Wordperfect Alchemist

I've been ruminating recently on the subject of titles.  A title is a story's first hook--even before a reader claps eyes on your first sentence, he's going to see the title, and that constitute's his real first impression of the story (whether he/she be an editor or a consumer).  So naturally it's important and worth some thought.

Of course, there's few things more frustrating than having a killer opening, a tense middle, and a crescendo of an ending, then being stumped as to what phrase to type above the whole thing.  I've been there before.  On other occasions an awesome phrase will come exploding into my head and I'll have to write a story to match it.  My unpublished Shabak story "Black Water" is one example of that.  I've even got titles mapepd out for books I won't write for years, if ever.

I think a great title does three things:

1.) It hooks the reader's attention.  Create a powerful image, suggest awesome content, or present the reader with an interesting juxtaposition.  Or just have something cool.  For fantasy stories, it's probably better to avoid generic words like "king", "dragon", "dream", "magic", etc.  "The King's Dragon" or "The Dream Sword" isn't particularly arresting.  The exception is if you're really putting some new twist on the word's usage or making some allusion; I think Naomi Novik's novel His Majesty's Dragon is well-titled (and it's a great book too).  A similar consideration applies to SF stories: "The Stars my Dream" isn't as attention-catching as something like Dune or Speaker for the Dead.

2.) It conveys information about the book/story's content.  Again, I'll use His Majesty's Dragon.  It tells a reader that the story will involve dragons, but it also hints at the setting in Regency England and the fact that, not only is it about dragons, it's about dragons in the Napoleanic Wars.  The title should generally give the reader some indication of what kind of story they can expect--action, romance, psychological drama, etc.

3.) It hints at theme.  His Majesty's Dragon hints at the themes of loyalty, honor, and duty which underlie the story.  Dune emphasizes the barren landscape of Arrakis.  E. E. Knight's Dragon Champion establishes what the overall arc of AuRon's life is: that of a champion, conquering a series of obstacles to emerge victorious.  Dragon Avenger indicates that--surprise!--the book centers around a revenge story.  Those are also examples of titles which are attention grabbing but use "dragon". . .hm. . .some life left there, maybe.

I'm going to quick try one of my titles at those three categories. . .a semi-Bronze-Age heroic fantasy I call Harpy Slayer.

1.) I think it's attention grabbing.  Sure would grab my attention ;).

2.) It's about a hero slaying harpies, and it also contains plenty of battles.  I think both of those are sufficiently captured by Harpy Slayer, yes?

3.) Hm. . .probably weakest here.  I think what it _does_ do is center attention on my hero, Tarsok, whose conflicts, courage, and choices lie at the book's heart.  I also think the idea of him as a "slayer" is important to the book's overall thrust.  Tarsok would definitely consider himself a slayer.

So, I'm going to risk a jaunt on the borders of egotism and say that I think Harpy Slayer is a fairly good title.  Feel free to disagree :).

In conclusion, I present a list of titles I really like.  Make of them what you will.

Dune (Frank Herbert)
His Majesty's Dragon (Naomi Novik)
Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
The Gallows Thief (Bernard Cornwell)
Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper)
Mistborn: The Final Empire (Bradon Sanderson)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)--a great thematic title!
Dragon Champion/Avenger/Outcast (E. E. Knight)
"Wings in the Night" (Robert E. Howard)
The Devil's Novice (Ellis Peters)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Feel free to post some of your own!

Whoof, it's been a while since I've done this. . .my only real excuse is a fairly busy, and in some ways difficult, summer.  But mostly I just got out of the habit.  Consider this my first attempt to get back into it.

A while back I posed some writing and reading goals for the summer.  Those were:

Complete revisions, proofreading, synopsis, etc. of Harpy Slayer so that the manuscript is ready to go out to publishers

Outline and complete a draft of The Forked Road (probably 100-120k)

Finish Part 1 of Memory Wipe

Write a short story (yeah, yeah, this one’s fairly modest–I’ve just got an idea which needs to be given form)

Begin planning/outlining for next novel, probably a Shabak book

READING GOALS:

Finish all/most of the books I own but haven’t read

Finish Don Quixote (about 250 pages to go, unabridged) and possibly start reading Les Miserables.

Read more broadly than just fantasy/SF

Well. . .I didn't do all of 'em.  Here's the rundown:

Second draft of Harpy Slayer complete, less extensive third draft + proofreading still to do

Part 1 of Memory Wipe completed

Two new short stories written

About 22,000 words on The Forked Road, with a detailed outline for the rest

For Reading:

I think my number of unread books is about the same it was before--I've been buying almost as fast as I read.  I didn't read Les Miserables.  I did, however, read some non fantasy/SF stuff, which I enjoyed. . .so it's not a complete loss.

The best laid plans of men and salamanders and all that.  16 credits of classes will likely cut down somewhat on my productivity, but I'm going to try and have Harpy Slayer complete by Christmas and my draft of TFR done by the beginning of second semester.

Just recently finished a second draft of my latest book, a fantasy novel entitled Harpy Slayer with a disturbing amount of Seven Samurai influence.  This time around, I had several sections/chapters which needed complete re-writing, along with a plate full of work on most of the central character arcs.  Third draft will consist of me printing the whole thing out, slapping it in a binder, and going through with red ink (one of my former teachers and current friends likes to say "Red means love").

I increasingly realize that, although I certainly learn a great deal with every draft I do, I might learn even more during revision.  I've said to a couple friends who are interested in my writing that drafting is where you can have fun, play around, throw new stuff in, and generally enjoy the process, but revision is where you have to knuckle down and make it good.

Revision seems to me to be the stage where I really have to think deeply about such things as character arc, mood, pace, description/dialogue/action balance, overall structure, motivations, fight choreography, and all that.  I have to locate and patch gaps left by my outlining, snap decisions, and instinct.  I have to ferret out nonsense, inconsistencies, clunky dialogue, repetitive descriptions (hey, I used the same sentence for those mountains in the last chapter!). . .and so on.

Almost as importantly, I have to get feedback from people and then find the humility and patience to actually pay attention and get to work.  It's not always easy.  Sometimes it's excruciating.  But the book almost always ends up better as a result.

Even on a sentence-by-sentence level, polishing sentences I've already written is enormously helpful in learning to write them better the first time.

Revision is painful, but it's one of the best dojos I've trained in, and there's a complete, polishing manuscript waiting at the end of it.

Keeping tabs on my Summer Goals:

*I'm 2,000 words into MW 13, probably no more than 10,000 words away from "End Part 1"
*2nd draft of Harpy Slayer is complete, and hopefully the worst is over
*Currently outlining The Forked Road, hopefully to begin writing by about June 20th.

Here's a cool meme started by Bitter Hermit on the SFReader.com forum, with my answers:

1. When did you decide to begin writing?

When I was 13 and needed something to do over the summer (I'm 19 now).

2. Why did you decide to be a writer (or did you)?

After I finished my first 66,000 word novel, I found that I had caught the bug. My next book was 250,000 words and was written seven months faster. Sometimes it's harder than others, but I'm still set on writing full time.

3. What do you feel defines you as a writer?

In terms of personality or my work? I'll answer both. In terms of "writing personality", I'd say it's something I really have to work at...sitting down and writing honestly isn't the thing I enjoy most. It takes effort just about every day.

In terms of my work, I think I have a unique vision of heroism and heroes, and that's what underlies most of my stories. I tend to write action-packed adventure/war stories, but I'd say my deepest interest is in the characters underlying such tales, and particular in extreme, bloody heroism, which to me isn't truly heroism if it's done for personal gain. My heroes tend to have at least a strong streak of altruism which I think reflects me in some ways.

4. What is your greatest ambition as a writer?

To get two or three books a year published and be able to feed a wife and kids doing it. I've also got ideas for dozens of books and keep getting new ones all the time...I'd like to be able to write at least the cream of that crop.

At 11:55 this morning, I handed in my Calculus final, and I was free.  Free until the first week of September, in fact.  I’m not working or studying abroad or anything crazy like that, so that gives me about 3½ months to write, read, watch, play, hang out with friends + family, and generally live it up.

Yes, I’ll admit, I’m bragging.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a few of my goals for the summer, especially writing-related ones.  Then we can see how well I do when September rolls around.

WRITING GOALS:

Complete revisions, proofreading, synopsis, etc. of Harpy Slayer so that the manuscript is ready to go out to publishers

Outline and complete a draft of The Forked Road (probably 100-120k)

Finish Part 1 of Memory Wipe

Write a short story (yeah, yeah, this one’s fairly modest–I’ve just got an idea which needs to be given form)

Begin planning/outlining for next novel, probably a Shabak book

READING GOALS:

Finish all/most of the books I own but haven’t read

Finish Don Quixote (about 250 pages to go, unabridged) and possibly start reading Les Miserables.

Read more broadly than just fantasy/SF

As is probably apparent, my main plan with writing is to try and write/complete as many novel manuscripts as I can–I’m increasingly disillusioned with the short story market, and I honestly probably enjoy writing novels more.  It’s also the better path to being widely published and paid, which is my ultimate goal.

So...here’s hoping for a glorious summer!

From iGoogle's quote feed:

A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
  - Ring Lardner

Somehow I can't help but think there's some wisdom in that.

At long last, here's my brief report from OddCon.

I showed up on Friday just for the Character Building Panel.  My name got tuncated to "T. M. Stiennon" on my panelist placard, but no biggie--that's why God made pens.  The panel itself went pretty well...this might be a sign of narcissism, or just a sign of my recovering from a cold, but I can only really remember the things I said, of which the main point was that I think every one of my characters--mostly the major ones, but also minor--has some chunk of me in them.  Flinteye, for example, I kinda think of as my cigar-chomping dark side, while Shabak is more like the sort of person I'd like to be someday.  This is particularly true of viewpoint characters.  It's not like every person I write about is really me, but the only person I truly know is myself, and that comes through in my writing.

Saturday, I went to a panel for aspiring writers (mostly things I've heard before, although it's always good to hear them again).  E. E. Knight had a great quote from his editor, Liz Scheier, in which he described how she goes about looking at a new manuscript.  Then I ate at Burger King, tragically forgot to pick up a crown, attended another panel, and then had the big worldbuilding panel.  It was four pros and one amateur (or "semi-pro", as I like to call myself), but I do think I was able to make a couple good points.  Excellent points also from the other panelists which it would take a lot of space to enumerate.

At the 4:30 mass author signing, I grabbed a space at the table and laid out a few copies of Memory Wipe Chapter 1 and "Death Marks", a Shabak story published a while back in Amazing Journeys magazine.  A few people took copies, so it was good.  I also realized again that I'm really bad at describing my own work--for Memory Wipe, I think I may have given the impression that it was Bourne Identity fan-fiction.  Eh.  Something to work on.

Had dinner with E. E. Knight at a Vietnamese joint.  Good food and conversation, accompanied by a coconut beverage which wasn't quite like anything I've ever tasted.

Stuck around for the GoH speeches.  I wasn't too hot on the one book of McDevitt's that I read (The Engines of God), but I don't hold it against the man--he seemed like a pretty cool guy.  Joan Vinge was ill that evening, so her husband Jim Frenkel did the speech for her, giving a brief history of his relationship w/ her and her career.  She's apparently just started writing again after an auto accident in 2000 or 2001 which left her with brain problems which inhibit writing.  I've never actually read any of her books, but I may have to give The Snow Queen a shot....  Also got to chat briefly w/ Pat Rothfuss, although he was pretty busy that weekend.  It also turns out that April 14th is McDevitt's birthday, and they had a cake for him with his latest book cover stamped on it.  The crowd sang happy birthday, me included.

Sunday I had two panels.  The Suspense and Action one, moderated by E. E. Knight, was a lot of fun, although I thought the "action" portion was the more interesting.  Eric talked about writing fight scenes from a dragon viewpoint, and the main point of mine that I recall was that atmospherics are critical--high places, mist, smoke, storms, lightning, fire, etc.  Explosions, too.  Can't forget explosions.

Manga/anime panel afterwards, during which I pretty much proved myself a ravening Fullmetal Alchemist fanboy (hey, look at my blog title!).  Joan Vinge made some great points about symbolism and cultural elements in manga/anime, and I talked a little about how the Japanese seem to have a much stronger sense of family than American artists--America is infested w/ lone wolf heroes who either are largely without family or whose families are killed off early on.  Japan seems different.  Fullmetal Alchemist centers around two brothers, and pretty much every set of characters in that manga either is part of a family or is part of a group that interacts like some kind of family.  Even the Homunculi (the villains) have that dynamic--Lust is a big sister to Gluttony's kid brother, Envy's problematic middle child, and Greed's bad example older brother.  Moderator Chris Welsh had something interesting things to add about J-horror.

I took off right after that.  I'm friends with the kid who recently won the National Vocabulary Championship in New York, and his family was having a party at a local restaurant to watch the event on TV.

Great weekend altogether...my dealer's room purchases consisted of a copy of the first Nightshade Imaro book, which I've been meaning to try, and the first volume of Neotopia, an American comic with a lot of manga influence.  It really slacked off as the series went on, but I love the art, and some of the characters are pretty cool.

More info on anything above available to those who ask.

Today's the first day of OddCon, a relatively small con that takes place every April right here in Madtown. This will be my third year attended, and it always makes for a fun weekend.  E. E. Knight and Patrick Rothfuss, both excellent writers and cool people to hang out with, will be in attendance, along with Guests of Honor Joan Vinge and Jack McDevitt.

I've got four panels this time around, starting with

Character building panel

Sarah Monette*, Lee Schneider, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Kathryn Sullivan, Patrick Rothfuss, Joan D. Vinge

at 4:30 today.  For Saturday, I've got:

The perennial OddCon World Building panel

E. E. Knight*, Sarah Monette, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Patrick Rothfuss, Joan D. Vinge at 3:00.

For Sunday I've got two:

Wham! KaPow! Banff!  Writers on Building Suspense and Showing Action

Jeannie Bergmann, E. E. Knight*, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Monica Valentinelli at 10:30 am and

Big Eyes, Little Mouths, and Bleeding Wounds: Manga, Anime, and J-Horror

Eric M. Heideman, Sean T. M. Stiennon, Joan D. Vinge, Chris Welsh* at noon.

The Anime/manga one I'm a little unsure about, given that I have absolutely no knowledge of J-Horror and that my fondness for anime and manga is relatively new and limited to a relative handful of series, but hopefully I'll have something to add.  All the writing panels should be awesome, although I'm a little nervous about being the only amateur/semi-pro on the World Building panel.  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to say....

I'm also going to be sitting at the mass author signing at 4:30 on Saturday with a bunch of print-outs of some of my work to give away.  I'm thinking "Old Steelfist", the first chapter of Memory WIpe, and maybe "Flinteye and the Crystal Spear" or "A Kabrisk's Son".

Con report to come!

Every so often I see lists of "Things I never, ever, want to see again in fantasy", most recently from James Enge and Steve Goble.  They're interesting to read, and I generally agree with a lot on them.  Common culprits include rag-tag bands of merry companions out to conquer the Dark Duke Bad through sheer pluck and good looks, sexy vampires, blunt barbarians, omnipotent wizards, and secret princesses behind every Puff the Magic Dragon.  I'm basically against all of the above.

Thing is, such lists make me realize that I really don't have one of my own.  I attribute this partially the fact that I've only had a few years in which I've really read a lot of fantasy, and I've spent a lot of that time with unusual stuff like the Tim Powers and Paula Volsky (i.e., stuff that doesn't follow a standard fantasy template).  I've read one (1) Terry Brooks novel and four (4) Salvatore books (the original Icewind Dale trilogy and the first Dark Elf book).  I just don't seem to have read enough of the right (wrong?) books to have gotten particularly irritated by anything (in terms of generalties, mind--I probably won't read any more Salvatore for the immediate future because they were starting to irritate me).

Usually, if I don't pick up a book with "Now, Max'x'y must set off with his rag-tag band of quirky companions to wield the Lamp of Light against the Shadow of Darkness" scribed on the back is because I think it indicates a lack of creativity on the part of the author.  If it were:

"Texas Ted and his merry posse of rodeo clowns must set off across the scorching Sahara desert, seeking the Golden Saddle with which to wrangle the Black Bull who done took over Ted's range.  Along the way they face Arab bandits, entire cities where neither love nor money will buy a good beer, and some of the ornierist steers this side of Wyoming."

I might consider it, because that shows some creativity.  Or even something more *cough* traditional, like:

"Ten years ago, four warrior brothers swore that they would would drink only water, eat only raw food, and sleep only on hard ground until they had located the bones of their long-vanished father.  Now, they discover that, before his death, he may have held the key to defeating the Cold One whose power is slowly despoiling their once lush homeland...and that both it and his remains lie deep within the Heart of Shadows, a land that has been overrun by demonic powers for over a thousand years."

I guess the difference for me is creativity and good writing.  Going by reading experience alone, there's not too much I'm personally sick of, although I take it on hearsay that most vampire novels are lame re-treads or that many high fantasies are boring quest tales, and I factor that into my reading choices.  Titles like "The Sword of Light" or "The Dragon Wizard" also turn me off somewhat.  I will note, though, that one of my favorite series (The Noble Dead books by Barb and J.C. Hendee) are about a pair of vampire slayers, one of whom is a half-elf.  And I love 'em.  They're well-written, exciting, and creative.  I also enjoy some fat fantasy, like Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Shadowmarch series.

Bad writing and lack of creativity are what bother me.

Actually, though, I lied.  Here's a brief list of things that particularly irritate me in fiction:

1.) Unconvincing changes of heart.  This is a big problem for a lot of religious fiction, along with any "Evil warlord sees the light and becomes a hero" tale.  Both can be great if done well, with insight and depth that take into account how dramatic these shifts are.  All too often it happens in one glorious vision or conversation by the fireside.

2.) Heroes who are no different than the bad guys, but...well...they're heros!  By this I mean: A murder, revenge killing, mutilation of enemy corpses, slaughter of prisoners, etc. is what it is, whether it's your plucky hero or the evil hordes who do it.  I've read books where the two sides do exactly the same thing, but for some reason it's heroic or courageous when the guys in white hats do it.

3.) Female characters who are just there for the sake of fanservice.

4.) Invincible heroes.  By this I mean not super-tough heroes who can take on twenty warriors and win, but those who can do it without trying, getting tired, or showing any other ill side-effects.

5.) Characters who make wisecracks that are neither wise nor cracklin'.

6.) Villains who hardly even try to win.

Here's one gem I forgot to mention from the Tad Williams signing:

I forget what question this came in response to, but Tad said (I paraphrase): "Writing is a muscle , and it gets stronger when you exercise it."

There's plenty of wisdom in them words. First, there's the obvious fact that one gets better at writing simply by doing it--one of the reasons my biggest advice to anyone interested in writing is to do it every single day, even for a line or two, whether they feel like it or not. Getting in the habit of doing it all the time, every day, every year, is a substantial victory. I miss a day now and then, but I've got the habit formed.

But then there's something else a little deeper than that. I've noticed that, as I've gained skill as a writer, I'm writing cleaner drafts--they need less cleaning-up, and when they do require significant revision, it tends to be overarching problems of plotting, character, or conceptualization rather than minutiae, small implausibilities, characters acting out of character, dialogue quirks, chunks of unclear or boring prose, etc. Lord knows I still have plenty of room for improvement--that's pretty much universal among artists and craftsmen--but I do think that I've gained a certain amount of skill over the years, and that skill doesn't take the form of a list of rules I've memorized which I run through as I write. Somewhere along the way things become organic. I get into the habit.

Now, admittedly, there are some things I have to actively watch for. Passive voice is sometimes a problem for me, but even there, I think I've gained a better sense of how to avoid it and the instances where it is indeed necessary.

I still have to think through some things, struggle with a tricky description or patch of dialogue, and other such matters. But I've built up my muscles via experience and study from the masters (a few writing books here and there, some good articles, listening to experienced authors when they speak). I continue to build my muscles all the time.

I think this also ties in to "Show don't tell", which I posted about below and James Enge elaborated on with his usual insight and humor.  Over time, with practice at showing rather than telling, I think a writer gains not only a greater deftness in showing, but also a sense of when telling is appropriate.  Techniques/skills have to be intellectualized when they're being learned, but with experience and time, they become more organic.  Like a muscle.

I almost think a truly skilled writer is someone who can write a great story when they'd rather watch paint dry at the bottom of a dry well in the middle of Death Valley--that is, someone whose muscles are good enough that they can do the work even when inspiration has run dry and the mind is exhausted.

Man, the more I learn and think about writing, the more aware I am that it's not a simple thing to go about.

I mean, there's the basic idea of showing not telling.  Telling is something like:

"Jax was mad at the Blue Terror."

An example you'd usually see for showing would be something like:

"Jax clenched his teeth and growled wordlessly as he gazed at the Blue Terror's palpitating membranes."

But that's not the height of showing...not by a long shot.  Clenching and growling are kinda off-the-shelf.  Heck, I can't even write what the height of it would be.  Something a little better might me something like:

"Jax felt a wild urge to massage the Terror's membranes with a jackhammer, just by way of justice."

But something tells me even that's not very good....

Ach.  I'd better just keep writing and cut the angst.

Last night (Friday) was awesome.  Tad Williams was doing a signing for his latest book, Shadowplay, at the Barnes and Noble within spitting distance of my abode, so naturally I went, got my copy, and sat in front.  I loved his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn books, and the first volume of his current series (Shadowmarch) was great as well.

Tad did a brief reading but spent most of the time answering questions.  He's excellent with public speaking and a great deal of fun to listen to.  My own question was: "What do you think of the state of the fantasy/SF industry?"  He answered that he thought it was doing well, and that although plenty of doomsaying can be heard, he's been hearing it for 22 years with no cataclysm.  He also mentioned that he's stopped reading reviews of his books--there might be ten good ones, but a single negative review can wound a writer for days.

After Q&A I recognized Patrick Rothfuss from pictures of him I had seen online, and we got to chatting.  Apparently he lives fairly nearby, working as a professor at UW-Steven's Point.  His first book, The Name of the Wind, is coming out at the end of this month to critical acclaim and a letter from Betsy Wolheim saying that it's the best fantasy debut she's read in 30 years as an editor.  He was friendly, talkative, and an all-around cool guy to chat with.  I'll definitely be getting my meathooks on a copy, particularly since he'll have his own B&N signing on the 27th.

I got my copy of Shadowplay signed, chatted w/ Tad for a few minutes, and recieved the poster announcing the signing from a very cool B&N employee.  Tad kindly scribbled on it and afterwards invited me, Patrick, and a woman from his Shadowmarch board who had driven up from Chicago over to the nearby Chili's for food and drinks.

It was a great hour-and-a-half of conversation, cheesecake, and lemonade (well, the last two were more exclusive to me).  I had the privilege of listening in whilst Tad and Patrick chatted about DAW, their editor, and the industry in general, and other topics of conversation included tattoos, small dogs, and Wisconsin food (mmm...cheese sticks).  And I discovered that the joint serves excellent cheesecake, although it bothered me that the plate was three times too big for the vittles it contained.  Got home late after a couple close calls on frozen sidewalks.

Anyway, great evening all around.  I'll hopefully be seeing Rothfuss again at his aforementioned signing, and he'll also be at OddCon.  I may also get a chance to see Tad next time I'm out in California.

In conclusion, I'll just say that spending some time around two successful writers has given me a fresh jolt as far as my own writing goes.  Right now my plan is to write intensive Memory Wipe over the next few weeks, then focus on revising my novel.  Once that's done I'll start another novel, hopefully in the beginning of June (or, if I may dream, even earlier).

I've got a short story up in the most recent issue of Ray Gun Revival, "Flinteye and the Crystal Spear".  I think this is one of the better Flinteye shorts I've written, with a sword&planet-ish flavor.

For those of you who've read Six with Flinteye: Chass returns in this one.

Read the story! (The link will open a .pdf)

Memory Wipe continues in the next ish.

Last Sunday, I spent most of the day playing paintball w/ my brother and one of his friends at a field about a half-hour east of Madison.  The field was offering free admission/equipment rental, so how could we resist?

It was the second time I had played, and I think I had the hang of the game a little better.  I actually got the flag in my meathooks once after a particularly brilliant sniping operation, then started sprinting back to our base only to discover that...the other team had gotten ours first >.<.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few lessons about combat w/ projectile weapons I've learned even from my limited experience of playing paintball.  These may be of interest to writers--I know they're of interest to me.

1.) Cover is your friend.  Even with weapons as inaccurate as rental paintball markers, you don't run heroically through enemy fire, taking down man after man with paint fired from the hip.  Paint flies at you, not in perpendicular lines to your path.

2.) Your teammates are your friends.  Lone wolves get flanked and shot.  You need squaddies to hold a line, lay down covering fire while you move up to a better patch of cover, and flank a well-entrenched enemy.

3.) Your enemies are in cover.  Often, all you see is their barrel, loader, and a flash of mask.  All-too-rarely does one of them run out into the open and give you more than a few square inches to aim at.  Engagements generally consist of ducking out of cover, firing off a few runs, then ducking back before you get shot yourself.  Victory comes when you line up a good shot or get an angle which negates his cover, not when you charge out with a hearty cry of "Freedom!" and your finger pumping the trigger.  Refer to point 1, above.

4.) Your resources are limited.  Your supply of paint is finite, particularly if you're playing on a budget.  If you don't use it wisely, you could find yourself firing blanks.

5.) Intelligence is critical.  Knowing the layout of the field, where the enemy team is entrenched, where their base is, etc. can be the difference between a glorious campaign and a paintball between the eyes after thirty seconds of play.

Note: I  have no objection to villains with the marksmanship abilities of stormtroopers and heros who can sprint through a storm of bullets without  breaking a sweat.  But everything has its place.  I suspect that my brief experience with paintball will help me write realistic gunfights a little better and with a pinch more plausibility.

A new issue of Ray Gun Revival is out, and with it a new chapter of Memory Wipe--Chapter 8: The Price Paid.

Check out the issue!  Or read issue 2, containing the first chapter of Memory Wipe.

MW is an action-packed space opera chockful of dark secrets, deadly villains, and electric combat.  While you're there, RGR is actively seeking submissions, so if you've got any good space opera sitting around, now's the time to dig it out!

Back in January 2006, The Sword Review ran a story of mine called "Old Steelfist" which claimed Runner-up (AKA second place) in their 2005 Fiction Contest.

It's an awesome story--one of the best I've written--so I thought I may as well link to it here, for your reading pleasure:

Read "Old Steelfist", a tale of goblins, slashin', and an old warrior who would rather put it all behind him.

Just by way of bragging, Dan Blackston (of the late and lamented Pitch-Black Books) gave the tale an awesome review in one of his Firebrand Fiction columns.  Here's a snippet:

"To those who have opined their belief that nothing original, deep, or satisfying can come from "Dungeons and Dragons" style fantasy, "Old Steelfist" is like a polite kick in the teeth. That is, Stiennon's tale refutes mediocrity, as well as blind-obedience to literary fashion, and does so with enviable technical aplomb and imagination. A must-read story by a must-read author of notable skill and talent."

Interesting post over at DeepGenre talking about how getting small details wrong in writing can harm an otherwise good story.

I basically agree with the point, but I think it can be taken too far--like James Enge says in the combox, technology doesn't have to take exactly the same path in the same period of time in a fantasy world as it did in reality. Maybe gunpowder was discovered early by a chemical genius in the Iron Age or somesuch. Maybe magic allows them to forge unbreakable swords out of bronze. Fantasy worlds can have fantastic pasts as well as presents.

Then there's another thing I ponder now and then, which I might call the "expert's burden". I have a feeling that there's no way I could write anything about, say, Roman legions in the first century which would satisfy a PhD had devoted years of research, writing, and study to the subject of the Roman military. Unless, that is, I first spent several years getting my own PhD in ancient history. I agree that, if I'm going to write about Roman legions, I should do enough research to have some idea what I'm talking about--what they wore, what they ate, what weapons they carried, what tactics they used, how they were organized, etc. But I'm still not going to satisfy the PhD, and it might become a serious obstacle to him in enjoying the story.

I'm not sure that means I've failed as a writer because I don't get every detail right, though. Most of my readers aren't going to be specialists in whatever topic I'm writing about. They're probably not going to care if I describe my Romans as wearing the lorica segmentae when a specialist could tell me that this particular army in this region at this time would have worn scale armor.

I think that, past a certain point, the difficulty an expert in a subject might have enjoying my story isn't my fault--I can't be expected to know everything about everything I write about.  I wouldn't actually write anything if I tried.  That's what I would call the "expert's burden"--if you know everything there is to know about some subject, you've got a barrier to overcome in enjoying any work of art that deals with that subject.

Granted, the level of research I should do partly depends on how integral the subject is--Patrick O'Brian wrote twenty novels centered around naval combat in the Napoleonic War, so one would hope he became pretty well educated about it.

Of course, the real trick is to give the reader the impression you know a lot more than you do.  A little hand-waving can go a long way :-).

Just a first post to kinda kick things off. I've been thinking about blogging for a while, and livejournal seems to be the "author's choice" from what I've observed in my sporadic wanderings about the web.

Anyhoo, I'm Sean T. M. Stiennon, and I write fiction, usually fantasy and SF. I've had several small-press publications here and there. Right now, the best place to read my work is probably over at Ray Gun Revival , where a new chapter of my ongoing Memory Wipe serial is published in the even numbered issues (which come out around the 15th of every month).  I've also got a short story collection, Six with Flinteye, although I have reason to believe all is not well with the publisher.  If you can find a copy (Amazon.com, B&N.com), it's a collection of six space opera tales with more high adventure, exotic worlds, and colorful characters than you can shake a stick at.

I've got a completed novel ms. I'm currently shopping, another one in the revision stage, and I'm busy cogitating my next project.

Anyway, as for an agenda, I'll be posting news about my writing for those interested (come on, there's got to be someone!), links to whatever curiosities I stumble across, commentary on fantasy, SF, manga, movies, and other subjects, etc.

Hope to see you around!