Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Cassandra's prayers to Apollo in Greek

Cassandra's prayer to Apollo for the protection of children
Χαλάζι απόλλωνας, χαλάζι Korotrophos! Προστάτης της νεολαίας, εσείς πάντα ο νεανικός. Μάιος οι ευλογίες σας είναι επάνω στους νέους του κόσμου, τον οποίο να τείνουν να είναι ισχυροί, και σοφοί ηγέτες του μέλλοντος.


English: Hail Apollo, Korotrophos Hail! Protector of youth, you the ever youthful. May your blessings be upon the young people of the world, that they might grow to be strong, and wise leaders of the future.

Cassandra's prayer to Apollo for protection

Χαλάζι απόλλωνας, χαλάζι Apotropaeus! Μας προστατεύστε με το σας. Μας προστατεύστε από το κακό που είναι χαλαρό στον κόσμο. Μας φρουρήστε δεδομένου ότι ένας πατέρας προστατεύει τα παιδιά του.


English: Hail Apollo, Apotropaeus Hail! Protect us with your might. Shield us from the evil which is loose in the world. Guard us as a father protects his children.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 7

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Third Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I could have sworn I got more accomplished even with graduation ceremony. Oh right, working on the instructions on fixing the local server and figuring out my finances again. Not too shabby considering everything that has been ongoing.

Monday is off to an odd start. I don't feel ill, but I do feel off. I think I was more stressed about Saturday than I thought I was and I'm finally relaxing. The nasty weather doesn't help either.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 6

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Third Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Insomnia is great when you can actually make use of it. :p When the whole sleep thing was not happening last night, I should have gotten up and started working on something, rather than lay in my dark bedroom staring at the ceiling.

Anyways, I managed to get quite a bit done this weekend, in between working on the local server project that will not end. I still haven't figured out what to do with that mess, but I need to make a decision soon.

My beta reader was very confused over the formatting for one chapter, and since I didn't have a clue when I typed I decided to drop the dilemma in here and see what other people make of it.

Quoting anything over 4 lines long is set off in as block quotation usually centered or margin-adjusted on the page. Quoted song lyrics are usually italicized and block quoted (at least the most recent example I found in a published work was). A new speaker means a new paragraph. So what happens when you have a new singer?

Here's a sample of what I tried to do:
[Tabbed over] Jenkins lost his surprised expression as he pulled his guitar onto his lap. “It reminds me of a queen I knew once.” He fell into a chord that was familiar to the crew as they started tapping feet and Spencer started the same song on the fiddle.


“Gentlemen it is my duty to inform you of one beauty,
though I ask of you a favor, not to seek her for a while.
For I own she is a creature of character and feature,
no words can paint the picture of the Queen of all Argyll.”


[Tabbed over] All the men started singing the chorus.

“And if you could have seen her there, boys if you had just been there!
The swan was in her movement and the morning in her smile.
All the roses in the garden would bow and ask her pardon.
For not one could match the beauty of the Queen of all Argyll.”


Sample Number two:
[Tabbed over] “Then ‘Dark Lady’ you shall have. Now go feed your belly.” Betsy set her food aside. Sprite bounded up to Cain, grabbing her meal with a huge grin. Spencer started the song on his fiddle and played for a few measures before Betsy blended her strong voice with the melody.

“A fierce one-eyed man named Baron LaBonne,
a meaner pirate had never been known,
and he sailed on the Dark Lady.
A ship strong and sound with a perilous crew,
and high on the mast the skull and bones flew.
Fleet and swift was the Dark Lady.


And every night the Baron would drink a toast.
He'd say, "Here's to my lovely lady host!
My one true love."

[Tabbed over] The entire room called out, "Hear, hear!"
[Tabbed over] And Betsy continued the song,
“the crew replied.
And the Dark Lady sighed.


This scene and the three songs would be so much easier to film. :p And I doubt this is less confusing when I get to "Whiskey in the Jar." Any thoughts?

Friday, December 04, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 5

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Third Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I thought I'd be further along with this, but some other projects are taking longer than anticipated to wrap up. All I want is a nice quiet weekend to get caught up. And hopefully the snowfall they're predicting doesn't mean we loose electricity. Because I think everything I have to do needs the computer. :p

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Notes for Laissez Bon Temps Rouler 2

Add "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions to the soundtrack.

Possibly poor taste considering my plot, but a) Vinnie would pick it out and b) I need more upbeat fight music.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Progress 4

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Third Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Hopefully these numbers will look a lot better by the time I get back. I'm leaving town for Thanksgiving, so I'll be going offline until next Monday. And I'm taking paper copies so when I've had enough of the family together time, I can vanish and make edits.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 3

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Third Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I had a wonderfully brilliant idea to approach Wiley Publishers for a Drupal for Dummies book, only to find out someone beat me to it. So now I need to find it in a library to decide if it'll be worth keeping on my shelf permanently. With as fast a Drupal updates, it may not be. On the other hand, actually having instructions not written in developer-speak, *happy sigh*

Editing progress: I'm a bit behind on where I wanted to be transcribing red marks to the computer files. I've already started sending files to Rissy, who volunteered to beta Pirates for me, so I have those corrections to make for the third draft. I haven't reached stressing out stage yet, so it's all under control. How often do I get to say that? LOL

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 2

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Second Draft Chapter Progress

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Moving right along when I actually have a chance to work on it without anything else distracting me. I finally cast Kaliko too, and gnome-ized Clive Owen.



I love Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I--despite the flaws of the movies--but be prepared if you Google "best monarch on film" to see a dozen links about her and only her. Cate as Kaliko doesn't work. :p

All the profiles for the OZOC Tavern are written, but I'm procrastinating fixing my LiveJournal usage so I can post to the communities. 1) Not ready to advertise for Pirates yet and 2) found a problem at the website to clean up.

A coworker wanted to read more of my stuff, so I directed her to the BookWorm's Library and since she uses IE and I was too busy to check the last changes I made, I saw how it looks there for the first time. *headdesk*

Luckily, the stories display fine and the overlap or shoved over problem only exists on the main pages. So I don't have to redo the whole site, just the main pages and figure out what I'm going to do about the Reference section. So today, I had the bright idea that since Dreamweaver at home displays it like Firefox and the rest of the world sees my code Microsoft Front Page probably shows it like IE does and I can fix the pages from there.

With the exception of not displaying Javascript code, Front Page displays the design as I intended it to look and not how IE changes it. *headdesk* Maybe it's time for the browser programmers to talk to the rest of the organization, much less the world when it comes to CSS. :p

I also decided that I will link LiveJournal users directly to my website, rather than dealing with coding another version of the same story because people have issues with reading at FF.net. I figure if their issues prevent them from reading my own lovingly crafted site I can't help them. But that also means I want to have the new version of the Reference section finished before I start posting. Which means getting the test site done for the Circulation Desk, so I can make sure I don't break everything trying to add a wiki.

On the bright side, I have plenty to keep me from getting bored at work today.

Friday, November 06, 2009

M.A. Exam Part 1


I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Walking down the aisle in cap and gown is Dec. 12th. I can't remember what my date is for mailing out invitations/announcements, because I wrote that down at home. :p So if you really want one, email me a current mailing address.

*Away to squee offline.*

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Yeap this belongs in the writerly side of my life

Write Fight

This does not bode well. But it will probably be very funny. :D

Monday, November 02, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Editing Update 1

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic: Chapter Progress to Make Second Draft

Progress Bar from Writertopia

If the bar doesn't show up, I'm betting NaNo killed the site for a while. If it didn't I'll have to hunt down a new progress graphic. :p Anyways, I did find a way to represent progress with it when in the editing stage: list how many chapters I have finished. (It's seven out of forty-four or 16% if the graph is having technical difficulties.)

Goal for this week since I don't have to fight my body to get out of bed in the morning thanks to the time change, I'd like to get all seven of my writing hours spent up. If I do more than that, bonus!, but I'd like seven at the least.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Question for the Tin Man community

I need to figure out how to ask this on Live Journal. However, all brain matter that usually solves computer puzzles is wrapped up in solving sewing puzzles. And after last night, I really don't want to fight with the computer not doing what I want it to do.

Question: Anybody have a clue who this actress is?



She's the not-redheaded woman in Jeb's camp. I'm hoping that someone has already matched a real name with the face, so I can find a better picture.

Friday, October 23, 2009

The Library

First up on the project list is getting Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas ready to post in the BookWorm's Library. And because no project of mine is complete without generating thoughts of more projects, I'm here to try to figure out the next step.

Idea 1: "There are limits to what I can illustrate with photos. Let's learn Poser and build properly staged scene illustrations!"

We're going to chalk that one up to drunk with the freedom from Faulkner and never mention it again. I have been having fun illustrating this story with the cast list I have developed and screenshots from Tin Man, but all good things must come to an end.

Idea 2: "No button made for the Tin Man explanation section. Crap, the Tin Man explanation section doesn't exist either. I've been building the Zackverse Wiki. I should just make that readable, but no, it has spoilers. What about moving the explanation section to a Wiki environment?"

I must admit I like this idea. It would be more cutting and pasting what I want to share on my end, and readers could add to it. I'm not holding my breath that they will--no one has noticed the forum yet--but the capability would be there. So I went skipping along to see what it would take. ... And I'm still rubbing where I fell on my ass over the sheer multitude of choice available.

It's also not the first time I've asked the part of me that has these bright ideas why it doesn't like me.

I did manage to narrow down the choices:
  1. Not going to make the TiddlyWiki version of Zackverse Wiki readable; those are working notes.
  2. Drupal can make a wiki, but I have no idea what would happen if I added it to the Circulation Desk.
  3. MediaWiki that powers Wikipedia is free software, but I don't know how I would be limited with adding images. Plus dealing with wiki markup instead of the HTML I already know.
I'm still doing research at this stage.

Looking What I Did

Yes, I've been playing with PaintShop again. I found a new blog with tips, even though it's been a few months since the last update. But it was extremely helpful for the first two images in this sequence. These pictures for Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas.

Lady Lissa of Hyrule (portrayed by Marguerite Moreau)


Halvard, Lord Gillikin (portrayed by Mason Vale Cotton)


Inside the Grey Gale. (I wanted to add in Dorothy, but it wouldn't work with the screen captures available. :p)


And last, because I didn't actually manipulate anything in this pic, Chelsea (portrayed by Stephanie Leonidas).

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 12

I know, I know. I thought it was over too. But my professor found typos. And two paragraphs needing rewording. I was more hair pulling out of the Mac speak issue happening again when the deadline is looming ever closer! 2pm tomorrow! I'd rather send it back today before I leave for the commute and check and make sure it got there after I get home.

Luckily, he found a secretary who could convert the edited document into something I can read. So now to make changes.

Oct. 15th: I've never been trained to cite in a style other than MLA format, so I use it as my basis when citing sources in the blog and tutorial posts. But I tweak it to usually list the author and title at all times, no matter what I wrote in the text. A lot of times I'm juggling two or more books by the same person, so it saves time.

Well, MLA says you don't have to do that, just the page numbers are fine, if you've referenced the author or the title in the text. But what counts as the reference? All the examples in the MLA Handbook are a sentence long, and they don't say if further up the paragraph is acceptable or not. Even though I feel it is clear from the text and character references which book is being quoted, I put the titles in all the parenthetical citation notes.

And have sent it away. Again. I added to this note, because at this point, why jinx my luck with a 13th entry?

Oct 15th 2:22 update: My professor gave the paper his stamp of approval and now it's on it's way to get graded. And I have no clue how long that process takes. But it is essentially out of my hands now so...

FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 11

The edits: My professor was being nice. He made his edits in the doc and sent me that version. He also works on a Mac and I have a PC.

I finally get it open after having an unrelated issue with Word, and the document is nothing but gobble-gook. I'm used to seeing format go wonky, so I go looking for my text surround by wing-ding fonts. My text is not there and the only thing available in English is a line at the top: "This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0." Not panicking yet, go back to GMail and try to open it as an HTML document. Error. Try to open it as a Google Doc. Error. Call Suzanna since I sent her a copy of it while getting plans straight for the weekend. She has the same issue.

After much cussing and getting a cramp in my leg from restraining my urge to kick, I Google on BinHex 4.0. Find this article at No Geek Left Behind that explains the issue. Huzzah, there is a work around. Start to download the program needed, and Firefox goes into its "wait you want me to do something routine?" and freezes. I have to end program twice on it.

I finally get the download completed and get Firefox up to see the rest of the steps, and No Geek Left Behind went down. Fifteen minutes of ranting and raving, I finally remember Google's caching feature and get the text copy of the instructions. Print those out just in case Firefox wants to crash again.

Their work around worked and I was able to read my professor's editing suggestions two hours since I started fooling with Faulkner for the day. Mom thought lunch was a good time for me to take a break and talk things over with her and I hadn't even gotten started yet. *Headdesk* Two hours of a Saturday on just computer issues.

So this is it. Typing up my last edits for the final draft (4.0 for those keeping count) and sending it off today. Next comes grading and at some point I'm told the results.

Since I had to cut out my epiphany introduction for not being formal enough, I thought I would share it here along with my commentary from draft 2.5 (i.e. my rant). Enjoy or not.

From the second draft:
While Barak Obama was still campaigning to be the next President of the United States, the race issue in America swirled to the forefront of the media coverage. His association with controversial figures from the Civil Rights era was scrutinized. Statements from his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, made national headlines. Everyone expected the first biracial candidate to be hit with the lingering national racial tension, but what was surprising was how Obama addressed the issue in a speech given in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 18, 2008.

This speech explained the relationship Wright and Obama had, which was expected since it was the current controversy. What was unexpected from a politician seeking the highest elected office in the United States was how frankly he spoke on the racial tension.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America—to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through—a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. (Sullivan “The Speech.”)

Some commentators wondered why Obama would quote William Faulkner, the Nobel Prize winning author best known for writing Southern gothic novels and short stories dealing with the fall of the Old South in the Civil War. The race issue in American can be traced back to slavery and the struggle to overcome it, but why quote a white man in a book by a white author when there are plenty of authors who address the issue from the side who suffered, from the African-American side?

An unnamed reader of the Daily Dish emailed Andrew Sullivan about it, and Sullivan shared the email with the rest of his readers later on March 18, 2008.
That Obama was signaling – “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past” – that his speech – and his candidacy – are about confronting history from a Faulknerian standpoint was, to me, the bravest thing he did. It signaled to me that he feels this discussion is more important than electoral success, and I can’t help but admire that. … Faulkner is too easily pigeonholed as being about race. Or about “The Fall of the Old South.” (You have never truly felt the urge to stab someone with a pen until you’re the only southerner in a room full of upper-Midwestern accents insisting upon fitting everything in Faulkner neatly into the later.) But both of those miss the point—Faulkner is about the past, and the struggle to both accept it as a part of oneself and continue into the future. (Sullivan “The Past Isn’t Dead. It Isn’t Even Past.”)

This was one of those interpretations that had never occurred to me before reading this post to hit like a lightening bolt. If Faulkner had been born and raised in a different portion of the United States, he would have a different Past to come to terms with. Out west, it could have been the racial tensions between white settlers and Native Americans, or changes to society because the railroads. Nathaniel Hawthorne was exploring some of the same issues about the Puritan influence in New England a century earlier, so too would have Faulkner if that had been his region. Not sure what he could have been writing about if Faulkner had been prairie-bred, but feel that it would have probably been polar opposite of Little House on the Prairie.

Faulkner set most of his novels within his lifetime. The Civil War and its aftermath had taken place only about three generations ago. That’s not ancient enough past for people not to be affected by it. The society he was raised in was still trying to come to terms with it, so it is no surprise the role remembering the Civil War and its heroes and the legacy of slavery plays in his works as themes.


From draft 2.5:
Here I am, hoping that the cliché the third time is the charm actually comes true, starting over from scratch because nothing I have said before is good enough on contributes to the greater Faulkner conversation. How can it when I’ve been forced into writing about race relations like everyone else does? And the sense of panic is from knowing I’m supposed to turn out a copy by October 15th to pass muster with everyone grading this and that’s so not on schedule.

It’s enough to make me pull out my hair. It has made me abandon academic voice in favor of this conversational style that will hopefully keep me motivated to get this last project done. Though I find this a perfect moment to add: paper is easier that a thesis project my ass! If events had worked out so I could have done a thesis, my short stories would already be done and I would be banging my head against the desk for a theme to tie them together. Instead, I decided writing on Faulkner was the lesser headache out of Ishiguro and Dante. At this point, I’m only positive about Ishiguro (I couldn’t subject Ziba to my hate of that book again), and I have not time to deal with a new topic.

So back to Faulkner and all the associated baggage. I can’t put a finger on what irks me the most—besides not having a draft I just need to polish instead of revamping. One irk is the handle I thought I had on this material has been repeatedly called not good enough and it was a frightening epiphany when I grasped it. See everyone writes on the race relations in Faulkner or on the Sound and the Fury. Right away, you have the how can I contribute something new problem. So I turned to Faulkner’s use of sex, which I consider abundant considering how censored other mediums were doing the time he wrote. Specifically incest came up because I was a little shocked by how often there seemed to allusions to it in other works on top of the blatant references in the Sound and the Fury, but my distaste for what I consider sexual abuse bled through that draft. And it didn’t tie into the epiphany I tried to explain in the introduction.

Out of all the Faulkner classes I have taken, I have never had to read Requiem for a Nun and I do not read Faulkner for pleasure. I give him his props as a Great Writer of the Twentieth Century, but a little stream of consciousness covers the same distance as the Mason-Dixon line did. So it was only when I read the commentary on one of President Obama’s election speeches that I understood a new context on my ambiguity over Faulkner’s theme and subtext.
Faulkner is too easily pigeonholed as being about race. Or about “The Fall of the Old South.” (You have never truly felt the urge to stab someone with a pen until you’re the only southerner in a room full of upper-Midwestern accents insisting upon fitting everything in Faulkner neatly into the later.) But both of those miss the point—Faulkner is about the past, and the struggle to both accept it as a part of oneself and continue into the future. (Sullivan “The Past Isn’t Dead. It Isn’t Even Past.”)

Kindra’s Faulkner issue #1: Get over the Civil War already. New context: the Civil War had only taken place three generations ago and people were alive who still remembered it when Faulkner wrote. It would be like telling someone to get over World War II or Vietnam today. Kindra’s Faulkner issue #2: Did all the punctuation keys on your typewriter break? Actually, it doesn’t help so much with that problem, but the epiphany that Faulkner is really concerned with the past of his region goes so far to explain the overabundance of Civil War-obsessed characters and race relation tensions. These themes both have roots in the past, effecting the present because the characters and the South as a whole have not dealt with that past.


12:50: *Waving at email program* Bye-bye Faulkner paper, bye-bye.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Notes 08

So while waiting for draft feedback on the Faulkner paper, I turned on the graphics program and finished all of DG's paintings that I can actually do with my limited Paintshop skills and source material.



Redone Hilltop painting. It's still not perfectly painted picture look; none of them have that. But I just now remembered there is a canvas texture I can apply and haven't seen how that looks yet.



Redone Cain's favorite out of all of them. I think the healed tree shows up much better now.



Still my favorite because it is the only one out of the group of what DG is really feeling paintings that I am able to do. I really want to do the ball from hell painting, but lack of source material. Grrrrr.



The farmhouse required no redoing, but I'll be trying out the canvas texture on it too.



The first of the new stuff. I really wanted the campfire with all four of them, but either Cain wasn't in the shot or he was and Glitch or the fire weren't, or Cain was in with his gun out. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may splice in one of his bringing back the firewood into this still frame.



The Brick Route. DG's first set of paintings captured images of Kansas she wanted to show people and was a little homesick for. Her second set was images of the adventure because all her friends were gone and she was trapped in fragile doll mode of the Palace. Her third set was DG hanging onto sanity via paint and canvas. This one is in the second set.



Another second set painting of the Crack Across the O.Z. I spliced together two screen captures to show it bottom from top. I'm impressed they managed to build a bridge across it.



And a third set painting that would have been a hell of a lot easier to do if the miniseries had one shot with both of DG's hands while she was lying inside the sarcophagus! But I am happy with how the green glow came out.

I still have a couple image projects to work on when Faulkner editing drains my brain. Along with experimenting with canvas texture, I think I figured out how to illustrate the scene in the Grey Gale out of Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas and I have a technique I want to use on Rachel Covey's picture to Viewer-ize it.

Faulkner Paper Progress 10

New draft due on Tuesday. The final draft due Oct. 13th. I'm not in freak out mode because the professor says I actually have a paper in the last draft that needs some revising, but I can actually keep the majority of what I have already written.

Thank the gods.

Cramps my plans for the weekend, but school work comes first.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 9

Finished the third draft but only after a week of writer neurosis. And after I thought I had a handle on those, I still needed hand-holding to get the draft done. Luckily, I had a friend willing to take on that role.

Fiction is so much easier. So much easier. 2010 will be such a relief to only have fiction to worry over.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 8

Well, my meeting got canceled after I already took today off to deal with SLU stuff. So I get to deal with house and SLU stuff but not paper. Next draft deadline is Sept. 28th.

My professor emailed me his critique. I'm not arguing with anything he pointed out, but yet AGAIN I get told that my quotations are not explained. And by again, I mean EVERY paper I have turned in since my first as a freshman has gotten this complaint and I can't get a professor to tell me how I'm doing it wrong! *HEADDESK*

This is why I HATE nonfiction papers that tear literature apart. I know I'm doing something wrong, but what? And this was supposed to be easier than doing a thesis project? *Gnaws on desk*

He hates my thesis for the paper, which doesn't hurt my feelings because I find it an unwieldy mess too, but it was pulling teeth to get that! *headdesk* I have no idea how to approach this material, I don't want to approach this material, and I'm afraid it is coming through my writing because he said it wouldn't hurt his feelings if switched projects and professors. I HAVE NO TIME TO DO THAT NOW! Maybe if it had been suggested back in the last week of August... *whimper*

I'm stressed about this and I'm stressed about my budget and my house needs cleaning. I won't bet on it, but I bet I get further on house cleaning than anything else. :p

Friday, September 04, 2009

New toy!

Feath's Tarot Card Reading

Just using the major arcana, but it's to help loosen the thinking machine when writing. Some suggested uses:
  • Quick "yes" or "no" answers.
  • Ask the question as if it was your character asking it.
  • Use it for character development.
  • Use it for plot development.
  • Add unexpected plot twists
  • Use the picture as a visual prompt
  • Get a quick heads up on how your day is going to go
I think this is going to be oodles of fun with the right project.

Goals for 2010

Too soon to start planning? It is never too early to plan! Hopefully, I can remember said plans. Hmm, can I put up a big huge link in the sidebar?

1000 words a day x 365 days = 365,000 words for the year.

I lost track of keeping track back in April during 2009. I'd like to not do that next year. Course I also have a fantasy of actually completing all my Big Rocks in a week and that hasn't happened yet.

Still I noticed I kept track of the daily word count best by project and during NaNo in 2008. Now I'm not proposing to do 50,000 words each month. And looking at the success other people are having with pushing a mini-marathon to get ahead in their novels, I'm considering treating every month as a mini-marathon. As the way to keep myself motivated to track the progress.

January = 31 x 1000 = 31,000
February = 28 x 1000 = 28,000
March = 31 x 1000 = 31,000
April = 30 x 1000 = 30,000
May = 31 x 1000 = 31,000
June = 30 x 1000 = 30,000
July = 31 x 1000 = 31,000
August = 31 x 1000 = 31,000
September = 30 x 1000 = 30,000
October 31 x 1000 = 31,000
November = 30 x 1000 = 30,000
December = 31 x 1000 = 31,000

Hey a couple of months spent on one project should add up to a nice-sized manuscript. I'm tired of my writing health being such a pendulum of extremes. I want to sit down for the 1000 words every day or an hour of meditation, whichever comes.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 7

Untitled Faulkner Comps. Paper

Progress Bar from Writertopia

The first draft clocked in at 20 pages. Now I'm waiting to see what the edits will need to be. I'm pretty sure there will be edits; my transitions are non-existent in most spots.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 6

I started with the actual Faulkner books I like Go Down, Moses and Light in August with my new thesis to defend. I'm not through with Light in August yet and I already have 3954 words. I haven't written an introduction, conclusion, or explained how the examples I culled from Faulkner can help the South reconcile its history, while aiming for 7500 total words. I think this is doable for the first draft, since I will probably have to add in secondary sources.

This leaves me with what to do with Flags in the Dust, the Sound and the Fury, Sanctuary, and Absalom, Absalom!. I already culled As I Lay Dying for not matching my thesis. So based on word count, I shouldn't worry about the rest of the books. The problem is I really don't want to bother with them because I don't like them. Everyone studies the Sound and the Fury and practically forgets the man wrote other books. The other three are filled with characters I have precious little empathy for, and I can see myself pulling my hair out trying to support my thesis with them because of the dislike. So I'm not stressing about them right now. First Draft will only cover Light in August and Go Down, Moses.

Do I expect my professor to tell me I have to add them back in? Pretty much. Absalom, Absalom! won't be that hard to shoe-horn in with the thesis and the biracial issues. Flags in the Dust obsession with the past doesn't use the sexual connotation the same way the later books do. And I'm not sure my reading of the incest angle in Sanctuary reflects on personal and societal history.

That's what September is for, I guess. :D

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Resistance Monster meet my clenched gut

I let go of the Zen, got furious, and began typing. And while I haven't changed my opinion that first drafts should not be published, and will continue preaching that for the sake of the newbie writers who need to hear it, I am getting disgusted with having to explain to each individual resistance monster: "this is my opinion, take it or leave it. And my opinion does not make me mental, no matter how much you want to say I'm elitist and entitled and my position is impossible for the real world."

If they read whole thread, I think I explain my views much better further down. But no, they all want to chime in on the first message with a defiant foot stomp. "YOU ARE WRONG WRONG WRONG! Because I ALWAYS POST MY FIRST DRAFT AND YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Make that a kicking tantrum. Not that they will call it that. Their resistance monsters have made them think they are protecting their freewheeling Live Journal experience from my evil dictatorship. Less than a dozen post and I'm already the wicked witch; that's gotta be a record! :D

And how the hell can you actually be a dictator on the Internet?

You learn by finishing. Even if you picked a bad book idea, in most cases you will learn more by seeing it through than you will by chasing after that Sexy Next Book idea. -- 146 Chapter After Chapter by Heather Sellers


It's hardly a complicated idea, but I'm tired of defending it. I thought I had made my passions and why clearer further down the thread, and it's all good. Someone new tells me I'm loco and should piss off demanding conclusions from people. I explained that I didn't demand anything from anyone and how much I try to spread my knowledge. To no avail, I'm supposed to be happy reading something incomplete because the reader doesn't matter. We aren't really publishing by posting for people to read it. I couldn't parse the logic of that and left it alone. Now back to the first post with a new person's sneer who made you English teacher for the whole world, you crazy bitch. And again, we don't owe the readers endings if the muse abandons us.

You don't owe the readers a beginning until you have an ending. But then we're back to the logic of the reader doesn't really exist online. I wish I could take a picture of my expression while trying to figure that out. If the readers don't matter, why do you bother inviting people to read it? Just keep it on your hard drive. Emily Dickerson locked her poetry in a trunk; the concept isn't new.

Not that I've bothered to check, but I have to wonder if they all have abandoned stories on their Live Journals. Nothing gives the Resistance Monster more strength than guilty twinges. The people I contacted asking for conclusions were less defensive. Of course, I wasn't pissed off when I contacted them.

My guts seize up every time I get a new resistance monster tantrum, and I'm tired of repeating myself. I do regret my earlier pissed-off tone, but I don't need my frustration of repeating myself on top of my Faulkner frustration. I'm ready to do what I have NEVER done in all my posts--delete the damn thing they're all getting fixated on. I have no idea if that is even possible. I don't even care if they all walk away smug. "HA, we were right and she slunk off." I can go back to one on one help to find the ones who want to put the extra care in. The ones who will go further. Hopefully, it can be done. And eventually I will convince my own resistance monster that I'm not bypassing a perfect teaching opportunity here.

Update: *Rolling eyes* NO WHERE did I say you shouldn't post whatever you bloody want to on your personal LiveJournal. I specifically said posting to a community and FF.net. That is inviting the fandom to read it. And yes, in my opinion, it should be finished before you do that.

I deleted all my comments. Unfortunately, it didn't give me the option to erase everything under them that I was hoping for. Screw it, I'm not your punching bag. Enjoy your gloating "yeah, we got rid of her!" while you can. Because I haven't gone anywhere.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 5

  • Aug. 4 = Email update to Dr. Louth
  • Aug. 19 = First day of Fall 2009 semester
  • Aug. 19 - 21 = Email Dr. Fredell for memo to the library to restore borrowing privileges.
  • Aug. 27 = Pay all fees I can afford to
  • Aug. 28 = if there is any money left from the paycheck, buy all the damn Cliff Notes I can find on Faulkner's works. I'm tired of reading passages and wondering what the hell just happened.
  • Sept. 1 = email Dr. Louth copy of first draft, then schedule meeting
  • Oct. 12 - 16 = Draft to turn in is probably due this week. Usually due around Oct. 15th
  • Nov. 12 = should send out notices of graduation
  • Dec. 7 = Deadline for Graduate Exams - if readers want changes a new draft due before now
  • Dec. 12 = Commencement ceremony 10 am

So this is going to be a busy seven days, given how my first draft is nebulous at best.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Faulkner Paper Progress 4

I think I have had the breakthrough. Or else, my head hurts from banging it against the Faulkner writing block, and it has developed this as a delusion of a thesis paragraph.

Although Faulkner is usually considered just an author obsessed with race relations and the Civil War, his novels and interwoven short stories show the characters' sexual lives emphasizing their disillusionment, ambivalence, or acceptance of their personal pasts, which in turn reflect on how the South as a society makes peace with history.


That at least gives me a framework to relate all these characters with each other, even if I don't know how I'm going to pull the greater life lessons for society out of the works. :p Actually what popped out at me as I was trying to group couples in each book, Faulkner has a lot of triangles between characters. I don't know what I'm going to do with that inside the paper, but hopefully it didn't just make everything harder.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Notes 07

Because I need to put them somewhere I can find them again. Just in case I have a memory lapse.

Edit point 1: Raw used the beacon charm to get to DG at the castle which I can't spell

Edit point 2: Galinda was only queen for nine years before possessed!Az's coup. She was only Queen for four years when Az was possessed.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Faulkner Paper Deadlines

So I have ignored him all summer. Not the best plan for my deadlines, but very healthy for my state of mind. I still need to email my professor on the state of the project, so these dates are subject to change.
  • Aug. 4 = Email update to Dr. Louth
  • Aug. 13 = if there is any money left from the paycheck, buy all the damn Cliff Notes I can find on Faulkner's works. I'm tired of reading passages and wondering what the hell just happened.
  • Aug. 19 = First day of Fall 2009 semester
  • Aug. 19 - 21 = Email Dr. Fredell for memo to the library to restore borrowing privilages.
  • Aug. 27 = Pay all fees I can afford to
  • Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 = Schedule first fall meeting on paper this week: first draft should be done
  • Oct. 12 - 16 = Draft to turn in is probably due this week. Usually due around Oct. 15th
  • Nov. 12 = should send out notices of graduation
  • Dec. 7 = Deadline for Graduate Exams - if readers want changes a new draft due before now
  • Dec. 12 = Commencement ceremony 10 am


Not freaking out. Not freaking out. Not freaking out.

My clue on the subject hasn't gelled into a thesis argument yet.

Okay, maybe a little panic. And I lost the whole weekend in a last ditch effort to get Alt. BM Site up for Monday.

I will not scream over the cron job failure. I will not scream over the cron job failure. Hopefully, I will get a response and be able to fix that tonight.

I have a month to get it together: thesis statement, coherent content, primary source material woven into it. *TWITCH* Secondary sources will be the issue for the second draft. Don't be surprised if I suddenly brainstorm on this subject, or if suddenly new brainstorms on different subjects shows up. My muse is an evil bitch in that regard.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Tin Man Personal Fanon 01

Well, while waiting for things to upload, my muse solved the pesky how did Cain and Glitch get to the Tower so fast plot-hole from the miniseries. And when it popped into my head, I had to wonder why everyone is so bent out of shape about it.

Glitch found Cain and brought him back to DeMilo's wagon and got him warm so the Tin Man didn't die of hypothermia. (That splash you heard is all the slash fans hitting the gutter.) He left and got firewood, because we pick up with them when he is bringing it back and Cain points the gun in his face.

So my solution, once Glitch was sure Cain was not going to die, he went out to look for Raw. But he found his lab and the garage in the Palace instead. He gathers up the tools and replacement parts to fix the broken axle, bringing them back to DeMilo's wagon. Then forgot that he had when he saw they needed firewood and trotted off after some.

I see Cain coming out of the wagon, stoically despairing at reaching DG before something bad happens to her, and stunned to find the pile of tools next to the wagon. "Where'd this come from?"

Glitch: "You expect me to remember what you can't. Oh hey, where did the tools come from?"

They repaired the wagon and hauled ass until they had to ditch it to sneak closer to the Tower.

Ta-da! Not complicated at all. Wish the miniseries writers had actually put that in there, but then we probably would have lost Glitch-fu then.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Websites are back

The budget is squeaking like a mouse in a trap, but I managed to get the hosting bills paid. Next step is to get the updates finished and set up the Project Wonderful ads. Then I can go back to the creating content and crossing my fingers so nothing breaks while I'm concentrating on other things.

Yeah, I think I can check in on things again in December. After I turn in the Faulkner paper and get a new diploma.

Downloads work again.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Live Journal Form for Tin Man: What Memories Can Bring

Story: Tin Man: What Memories Can Bring
Author: KLCtheBookWorm
'Verse: Tin Man, pre-miniseries
Rating: M
Author's summary: Did anyone else notice the chair in the front yard at Cain's cabin? Did anyone else wonder what was running through Jeb's head when he looked less than thrilled by his father's admission of pride for him?
Characters/pairing: Wyatt/Adora, Jeb
Warnings: Borrowed Gatechic's idea that Zero told Adora and Jeb that Cain died in the suit and they threw his body to the Papay. Borrowed icarus_chained's idea of what the iron suits really do and Zero's creative idea had an unexpected effect. Inspired by Blackmoor's Nights cover of "Diamonds and Rust."

Recced because: a few sentences on why you are reccing this story




I have to do math when I go home tonight, and then I'll find out what I can do after payday. But if I do add the above to the FF.net version, it's going at the end. I want people to not realize who's POV the opening scene is in until they get further in.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Object Lesson Learned

It has been a shitty July. Money woes put my websites on ice as well as axed my viewing summer blockbusters. My step-grandfather died, which was the catalyst for real life family drama that I'm not at liberty to discuss. I can share that I'm stressed like a soldier waiting for the grenade to explode. And I was supposed to start rereading Faulkner and have no bloody desire to do that. (In my defense, I'm pleading that I can only deal with one dysfunctional Southern family at a time.)

So what the hell. Tin Man: What Memories Can Bring was finished and I am damn proud of it. I figured forget about the schedules, post it, get some reviews or complaints about the mind games, and at least have the satisfaction that writing is stable right now when nothing else is.

Boyo, I should have smelled this as a bad idea coming. Funeral = family = lapse of judgment and ego defenses. The Tin Man fandom hates me.

I'm not just basing that on a brand-new story with a naked Wyatt Cain only getting two reviews out of twenty hits. I've also seen LiveJournals previously open shut me out once I've started commenting on their stories. I don't think I've said anything to get branded a troll; usually I'm gushing about how much I like it. Maybe pointing out a minor goof-up or type if I noticed it, but never nastily. Yes, I have been cranky about LiveJournals' practices and cranky about being locked out because I don't trust SixApart after the breastfeeding images debacle and how they deleted accounts with the Harry Potter slashfic debacle (users are still not off the hook, but I know I do expect a reasonable timeframe to save my stuff before deletion too). But I never made it personal with anyone, even when I was annoyed with feeling I have something to contribute but I'm locked out of the conversation.

I came to terms with feeling that way, or so I thought. I'd let the fiction take the theories to the fandom. Only now it feels like my fiction is getting shut out of the conversation too. That's just bewildering to me. Good manners means I review or comments on what I read--unless there is no way to say anything nice at all. You review mine and I review yours (though I doubt I got everyone). I've never ran into being ignored before, and keep circling around 'what did I do wrong?' when I know I probably didn't do anything. And it irritates because I have been busting my ass to comment on every chapter of stories I have been reading, when time and energy haven't been available.

What feels even odder is that I feel like I let a fictional character down. This Adora was strong enough to prostitute herself to save her beloved husband, was strong enough to kill herself rather than risk giving away her son under torture, and no one other than me, Suzanna (paper-copy reader), Rissy, and Catyuy gives a shit. She deserves more notice than that, especially with a part that equals 5 minutes of screen time in the miniseries.

This story introduces Miriam, who has a minor role in Pirates. And it combined a whole lot of noodling I lurked and read about, which I probably do need to acknowledge, but I was holding off on editing the bad Author's note at the end until after I get my website back up and can point people to my maps again. *Crossing fingers* Should be on Friday. Though I kind of expected a comment if someone felt I borrowed their idea and used it poorly. :p

It also nails a coffin lid on my desire to continue playing in this sandbox. I will release Pirates, and I will write the sequel to Ninjas and Dragons because it is part of the Zackverse now. Maybe the reactions those get will change my mind. But right now, I don't want to expose the other ideas I have been putting in the story idea box for later (Chelsea vs. the Jeb Cain stalker club, Glitch and Az's courtship, how did Thaddeus get hired, the quest the Seeker sent Betsy on when they first met, a really kinky idea that I don't even feel comfortable summarizing) to this treatment. That's a new feeling too.

Maybe my summary quoting "Diamonds and Rust" that inspired the story, so not to give the twists away needs changing so more people will notice it. So if anyone has a valid promotional change I need to make, I'm willing to hear it. There is probably also a lot of real life shit coloring how I'm viewing this, and keeping me from being able to shrug it off as "people are funny." Just tell me to redirect the paranoia back at the government where it belongs. :)

The object lesson learned: you never get the feedback you are expecting, so don't expect any.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

This Doesn't Bode Well For the Rest of the Year

I don't think a single month has started well this entire year. July is no exception. There's no money to renew the BookWorm's Library or Alt. BM Site's hosting. I'm hoping I don't lose everything in the server while waiting on money to become available. Yes, I made backups but I'm not a hundred percent sure the database backup worked for Alt. BM Site.

HOPEFULLY, the budget will work out with the next paycheck and I can pay the bill. Meanwhile, if there was something available for download on my blogs that now doesn't work, send me a message and I'll see if it's not too big to email.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Monday, June 22, 2009

First line critiques

First Lines Not to turn this into a meme but I'm going to play too. :D What I have with me that hasn't been published or maybe even finished yet.

#1: “You sure are going to a lot of trouble.”

*SNORT* Yeah, that loses a lot without context.

#2: Wyatt Cain rode slowly through the barrack’s gates into the Royal Palace’s compound.

Serviceable, I guess.

#3: She propped her head up on her elbow and considered the nude lines of the man standing at the large curtain-less window.

Nudity makes everything better.

#4: Peggy Wynn flipped through her portfolio one more time.

And I still hate Peggy's last name. She's a writer and she needs a better imagination. Or better phone book research skills.

What does this prove? I like to extend the hook of the narrative to the whole opening paragraph. Agreed, the shorter the work, the more that first line must do, but I think readers process more in paragraph chunks than on the sentence level. So let's see these examples with some context.

#1: “You sure are going to a lot of trouble.” Vinnie leaned against the bathroom’s doorjamb, and watched Throttle buttoning the black, long-sleeved shirt. “You two should be way past the bribing into her pants stage.”

Vinnie is always good for a laugh. And boy, this story is light on the comedic moments.

#2: Wyatt Cain rode slowly through the barrack’s gates into the Royal Palace’s compound. It had been almost a year since the Eclipse, and the Royal Army hadn’t finished renovating the former Longcoat headquarters. He hoped the rest of Central City looked better. The Palace next to the barracks gleamed in the suns. He wondered which tower housed DG before shaking his head. A lowly Tin Man—-even if he was a hero of the realm-—shouldn’t be concerned about such matters. That had been made clear the last time he had been in her Majesty’s presence.

I think that does a much better job of hooking I hope.

#3: She propped her head up on her elbow and considered the nude lines of the man standing at the large curtain-less window. The glow of Central City beyond the glass bathed his scarred muscles and fair hair green. Heat pooled in her belly as she remembered how those strong limbs had tangled with hers on this bed she stretched across. But he seemed content to expose his glory to the city below. “I married as exhibitionist,” she snorted.

No names because I want some ambiguity about the POV character.

#4: Peggy Wynn flipped through her portfolio one more time. All the pieces showed off her writing, but also conveyed how interesting she could make interviews and childhood remembrances. Just what Mr. Nate Ardenwood would need in the ghostwriter of his memoirs. She shut the binder and leaned back in the chair. Ardenwood’s executive assistant had apologized profusely for the wait before leaving for the day. What could possibly be taking so long? How tempting it was to just leave, but she needed this job. She closed her green eyes.

I'm glad this one is still in writing stage. It needs to be chopped to bits. I like the rest of the scene though, just how to get to the good stuff.

Let me know what you think: sentences versus paragraphs. Or do I just need to work harder on those first sentences. :D

Personal updates: I've finally made it to the last section of the "Turbo" edits to make it's draft 2. And I slice off the tip of my middle finger and make typing and writing with a pen a real bitch. Before that happened my plans were to finish Turbo and buckle down on all the Tin Man edits while finishing my website update. Now I need to scale back because I'm finding it impossible not to type with that finger.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Notes 06

The O.Z. Map Project
Started: May 4, 2009
Completed: June 7, 2009

The Oz east/west issue is driving me nuts! I shouldn’t let it, since it really doesn’t matter with Tin Man’s O.Z. and I do enjoy the fanfics that use it to mess with the characters’ heads. But the fact that so many people seem to think it is canon is driving me crazy.

Let's start with Baum's canon. *Manical laughter* Sorry about that, but I don't think the man took internal cohesion in the series very seriously. But he is a writer, so his canon is the text. And since I am such a well-trained scholar….

"She was the Wicked Witch of the East, as I said," answered the little woman. "She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set free, and are grateful to you for the favor."

"Who are the Munchkins?" inquired Dorothy.

"They are the people who live in this land of the East where the Wicked Witch ruled." -- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum


"But I thought all witches were wicked," said the girl, who was half frightened at facing a real witch.

"Oh, no, that is a great mistake. There were only four witches in all the Land of Oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are good witches. I know this is true, for I am one of them myself, and cannot be mistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the West were, indeed, wicked witches; but now that you have killed one of them, there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz--the one who lives in the West." -- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum


These passages state unarguably that the Munchkins lived in the East and were ruled by the witch Dorothy's house landed on. Winkies live in the west. So where did the error creep in?

The Wizard of Oz - Frequently Asked Questions devotes two questions to this issue: 4.4. Why do some books have the Munchkin Country in the west and the Winkie Country in the east? and 4.5. Where can I get a map of the Land of Oz? They make the very logical case that Baum was first confused by a reversed slide of the map used in the stage play adaptations, then illustrators corrected the compass rose but not the ground that they were making a map of. And then writers after Baum referenced the bad map illustrations, and it snowballed.

Seeking to avoid the whole mess with what I'm writing, I grabbed a corrected map from Oz Central LLC that was put together by James Haff and Dick Martin. Plus I needed the surrounding kingdoms since Pirates is taking place out in the ocean. It's also safe to say in my Tin Man fanfics the suns rise in the east and set in the west and the compass rose is W - E not E - W.



That settled, on to making my own map. First step is acknowledging that I adore Gregory Maguire's stuff, so I scanned in all the maps from Wicked, Son of the Witch, and A Lion Among Men. And then I started jumping up and down to resist the urge to go kick Maguire, Douglas Smith the illustrator, Joel Avirom or Jason Snyder who are listed as designers, or the editor for HarperCollins if he or she is not already listed. What ticked me off? There's no compass rose and Vinkus is left of Emerald City and Munchkinland is to the right.

SOMEBODY DECIDED TO FUCK WITH NORTH AND SOUTH INSTEAD!



See the arrow pointed southwest labeled "desert to Ev?" *Sigh* You can see where James Haff and Dick Martin put it on their map. Quox is renaming of Quok, and Fliaan is a renaming of Phunnyland also known as Mo (I think Baum's first way of naming countries must have been to pick a letter on the top keyboard line and match it with a letter on the bottom line. And then somebody must have told him to really name the countries.) and their arrows are also pointed in the wrong directions. Disheartened, I double checked the next two books, hoping they had decided to fix it. I was disappointed. Southstairs inside Emerald City is drawn right next to the Shiz Gate, which heads north to Gillikin.



Okay, fine. If people want to continue using the geographical confusion, I also made a mashup of all three maps without the corrections. But nobody should care if I mess with the maps to get something I consider right for my Tin Man fanfiction. And North, South, East, and West are all going to correspond to how we are used to them working!



The Tin Man miniseries was careful not to use an Ozian detail that could be under someone's copyright, which I do applaud them for, also the variations on names gives the verisimilitude of passing time between Dorothy Gale and DG's adventures. However, I think the only instruction the visual background artists were given was "make it not look like Kansas," and that turned into lots of mountains, trees, and waterfalls on screen. I took the corrected mashup of the Maguire maps for the base and then added the details mentioned in the miniseries.

List of Tin Man locations:
  • Guild Fighters' village
  • Cain's cabin
  • Fields of the Papay
  • The Brick Route/Old Road
  • Milltown
  • Central City
  • Northern Island/Northern Palace
  • the Tower, west of Central City
  • the Crack Across the O.Z.
  • Ralph's family cabin
  • the cabin by the white elm with Adora's grave
  • Finaqua is in what Cain calls lake country and sits next to a lake
  • Black Mountains (just mentioned)
  • Realm of the Unwanted
  • Ahamo's teepee next to a lake
  • the Royal Tomb also next to a lake, probably not the same one since it takes an overnight balloon ride to get to it




This was the source of much agony for the greatest portion of the month. All I have to say after this agony, if you find something wrong with this map, open your graphics program and fix it and never bring it to my attention. Otherwise, I'm liable to do something that makes the Sorceress' soul-suck look humane in comparison.

Fitting Dorothy and Ozma's Oz into Nonestica was much easier than dealing with the modern Outer Zone.



And then ripping that apart with the event I'm calling the Great Upheaval was way easier than dealing with the modern Outer Zone.



I finished my island maps in five seconds compared to the time spent on the modern Outer Zone map.





So while I would really appreciate a shout out for my hard work here, I don't expect it. The drawback I have found with this fandom is the tendency to ignore anything not provided on LiveJournal. But you're welcome to link back to this information and download any of the maps that you need.


Complete
set of Oz and O.Z. maps in a zip file 25.7 MB

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Decent writing advice

13 Tips For Actually Getting Some Writing Done and I found it pretty inspiring. I also found her post Quiz: Are You a Moderator or an Abstainer?, equally useful for the health portion of my life.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Metrics 98

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Metrics
Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic

New words: 3286
Total words for part one of draft: 57113
Total words for part two of draft: 57883
Total words: 125185
What I hate about my writing: Absolutely nothing because I FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT!
The Good: Finished the first draft in four hours and fifteen minutes of writing time today.
The Bad: I’m not sure about the final word count because of editing issues. I always strive to trim about 10% off the first draft, but those aren’t the editing issues I’m talking about. It took all the way until the last day of writing, but I finally fixed a few holes that had been bothering me: like the name for Cain’s base in the Greater Kells.
Fave DG line: “I’ve already had three different confirmations and didn’t even have to go buy a pregnancy test.” She set the teacup on a delicate end table beside the sofa. “So there’s a baby on the way.”
Fave Cain line: “The family who didn’t do anything to gain her trust so she would tell you she was attacked? The family who manipulated her schedule and servants so she couldn’t make any personal decisions about her life? The family who never told her she would never be abandoned again and that getting married didn’t mean she was being banished?” His nostrils flared. “What support did you ever offer your daughter?”
Fave Raw line: “Pregnancy makes all females miserable.”
Fave Glitch line: “What is patient doctor confidentiality?”
Fave Azkadellia line: “I wish I could have seen his face. Ev has always counted on us to side against the Gnome King with our treaties and marriage alliances.”
Fave Jeb line: “So you get paid for buying furniture for someone else? I will never understand the Other Side.”
Fave Queen Galinda line: “Aedan was the only choice! He would have made things easier for her with the court. You don’t think I haven’t noticed how they treat my daughter? With him at her side, they wouldn’t dare snicker at her. What can the Tin Man do, glower them into submission?”
Fave Ahamo line: “I’m going to be a grandfather!” He whooped as he stood up and caught the Queen’s hands, spinning her around. “Our baby girl is having a baby, Galinda!”
What I'm looking forward to: Finishing all the maps! The yank the Nonestica before map apart for the Great Upheaval and add in the elements from Tin Man to create the map of the O.Z. for DG and Cain’s present. Yeah, I went over the screencaps to see if that helped me lay things out. I’m beginning to think that the only instructions the visual affects guys were given on the landscape was “make it not look like Kansas.” So we have mountains and waterfalls galore. Actually that’s not the hard part to work with. Figuring out where to put the Fields of the Papay so the buggers are hedged in by water and the heroes still have the cliff to jump off of, that’s the hard part. I’m proud of how I figured out where the Gap across the O.Z. goes. :D Last two maps needed are Kingsport before the novel and after the events of the novel. Three maps left to do. *Whimper* I said I was looking forward to this?
What I'm not looking forward to: Writing the Faulkner paper, editing this monstrosity of a novel. Seriously, I’m proud of it, but I don’t think I have ever written anything this big before.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Metrics 97

Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Metrics
Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic

New words: 2237
Total words for part one of draft: 57113
Total words for part two of draft: 57883
Total words: 121899
What I hate about my writing: I still have to go back and end Chapter Thrity-eight.
The Good: After some unproductive struggling to find the end for Chapter Thirty-eight, I jumped ahead to Chapter Thirty-nine, the one with the 566-word note on how it goes.
The Bad: Missed yesterday.
Fave DG line: “Rebellious exhibitionism?” So this is what glitching felt like, DG decided she didn’t care for it. “I need a travel storm to get Dr. Phil.” She turned to Cain’s impassive poker face. “This wasn’t part of my mission statement.”
Fave Cain line: “I knew his expression would be worth it!”
Fave Raw line: “Humans not like Viewers. Madness can result from being with humans when too young.” Cain’s scarred eyebrow rose, and Raw gestured with his hands before he could speak. “Sprite not mad, odd.”
Fave Glitch line: “DG?” She grinned and he wrapped his thin arms around her in a hug. He closed his eyes. “Oh that was a bad one. Wyatt Cain all dressed up and calling himself a lord.” He squeezed her tighter as he stiffened. “Glitching hasn’t stopped; he’s still dressed like that.”
Fave Azkadellia line: “DG? DG, I’m going to kill him. No killing is too fast. We’ll get some of those zapping prods. Are you ill?”
Fave Jeb line: Jeb clenched his teeth in a manner she was very used to seeing on a different jaw. “Don’t go in without me.”
Fave Queen Galinda line: “Dorothy Gale, have you lost your mind? What under the stars possessed you to arrest a foreign dignitary like that? There are proper channels to deal with incidents. Ambrose, why did you let her do this? How are we ever going to explain it to Aurissau?”
Fave Ahamo line: “What is wrong with her? Somebody do something useful and send for the Royal Alchemist!”
Fave Aedan line: Keep your hands off me!” He snarled, but that didn’t keep the soldiers from grabbing his arms and holding him fast. “Do you have any idea what I could do to you?”
What I'm looking forward to: Finding the ending to Chapter Thirty-eight. Finishing all the maps! The yank the Nonestica before map apart for the Great Upheaval and add in the elements from Tin Man to create the map of the O.Z. for DG and Cain’s present. Last two maps needed are Kingsport before the novel and after the events of the novel. Three maps left to do. *Whimper* I said I was looking forward to this? Right now it’s looking like I’ll finish the text before the maps.
What I'm not looking forward to: Writing the Faulkner paper.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Tin Man: Pirates Notes 05

Icarus_chained’s ideas on headcasing and the iron suits

Oh boy, she gave the plot bunnies and muse something to chew on. This is what I had shared on my previous history of the O.Z. musings.

So it took a while as I was fighting with the map to realize I could keep the events and chunk out the numbers he put with them. Well, keep most of the events, I think Dorothy got stuck much like Ahamo did. It deviates from Baum too, but once Ozma got to the throne, she was able to control travel storms and immigrated Uncle Henry and Aunt Em to the Oz. DG ends up—without having to get crazy with year/annual calculations—being Dorothy and Ozma’s great-great-great-granddaughter. All the other people in the Mausoleum? technically are DG’s ancestors from Ozma’s family tree. Since Dorothy played a critical role in unifying Oz and killing a couple of witches, she was given a burial of honor there. I shortened the times that the Wizard held power and how long Shell is the Emperor Apostle, and changed Ozma’s birth date so not to have to deal with the fact she is supposed to be the same age as Elphaba.

Though if someone wants to take that and run with it, if Ozma the baby was hidden in the magic limbo world that DG met Dorothy in, that could have stopped her aging.
Also while working on it, I discovered that the Great Upheaval happened 109 annuals ago. And this really caused it to sink in just how shitty the people of the O.Z. and surrounding countries have had it for longer than that.

First there was the Great Drought the coincided with Elphaba’s birth (or was caused by her, Maguire is vague about it in interviews). Then the Wizard took over and reigned in a horrible oppressive fashion. Civil war broke out and only stopped because Dorothy’s house landed on the separatists’ leader. Then she goes and accidently kills the next closest person the common people and Animals have for a champion, but she gets rid of the Wizard and really wants to help the people who are suffering worse than she ever saw back in Kansas.

There’s a lovely dance for the throne and we end up with the Emperor Apostle, who in turns takes all the great ideas the Wizard used and ups the ante. I can see him creating both headcasing and the iron suits and making them tools of the government. Adds jezabel_faust’s ideas to this train of thought. Before he was Emperor, he would go into Southstairs and drug and rape the female prisoners. Fun guy, Shell is. The Munchkins have enough and declare open war, which splits Oz. Vinkus tribes don’t participate even though their lands are declared part of the Loyal Oz. Gillikin tries to stay as neutral as possible. The Quadlings are ignored, but I think more end up on the Munchkin side than don’t.

In all of this mess, Ozma and Dorothy end up rebellion leaders and restore Ozma to her throne. Oz, reconnected with its Queen, ends the Great Drought. Five years of internal peace, but facing external threats. Roquat squares off with them three times, and fare so badly in the last one that he takes his mountain into the ocean to be as far away from Ozma and Dorothy as he can get. This is the Great Upheaval and it had some drastic effects on the landscape of Oz (the Gap across the O.Z. for starters).

But once they recover from that, there is 92 annuals of peace and prosperity for most people. Then the Great Famine started, and the youngest Princess died. Five annuals later, Azkadellia has overthrown her mother and declared herself Sorceress. And it’s open warfare once again.

And the poor Slippers who don’t have any of this baggage of history can’t understand why there’s a freak out from everyone over things like the Gnome King or witches. Yes, I am including DG and to some extent Ahamo in that statement, though I think Ahamo’s general way of surviving such things is “Lavender Eyes thinks it’s bad news and Ambrose agrees with her; okay, it’s bad news.”

*Sigh* If I don’t watch it, I’m going to end up doing stories to cover this backstory. :p Which normally, I wouldn’t mind sticking in the idea folder, but O.Z. stuff has a way of expanding faster than bread dough with too much yeast.

Which kind of leads me to my next point, getting annoyed with Tin Man Meta. I’ve accepted the fact that because of Live Journal differences, I will never be able to state anything there. For the most part, this is a good preventative measure for me. Cause I find myself reacting way too emotionally to points brought up in the “bad fanfic conventions, fail!characterizations, etc.” department. When I have to remind myself “They aren’t talking about my stories; 9 out of 10 never even bothered to read Dragons and Ninjas because it’s not on their precious LiveJournal” (I have issues with company policy and think it’s dangerous to make it the primary hosting for any fandom community), I don’t need to be able to respond because it won’t be pretty.

So yeah, the rest of what follows probably falls into justification rant territory. I think there’s some good stuff in it, but I’m biased.

I call bullshit on the opinion that Cain needs decades of therapy before moving forward with his life, so all Cain/DG ship fics are bad and must die in burn in fanfiction hell (so the fics from the one stating this opinion are the only ones that count as valid—DAMN, I feel snarky about this today and I can’t even point to one post that set it off. It just seems to be this pervasive superior attitude I feel when it comes up.) And I will cop to yes, I feel that they are picking on my ship and what I write about and what I try really, really, really hard to make damn plausible with the context of fanfiction and the limitations of the universe.

That said, what really upsets me about this view is I think it does a disservice to Cain’s strength of character as portrayed in the miniseries (even with all of its plot and backstory holes). Cain was shown captured and beaten, they heavily implied that his family was tortured and maybe even had their deaths faked in front of him given his absolute certainty they are dead, and shoved into an iron suit which kept his body in physical shape while he watched a projection of that day over and over again for annuals. Eight is a number agreed upon by most of the fandom. This is horrific torture; Cain has a nightmare later of Adora’s death and it turns into a projection on him. Yes, he has issues (just like all the other characters), but I don’t think those issues mean he needs to check into the nearest available psychiatric ward.

I actually like the theory that the iron suit is a sensory deprivation device, and Zero’s addition of the time loop project helped keep Cain sane. It has a delicious sense of irony because that was so not Zero’s intent. He knows he’s watching a projection; hello, he’s a cop, a trained observer! Even if he had a bad week or month, he would reason out that it never changes and it never stops eventually. It gave him time to mourn his wife and son, and plan what exactly he was going to do to Zero when he got out. And this is exactly was Cain was ready to stride off to do after DG and Glitch save him and he realized he was free. Yeah, we got time lapsed right over that bit, and I do think it took a while.

Only whatever trait in Cain that led him to becoming a police officer and led him to resisting a tyrant’s rule won’t allow him to abandon DG—who honestly doesn’t know anything about the dangers of this world—with only a convict for protection. So he reluctantly agrees to guide her after her parents.

DG has an affect on Cain, no matter if your opinion falls under romantic shipping or they’re just friends. DG insists on saving Raw from certain death—a position a Tin Man should automatically take. She instinctively turns to Cain for protection (just try to convince me that doesn’t stroke a male ego unconsciously *snort*). Cain puts DeMilo in his place when he gets lewd interacting with DG, a response all on Cain and not due to DG jumping behind him for protection. And then she suffers a blow no one should, and finds out her parents lied to her for as long as she can remember. She is a good if exasperating person, and she’s only exasperating because he wants to get her safe and sound anywhere so his conscious won’t nag him as he puts a bullet in it after Zero’s dead and she keeps delaying that outcome.

So when Father Vue tells DG to go to the Mystic Man, Cain figures his duty will be done at that point. Her parting shot “You’re a Tin Man, not a killer” hits home, even though he manages to ignore it up until hearing she is in danger as Zero’s new target. By the time he is confronted with the shell of the Mystic Man, it is pretty clear that Cain is not a stone-cold bastard even though he’s trying to maintain that image. Not for the people he cares about and DG has been added to that list with the Mystic Man, and to a lesser degree with Glitch and Raw—he doesn’t accept them fully until after the Tower rescue and escape. Would a man so on the edge of a psychotic breakdown be as gentle as he was with the withdrawal-suffering Mystic Man?

Yes, Cain gives in and has revenge-addled moments, most notably at the Northern Palace. His hopes rise especially after Ralph confirms Zero’s story. But even once they are dashed again after seeing Adora’s grave, he doesn’t turn on or take it out on this new group he has bonded with. He accepts DG’s comfort. He does tell Raw off, but not as harshly as he could. After the Realm of the Unwanted, he is freely giving out hugs! That’s a huge leap for the guy who didn’t know what to do when DG pounced on him in the Tower.

*SNORT* But I suppose all this is supposed to be shuffled onto sucky writing of the miniseries and not any growth of the character, who according to the archetype is supposed to realize he has had a heart and compassion all along. I’m willing to leave it to individual writers as too how long it takes before Cain decides to have another romantic commitment, if any, after Adora, but I don’t think the five month or the annual long wait I’ve used so far is out of line considering what growth the miniseries projected.

Unrelated side note, icarus_chained reasoned out Raw’s speech logic exactly along the ideas I was using but hadn’t articulated yet.

EDIT: OKAY, I think I have finally figured out what goes wrong with the damn links. I usually type posts in Word and then cut 'n paste. Word has smart quotes turned on, and for some reason whenever I add HTML codes and then cut 'n paste, Blogger adds in this URL and screws up the link. They should all be fixed now. Just click refresh if it doesn't work for you.