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