Discipline Under Fire

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.