Owls and coffee

     Good morning...  A great horned owl has taken up residence (I hope permanently) in one of the cottonwood trees that line our backyard.  I first heard him or her last weekend when his booming challenge echoed through our open window at 430 am.  Honestly, it was a great way to wake up.  Since then, we've not been awakened that early again, but I have heard him most mornings around 600am as Irma and I are sipping our coffee and getting ready for the day.

      I hear the gasp of "600 am?" out there.  I actually only have to be up before 6 am for work two days a week, but the rotating schedule that the FAA asks us to follow really messes up my sleep patterns.  Working 2 or 3 night shifts and 3 or 4 day shifts a week, I find that I'm groggy the mornings after a night shift no matter what time I get up.  So I rise around 600 (or 520 for those days when I have to be in for the early shift) and just muddle through the grogginess with as near a bottomless cup of coffee as I can find.  Sometimes I even make myself useful...

     Our great horned owl neighbor does bring to mind one of the early bits of lore I'd tossed about in the D'oril series, that of Elorna's connection to owls.  In some ways, it was a direct theft from greek mythos, Athena and Owls, but I'd always kept most of the greek mythos connection well hidden.  Sha'te was one opportunity for me to showcase the differences, I introduced the Shianna.

     Shianna are very loosely based on animist amerind mythologies where every animal had a "leader", almost (or directly) a god.  Coyote, for example, or Father Bear, of the various tribal mythos, come to mind.  In the D'oril world, the shianna were animistic spirits that represented all animals of that species, from chipmunks to owls to elk.  For the most part, their connection to the k'tath was incidental, even as their connection to the humanish folk to the south almost non-existent.  Once in a while, though, they'd get involved, usually at the request (or suggestion) of Elorna herself. 

     In Sha'te, the 4 shianna I introduced  were attempting to help the leader of the k'tath, the Sen'anth, escape the shadow scouts that had been placed on her trail by Phorix in retaliation for the use of the seeker by the PC's in Heartbow and Seeker.   The PC's, with the concurrence of the k'tath, had used the seeker to try and assassinate the "unbeatable general" Yamto before he could lead the empire's army against the K'tath.  Though he lived, he didn't participate in Sha'te, and in response, the new general of the empire's expeditionary force sent a large contingent of shadow scouts to hunt down any of several leaders of the k'tath.  In a sense, this act doomed the empire to failure at Sha'te, for it deprived the army of it's eyes as it approached the battlefield.  (History buffs will recognize the similarity to JEB Stuarts ill-advised antics prior to Gettysburg, where, in an effort to regain favorable press, he undertook a wild ride "around the union army", which garnered the press, but deprived General Lee of valuable intel on the actions of General Meade in the days leading up to Gettysburg.  Yes, this similarity was deliberate)

     At any rate, the Shianna had a brief introduction at sha'te as a minor force.  They bore a faint relation to the ranger skill, Aspect of the Beast, and in the game, lent some otherworldly skills to the 4 heroes they were helping.  I vaguely recall one of the shianna was Wheer, the owl, I think another was deer, but for the life of me, I cannot remember the others.  (help, anyone?)  Each lent it's power to one of the PC's for the crux encounter, and added a bit more to the final encounter of day two, but beyond that, I didn't develop them much at sha'te.

     In writing, the shianna are out there, but as yet, I"ve not put them into the storyline.  I'm sure they'll show up someday, some how, somewhere.  It'll probably be an owl, waking our heroes up at 4:00 am.  Knowing the typical heroes of D'oril, he won't stop grumbling until the next winter.....   ;-)

TTFN,
Jim

Things to do in longmont when you're frozen...

Not much to report on the writing front today, I've done a bit more rewriting of a weak scene, and I've done a fair amount of backgrounding, such as the last couple of posts. All that background stuff is buried deep in my head, and writing it has done a lot towards helping me recraft the storyline of Imperfect Hope. I don't expect to do much writing over the next couple of weeks, though...

Holiday air traffic seems to be down from last year, with the economy the way it is, I'm not suprised. We've 5 fewer controllers in the area than last year, though (out of 53 last january, down to 48), so we're doing more. I've been grateful that the weather has been reasonably mellow so far, other than the record setting cold over the weekend.

I finally ordered the Turntable-to-digital recordplayer and the slide-to digital reader for my computer at home to start archiving all of my dad's slides, photo's, and rather extensive jazz and other record collection. I've put aside an external hard drive with 500gb space to it up on, and I plan to make cd's/dvd's as I go along to share with the family. I'm not sure where I'll start, the record collection starts in the 1940's, perhaps earlier, and the slides... whooo. Probably more than a few embarrassing shots of your's truly when I was way to little to care about the camera pointed my way. (As well as other members of the family who shall remain nameless so long as they promise regular "protection" payments to keep the pics out of the hands of his triplets... (Evil Grin). Seriously, I do intend to share some shots, in some cases I'll be seeking help in identifying places and/or people (though I don't expect Art to recognize my Aunt Whoosit) The music, who knows... If I can make the music player on the web page work seamlessly, I might upload the tune of the week... If nothing else, it'll give me something else to write about.

Anyway, drop me a line to encourage me or harangue me, or even to just say hello from the long-long ago's, either thru comment or email.

Clear skies,
Jim

Reading the past

Writing requires reading. Everybody in the writing business I've talked to, from Mercedes Lackey to Robert Asprin, tout this. I've always been a voracious reader, sometimes I've been known to go through 2 or 3 novels a week when I'm focused on that. As I"ve been writing more, I've also noticed that my tastes have become somewhat refined, in my own way, just like they've changed back and forth over the years.

I used to read a lot of hard military sf, things like Hammers Slammers. Before that, there were phases of humorous fantasy (Asprin comes to mind). I periodically pick up new releases by old favorites, Orson Scott Card, for example, keeps me entertained with a constantly changing battery of different styles.

What I've been writing with Imperfect Hope is somewhere from my long ago reading habits. I suppose it has an official name for the genre within the fantasy realm, but off the top of my head, I can't think of it. One of the prolific writers of my reading past (probably 20ish years ago) is Marion Zimmer Bradley, specifically her Darkover novels. I've come to realize that much of what I'm writing about in the d'oril realm is influenced by that styling.

MZB often set her novels in the harsh, cold climes of Darkover, I remember images of castles nearly swallowed up by massive drifts of snow much of the year, the residents hardened against the winter by their breeding and magical talents. D'oril is similar, the k'tath are quite inured by the cold of their homeland. I've also built a stable of potential heroic characters, and I've noticed that, Like MZB, many of them are female. I suspect many of them will show up in my stories.

I suppose it seems rather arrogant of me to compare my writing to Ms Bradleys, but in truth, I'm only making some very general comparisons, I know the reality is that I'm only just beginning, regardless of how much practice I'd had writing for the IFGS and fantasy gaming. But the realization of where some of my deep down inspirations have come from has reawakened my desire to dig out the darkover series and reread... Except I donated away most of my paperbacks about 10 years ago. Guess I'll dig up that library card and see what I can find.....

Activate the wayback machine, Mr. Peabody

Okay, so last week I had a memory moment, one of those episodes where something gets dredged up out of the past. I don't know where these things come from, they just come out of the blue, like getting blindsided by a wing forward as you pop out of a scrum. (Three points to whoever correctly identifies that reference, sorry, Jeff, you're disqualified...) Anyway... look at the pretty lights when Sherman and Peabody punch that button...

Nineteen-sixty-one. The cold war and innocence battle for control of the minds of America's youth, and President Kennedy is worried about fitness. He forms the presidential council of fitness, and with the help of a famous stage and screen actor, sends to every (according to the propaganda, anyway) school, a six and a half minute exercise record. First graders and up are greeted in gym class, or on the morning PA, with which of the following?

A. Frank Sinatra sings "My way"
B. Richard Simmons does the Twist (and can't be seen on video, because it hasnt been invented yet)
C. Robert Preston takes a break from Music Man and sings "The Chicken Fat Song"

Anyone? Anyone?

I remember first and second grade, our once or twice weekly gym class teacher pulling out this record and playing, yes, "THE CHICKEN FAT SONG!" Oh, it was the most annoyingly mind-sticking song, we absolutely hated it. Nearly seven minutes of jumping jacks, push ups, and running in place while Mr. Preston belts out a broadway-quality, pre-video era exercise routine worthy of any boot camp. Marching music, a back up chorus, and words that, once triggered, probably mutated our little brains for all time. If anyone doubts that lines such as... "Give that chicken fat back to the chickens, and don't be chicken again, Go you chicken fat, Go!" hasn't warped todays generation beyond all repair, doesn't understand why both the United States and the Soviet Union spent billions on mind control research. ;-)

Anyway, the memory was jogged. Out of curiousity, I looked it up, and sure enough, someone was weird enough to archive it. Be warned, listening to this may cause epileptic fits, drooling, uncontrolled retching, smiling, giggles, and a reversion to childlike behavior. Be warned, but... Listen. It'll make you laugh. http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/2003/276.shtml

I think it should be required on all exercise mp3 players.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

More to come writing wise later.....
TTFN,
Jim

Writing, remembering, and dreaming

I've been putting some time into doing some workshop exercises to practice the craft of writing. In some ways, it's like weight lifting or cardio for fitness, different kinds of exercises work different parts of the writing muscles. Like my weight loss program, I'll be most successful if I am consistent.

Yesterday, the exercise was to recall 3 of my earliest (if not the earliest) memories, write them down, and then see if I can create a 3rd person story out of them. What came out surprised me. Of course,what I wrote was non-genre, quite different from the fantasy/science fiction I generally work in, but that's part of the exercise. It got me to looking at a different side of a story.

The memories were all from when I was perhaps 3 or 4, I remember living in an apartment that had a kiddie/wading pool on the other side of the apartment parking area. One of the memories involved around eating some cheerios (yes, the memory is that specific), and trying to explain to an adult (friend of my fathers who was visiting) why cheerios were good for you. Another involved seeing some twin girls, probably 5 or 6 years old (ancient to me) who each had a red scooter that they happily tooled around the parking lot on, taunting me, who wanted desperatly to try it. Third memory involved running to the wading pool one day, after forgetting to put on sandals or shoes, and stepping on a bee in a clover patch. Needless to say, I howled...

SO what can you do with such disparate memories? It turns out, a lot. I got some practice writing in a vastly different voice, describing things from the viewpoint of a 4 year old, even while I added and changed aspects of the memory to make it a story, and not just images. It turned out to be fun, though I will also admit I found myself thinking hard about the exercise. At one point, Irma poked her head in on me, and noted that I was smiling (eek, caught me enjoying myself!)

What can I do with it? Practice polishing it. Turn it around to try different viewpoints (how about the viewpoint of one of the adults?) Alter the genre and use the imagery to create depth in one of my projects. WHo knows...

Anyone care to opine about their own first memories? Call it a challenge, don't worry about a story, just dredge up what you thing you remember and share it. Belief it or not, it's fun.

Clear skies,
Jim