Hello, all!  Now that the vacation period is over (I know this because today was light even for a Monday, so I am not looking forward to later on today…), and I am back to work officially as both writer and Dreaded Day Jobber, I would like to say that if you have any questions for me (limited to writing, as I like to keep my private life off the computers — what’s put up on the Internet stays on the Internet, right Beyonce?) feel free to ask them.

As far as the novel goes, I am getting the pair out of the house and off to the cousin’s tonight.  I’ve been wanting to write this scene because I am trying to work on how my characters sound when they talk to each other.  Sometimes, I get the feeling that there is little difference in how one character sounds compared to another.  For all the time I spend talking to people on the phones, I should have dialogue down pat.  For me, I am trying to not have to fall into the trap of writin’ foh-net-cally but give a hint of some sort of accent or manner of speaking through vocabulary.  Of course, I still need to get an idea of what the cousin is like.  He’s a moonshiner (where it’s not considered illegal, merely troublesome) and he is the one who Ehren buys his moonshine from in order to charge it with a little bit of the healing power — technically, it’s Vimala’s power, but we know what’s what around here — and his cousin charges him a slightly higher (“We’re cousins on your momma’s side, but that ain’t really family.”).  In my mind, I’m casting this guy just because he perfectly embodies the slimy part of the business — any business, really.  Yes, Ehren is a bit of a shyster and a lazy gadabout, but he’s at least trying to keep a small sense of respectability about him.  I see his cousin calling him out on it every now and then because he knows he can really tweak him with the reminder that there’s very little difference between the two of them.  Just that one of them accepts what fate has handed him and is making good money out of it and the other wants to put on airs of ‘benevolent capitalism’ to make himself feel good about himself.  Whether this improves or not, I am not sure — it’s still early in the draft for me to see what’s happening in between now and the end of the book (how much should he have left when it’s all said and done?  Really depends on my mood — could be the clothes on his back, could be nothing.  We’ll just have to see.).

Well, it’s getting near the time I should get some sleep.  If you’re interested in what I’m listening to when I write this, I’ve put my Spotify list out here and here.  I take no responsibility for your disappointment or enthusiasm.

Have a good day everyone,

Seething Apathy

Hello, everyone!  I hope everyone had a good three day weekend.  I didn’t do much in terms of writing over the course of the weekend, but I did get to go see Terminator: Genesys.  

Wow — if you’re a fan of the franchise (like me) this film has everything.  It continues the story quite well and there are some genuinely funny moments in the film (still can’t get that smile right…).  There are some great callbacks to both films and while yes there is a big reveal that’s killed by the trailers (seriously, guys? A running time of 126 minutes and you pick those?), there is still enough surprises in the movie.  Oh, stick around after the credits for an additional scene that is going to lead into the next movie.  It’s in the top five movies of the summer for me, knocking Avengers: Age of Ultron from a very close second to an even closer third.  Mad Max: Fury Road remains on the top for me.  There are still a bunch of movies I want to see like Spy and Inside Out.  Those might be coming up for me in a couple of weeks.

Like I said earlier, there was no writing on the weekend for the holiday.  I am kinda chomping at the bit to get something started again, which is why this blog entry is a little late.  We’re still at the wainwright’s, but the axle is getting fitte in the wagon, so our main character will be off to see his cousin and get more swill to charge up and sell to others.  As any good writer (and me) will say that a scene needs to advance the plot, show us something about the character or their environment.  This scene is going to show that poor Ehren is estranged from both family and polite society.  With the scene with the wainwright, we see that Ehren is not a complete jerk.  He does grab some food to help with the scurvy and rickets ridden boy (Vimala wants him to do more…might rhyme with schmidschmapping), and gives up some of his food for him (if I’m lucky, I can write that scene today).  This little rule is useful to bring in when you start editing.  Of course, this rule must be used ruthlessly, and I try to use it early so I can kill my darling scene before they’re committed to paper.  Like ripping off a band-aid rather than easing it off, it better that way.

I apologize for this entry being late.  I was working on the aforementioned novel before I realized I didn’t have anything ready, so this will be a little short.  I will have more to say tomorrow.

Until then…

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy