december, finally some snow

     "That's the last of the cargo, sir"  Captain Lanso Malring tugged on his thin beard and eyed the wagon-sized pile of crates, barrels and sacks stacked up on the end of the stone pier, then acknowledged the bosun with a wave dismissing the lading crew.  The offloading had taken far longer than anyone had expected, but at least they'd finished before the brunt of the approaching squall hit.  His vessel sat on the leeward side of the stone causeway, only partially shielded from the building waves, even now spray was crashing across the pier, driven by the erratic gusts.  A pair of sailors finished loading a hand cart with some of the supplies, they kept their heads hunched down on their shoulders against the icy wind-driven water as they pulled the two wheeled cart down the pier toward the weathered shack at the other end of the pier.

     Captain Malring turned to the red haired man who had stood silently beside him the entire time the cargo was being unloaded.  "My men will finish moving the supplies to the supply shack at the other end, won't take but a few minutes.  You sure you don't need anything else?"   A minute passed with no response from the passenger, and the captain wondered again why anyone would take the job offered by the coastal league to tend the lighthouse, but then revised his opinion, if anyone would take such a job, it would be someone as enigmatic as this person.  He'd offered little more than the occasional grunt or nod of assent during the entire 3 day journey from  Port Whiterock, the longest conversation he'd had with anyone had been with the cargomaster about his personal gear when the gruff sailor had noted that some of the supplies seemed more appropriate for delivery to a brewery than a lighthouse, to which the mysterious passenger had replied, "who says a light house can't be a brewery".

     The above blurb is a writing practice I sat down to and keyed out over a pair of breaks at work.  There's been no polishing, editing, or rewriting.  It is a germ of an idea I've floated around relating to a tie between the the ifgs storylines of D'oril, and the literary storylines I'm working from.  The lighthouse referred to is also a tie with another story concept within the d'oril world I've occasionally referenced, Lighthouse, lighthome.  That story isn't well placed within the timeline yet, parts of it fit well with a precursor civilization that fell apart long before the confederacy of Imperfect Hope arose, but I haven't figured out the connection to the K'tath and their timelines.  Where will it go from here? 

     SInce it's been 6 weeks since I last posted, I feel I should apologize.  All I can say is, holiday travel can be a bear, and I've been doing this for nearly 23 years now.  Guess I'm starting to wear out.  On the plus side, I managed to get a 2 week vacation the last two weeks of december, first time I've ever had holiday vacation time.  Irma and I didn't actually go anywhere, instead the first week was prepping for christmas eve dinner, and week two (right now) is rest, rest, and rest.  We've done a couple of day trips up into the mountains, lots of snow there, and until today, none around here.  But, today, it's snowing, so we're staying in, and Irma's going to make some chile verde con puerco. (green chile pork stew)  Yummm.

     I mentioned 23 years.  Mandatory retirement is 2 1/2 years away, unless congress and the FAA change the rules, something they're threatening with the continued controller shortages.  I'm betting there will be some changes, but I'm still planning on stepping out of the ATC biz then, unless they offer some really good incentives to stay.  I'm not holding my breath.  However, the concept of retirement doesn't seem real yet.  Most people don't have the option to retire (with relative security) as early as controllers do, on the other hand, the stresses of the job make it a health risk for many controllers to continue, thus the reason for the mandatory age 56 retirement that stands right now.  The talk is that medical waivers are going to be granted based on health and some expanded requirements to keep our medical clearances. 

     Back to writing.  No progress on Imperfect Hope, some progress on background details, and a eureka moment regarding my writing habits.  These last few days of unfettered rest has opened up my creative channels, with the observation that being a controller wears me out much more than I thought.  I'm still thinking through the implications, and considering ways to keep the fatigue monster from chewing me up once I return to the grind next week.  Any suggestons (besides more scotch?)

     Anyway...  More to come, (he promises)  Watching the snow fall outside makes me think of D'oril...

TTFN,
JIm

Catching up with life

     This always seems to be the busy season for me.  Yardwork (winterizing), Work-work (transitioning from summer thunderstorm season to winter "ski-season" traffic patterns, and getting the house ready for the holidays tend to fill most of my time.  Despite that, I have managed to do some writing, if not on Imperfect Hope, at least with the goal of getting back into the groove.  With the silly season passed (er, election season), things are looking up. 

     Last post, I commented on "writing what I know", at least with regards to the lore and history of the D'oril world that I know very well.  Writing these last two weeks has put me back into that era, 60-100 years prior to the time of Imperfect Hope.  Since most of my lore from that time focuses almost exclusively on the D'oril forests of the K'tath and the incursions of the Tallux empire, I do have to provide some background on what is happening around the rest of the world.  I've made an effort to divorce the D'oril lore that references the IFGS lands that surround the k'tath homelands, and made good progress on replanting the characters I want to bring from the IFGS D'oril to the 'book' D'oril lands.  So, where do I begin...

     Obvious to me are the K'tath characters, with one exception all of my own creation.  Brandis, of course, as well as the NPC k'tath characters I developed while writing the IFGS games that took place in D'oril.  The Sen'anth (in the IFGS games, never actually named, just referred to by title, was killed by plotline mid Sha'te Valley (a player motivational event that didn't have the emotional impact I'd hoped for, but one I can refer to in the book version).  Kira, the deadly quiet Kel'anth, trying to hold the badly outnumbered kel together against the empire's legions.  Other fringe NPC characters also created for the games include Cinda and Merrick, of the Inn of the Stumbling Friar.  Their backgrounds, though never explored in the games, provide me with a great starting point for the surrounding areas.  Also of the k'tath, though not of that race, is Merlissa, a PC character that was tightly intertwined with Brandis' early character history.

     South of the E'tel river, the non-k'tath have a couple of regularly appearing characters.  Merrick, for example, is actually an Empire refugee.  He came to the lands south of D'oril from the empire some 10 years or so prior to Sha'te, one of a small handful of survivors of a shipwreck from an Empire expedition searching for wintergem sources along the western coast of D'oril.  A senior non-com (I hadn't decided whether he was an imperial marine, or a legionnaire), he found the lands south of D'oril to his liking, especially the relative freedom from oppressive government.  Cinda, the (in the games) stereotyped bar maid of the Inn of the Stumbling Friar, was also a refugee in a character history that was never explored in the games either.  She came from the lands to the south, fleeing the chaos following the fall of "the eleven kingdoms" just prior to the confederacy beginning to pull itself together. 

     Then there were the villains, most notably Phorix, Beauty, Grannach, and Yam'to.  Those four were the core of the Sha'te storyline, each representing an characteristic of the empire that PC's could relate to, or despise.  (all had some elements of each).  I'd written a lot about their pasts within my game lore, stuff not released to the players but instead intended to help me and the NPC's portraying them fill out their character. 

     The events surrounding Sha'te are both well defined and vague.  Vague in that, for the IFGS games, the empire had the clearly stated but vaguely motivated goal of conquering the area north of the E'tel, well defined in that they had put into a straightforward strategic plan to obtain that goal, and the 'good guys' (players and k'tath) were in the way.  Because of the way IFGS games are run, the sha'te storyline necessarily had the players react to the empire's plan.  Had I made Yam'to's strategy too complicated or convoluted, the IFGS gameline would have been overly complex.  Translating that to the Imperfect Hope world mostly involves revising the empires motivations, in part through the wintergems found in the D'oril forest, a source of magical power now hard to find in the empire but necessary for the emperors continued hold on the far-reaching lands he controls).

     I've found my thought process interesting, though, as I dig deeper into the sha'te era, I find more interesting projects to tackle.  So, do I sidetrack myself, or focus myself.  Stay tuned for the answer, soon...

Clear skies,
Jim


 

I'm back, again

Yeesh, september was an ugly month, three overtimes in four weeks really sapped my interest in writing anything.  It's over, though, and I'm back...

     I did do a thorough read through of Imperfect Hope, draft 1, and marked up some inconsistencies (okay, a lot).  What leapt out at me was that my writing errors had a lot to do with the fuzzy history before and after sha'te valley in my IFGS D'oril world, and the years leading up to "present time" in imperfect hope.  I hope to correct those errors with a couple of strategies...

     One, as I work through IH again, I will allow myself to sidetrack and fill out background information as needed to make the storyline more consistent.  For example, background history on the Baron of Bruils, a minor player in IH so far, but whose actions some 15 years past has a great deal to do with the chink in the confederacies security that the empire is exploiting.  Going from an unspecified scandal to actually going back and writing the events as a story in itself will give me more food for thought, and unblock other aspects of the storyline.

     Two, I'm going open up another story to work on that takes place well before Sha'te that will help me define the confederacy and empire and the as yet unmentioned (here) island kingdoms to the south.  I found that, in reading IH through, I obviously made some assumptions about what the readers knew that just isn't explained well enough.  By writing out these precursor tales, I'll have a better background to write from as I do the rewrite in Imperfect Hope.

     Another light bulb moment came a couple of weeks back when I was wool gathering, and remembered the old saying, "Write what you know".  I 'know' the sha'te era front and back, and I've been creating a lot of the Imperfect Hope era on the fly.  Thus, I'm going to allow myself (I know, starting to sound undisciplined) to write about stuff from the IFGS timeline when I feel like it, or when I need a break from IH.  I've no idea what may come out of it, but the goal here is to get back to "having fun".

     ALong the lines of having fun, I started fiddling about with a story from the SHa'te era, or rather one that begins toward the end of that time, and bridges the gap from then to now.  I'll post a blurb from it at the end, something to lighten up the political downer that follows...

    Back to the mundane, then.  I hate political season with a passion.  Hate ads (Oh, I'm sorry, did I mean partisan campaign ads?), foolish wing-nut amendments and issues, and those anonymous campaign phone calls.  It is clear that the politicians only (capital letters again, ONLY) concern is getting elected or reelected.  The other side is wrong, and since they're wrong, we hate them, and you should too.  It's made all the worse since I'm listed as an independent, both parties feel the need to tell me how to think.  Knowing how the government works from the inside (at least within the FAA), I know that 99.9% of what the politicians are telling us they'll do is pure bunk, couldn't do what they promise if they owned all branches of the government.  All I expect from this, and any other election, is that:

1)  My taxes will go up, somebody out there resents (hates) me for my relative success and wants me to pay.
2)  My services (or services to people who are really in need) will go down, somebody will figure out a way to scam the system and drain resources from those who really need it (which leads to number one again).
3)  Whoever is in power will tell me it is the other parties fault.
4)  Whoever is not in power will tell me that if they were in power, things would be better.
5)  Left wing and Right wing nut-jobs control both parties, and they have no interest in listening to a moderate.
6)  Tivo everything, and skip the ads and maybe I'll maintain my sanity.

Lest any of my readers think I'm hiding my head in the sand and ignoring issues, I'd like to suggest otherwise.  I read a lot about the issues affecting us, from all sides of the debate.  I make up my own mind on those issues, and refuse to allow either party tell me that, since I support/oppose a particular issue, all of my beliefs must then line up with (or against) umpteen-thousand other issues, and therefore I must vote for them.  I don't let a political party tell me what to think...

Unlike too many of the people I work with, or know.

<Sigh>

Anyway, I'll be glad when it's over again. 

That's it for now.  Keep those cards and letters coming, introduce yourself, or otherwise make your presence known.
TTFN,
Jim

Oh, a blurb...

"That's the last of the cargo, ser"  Captain Lanso Malring tugged on
his thin beard and eyed the wagon-sized pile of crates, barrels and
sacks stacked up on the end of the stone pier, then acknowledged the
bosun with a wave.  The offloading had taken far longer than anyone had
expected, but at least they'd finished before the brunt of the
approaching squall hit.  His vessel sat on the leeward side of the stone
causeway, only partially shielded from the building waves, even now
spray was crashing across the pier, driven by the erratic gusts.  He turned to the red haired man standing beside him and asked if there was anything else they could do for him before they shoved off.  A
minute passed with no response from the passenger, and the captain
wondered again why anyone would take the job offered by the coastal
league to tend the isolated lighthouse, but then revised his opinion, if anyone
would take such a job, it would be someone as enigmatic as this person. 
He'd offered little more than the occasional grunt or nod of assent
during the entire 3 day journey from  Port Whiterock...

new post coming by tomorrow

Just another quick note: I'm back, and I'll be uploading my new post tonight or tomorrow. My apologies to those who've waited patiently... The new post will touch on my writing, including remotivation and redirection, and politics. hang in there...

Brief note

I'm in the middle of a crazy month, with 3 ovetime shifts over the next 4 weeks, so I just wanted to let everyone know, I'm still out here, and I will be picking up again shortly. In the meantime, Feel free to post comments about anything, and contact me thru the email listed in my profile. WIsh me luck...

D'oril lore: the recent past

     Part of the depth of the Imperfect Hope world is the past, as represented by the characters that I've either developed while writing IFGS D"oril games, lore, and player-characters I've adopted into the world.  I've touched on how I intend to keep some character concepts whole from my 'borrowed' character list, while adding a bunch of depth that fits the PC's into the D"oril world more seamlessly.  One way I'm doing this (as I get back into a writing habit, yes, it's coming back slowly) is to rework character histories by changing where they are from, and putting more detail into their past than the pc histories I pored through while I was writing D'oril games.

     Imperfect Hope references a few "old campaigners" that IFGS'ers may recognize, the most obvious being Brandis (a no brainer, since his background is the basis for all of my D'oril lore).  Because IH takes place some 50 or so years after the Old Campaign (here after known as OC), the 'great heroes' of the past have faded into legend, tales of which have actually been lost because of the turmoil following Sha'te Valley, and the chaos following the fall of the old kingdoms south of D'oril (unrelated to sha'te).  The old kingdoms, from which many of the heroes of SHa'te came, fell into a series of ugly wars against each other and outside influences (greed and poor leadership), much of the legends from before then were forgotten in the confusion as new heroes and more important (read immediate survival) issues abounded.  Only in a few areas (The Inn of the Stumbling Friar, for example, or the monasteries of the triad, or among the k'tath) are the histories kept whole.

     The confederacy, which has risen from the ashes of the old kingdoms, is still in its infancy, and is more concerned with cementing their position within the western realms of the continent than recalling the heroic times before the troubles.  The one time stranglehold on power that the old aristocracy held is now shared almost equally with the mercantile trade families that held the coastal towns together in the face of barbarian invasion, and the triad, whose monastaries provided intellectual sanctuaries inland, and their questors, who stepped in to protect areas of civilization as many of the aristocratic strongholds and families fell.  The aristocracy held on to it's top position, but only barely.

     Thus, the Old Campaigners are mostly forgotten, despite their crucial role in staving off the invasions of the Empire of Tallux.  However, they are not forgotten in the Empire, rather they are remembered with a mix of hatred, respect, and awe by the leadership, aristocracy, and middle classes.  (The slaves, of course, know little of life outside their small world, but the legends of Beauty and the Free-warriors of the east are still talked about, much to the dismay of the emperor and his supporters.)  The empire's current leader, taking the heart of the lessons from his father and the priesthood, takes into account his lessons and the memories of how the Old Campaigners opposed the empire in his plans to establish a foothold near the wintergem forests of D'oril.  However, none of the old campaigners remain, except...

     According to my storyline, the "OC" involved in Sha'te were never replaced by young up and coming's, since the situation in the new confederacy wasn't conducive to the methods of the "OC" (freelance, involved outside their own lands helping others or merely helping themselves (mercenary style).  Instead, the type of adventurer who would have become an "OC" instead ended up either involved in the triad questors, the mercantile trade families, or outright tied to old school ruling class families.  Free-lancing (outside the questors, and that is an entirely different animal) ceased to be when societal survival wasn't guaranteed.  To put it another way, The powers that be couldn't afford to let their 'free-lancers' go, and so ways were found to keep them within society. 

     Except for one.  The last of the independent Old Campaigners.  The Red Mage.  Rumored to be in his 80's already, a (some say bitter, some say merely crazy)wispy grey and red haired recluse who disdains almost all civilized contact.  He lives on his own island off the coast, brewing his own ale.  His recipes are slowly becoming legendary (some say magical), which he trades or sells only to a privileged few customers, including the Inn of the Stumbling Friar.  And that is the story that I'm going to visit this week as I jump start my creative side, the story of the last human survivor of Sha'te Valley. We'll see if a short story comes out of it.....

TTFN,
Jim
 

Ode to a post hole digger

     If you're expecting a poetic moment, sorry to disappoint.  However, I will comment on one of our recent weekend to-do's.  One of the fence posts between our property and a rental home next door was damaged sometime in the previous renter's tenancy (probably by the junk trailer they backed into their yard when they moved out in the middle of the night to skip out on their overdue rent), and this spring, some high winds finished the job, breaking it off such that the whole section of fence wobbled until we got it braced.  The owner, ( a rather cheap-skate real estate agent who bought the house when her client couldn't sell it during the recent housing market crash), couldn't be bothered to help fix the fence his tenants damaged, so we bought the materials and fixed it ourselves this weekend.  It seems likely that the owner is now fixing the place up to sell (we hope), at the very least, perhaps he'll be a bit more selective on whom to rent to.

     Word of warning.  If you ever have a choice of hiring someone to replace a fence post, and doing it yourself, Hire the worker, no matter the cost!  I'm afraid these old bones will never recover from the digging down about 4 feet to extract all of the old fence post and concrete that was holding it in.  I've used my pick axe before, but breaking up clay, and breaking concrete and rotted fencepost and clay is...  A younger man's job.  The fence is repaired, though.

     One of the previous renters (from a bit more than a year ago) was, I'm afraid, a stereotype bad neighbor type.  He was the one that damaged the fence with his trailer, some of their other tricks included storing their truck topper (peeling paint and rust) in their front yard (and sometimes he'd actually place it in our front yard, because he had lawn tools and other junk laying where he'd normally keep it).  One day I heard a gas-powered string trimmer revving up next door, accompanied by the sound of laughing and screaming kids.  From my deck, I could see his two mullet-haired boys (10 and 12 or so in age) playing, the older one was chasing his younger brother around the yard with the trimmer.  No adults in sight.  I asked the older boy what he planned to do if he actually caught his brother with the string trimmer...  (Great, future leatherface in training???)  His reply, in thick stereotype hillbilly was, "Uh, I dunno, he runs pretty good, dont he?".

     One of the landlords other tenants (who stayed only about 5 months) moved in in the middle of the night, moved out of the middle of the night, and regularly moved mysterious plastic trashcans from his garage to his truck regularly in the middle of the night.  No, we're not spying on them, these antics were observed several times when I was returning home from an evening shift, my truck headlights illuminated them (2 mid-twenties young men and their hooded helpers) rolling 2 filled trash cans down the driveway and all four of them hefting them into the back of their own truck.  Strange and scary...

    So now the house if being fixed up, with loads of new drywall disappearing into the house, lots of sawing and hammering and a dumpster's worth of construction trash piling up.  Since we'd been good friends with the previous owners (who moved out a couple of years ago), we know that the basement was already finished, so it must be repairwork being done.  Hmmmm......   (Please let it be sold...)

     Writing:  I've taken a trip back to my roots, or sorts.  In an effort to break my doldrums, I've been rooting around in the past of doril, digging up old stories to rekindle my passion for writing.  I"m looking at writing a short, possibly about beauty, or perhaps the "old crew", Brandis, Wulluff, Evro, Delanore.  Nothing earth shattering, just something to get me going again.  I'll post it (or excerpts as I go) here.  Hold me to it, patient readers.  And please, comment.  (especially you anonymous readers, I know you're out there, I just don't know who you are...  ;-)  )

Anyway, more to come, but I'll post tonight and write more tomorrow for later posting...

TTFN,
Jim


    

Adventures in Handymanland 2: The big outdoors

     Spring (and now summer) yard chores have been piling up, and Irma and I have tackled our to-do list with a vengeance, hoping to get some of it done before it gets too hot.  Some of our projects are finishing touches of stuff we've worked on in past years (for example, running some outdoor conduit to the outside corner of the deck so we could run the waterfall we've put in the garden there), others are projects put on hold last fall when the ground got too muddy or froze over (retaining wall around the willow tree, edging along the back fence area, and the stone tree wells around our apple and pear trees.  The last entails a fair amount of digging and leveling, since the trees are on a 20 degree slope, the stonework has to be dug in level.  We're doing a little bit every couple of days, since I find working on my knees digging and setting-in 40 pound retaining wall stones a bit fatiguing...  ;-)

     Other projects for the next couple of months include the last two sprinkler zones along the back fence, one to provide drip irrigation to the veggie garden and the fruit trees, the other to water the grass (that will be planted once I finish the tree wells and retaining walls.), and running a water line to the side of the deck in order to provide a short, light hose for us to water the containers on the deck without dragging the heavy black hose half way around the house.  I'd planned for this line when I laid in the sprinkler system several summers back, having laid some pvc underground from the sprinkler valves to beside the deck, where I put in a hose spigot and a manual valve that has until now sent water to the veggie garden drip system.  I"ll use that line with a new valve hooked to the controller that will meter the water to the garden and fruit trees, and split off a spigot attached to the deck railing before the valve for the deck watering line.  Finally, I'll put the trim and paint on the garden shed (built four years ago), and hopefully, be done for the summer.  Until the next list of projects comes up.

     Writing.  <Sigh>  No progress still.  But...  (no more excuses).   I"ll let you know when I start up again.  Perhaps our planned visit to the Colorado Renaissance Festival in a couple of weekends will spark some creativity.  It'll be the first time for our grandkids, I'm sure they'll make it new for us too!

     Anyway, more to come soon. 
TTFN,
Jim

What am I afraid of?

Hello, patient readers.  April and May have come and gone, and no postings.  Bad Jim.  No Biscuit.....

     On the other hand, there have been loads of issues and events.  The FAA is, well, still nuts.  Thunderstorms have already raised their ugly (thunder)heads, bringing terror to our new trainees who've never seen weather deviations before.  One trainee asked me after a particular chaotic session, "Is this going to happen all summer long?"  Yep.  "Could it be any worse?"  Yep.  "How did you ever learn to handle it?"  Just like taking a sip from a fire hose.  Time to bear down and earn our pay...

     As to the title of this post, I've been doing some soul searching about my lack of progress this spring on Imperfect Hope.  Guess what...  I've been acting as if I'm afraid of writing...  Something has triggered a fear of failure, or fear of success, or...  Fear.  I'm not sure exactly what is going on, I don't want to quit, but every time I"ve sat down to write, somehow something has come up to keep me from actually doing anything more than fiddling about with what I've already done.  Perhaps I need to write something else for a bit?  Perhaps I need to just deal with it?

     Some time away from writing has clarified some aspects of what I've been doing with Imperfect Hope, and raised other questions.  I've muddled about with various sub plots that needed to be muddled with, and tossed out some that just didn't fit this story.  Cerryn's journey to questor and weaponmaster will end up being a lot more involved, as will Randir's.  Ren's tale will have a greater bearing on the overall political/strategic storyline, justifying his existence in the tale.  And the political games of the Empire will take on a larger part, with factions within the Empire of Tallux pulling the emperor and those within the empire who oppose him back and forth as they try to balance their empire's needs.

     Beyond the writing front, Irma and I have tackled head on our spring to do list.  Old gardens have been refurbished, grass dug out from where it didn't belong, and the retaining wall projects are underway.  3 fruit trees and a willow need to have the slopes that prevent them from getting sufficient water levelled by building a retaining wall around them, and I"ve incorporated the landscape design to allow me to level and build a gravelled work area in front of the garden shed at the same time.  We've also wired some outdoor outlets for a water fountain at the deck corner, as well as lighting, solar powered motion sensor lights will eliminate the scary dark corners of our oversized lot (I hope squirrels don't trigger the sensors or the lights will be on all night).  The deck was sanded (5 days of crawling around on my hands and knees smoothing out splinters) and refinished, and trim and paint have been touched up all around the deck and house.  Ahead:  watering zones for the veggie garden and fruit trees, trim up and paint the shed, and start laying in a flagstone barbecue patio adjacent to the deck.  This to be done by summers end, when our fall to-do list will kick in. 

     Why the flurry of home improvement/repair/upkeep?  Three years to retirement.  Looking ahead to it, we'll have to have those project expenses taken care of by then, so...  Git-er-done...

     Anyway, I'm going to continue to address my writing fears, and one way I intend to do it is to get back to blogging more frequently.  I think I'm going to write a short story or scene outside of my ongoing project, just for the blog.  Maybe that'll break the logjam.  Maybe...

TTFN,
Jim
 

    

Since I've been gone...

     My apologies to those who've missed my posting of late, the last few weeks have been a maelstrom of chaos at times.  My stepson (and dad to my two grandsons) spent a few days in the hospital, at first the doc's were certain it was his gall bladder, but later some "House" wannabe diagnosed some torn cartilage and acid reflux and discharged him with extreme haste.  Three days later, a visit to Jose's personal doctor put him back on the track of gall bladder problems, a second gastroenterologist rediagnosed a gall bladder problem, and followups confirmed.  16 days after Doc 1 discharged Jose from the hospital, he had his gall bladder removed.  The pain of the previous 3 weeks finally disappeared. 

     While Jose was down with the symptoms and after the surgery during recovery, Irma and I took care of our two grandsons on the days that Jose has custody (4 days a week).  They're 9 and 4, and quite the handful.  We ended up the care three weeks ago when Jose was recovered enough to return to doting parental duties.  So what do I do?  Come down with a nasty 3 day stomach bug that had me unable to eat for a weekend.  Then, barely a day after I returned to work, A cough developed that turned into Bronchitus.  Another week of Phyuck!  (and really strong cough medicine that turned me into a drooling zombie...)

     So...  I"m finally back to work, though not fully back to strength.  And I've done no writing for more than 6 weeks.  Mother told me there'd be days (and days and days) like that.....  ;-)

     In the meantime, Reader Matt (probably missing my commentary and trying to stir me from my apparent hibernation) asked me if one reason I quit writing IFGS and started writing "for real" was because of the limitations of putting out my story the way I envisioned it when the actors (NPC's) have to ad-lib everything, since the players haven't a script.  In response to that (and Matt, I'll be sending out a more detailed response later this week when I gather my thoughts in specific), I've put together some more thoughts on the differences between writing IFGS and "for real".

     To a large degree, when you write for IFGS, you have to give over control of your story to your NPC's and staff, since there is no way to fully predict how players will act and react to your story.  Having said that, in the mini-game series, (and to a lesser degree, in Sha'te Valley), I put an incredible amount of time in trying to tailor the story line to the known players characters and predict how they will act, and for the most part, I was successful.  Though I can't put emotions into the PC's heads, I had some luck in getting them to "feel" the way I wanted them to in order to move the story forward.  I made the antagonist characters larger than life (almost cartoonish) villains who had obvious character traits, strengths and weaknesses and made certain that the actors portraying them got the background as to why they acted the way they did (at least as far as the needs of the story went).  Tailoring the NPC's backgrounds made it fairly easy to target PC's "buttons", for example, by understanding how Ray portrays his PC ranger, Evro, I was able to make Phorix a character that Evro would be torn over, (Good guy gone bad?  Bad guy with honor?  Wrong place at wrong time?).  Thus, I was able to lead the PC's down the (8 lane wide concrete highway) plot path I'd laid out.

     In my writing, I don't have to be so cartoonish about the antagonists or protagonists.  So long as I make it reasonable, I can lead the reader down the plot path that I choose, without making it so blatently obvious.  Antagonists can be subtle, more believable, and hence, more to my story liking.

     Beyond that limitation, IFGS writing has to satisfy a "sanctioning committee" (SC), whose job is to make sure the game is safe, doable, and complies with IFGS rules in such a way that PC's won't feel 'cheated'.  There was a degree of conflict between what they felt was fair, and what I felt was an important part of the storyline, unfortunately, I had a long term view of where the story went, and that by the end of the series I was working on, the PC's would feel successful, but within any given minigame, some would feel like they ended up on the dirty end of the stick.  I chose my PC's such that they would see the long term and not file complaints against the SC for an unfair game, but the SC wasn't able to take the long term view.  Mostly, I suspect, because they had other games on their review docket, and had to treat all the game designers the same, giving me a break could cause designer number 2 to cry foul if he didn't get the same break.  So, in the interest of fairness, some blandness was required in the overall game design.

     I can be unfair to my characters when I write, they won't complain.  'Nuff said.

     Anyway, there's a lot of other reasons why IFGS writing is different for me than fiction writing.  There are a lot of similarities, as well, perhaps I'll touch on them next time.  I promise, it won't be nearly two months before I continue...

TTFN,
Jim

Revisiting D'oril

     I've developed a lot of background material for Imperfect Hope the last few weeks that have refined my vision of D'oril and of the larger world of the D'oril continent (Still groping for a name, but it will come).  Some of it involves one of my earliest "myths" from the IFGS character history of Brandis was that of the birth of the stars, the battle of Dag'enkath, and the position of the K'tath within the greater political arena.  In that very basic myth, I cast the creation of the stars as the pivotal event of the k'tath through a lengthy "history".

     In that history, before Dag'enkath, there were no stars.  There was also a balance between good and evil, darkness and light, so on set up in the aftermath of an earlier, world-devastating conflict between light and dark earlier.  Unhappy with the stagnation of this world, Cy'te, (aka the gamester) introduced "shadow" to the forces of darkness, upsetting the balance.  The forces of light were overwhelmed, until only the k'tath remained surrounded on the hilltop of Dag'enkath.

     To shorten the lengthy story, Elorna, primary guardian of the k'tath, was prohibited (as were all guardians) from intervening directly (from the pacts made long ago after that earlier war between the gods).  Her tears of sadness became the stars, from which the k'tath warriors drew strength to face the shadows, and restored the balance. 

     From that "mythical" tale, I've had to create a more believable "history" for both the k'tath, and the rest of the people of the world.  Rather than force a rather unbelievable appearance of stars on the readers, I've altered the history to become "an awakening", that prior to Dag'enkath, the stars held no special powers to the k'tath, but after, their "talented" could draw upon Elorna's power through them.  There's a lot of depth that I don't have the space to explain at this point, but basically Elorna has invested magical power in the memories of fallen k'tath associated with the stars.  Other cultures have garnered their magical power from other sources (tides, ritual, intonation and/or gestures), all of which create an access point for the natural or unnatural powers that define their brand of magic. 

     The awakening of the k'tath is only one part of the new history.  The long dark brought on by the shadow wars that ended at Dag'enkath also explains the collapse of the civilization south of D'oril.  That Civilization is the one that had built the network of lighthouses which enabled them to navigate the hazardous ocean between their and the far western continent.  Though the true power of the lighthouses has been lost, a couple of the merchanter houses still maintain some ships that can use (in a limited fashion) the navigation lines that the still function lighthouses provide.  In the long term, rediscovery of that technology will be a major part of the latter stages of the confederacy/empire conflict.

     All of this should help me keep Imperfect Hope consistant as I grind through it, but more importantly, the volume of material I'm putting together will keep me writing long into the sunset.  I've already been able to place some of my other story ideas within the grand time scale I've put together.  All told, the world of D'oril is firming up nicely...

     As an interesting sidenote, I recently started reading "The Rivan Codex" by David and Leigh Eddings.  The Eddings' wrote the Belgariad and Malloreon series (some 9 or 10 books, I believe), something I read voraciously 20 years back when they came out.  The Rivan Codex is a glimpse on how he and his wife wrote those books, including background tales and how they put together the world of the belgariad.  The first chapter seems to indicate that I"m on the right path, many of the steps he writes about having been key in developing the background for his tales are the same ones I'm grinding through right now.  It has also given me new enthusiasm...

     A second side note, a recent discussion I had with some of my co-workers had about writing abilities raised an issue that seems to be generational.  Comparing how I learned to write 35+ years ago in the public school system to what is (and more importantly, what apparently isn't), and today's primary writing outlets (blogs, email, and <gasp> twittering) compared to what and how we wrote "back in the day", there is a huge gap in skill, intent, and comprehension.  I believe I'll post about it next time, because it's ignited a firestorm of controversy (of sorts) within the control room, with us oldsters maintaining that writing has become a lost art, and the younglings under 30 holding to the belief that it has merely changed to reflect the times.  I'll have to reinforce my soapbox for this one...  ;-)

TTFN,
Jim

And where did you think these stereotypes came from, anyway?

     Irma and I made a short notice trip to visit with her brother in Cedar City, Utah to give him some support through some ongoing difficult times.  In order to get there, we had to fly to Las Vegas and rent a car to drive 2 1/2 hours into Utah.  I've never been a 'city person', (nor even a large town person), and Vegas definitely fits the bill.  However, we did get a chance to sample some amazing desserts and sandwiches from Jean-Philippes, a patisserie at the Bellagio Hotel where one of our nephews works.  I'm afraid amazing is a bit restrained when it comes to the chocolates and eclairs and, yes, even the roast beef sandwich we had...

     On the flight out to Vegas, as well as while gathering our luggage at the airport, I had the opportunity to observe people.  Yep, those stereotypes fit.  On the flight, there was a large contingent of blue-haired senior citizens (and spouses) who happily chatted almost non-stop with each other and anyone else who made the mistake of making eye contact about how "I personally don't gamble much, but I always seem to win.  But I know someone who lost x-thousand dollars the last time they went".  Funny.  Nobody loses in Vegas, it's always someone else...  ;-)  Of course, on the flight back, most of those same blue-hairs were silent and appeared quite somber.

     Another living stereotype was the white-leisure suit clad, comb-over bearing, 40-something who rushed off the plane to a vending machine near baggage claim in order to purchase a half dozen roses or some other such bouquet, presumable for the girlfriend he was to meet at the airport.  Oozing class, he pondered over the important decision for 10 minutes or so before settling on some arrangement that presumable was almost fresh...  Oh, and the young mid-twenties who put down a brace of beers prior to boarding the plane, talked loudly much of the way, and upon exiting the plane, almost ran to the slot machine to get rid of a few dollars that, based on how quickly he wanted to get rid of them, obviously must have been contaminated with H1N1. 

     There was also the man, sitting across the aisle from me, who grumbled about how they wouldn't let him bring his beer from the terminal onto the plane, and when an infant 4 rows back from us uttered 5-10 seconds worth of loud crying (who wouldn't cry upon being herded into the closed confines of an MD-80), spent the next two minutes loudly muttering to himself "Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into.  Great, a screaming baby.  They should ban those things...blah blah blah")  His harangue was infinitely more annoying than the normal utterances of even the loudest infant.  ;-)

     Anyway, trip out and back went smoothly.  Irma's brother, Omar, and his family (3 kids age 8,13, and 18), probably face a lot more stress as his wife continues her long recovery from brain surgery, but Irma and I both saw good signs of eventual progress and hope.  Puts my whole cataract surgery drama in perspective, at any rate...

     Back to the writing, and I expect I'll be grinding away at Cerryns tale this weekend.  I'll let you know how it goes...

TTFN,
Jim

100k! But is it art?

     I topped 100k words last night as I finished Randir's first scene and started in on continuing Cerryn's tale.  Randir's tale is coming together quite well, and I even did some editing/reworking on some of the first part of that scene that seems to help it read more smoothly.  Picking up Cerryn's tale is a bit rougher, but I suspect as I get back into her storyline, it will come more easily.

     I'm jumping back and forth between Cerryn's and Randir's points of view in part to keep from getting stale as I write.  I'm not certain yet how I'm going to blend those two tales together (scene by scene, or chapter by chapter), nor am I certain how Remy's tale, as well as the empire viewpoint tale will work in.  For now, I'm writing along the chronologic time line of the entire story, which means that as I finish Cerryn's next scene, I should pop in and visit the empire to set their plots in motion.  Then back to Cerryn some more before setting in on Remy.

     Randir's tale will have a longer gap in the story as I'm going to gloss over much of his Kel training and instead focus on the Li'vanya training (Elorna's gatherer) that he picks up as he nears his kel training completion.  The Li'vanya training will force the normally isolationist K'tath to spend some time outside of D'oril learning about the outside world, and that's where things get interesting for him.  BTW, for ifgs'ers, the last Li'vanya was Brandis.

     Meanwhile, Cerryn's training at the Eagles Forge monastery will focus on her sword dance specialization, as well as the extensive philosophic education that she struggles with, setting the stage for the theme of Imperfect Hope.  I'm still putting together my thoughts on the philosophy of the Val'nar temples.  I'll hopefully avoid the stereotypes of warrior-monks by having a distinctive culture built around the concept of Questors (a bit like questing knights, without the lord/government connection).  The Val'nar temples have been trying to guide the confederacy civilization out of a devastating dark age that came about some time back with destruction of the preceding civilization, a humanish empire that spanned the western ocean with it's magical-navigation technologies.  That, btw, is the core of my story idea that's been blurbed on the left here for some time, "Lighthouse".  However, that tale will wait for another day to surface...

     The empire storyline will involve the rise of the new emperor to power, and detail how he follows (and adapts) his fathers long term expansion plan that replaced the previous dynasties rather blunt-force plans.  Those plans led to the disaster (for the empire) at Sha'te Valley and eventually led to the fall of the previous emperor.  The new dynasty adopted a longer term, more subtle strategy to obtain the resources needed to keep the empire running.  The current emperor's father will come across as a rather brilliant strategist, but his son, having fallen under the influence of a powerful seta high priest, will be less successful at long term planning.  I've not really fleshed out the emperor's personality yet, since I only touched on him in one scene in my first draft.  I'm sure as I start to work on that, I'll find out who he is, beyond the two-dimensional figure he is right now.

     Time for a blurb, something from the tail end of Randir's first scene.  It's first draft material, so don't expect too much. 

     Elorna laid the newly crafted j'tai on the log next to her sleeping li'vanya.  Moments passed as she gazed at him, her face a mixture of joy at his choice, and sadness at the harsh path she had just placed his feet upon.  The glade returned to normal, the wind picked up and snow swirled about the clearing again.  Gradually, the guardian faded from view until only the faintest of outlines could be seen, though her eyes remained star bright as she watched until the storm began to wane and the sun rose. 

Clear skies,
Jim

January Progress

     Back in the grinder.  If you note the word count on the left, I've recently updated my count on Imperfect Hope to reflect that I've put in several thousand words of late.  Current total, slightly over 97k.  Being a rough draft, I know that number isn't terribly accurate when it comes to the final product, but it gives me a measure of my progress.  I think I'll treat myself to something when I top 100k words (probably tomorrow).  Little celebrations...

     Reader Matt (Thanks, Matt) sent me a note last week commenting on a posting from a bit more than a year ago about personality.  Back then, I was reading up on the Meyers-Briggs personality tests, and applying that in some degree to my character development.  At first, I envisioned the entire culture of the K'tath to be somewhat homogenous in their makeup, with a strong preponderance of Introverted, Intuitives.  However, Matt, whose father has taught Meyers-Briggs for some 25 years, pointed out that the overall percentages of types is pretty much cross cultural.  That 3% of americans who are INFP's compares to the 3% of East Germans, 3% of Nigerians, and 3% of Chileans.  As usual, I got to thinking...

     It would make sense if I concentrate certain 'types' within the three castes of the K'tath, much like certain types do well (and concentrate somewhat) within certain professions (And that got me to thinking about the mb-types of air traffic controllers, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms).  Thus, I'm going to look at the 16 types, especially the informal names (like guardian, mentor, artisan) and allow that to concentrate the typings for me.  I'm also going to look at my current thoughts on the typings of my major protagonists to make sure it fits, but I don't anticipate any changes in their personality, I used the Meyers-Briggs as merely food for thought when I was fleshing out Randir and Cerryn.

     The "informal" names for the types seem to provide a clue to the typical personality of the various types.  For example, a wikipedia article refers to the INFP (my type) as a healer, though not necessarily a "Physical Healer", rather it implies that an INFP is an emotional and spiritual healer (thus many INFP's do well in careers such as counselors and therapists).  The INTJ's nickname is "mastermind".  ISFJ is "protector".  An ESFJ is a "Provider".  You get the point.  Using those 'non-scientific' names as a beginning, I can more easily see the makeup of the k'tath culture, at least regarding their disposition within the three castes.  Sen would include ESTJ supervisors,INTP architects, and INTJ masterminds. Krath, the bulk of the k'tath, would include ESFJ providers, ENFP teachers, crafters, counselors, and so on.  The Kel would include ENFP Champions, ISFJ Protectors, and possibly the ENTJ "Field marshall" (though they also might go into the Sen). 

     Does this help me write?  Perhaps as I'm jotting down notes about characters as I write the story, having a 'type' on file helps me keep the characters actions consistent, so long as I remember to consult my notes every so often to remind myself of the details I've accumulated.  Many of my notes are scattered about my desk drawer, poorly organized, but since this summer when I upgraded my writing software to a program called ywriter-5, I'm able to append notes to characters, objects, places, whatever I need, and recall them with only a few mouse clicks.  By the time I've finished IH, I suspect I'll have quite a file of notes saved on my harddrive(s) that will carry over to my next project.  Now, where did I put my D'oril maps...

     Anyway...  I'll probably get back to work on writing tonight after work, if I break 100k anytime in the next three days, Irma and I will reward ourselves (well, me for the milestone, and her for putting up with my madness) with a nice dinner somewhere.  Anyone got any suggestions?

TTFN,
Jim

    

2010: New Year

     I find myself a bit in awe of the fact that we're beginning another new decade.  Y2K really doesn't seem that far back, and yet, here we are, 2010.  Is anybody else feeling like the calendar is flipping by faster and faster?

     Imperfect Hope has languished for the last 6 weeks.  As I'd mentioned in my last post, writing during the holiday period has felt nearly impossible.  I know it would be different if I were writing full time, and not putting most of my energy into keeping my head above the water at the FAA.  Though our traffic levels are down a little from last year, it felt busier than ever, in a large part due to the extra load we veterans have to carry while the new generation of trainees learn the ropes.  With retirements coming fast and furious, the trainees are getting pushed hard to get checked out on the various sectors, sometimes too rapidly for them to absorb it all in a meaningful manner.  When I went through the training process some 22 years back, it took nearly 4 years to complete.  The technology has changed dramatically since then, but the core of the job is the same.  It still takes about three years for the newbies to get through the program, and honestly, I think it takes another year or more for some of it to really sink in.

     I've looked at my skill progression and have come up with a comparison to medieval times.  Back then, (and I'm playing a bit loose with hard facts because, frankly, there are dozens of different facts that contradict each other to some degree, so I'm picking the ones that I remember from readings that seem most relevant.)  Anyway, back then, in the skilled artisan or trade guilds, an apprentice (trainee) spent many years learning the job (Controller wise, that's 2-4 years college, plus 3-4 years on the job training).  Once they became a journeyman (we call them "FPL's", or full performance level controllers), they might spend 15 years or so perfecting their art.  Then, they became masters.  In the ATC world, I see the trainees get checked out, and spend about three years becoming what I consider a "journeyman" level, then another 12-15 years before I feel that skill levels are at the "master" level.  Yes, there is a definite difference between a 6 year "journeyman", and an 18 year "master".  There's an efficiency in action, a calmness, and frankly, a confidence in the way the master handles things that a journeyman, even though he may have all the technical skills, just can't project with the same smoothness.

     Thats where the challenges this year have arisen.  We've got two humps of ages in the ATC system, a hump of 40 percent or so of controllers with 20+ years of experience who are all "masters", many of whom will be retiring in the next few years, another hump of 30 percent who are "journeymen" with 5-10 years of experience (yes, there was a period of ten years where the FAA just flat out ignored hiring new controllers because "we've got enough right now"), and the remaining 30 percent who are either trainees, or less than 5 year veterans.  The burden is falling on the "masters" to train the newbies, not because the journeymen can't, but because the stress levels in 1 on 1 training pushes them much harder than it does the veterans. 

     However, it is tiring.  Sitting in front of a radar scope for 2 hours at a time with full attention on projecting what will happen in the next 10 minutes is fatiguing enough.  Sitting behind a trainee with full attention on both the radar scope and the trainee is doubly so.  A good trainer's eye spends almost as much time on the trainee because, basically, you want to sense trouble forming in the trainee's mind before he or she even realizes it is there. 

     I watch my trainee's shoulders, hands, and leg movements.  I listen to the timbre of his voice, speech rate, note stumbles and the frequency of "Calling Center, say again?".  Some trainees start bouncing their knee when they begin to stress.  Some lean further and further forward until their noses seem to almost touch the radar screen.  And some just flat out freeze.

     A "journeyman" controller probably isn't aware of those telltales, so the trainee gets in trouble, and the journeyman trainer notices it about the time he see's that the sector is almost beyond control.  He then has to jump in, pull the trainee out of the way, and spend the next 15 minutes shoveling furiously until he's out of the hole.  Meanwhile, the trainee sits back and fidgets and stresses and, by the time he or she jumps back in, often has lost confidence.

     A veteran trainer might simply mention that the trainee is leaning too far forward, and perhaps he should unclench his fist and let his microphone button breathe a bit.  A simple suggestion to head off a problem 15 minutes before it's a problem might be the key that a veteran see's, but the trainee hasn't.   Rescue the trainee from the stress before it begins, and quite probably, the trainee will be able to get through whatever is building.  He'll learn from it. 

     Obviously, some veteran controllers have no business sitting behind a trainee.  And some journeymen instructors do very well.  There are as many training styles in the center as there are controllers.  Some of us use more than one, depending on what is needed. 

     Bottom line, though, is that, as I'd mentioned last month, we're tired.  With Ski-country routes and traffic levels climbing again, it will be until after spring break before it starts to wind down.  I'm on a crew with 6 FPL controllers (4 of whom are "veterans"), and three trainees, one of whom is a complete beginner, only having arrived at the center a couple of weeks back.  Looks like it's going to be a long year...

     However...  It is a new year.  The FAA is 40-48 hours a week, and it is a stable job, something many out there don't have.  It is up to me to shed the fatigue and stress of the job as I leave the facility and drive home, and be grateful for the blessings that have come my way.  I just have to remember that the rest of the time is our time, so I'll keep my eyes on the stars...  Just like Randir and Cerryn are supposed to do in Imperfect Hope...  ;-)

Clear skies, all...
Jim