#bigbonelick

I know what you're thinking, Blake.

And I don't want you to stop thinking it.

[books i've been reading]

The Great War: An Illustrated History, Phil Carradice. Here's a fantastic, easy-to-read trainer on the Great War. "The Great War: an illustrated history is a history of World War One told through nearly 150 illustrations relating to the war, each accompanied by an in depth caption. Topics to be covered include the causes of the war, and the early months, particularly recruitment and training. It also covers the early trenches, and the Belgian and French involvement. Specific attention is given to the German view and the stalemate as the war bogged down, including trench life, and the major battles, including Ypres and the Somme. The book also covers the war on other fronts, especially Gallipoli, the Home Front including the role of women and the war at sea particularly the Battle of Jutland and the role of convoys. Finally, it covers the war in the air, messages from the Front, postcards sent by serving soldiers and the art and poetry from the war years leading up to the final months including victory celebrations and the Peace Treaty." (from Amazon.com)

Weapons of World War I, Chris Bishop. I've found this book to be a kick-ass sidekick to histories of the Great War, bringing to visual life the weapons, tactics, and backgrounds of the machinery of war operative in World War One. "From the first tanks to early submarines to the repeating rifle to the biplane, Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War I examines key weapons from the Great War. It includes more than 300 pieces of equipment from handguns to zeppelins. Each weapon system is illustrated with a detailed profile artwork and a photograph showing the weapons system in service. Accompanying the illustrative material is detailed text that lists each weapon’s service history, the numbers built, and its variants, as well as full specifications." (from Amazon.com)

*comparisons*

South America's pretty damned big.

this is why you don't get involved in a land war in Russia

Australia is damned big, too.

Texas is Alaska's little sister

Pluto and Charon are smaller than I thought they were...

oh, just the Middle East.

on writing (III)

that's one too many dots for an elipses...

The writing process isn't anything to snuff about. Every writer has a different way of going about it, a certain pattern or scheme that works for them. The past couple years have seen a honing in and cementing of a particular pattern of my own. Contrary to popular belief, one doesn't just get a story idea, sit down, and hammer it out. There are exceptions, of course, like some of the modern masters who can churn out a book every 6-8 weeks. I'm no "modern master" and I don't pretend to be. Writing a story, at least for me, is one hell of a difficult thing to do. I had to find a way through the morass, and the process below sees me from one shore to the other.

(A) Scripting. I owe a lot to the person who came up with the "Snowflake Method." The Snowflake Method (as I perceive it) boils down to sketching out your story in such a way that you break it down into smaller and smaller components; the writing process becomes a sort of "fleshing-out" the components into a coherent narrative. This particular method is based on a process of architectural planning but translated into writing works of fiction. A good deal of the time I spend "writing" is actually spent, technically-speaking, "scripting": engaging my creative faculties to sketch out a story. The writing process is putting meat on the bare-bones script. The Snowflake Method, then, has both macro and micro developments; and this is also where I create my characters. Following scripting, my writing process focuses on the story scene-by-scene.

(B) Write the Scene. Here I focus on the flow of the scene: its setting, the movement of the characters, and the rough draft of the dialogue. I write by three major rules: (1) Cut, cut, CUT!, (2) Don't be afraid to MOVE! (as I have a tendency to become caught up details and description; a good struggle to have, but one that can threaten to lead the writing into a black hole), and (3) A plague on the house of adverbs (and on passive voice, too)!

(c) Rewrite the Scene. Once I have the first draft of the scene written, I rewrite it. All of it. Here I focus on description and detail: where should detail be cut, and where should it be added? I like the Rule of Three: as the Greeks taught, there is a mysterious perfection to the grouping of three, and when it comes to detail in a story, the Rule of Three is a good guide to how much is too much. When rewriting the scene, I also tweak the dialogue.

(d) Revise the Scene. On my third tramp through the scene, I focus on sentence structure, hunting down adverbs and unnecessary adjectives. Passive voice also becomes prey; active voice reads better, and passive voice should be used minimally. The third draft of the scene focuses, too, on the dialogue: here I flesh out the dialogue some more, showing rather than telling how characters feel, think, and gesture.

That's my writing process when it comes to scenes, and scenes build to create a story. The culmination of all the scenes results in the Rough Draft. Once I have the Rough Draft completed, I let it sit for a few weeks and return to it, keeping my eye out for four things: (1) Continuity, especially paying attention to little details, for readers are keen on pointing out discontinuity; (2) hunting for adverbs, unnecessary adjectives, and passive voice that I may have missed in the original writing; (3) cutting unnecessary scenes or dialogue; and (4) looking to enhance any themes, motifs, or symbols that rose out of the writing.

So that's how I do it.
It tends to work out pretty well for me.

monsters, et. al.

because I dig Pacific Rim and Godzilla

oh, just hanging with some Pleistocene pals

pleasant seas do not ancient oceans make

I always appreciate a shout-out to Ghostbusters.

#amargeddon [sic]

Armageddon.

It's better than sex.

#warintheskies

Birds of Steel needs a World War One Mod.