so fluid that he didn’t seem to need to look at his hands while he did it.

He moved so fast that he snapped the reloaded revolver back together while the shells were still tinkling at George’s feet.

George felt his nightmare wasn’t over. He scooted away from the Gunner, but not fast enough. The Gunner grabbed him and yanked him back against the wall and then stepped in front of him. Protecting him.

Charlie didn’t explain the horse braids on one shoulder or go into every detail about how the creases of the bronze are a brighter color than the flat surfaces. He didn’t list all the features, and he left enough ambiguousness that your mind can fill in the rest. Stoneheart is full of descriptions like this; they’re very well done.

If I had any inkling that you could used character studies like this in a novel without sounding as wordy as Tolkien, I may have tried harder to pull it all together.

Physical, rhythmic things help a lot; hitting the elliptical or just going for a walk. The “priming the pump” image isn’t just fluff. So I’ve seen when I’m trying to get those thoughts in a line, if I can get into my head while I’m doing it, while I’m getting into the flow, that’s the best place. Which makes it hard for Ms B to talk to me or Miss K to climb up my back and sit on my shoulders while I’m thinking. That sort of thing keeps me in the here and now; which is good, but it doesn’t directly help the flow.

Another thing that helps is reading other things; I spend a lot of time (too much time) just browsing the internet, keeping up with other people’s blogs, you know, just reading. That helps because sometimes it gives me things to write about, or helps gel together the thoughts I have in my mind that want to come out too.

We don’t write “her’s”, do we? Oh wait, you do? Nevermind then, you go right on being wrong.

I could use this to discuss how computer graphics are made; you can see the vertices of the polygons that make up this image, they just don’t have any surfaces. Probably someone just didn’t finish that. How’s that working for them?

But you know, we can figure out what it’s supposed to be. And probably that’s what the artist / programmer thought. “I’ll just rough this in- they know what I mean.” This is kind of scary- because I’ve actually thought that as I come close to finishing a project. “I’ll just leave this like this- the user will know what I intend.” I don’t realize that the user sees something like this– sure I know what the artist meant but, cmon pal, why didn’t we finish the job?

So, here’s a tip. Finish your jobs. Don’t offer half-assed copouts that look like “hey, here’s a link. Go check them out.” Talk about what it means to you, why you’re showing it, and what we can learn.

And yes, I admit that I’m a pretty bad example of not saying “hey go look at this.”

1. Write for a reason
   Well, duh. And make the reason more than just “I burped today. It tasted like pizza.” Although that could be interesting, in the right context. A few of my posts have been more filler than content, I’ll admit, but that falls into the ‘Write Often’ category.
2. Write often
   What if nothing exciting has happened since the last post? Write about something mildly interesting happening in the news. Write about something dorky. Do a book review. Prove to your readers that your life is more than “get up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, get up.” Sometimes, I’ll admit, I do things just so I’ll have something to blog about. Or I’ll write about something really dull (woo, running over to the school and back).
3. Write tight
   Definately. Don’t use very too many words, ok? And also eschew obfuscation.
4. Make good friends
   Get some. Some of mine are better than I thought. Find like-minded webloggers who you can link to in times of stress.
5. Find good enemies
   Joseph Conrad wrote of enemies: “You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.” (more enemy quotes). A good enemy is a foil for your own beliefs, someone strong who you can argue with. Be careful about treating them with respect. They may read your weblog too, and they can write … too.
6. Let the story unfold
   You’re a storyteller. Do it.
7. Stand up, speak out
   If you see an injustice, you have a voice. Use it.
8. Be sexy
   Sex is, according to my nonscientific poll, roughly 85% of the Internet Business Section is related to sex. The other 15% has to do with refinancing your home mortgage.
9. Use your archives
   Link to yourself, in your archives. Make your archives search-engine friendly. When someone is reading an archive page, make it easy to find out who you are and what you’re currently writing about.
10. Relax!
    We’re all just people. Well, maybe if Thomas Jefferson was blogging, you could feel a little shy. But he’s not.

I’m not posting this as an authority, I’m posting it as a fellow traveller on the path to authordom

Lose the passive voice.

What, you may ask, is the “Passive voice?” It’s the voice of “telling not showing.” When Snoopy writes “It was a dark and stormy night,” he’s using the passive voice. It slows down the narration and reduces action. It also uses more words. It’s the use of forms of the verb “to be” — is , was et cetera. Oftentimes, the verb gets hidden in a contraction. So, when someone says “this passage is in the passive voice,” they’re using it too. Look, I did it twice in the same sentence. Shake up your sentences by using a stronger, more active role.