We Write To Live
Jan. 26th, 2007 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It is exquisitely cold here. And I mean exquisitely not in its normal positive connotation, but because there is really no other adjective to describe how very cold it is. I guess it was something like 9 degrees today, and that was with the sun shining. I hate wind chill.
I love my Sociology of Religion class because the content is awesome, and also for the simple reason that the professor uses chalk and a blackboard. It's really a lost art, despite inhaling all that chalk dust and dying of that pneumo-disease I can't pronounce at a young age. I like a teacher who can take the time to actually write up his notes as he talks about them, and on a chalkboard no less. It's just got something that PowerPoint doesn't have.
My Social Movements professor does the same. I love her and she's sweet and all, but you can tell she's still feeling things out.
I'm also sort-of-almost-kind-of-officially-but-not-quite-yet in the Sociology major, which means a double major of Writing and Sociology, which means no more relaxing semesters like this one--18 credits from now on, it's looking like, and I don't know how I'm going to fit in a study abroad program or an internship, but I dunno. I hope I can pull it off.
I read this awesome book for Women and Writing called Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn Heilbrun, and I would recommend it for everyone because it's awesome.
In ASIC last night we watched a few eps of Monster, which I have to say, I really like the manga a lot better. Something just seems to be lacking with the anime--tension, maybe? You got palpable tension out of the books, even in the beginning when everything with Tenma and Johan was just beginning. The anime feels, I dunno, thin. We also watched an extremely fast-paced few episodes of something that I don't really know the name to...um...Cross Something? Plenty of bishies with strangely colored hair and eyes (CLAMP did the character designs, apparently. No wonder, then). I wasn't really following; pretty much a lot of people were dying, and by the end of ASIC it was looking kind of like the beginning of Gundam Wing (the original), with the whole "girl-meets-boy-and-they-sorta-have-to-kill-each-other-maybe." Or something. In short, I'm looking forward to next week, which is the beginning of Outlaw Star and XOMG squee! Honey and Clover. Woot.
Haven't been writing all that much since I got home. I've been a bit stuck on this scene with E and Kail, and I had another one of those moments of "oh my fucking GOD it's so LONG and will NEVER SELL" when I realized that the target length of a manuscript is 200-250 pages on Word, since it equates to about 100-150K words and 400-500 pages depending on book size and how the FUCK can I ever stay under 300 pages, but oh well, I'm okay now. I've also been having to reexamine some things about their relationship.
God, am I just long-winded?
...
Hm...don't answer that one.
There was also a moment when I was thinking about abandoning certain other projects because there's so many, but then I kicked myself and told myself that I'd be betraying both myself and my characters, and I can't do that.
Fuck.
I love my Sociology of Religion class because the content is awesome, and also for the simple reason that the professor uses chalk and a blackboard. It's really a lost art, despite inhaling all that chalk dust and dying of that pneumo-disease I can't pronounce at a young age. I like a teacher who can take the time to actually write up his notes as he talks about them, and on a chalkboard no less. It's just got something that PowerPoint doesn't have.
My Social Movements professor does the same. I love her and she's sweet and all, but you can tell she's still feeling things out.
I'm also sort-of-almost-kind-of-officially-but-not-quite-yet in the Sociology major, which means a double major of Writing and Sociology, which means no more relaxing semesters like this one--18 credits from now on, it's looking like, and I don't know how I'm going to fit in a study abroad program or an internship, but I dunno. I hope I can pull it off.
I read this awesome book for Women and Writing called Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn Heilbrun, and I would recommend it for everyone because it's awesome.
In ASIC last night we watched a few eps of Monster, which I have to say, I really like the manga a lot better. Something just seems to be lacking with the anime--tension, maybe? You got palpable tension out of the books, even in the beginning when everything with Tenma and Johan was just beginning. The anime feels, I dunno, thin. We also watched an extremely fast-paced few episodes of something that I don't really know the name to...um...Cross Something? Plenty of bishies with strangely colored hair and eyes (CLAMP did the character designs, apparently. No wonder, then). I wasn't really following; pretty much a lot of people were dying, and by the end of ASIC it was looking kind of like the beginning of Gundam Wing (the original), with the whole "girl-meets-boy-and-they-sorta-have-to-kill-each-other-maybe." Or something. In short, I'm looking forward to next week, which is the beginning of Outlaw Star and XOMG squee! Honey and Clover. Woot.
Haven't been writing all that much since I got home. I've been a bit stuck on this scene with E and Kail, and I had another one of those moments of "oh my fucking GOD it's so LONG and will NEVER SELL" when I realized that the target length of a manuscript is 200-250 pages on Word, since it equates to about 100-150K words and 400-500 pages depending on book size and how the FUCK can I ever stay under 300 pages, but oh well, I'm okay now. I've also been having to reexamine some things about their relationship.
God, am I just long-winded?
...
Hm...don't answer that one.
There was also a moment when I was thinking about abandoning certain other projects because there's so many, but then I kicked myself and told myself that I'd be betraying both myself and my characters, and I can't do that.
Fuck.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-27 10:00 am (UTC)It was Code Geass. I thought it was kind of unoriginal in a few respects. Then again, I never really care for CLAMP. I was a bit bemused with Monster as well. I found it predictable and it didn't have a very good flow. I'm sort of glad we aren't watching those all semester.
You shouldn't abandon projects, but you certainly can put them somewhere for later. That way, if you ever get writer's block, you can return to an idea that you have on hold. Don't force yourself to write something because you feel like you already made a commitment to it. Do things when you want to do them. If it really is a good idea, then you will inevitably return to it at some point.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 06:25 am (UTC)Geass, okay. I don't know about originality--that whole Gundam-like mecha thing just doesn't appeal to me--but it just went so fast. Like, bang! Backstory! Four seconds later there are terrorists and some weird prince dude and a guy who likes chess. Three seconds later--"Dude, I have special powers and am now CRAZY!" And then zillions of people are dying and I was like, "Wait, who are the good guys, hold on, what the hell just happened? Lost, I am lost!!" As for Monster, you should check out the manga, because it's made of awesome. Infinitely better than the anime.
Thank you for saying that, because you're so right. Especially there's no point in abandoning things I haven't even started. I've basically avoided working on multiple projects at once thus far out of fear of cross-pollination (like, themes and ideas that belong in one thing showing up in a second by accident), but maybe I should give it a whirl. It would be good to keep my options open. The problem, of course, is that every artist is a slave to the muse. There's just no reasoning with the little bitch/bastard. ^.^
no subject
Date: 2007-01-28 08:25 am (UTC)I'll agree with the crazy pacing. I liked some of the scenes, but I felt like it needed to establish a more defined flow. Perhaps I'll get to Monster some day.
What might be a good idea is you work on one idea until you start to lose momentum and then you work on the other idea until that one loses momentum and by then you might have gotten some other ideas for the first idea and go back to that and so on. That way, you can listen to your muse without having to abandon ideas. And just be glad that you have a productive muse. My muse is constantly sitting in the back room sipping coffee, cranking out good ideas maybe once every six months or so. He's a slacker. Probably because I'm a bit of a slacker too, but I guess that's life. Luckily for me, Computer Science doesn't require a lot of right-brained thinking.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-29 05:52 am (UTC)I think you'd like Monster. Not big on action, but it's like Death Note with a faster pace and more tension and fewer long thought processes.
I've tried that out in the past, and it didn't work too well then...but that was awhile ago, and my style has changed since then. Mostly it's the muse's fault, since once she commits herself to something she doesn't want to let go until she decides to randomly pack her bags for Maui. Lol, I don't think anyone's muse, whether for writing or art or whatever, would be the kind of person you'd want to actual live with. You know, if they were real and all...lol.