I better write something about my European trip last month soon. Going on another trip soon, so lest I forget what I've been up to. Watch this space. Literally, this is a place holder for my travel journal.
Paris, France
Geneva, Switzerland
Strasbourg, France
Black Forest Germany
Heidelberg, Germany
Koln, Germany
Bruselles, Belgium
Antwerpen, Belgium
Paris, France
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thoughts on Writing Epics
It is hard for me to write sometimes, because when I have an inkling of an idea of a story I begin to quickly blow the idea out of proportion and think of such grandeur and scale that I lose all sensibility of what I was writing in the first place. Then comes the crushing realization such an epic would take years to complete, and at the end of the day it is so risky whether the story would be any good at all. So at that point I would plunge into hopelessness and despair of never doing to be a writer.
Well, I said it was hard for me to write sometimes. But this is not one of those times. I guess the line of thought I wrote in the previous paragraph is prevalent in any writer. And that sort of insecurity and hope surely makes for better stories, that constant need to improving and being better at your craft. So the thing is, should I quite trying to write an epic story? No, absolutely not. I shall write it in such a way that it can be tolerated by me, to be do-able by me. I will write in small increments of the whole series, which again, being realistic, I know WILL take years and years. But I don't really care because I know it will be worthwhile. But what do I do when that crushing uncertainty comes along and doubts myself if this work will ever be done? Well, I never said I will ONLY write the epic stories. When I write, I have so many ideas sprouting out that I will use one of the marginal ideas to write short stories to submit for publications. So that will give me a sense of continuous improvement and progress.
Another note on epic. More to myself than anything. I will want to write the whole epic story before I even consider submitting for publication. This is because I do not want to end up with something like the Harry Potter series. See, I am not saying the series is not wonderful. It is great. I absolutely love the story and all the characters in it. The storytelling is wonderful in that series. But reading through the whole series I felt a great balancing problem. One could see the first three or so books are self encapsulated within themselves but also had an overall ongoing plot going on. In the latter books, this is less so. The latter books feel they are STILL organically produced with a great sense of progression in the series that is very natural. BUT you can feel at times it is like going through the motions. One could almost tell by the length of the books, each longer than the last. The same sort of goes to Frank Herbert's Dune to a lesser extent. The first few books were wonderfully coagulated, but the rest felt like extensions of the original work. Sort of tying plotlines where they would fit.
One of the best in the epics that I have read would be of course the Lord of the Rings. It is so well balanced and paced that you feel that immense sense of scale and wonder only from a properly planned out book. Even more impressive would be the Narnia series. Seven books, seven. And each of such balanced scale, it is just wonderful. Though Narnia did not have that intertwining of plot and characters, it is however very consistent and strong in its hold on balance. I guess for Narnia, it is perhaps an easier task than LoTR though in a way, because the stories are inspired by Christian stories. So it is easier to keep that consistency of pace and story, when you have that overall outlook to look out for. What I'm saying is though, all these authors have the power of making every point of the story interesting and progressing at a good pace, while always maintaining what the big picture is. So it IS really important that I have a clear idea of what the whole story is before I submit anything at all. I, having never written a full length novel really have to finish writing a book before I have the necessary experience to plan forward. I would just be happy to be 10% of what these writers are. But one can dream, what can one do But dream, dream of the epic.
Well, I said it was hard for me to write sometimes. But this is not one of those times. I guess the line of thought I wrote in the previous paragraph is prevalent in any writer. And that sort of insecurity and hope surely makes for better stories, that constant need to improving and being better at your craft. So the thing is, should I quite trying to write an epic story? No, absolutely not. I shall write it in such a way that it can be tolerated by me, to be do-able by me. I will write in small increments of the whole series, which again, being realistic, I know WILL take years and years. But I don't really care because I know it will be worthwhile. But what do I do when that crushing uncertainty comes along and doubts myself if this work will ever be done? Well, I never said I will ONLY write the epic stories. When I write, I have so many ideas sprouting out that I will use one of the marginal ideas to write short stories to submit for publications. So that will give me a sense of continuous improvement and progress.
Another note on epic. More to myself than anything. I will want to write the whole epic story before I even consider submitting for publication. This is because I do not want to end up with something like the Harry Potter series. See, I am not saying the series is not wonderful. It is great. I absolutely love the story and all the characters in it. The storytelling is wonderful in that series. But reading through the whole series I felt a great balancing problem. One could see the first three or so books are self encapsulated within themselves but also had an overall ongoing plot going on. In the latter books, this is less so. The latter books feel they are STILL organically produced with a great sense of progression in the series that is very natural. BUT you can feel at times it is like going through the motions. One could almost tell by the length of the books, each longer than the last. The same sort of goes to Frank Herbert's Dune to a lesser extent. The first few books were wonderfully coagulated, but the rest felt like extensions of the original work. Sort of tying plotlines where they would fit.
One of the best in the epics that I have read would be of course the Lord of the Rings. It is so well balanced and paced that you feel that immense sense of scale and wonder only from a properly planned out book. Even more impressive would be the Narnia series. Seven books, seven. And each of such balanced scale, it is just wonderful. Though Narnia did not have that intertwining of plot and characters, it is however very consistent and strong in its hold on balance. I guess for Narnia, it is perhaps an easier task than LoTR though in a way, because the stories are inspired by Christian stories. So it is easier to keep that consistency of pace and story, when you have that overall outlook to look out for. What I'm saying is though, all these authors have the power of making every point of the story interesting and progressing at a good pace, while always maintaining what the big picture is. So it IS really important that I have a clear idea of what the whole story is before I submit anything at all. I, having never written a full length novel really have to finish writing a book before I have the necessary experience to plan forward. I would just be happy to be 10% of what these writers are. But one can dream, what can one do But dream, dream of the epic.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Spellcheck? Never Heard of It
I have just been reading some of my past posts and just noticed they are riddled by typos. I look at my keyboard and see some typos are not just a 'slip of the hand' and hitting the wrong keys. It is sort of a slip of the brain. What I mean by this is, if I mean to say is if I were to think of saying something, I may just type out words that just sound like the word I'm trying to type. That probably happens more when I'm really exhausted and my brain just don't function properly anymore. Actually, right now is one of those moments. It would be very ironic if this post talking about the issue of spellcheck turns out to be also full of this kind of typos. Anyways, as the title suggests I can't be bothered correcting my typos. If you can't figure out what I'm trying to say because my typos are really bad then oh well. I guess I am really quite retarded after all. But it doesn't really matter. Because there is not much logic to what I usually say anyway. Perhaps my typo would even inject some logic to the nonsense I feel, but I doubt it. Are you still reading? Really? And am I still typing? Well, I guess I am. Because I still hear the 'tap....tap...tap' of the keyboard.
I believe sir, you have gone very much off topic. Well, yes. I have. So what's the point again? Ah yes. Check my spelling and grammar? Neverrrrr...(I said never, with a corny French accent if you were wondering). Neverrrrrr....
I believe sir, you have gone very much off topic. Well, yes. I have. So what's the point again? Ah yes. Check my spelling and grammar? Neverrrrr...(I said never, with a corny French accent if you were wondering). Neverrrrrr....
Thursday, June 9, 2011
No Future in Art
I have for the past few days been working rather hard on getting more submissions in for the Foot Locker Art Competition. Here is my realization. It is actually very expensive to produce good art, or rather I am just too cheap. I went to the Arts Supply store and found Copic Markers to be Aus$ 10 per marker. Quite exorbitant I feel that, and I wouldn't want to spend that kind of money for it anyways. Also my skills really aren't that good to require such tools. And also a tablet for drawing on the computer is pricey too, the top of the line one is 2k! Nooo, not spending that kind of money also. And I would have to learn how to use Photoshop properly to justify getting that. I can't be bothered learning Photoshop.
And there is so much to learn in painting too! Oils, paints, techniques. I guess I love art very much, but it is not one of those things that I really want to master. I am happy just drudging away in my amateur ways. What I'm saying is, art as a profession is not something I would like to pursue. I do not like feeling defeated by a challenge, as something I cannot do well, I usually strive to get good at it. But I feel so stretched to things now, with so many things I am trying to pursue. I need to prioritize and be serious about what I want in life and just focus on these things. Some discipline and single mindedness really would not go amiss. I am too kooky lala sometimes. One day I am here, next day I am there. In there end I think I would end up nowhere. So here is is. Work on the fundamentally important things first, I don't want to be a dreamer all my life. I want to make some of my dreams reality, lest I continue on this pursuance of forever unfulfilled dreams. So I have this one dream, and I would chase it down first because it is the one most important thing in my life. Writing, and so that is what I am doing now. Although it is not fiction writing, but still better than nothing. Writing is my priority, not art. Ah, no more rambling on. I have made my point I feel.
And there is so much to learn in painting too! Oils, paints, techniques. I guess I love art very much, but it is not one of those things that I really want to master. I am happy just drudging away in my amateur ways. What I'm saying is, art as a profession is not something I would like to pursue. I do not like feeling defeated by a challenge, as something I cannot do well, I usually strive to get good at it. But I feel so stretched to things now, with so many things I am trying to pursue. I need to prioritize and be serious about what I want in life and just focus on these things. Some discipline and single mindedness really would not go amiss. I am too kooky lala sometimes. One day I am here, next day I am there. In there end I think I would end up nowhere. So here is is. Work on the fundamentally important things first, I don't want to be a dreamer all my life. I want to make some of my dreams reality, lest I continue on this pursuance of forever unfulfilled dreams. So I have this one dream, and I would chase it down first because it is the one most important thing in my life. Writing, and so that is what I am doing now. Although it is not fiction writing, but still better than nothing. Writing is my priority, not art. Ah, no more rambling on. I have made my point I feel.
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