Quick Update
Jan. 20th, 2010 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseMy life in a nutshell: writing.
Pretty much every moment of my waking hours I've been spending working on RESURRECTION CODE (and some points of my subconscious time, too. While working out at the gym I had ideas hit me and I've dreamed about this book). So a lot of my usual life stuff has gone by the way side.
However, Shawn is in Sacramento (the place of my birth) this week for work. She's having some kind of grant project meeting in the torrental rain. Well, presumably she's actually indoors for the meeting, but the rain is fairly wicked during the coming-and-going, I've been told.
This means it's Mason and I are on our own, being mischevious. Our mischeviousness has been a bit curtailed, however, by the fact that Mason has croup. The doctor said that "croup" is actually a catch-all for any illness that comes with a barky cough, and that his version seems quite mild, though he has lost his voice.... which for my little chatty Nancy is pretty traumatic. There's no perscription for it, unless it gets worse. So he's just been hoarsy trying to explain all the excitement of having found a new level on his "Sonic" DS Lite game, which is quite heartbreakingly cute.
Our big deal was going out the Chinese Buffet last night for dinner, which Mason adores (and mama less so. I like it okay.) I realized last night that we were THOSE people. We were eating out, at a restaurant, and we both had books. I was reading Neil Asher's GRIDLINKED (which I'm really finally enjoying. It took two tries,) and Mason was reading yet-another GARFIELD.
Mason had a hard time falling asleep last night between his cough and, I think, the pop I let him have at the buffet. (Mason is allowed pop, but not usually close to bedtime.) Plus, our dear friend Sean M. Murphy stopped by for a quick chat and Mason just hung out listening to our excited chatter about story ideas, books, movies, Irish politics, and whatnot. Mason has already complained that he has a hard time shutting down his mind, and I think it was brimming last night.
This morning I woke up still angry about the STAR WARS prequels. Sometime when I have more time, I'll write about all the various ideas I have for a massive SW fanfic that would completely rewrite the stupid. Do you tell yourself stories as your falling asleep at night? I've always done this, and sometimes I think it's where some of my characters make their first appearances, as it were. But, when I'm not sort of making up original stories (soap operas, really,) I re-write the STAR WARS prequel. It's gone through a million different itterations, although it always starts with a much OLDER (read: sexier) Aniken. The reason I think that I get obsessed because there are some good seeds of ideas in the prequels. I like, for instance, that Aniken is born a slave. It makes sense for who he becomes.
Anyway, I can't go on about this now because I'm meeting![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
naomikritzer in a few minutes at another coffee shop. Though I should probably write it all down at some point so that it gets out of my head.
Oh, and appropo of nothing RESURRECTION CODE is either going to be the kind of book that will be nominated for the Tiptree or start "Trans FAIL."
Pretty much every moment of my waking hours I've been spending working on RESURRECTION CODE (and some points of my subconscious time, too. While working out at the gym I had ideas hit me and I've dreamed about this book). So a lot of my usual life stuff has gone by the way side.
However, Shawn is in Sacramento (the place of my birth) this week for work. She's having some kind of grant project meeting in the torrental rain. Well, presumably she's actually indoors for the meeting, but the rain is fairly wicked during the coming-and-going, I've been told.
This means it's Mason and I are on our own, being mischevious. Our mischeviousness has been a bit curtailed, however, by the fact that Mason has croup. The doctor said that "croup" is actually a catch-all for any illness that comes with a barky cough, and that his version seems quite mild, though he has lost his voice.... which for my little chatty Nancy is pretty traumatic. There's no perscription for it, unless it gets worse. So he's just been hoarsy trying to explain all the excitement of having found a new level on his "Sonic" DS Lite game, which is quite heartbreakingly cute.
Our big deal was going out the Chinese Buffet last night for dinner, which Mason adores (and mama less so. I like it okay.) I realized last night that we were THOSE people. We were eating out, at a restaurant, and we both had books. I was reading Neil Asher's GRIDLINKED (which I'm really finally enjoying. It took two tries,) and Mason was reading yet-another GARFIELD.
Mason had a hard time falling asleep last night between his cough and, I think, the pop I let him have at the buffet. (Mason is allowed pop, but not usually close to bedtime.) Plus, our dear friend Sean M. Murphy stopped by for a quick chat and Mason just hung out listening to our excited chatter about story ideas, books, movies, Irish politics, and whatnot. Mason has already complained that he has a hard time shutting down his mind, and I think it was brimming last night.
This morning I woke up still angry about the STAR WARS prequels. Sometime when I have more time, I'll write about all the various ideas I have for a massive SW fanfic that would completely rewrite the stupid. Do you tell yourself stories as your falling asleep at night? I've always done this, and sometimes I think it's where some of my characters make their first appearances, as it were. But, when I'm not sort of making up original stories (soap operas, really,) I re-write the STAR WARS prequel. It's gone through a million different itterations, although it always starts with a much OLDER (read: sexier) Aniken. The reason I think that I get obsessed because there are some good seeds of ideas in the prequels. I like, for instance, that Aniken is born a slave. It makes sense for who he becomes.
Anyway, I can't go on about this now because I'm meeting
naomikritzer in a few minutes at another coffee shop. Though I should probably write it all down at some point so that it gets out of my head.Oh, and appropo of nothing RESURRECTION CODE is either going to be the kind of book that will be nominated for the Tiptree or start "Trans FAIL."
no subject
Date: 2010-01-20 05:40 pm (UTC)I used to rewrite stories that I REALLY hated. This included Lord of the Flies, 1984, and Harrison Bergeron.
As a gamemaster, I get to rewrite universes regularly. I'm running a Star Wars campaign right now in which I've rewritten the prequel history quite nicely, while preserving what was good from them (Mace Windu from the animated Clone Wars, Palpatine's plotting, etc.). Meesa no have Gungans, no!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 04:58 pm (UTC)And... don't tell me you're gaming in Star Wars. RPGs are my secret addition. If I could game every day, I would never, ever write. :-)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 07:22 pm (UTC)Lessee... first of all, dystopias give me the screaming MUST KILL AUTHOR impulses. UnDys it by the end if you want me not to take editing and rewriting shears to your pathetic and incompetent effort! Second, there were two **HONKIN' HUGE** WSOD breakers for me in the story -- one background based, as in "this entire setup makes no sense even if I grant the basic premise", and the other physics based, as in "no, my friends, that won't work AT ALL".
I'm gaming in Star Wars. I'm gaming in Star Wars. I'm gaming in Star Wars. MUAAAAHAHAH! (I'm a GM, I'm NATURALLY on the Dark Side.)
I'm also running a Harry Potter RPG, where one of the PCs is Wednesday Addams and a couple of the NPCs are Jade Chan and Hadji Quest.
RPGs are my not-secret avocation which is used as a major writing aid.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 08:41 pm (UTC)And, btw, I *love* your thoughts about the CLONE WARS, which are so much cooler than anything Lucas came up with. I think the idea of Skywalker vs. Vader (original vs. clone) is really, truly awesome.
But I'm still playing with my slave become master in my own head, thank you.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 08:52 pm (UTC)I wish I could claim credit for all those thoughts on the Prequels, but many of them were fan-common-theory/knowledge when I heard them.
I did have to do a major RETCON on them to run this campaign; basically Luke and Leia got shoved into carbonite or similar storage for a hundred or more years, making the trail go utterly cold for the Emperor and Vader, and also giving us enough time for the Jedi to actually become "myth and legend" rather than "but my dad worked WITH Jedi!". They were then placed with people who were carefully coached in their history (or, perhaps, their caretakers were selected along with them and all the happy family suspended until appropriate time).
The PCs in this case are:
Taelin Ar'dan Mel'Tasne, the Senator/Ruler of the core world of Astelon: He's in his teens, his parents were killed, he's about to take up the reins of power. Things, of course, will Go Wrong so that he's forced to actually go adventuring. Has been poking his nose into the legends of the Force and actually found a holocron to teach him a few things.
Alen Pastseeker, archaeologist who made the mistake of digging TOO deep into an Early Republic site and found not one, but TWO Holocrons and realized what they MEANT. Became #57 on the Imperial Wanted list and was accused of everything from destruction of historic sites to murder.
Sha'kira, renegade Predator (yes, that type) who's a religious fanatic; the hunts her people go on are debased remnants of a pure and holy routine that was intended to test various races and help them improve themselves (think of it as Religious Mystical Darwinism) so that eventually all races could ascend to the Divine
Starhopper Flywart, an intelligent Toad who's a Han Solo type.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 08:51 pm (UTC)OMGYESPLEASE!!!!!
*cough*
I mean, um, yes, please send it to me. :)
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Date: 2010-01-21 03:09 pm (UTC)jpj
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Date: 2010-01-21 04:56 pm (UTC)Actually, I kind of get it. The stories we hear about Luke's father (before we know it's Vader) is that he's a great Jedi warrior, an awesome pilot, and the hero of the Clone War. This guy sounds pretty fascinating... at least he did to me. Then, we get the big reversal/surprise that Vader is Skywalker senior. And I admit I started thinking, "How the hell did THAT happen?"
I think you and I have talked about how we HATE that Vader is redeemed at the end of RETURN. But... Lucas could have made a better case for it, if he'd told the story I want to write... which is basically Sparticus with lightsabers.
The slave rebellion would be movie #1, movies #2 and #3 would be about how impossible it is to break the invisible chains of slavery and Vader's eventual re-enthrallment to the Dark Side. When it was revealed in Phantom Menace that Vader was born a slave, I kept thinking "how can he call ANY ONE 'master' after being a slave?"
This could have been an interesting central question. But, it would have been a hard story to tell honestly in America, given our own past/current issues with slavery. But then the stories would have been ABOUT something.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-21 07:31 pm (UTC)Thus, you'd have a lovely straight heroic plot up through the end, which is a tragic death, but not a moral fall, PLUS you have the opportunity to show that the clone-Anakin, Vader, starts out a good guy but it's due to possibly being treated by his creators badly, or some process flaw, etc., that he goes bad. Thus he DOES still have good in him, DOES still have the basic soul/essence of the father (or, perhaps, Anakin's Force-Ghost could eventually find him at the right time) and we can still redeem him, which is part of the final movie.
The major problem with the Prequels (other than the fact that I *NEVER* had any real interest in them) is timeline. The last part of Revenge of the Sith took place no more than 20 years ago, and if I remember correctly actually about 18 (Luke's age). Han Solo is about 35, so that makes him between 15 and 17 when the final fall of the Jedi happens.
HE WOULDN'T HAVE THAT DISSMISSIVE ATTITUDE ABOUT THE FORCE. The Jedi were a huge, visible, well-known, and real component in his life from the time he was born up through 15, at least. They were the troubleshooters of the Republic, they were so well known, and their powers so utterly beyond question, that TWO JEDI showing up at a backwater planet was enough to send an entire invasion force into a tizzy.
No, his reaction to Obi-Wan -- especially after the old man just LIGHTSABERED two assailants in a single motion -- would be more like "Holy Mother of Space... you're a JEDI. Now I know why you're looking for me, old man, and it's going to cost you..."
no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 12:02 am (UTC)I think all the prequels should have been about Grand Moff Tarkin.
jpj
no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 07:16 pm (UTC)Hey, I have dibs on that.
My story that just got bought has a trans protag. While revising it, I was dithering about whether to send it to another writer I know who is trans, just to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid. I hated pulling the annoying 'you're *race,gender,sexuality,culture,etc*, tell me about that.' Then Brin pointed out that if I screwed up badly enough, I might get to have a panel about me at WisCon. So I sent it along to him.
And actually, it turned out well. He pointed out a few potentially annoying things, and then gave me a good idea for improving one of the key scenes.
Gary