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athingofvikings · 4 years

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i've always figured that the Protestant Revolution as we know it couldn't happen in the context of ATOV because you've mentioned that anything born past the dates in-fic are no longer possible, i think due to snowball effects and history changing? I figure the Protestant REformation falls under similar grounds; i suppose some kind of shake up COULD happen, since Hiccup's thing is accidentally wrecking static societies, but i dont think it could be like the real Reformation's outcome?

Indeed. The reason I have to keep bringing it up is because there’s a degree of... I call it “prescriptive history,” going on with people. (I’m trying to find a better name for it; an accurate name for it would be “telological bias”, but that hardly rolls off the tongue!)

The issue is specifically that the way we teach history is very often as a story, and in that story there are specific major events that are made into a specific narrative. It’s the same mindset that informs and reinforces everything from the “March of Progress” of evolution, the classic image showing the progression of ape to man, to the idea that “history has an arc that bends towards justice” and so forth. It’s embedded in every classroom history wall poster and every historical video game, especially with the “great inventor/great man of history” trope. The thing is with evolution and with history is that nobody and nothing is working towards a specific outcome. They are acting in their specific moment, doing things that make sense for them in that moment, using the tools they have available that others have made.

Let me give an example here to illustrate what I mean.

Johann Gutenberg is credited as having invented the printing press.

He didn’t.

What he did do was make it an economical proposition, and for that, he gets all of the credit.

Most of the technology that went into this thing had been around for centuries. The lever in the center that presses down on the pad to mark the paper came from a paper press (where they squeezed out the water from the paper) and that came from a modified wine press.

And people had been using those sorts of presses to print with woodblocks for over a thousand years before Gutenberg.

The problem with woodblock printing--or even using metal or ceramic blocks to print with--was that when they started to wear out (think of the soles of your shoes and how the pattern can wear out unevenly depending on how you walk), you were screwed, and you had to make the whole thing all over again. And that was expensive.

It was just easier to have scribes write out books than carve an expensive piece of wood that had to be just perfectly flat with intricate carvings that would only be good for a specific book and would only produce a certain number of copies of that page before it wore out.

And in the 1040s, a Chinese polymath named Bi Sheng invented movable type specifically to address that problem; he made individual stamps that would each print one Chinese character that could be used together as a block, allowing more flexibility. He made his out of porcelain, and they not only had problems with uneven wear as well, they could also crack--and when that happened, you still needed to get another one handmade which might then not fit in with the other handmade stamps without leaving gaps. So still scribes were cheaper and faster.

So all of the technology for the printing press was there for centuries before Gutenberg.

What happened?

Well, a century before Gutenberg was a little thing called The Black Death, which wiped out a tremendous number of Europeans--including a lot of the scribes. And when supply drops, demand grows and prices rise--so suddenly scribes were a lot pricier to hire. So there was incentive to look at the printing press again...

And here’s Gutenberg’s breakthrough that let him get all of the credit.

See this? This is a mold for casting identical letters.

There is a negative image at the bottom (itself derived from a hallmark punch stamp used by metal-smiths as a signature on their work), and molten metal was poured on top of it. So worn out letters could be easily recycled and since they all came from the same mold, they were all the same size and could be easily swapped out with other letters.

So Gutenberg was in the right place and time--a time when the existing supply of scribes was recovering from a massive blow, rendering a new printing mechanism economical, and having access to several technologies that he put together to solve a problem that he faced.

And it spread like wildfire.

He had no idea that, decades after his death, a young reforming priest would nail up 95 issues he had with the way the very centralized and corrupt Catholic Church acted onto the door of a church. How could he? After all, Gutenberg was just looking for a better way to rapidly copy texts that would be more economical than having an expensive scribe doing it one letter at a time.

But because Gutenberg had made printing economical, Luther’s 95 Theses and his followup material could be rapidly spread, instead of quashed like the Catholic Church had done to previous such reformers and their sects.

So without those conditions--like, let’s say, if the Black Death had killed off a smaller part of the population, leaving the pool of scribes larger and not giving them a chance to push for higher wages, and thereby not giving Gutenberg a reason to invent his press--would the Reformation have happened as it did?

I’d say that, no, it wouldn’t have.

And to that, I’d point at steam power.

Hero of Alexandria had invented a small steam engine as a toy back during the days of the Roman Empire, but it wouldn’t become economical to develop into a machine for over one and half thousand years--and that was because Newcomen was building a mine pump that was cheaper to fuel with the low-grade coal being brought up from the mines than it was to import animal feed.

He wasn’t trying to invent a technology that would completely transform the world.

He was just trying to make a more efficient way to pump water out of mines.

But we aren’t taught it like this. We’re taught that Newcomen invented it, James Watt refined it, and boom, trains and steamships!

And if you’re taught about the Protestant Reformation in absence of the context that birthed it, of course you’re going to view it as a historical inevitability, especially if the individual person ascribes a deep theological import to the event.

So... I rambled, but yeah. TL;DR: People don’t do things because it will have an effect in the future that they know nothing about--they do it because it makes sense for them in that moment.

#paragonrobits

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kierongillen · 7 years

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Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine #29

Spoilers, obv.

Weird issue this, for me.

We've been away for a few months, so this is the reintroduction. As I've said, the second half of Imperial Phase is more constricted in time than the first, so we've got to set all that up. And in terms of my “stuff to do” list, I obviously had a bunch. I also had a structure, which was putting the focus on Persephone and take her through her day (akin to 24). It's about that hangover, juxtaposing the realisation of Sakhmet's actions and the feeling of being sapped and wrecked and regretful.

(I'm writing this with a hangover, oddly, though it's the “last night was amazing!” sort of hangover, so not exactly right.)

Anyway – I have the story goals and the structural means and all that, and basically hit them. But I also didn't do something more than that, despite having plans for a Big Swing issue. I simply choked. I hit the point and just didn't want to write what I had planned. Not even “didn't want to”. Maybe “wasn't capable of putting myself through it.”

As such, even though the issue has gone down well – better than I would have thought – it nags at me. I suspect it was best for me not to do it, and may even show character growth on my part in choosing not to, but it's still mildly annoying. I suspect it'll be my least favourite issue of the arc... but that may have been true anyway. I am particularly fond of the rest of this arc.

Anyway – that ennui and reluctance fed into what the script ended up being: “I'm tired and I don't want to do this any more but what other choice is there?” is very much the mood and the point.

(Why has this gone down well? The character focus, I suspect. We've got 10 main characters, and all of them bar Baph (and arguably Woden) get meaningful scenes.)

Okay – remember back in issue 27 on Phased I talked about how I solved trying to fit all the information in by realising one sub-plot could be excised and then pushed later? That was the Sakhmet/Persephone relationship stuff from this issue and the rest of the arc. We obviously had some of it in 27, but it was the absolute minimum necessary for 28 to make sense and to establish their interactions. I realised the rest would be just as effective if it's stuff Persephone remembers, in terms of the ghosts of their past together. It integrated well with the themes of Waking Up The Night After And Thinking Back.

Jamie's Cover

Was mildly annoying that this was released online just before the last issue dropped, as the blood coated coat is something of a spoiler. But you end up shrugging, because “Sakhmet covered in blood” is very much her look anyway.

Jamie covered this one, due to Matt being away on well deserved holiday.

The breaking of the portrait is the theme for the second half of Imperial Phase, as those who've seen the future covers will know.

Jock's Cover

Very happy to get Jock doing a cover – one of the definitive cover artists of the 21st century, and one of the nicest people in comics. If I ever made a faustian deal, it was made on the floor of Jock's hotel room in Dublin, waking up and picking fluff off my tongue and thinking “you need to earn some money at some point, Kieron.” Jock had let Jamie and me crash on his floor, like the kind and lovely fella he is.

Anyway! Morrigan, in full fashion-sepulcharal. Obviously look at how Jock uses space here, and plays with the logo. That sort of awareness of the specifics of any individual cover is one of the reasons why he is what he is. Lovely stuff.

The 25 Issues In Future Cover

For Image's theme months, we normally say yes or no depending on whether it strikes us as a worthwhile idea in terms of the book – which normally means “do we have a good idea instantly.” In this case, Eric went “A hypothetical cover for your book 25 issues in the future.” Everyone on the team went “Well, by that point the book is over so...”

Original idea was a graveyard, but realised that a monument would be the way to go. It's based on one in Glasgow, which Jamie pointed out as we went past it.

One day I'll get the HUMANITY statue in London into the book, but not yet.

IFC

Deciding what information gets added to these is always an interesting challenge. What matters? What doesn't?

Page 1-2

We're back, and first panel is the Laura narration we haven't seen since issue 11. I miss that girl.

Jamie does this whole sequence so well. Matt too, in terms of mood. I'm always interested in the question Jamie asks me – in this case it was “why the hell is she living in a crappy room in the underworld? She's rich.” And then I have to justify it, which is nice, because it reminds me that my choices actually do have the justifications built in. I suspect I believe I used Bojack Horseman and Sid Vicious in crappy hotel as my references.

Yes, the Lucifer fangirl is cruel and unusual. That Persephone left the party saying she wanted to be alone and wasn't in the mood, and between then and now she's picked up someone else, and someone who reminds her of her old friend says a lot about her. Same as later, when she goes clubbing rather than go home.

Really interesting colour choices in the second panel of the second page by matt – that beige-y red of the cigarette light. And then look at the cold blue/white light when the phone clicks in.

I think a lot about how we hear about news, both personal and world news. Occasionally it's in person, but I think of refreshing the Warren Ellis Forum and then the top post being “Plane flies into World Trade Center” with one unread message or anything else. Just a line of text that is going to change everything. We do a lot of stuff like that – I find myself thinking of the climax of The Immaterial Girl.

Page 3

I believe I was thinking of Bananarama's Love In The First Degree. Bananarama were my original text pop band. Huge chunks of what I love in Pop Music can be traced back to Bananarama.

Page 4-5

Earliest scene in the current recurrence, I believe... at least in terms of showing gods.

This is in part to make sure the timeline was clear. As Baal's Death Day was revealed, we know when he must have appeared... which was before 2013 Ragnarock which still clearly believed the gods not have returned yet. If this is Baal's first gig, then we know he spent a couple of weeks not doing performances.

The question of when Sakhmet came is open. I suspect I'm never going to actually say it in the script, but I can see Sakhmet's appearance basically prompting Baal into doing his first gig just to make sure he gets to be first. Those would be fun conversations. I could talk about our choices in terms of when we started our story, but there's certainly another version of WicDiv which did everything in straight chronological. If I was writing it for (say) television, I suspect I'd take that route.

(The short version is that in a monthly comic “Gods reincarnating as pop stars” isn't a big enough hook. That's a theme and setting. I needed the specific big plot, which was the Did Lucifer Do It?)

Anyway – party in a Warehouse, but look at what Matt does with the colours here, which are brutal. In an issue with so little joy, this level of pop just shows what the book isn't now.

Page 6

I'm always interested in Jamie's choices for the gods when they're not on stage. Amaterasu's clearly herself, but not quite as loud.

Eight panel grid, which is my standard choice. I suspect I could have pushed either of these half scenes to longer scenes, but I have bigger fish to fry.

Jamie does great stuff here with the body language – being questioned by the police about your girlfriend murdering a bunch of folk when you're hungover can't be much fun, and panel 2 really shows it. And then there's panel 4 – Persephone holding herself as she trudges away. The contrast between that and the detective's words is a lovely bit of irony by Jamie – she really doesn't look like someone who could.

Matt's colouring in the fifth panel is just startlingly wonderful. Just look at that.

Chrissy's ongoing biggest regret is that we did PERSY instead of PERSEY when we first did Amaterasu's nickname for Persephone.

Page 7-9

The formalist in me is a little annoyed that I break the purity of “follow around Persephone on her hangover day” and have a scene which starts before her.

Jamie and Matt always realign their work between arcs, and Jamie is trying some slightly different approaches to the page. I mention, as for me, this scene is where it's most obvious in terms of “something is a little different to usual.”

Return to the I Can't Believe It's Not The Danger Room, introduced in issue 17. Also, Minerva and Baal in Valhalla, which says how seriously they're taking it – neither live there any more.

I smile at the hot pink in panel 4 on page 8. Hot pink! Hot Pink!

The last panel of page 8 took some tweaking – originally Amaterasu didn't have a line, which made it easy to overlook their entrance, which made Persephone appear to come out of nowhere in the next panel. Adding a line to her solves that problem, but does undercut the beat of Baal/Minerva – Baal had a line which we lost, which meant the reader's eye would treat the panel as two moments. The celebration of the two – a gap on the page – and then Amaterasu coming in on the right.

I think Marlboro Shite has been in my notes since issue 4 or 5. Everything eventually finds a home.

(It's so old I was worried I'd used it before somewhere. Baal repeating himself would be terrible.)

Writing that has also reminded me that I had a stress dream last night about a continuity error in Uber where someone pointed out we'd changed names of one character mid-through the story. My subconscious is totally crap.

Page 10-11

I don't use that sort of caption-dialogue transition a lot in WicDiv, even though it's a classic story writer trope. In terms of modern writers, I always connect it to Rick Remender. It's one of his main bridging devices.

More about the gig next issue, but it was important to set up a bunch of stuff here. It's been talked about, but not in this level of specific. Clearly it's going to be a big part of the plot. It's been a while since we've done a big performance scene, after all. Imperial Phase is all about getting to your Knebworth, after all.

God, Cass is almost translucent here. She works too hard.

I really like Persephone's necklace in this page. Just noticed it.

Page 12-15

Highbury & Islington, as seen in issue 5 and returned repeatedly to since then.

I'm still not bored of how we flipped Young Avenger's White Backgrounds As Aesthetic Device when dealing with the Underground. Which probably says everything about the two books.

Obvious setting up key stuff for the Underground we'll need later in the issue on page 12 – namely that we can find to places you've been before, but it is infinite down here.

I believe ”Crap Narnia” was a last minute tweak of the script, but it does please me. The Norns are not have it with these tropes.

Panel 3 on page 13: Awwwwkward.

I have no idea how Jamie keeps on doing these outfits. He's an amazing talent. I should do a comic with him.

The specific choice of “At least 3G” makes me smile, as if Cass is working out what signal is reasonable to get in a magical underworld. “Yeah, maybe you'll lose 4G, but 3G should be good” she thinks to herself.

Yes, nothing at all comfortable in any of this.

It's always interesting to me how Cassandra is as vulnerable as she clearly is. You choose the right places to hit her, and she'll be derailed. Some characters clearly understand that, and others don't.

The last panel is the point where people who read the solicits are thinking “wait – when Kieron said “Wherein Dionysus sits in the darkness for most of an issue, but in an awesome way. Honestly, you'll love it. Also: other stuff.” was he being literal?”

Last panel is great. Full bleed gets the sense of the endlessness of the dark, and Dionysus sitting there, facing it. Art against the void. Our comic in a panel.

Page 16-17

There's more interaction with the public in this issue for a while, but the crowd stuff is where we're trying to show the responses more. Some people are petrified. Some people are still trying to snap her. Some are both.

Yet more fine gods-casual-clubbing looks.

The club they're leaving would be the Buffalo Bar, as seen in issue 18 of WicDiv (since repaired in WicDiv). They're stairs leading down on the right. Also showed up in Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl.

Interesting flashback colour choices here from Matt. Teal and turquoise? Colourists are amazing.

The Bridge Reconstruction sign is 100% period Highbury & Islington sign. We moved dialogue over it to try and signal “I know this looks important, but it's not.”

Deciding which exact euphemism for sex Cassandra should use on 17.1 was some degree of thought. Originally I'd written “Fucking” but that jarred with Persephone's own Fuck. “Banging” was the most comic option – it just speaks to the lack of respect Cass has for Pers/Baph's act.

“I've never said that out loud before” echoes with Young Avengers, of course.

I wanted the hard – mid sentence to set up for a hard-cut to the club. I'm a fan of hard-cut jokes, but doing it as an anti-joke was kind of the point. Let's go home, as I need to OH NO I AM IN A CLUB AND HAVING A SHIT TIME.

Page 18-19

I look at the first page, and smile, in purely a “I love comics” way. When I talk about “Wanting to write comics” versus “wanting to write stories that get turned into comics” way, it's stuff like this I'm thinking of. If I didn't write full script, it wouldn't work like this. Well... not as easily. It's calling for specific effects that Jamie and Matt completely get. Matt bleeding the red in is pretty astounding – that third panel especially. The second one you can think it's just the club lights, but the third is saturating the image, and then it just takes over. And that expression on panel 5. Yay, jamie. Comics!

Thinking this was a pro-pantheon fan club, so the response is different than on the streets. These people are shook up. They mean well. But... yes.

Obvious call back to Baphomet's dialogue way back in issue 7.

I believe the last panel description was “Hmm. I do like coke?”

Page 20

A general sentiment, but dancing with Taylor Swift's Blank Space.

21-22

And we return to where we started.

How good was the coke? Will we ever find out? Stay tuned to The Wicked + The Divine, kids!

(Not the first time Coke has been explicitly referenced in Imperial Phase. It was implied in episode 24, and Woden's memorable nose-piece in 28. Imperial Phase, proggy double albums and all that shit is just connected with that particular drug for terrible people. Year 4 will be less coke-y, hopefully)

And Ruth's surname revealed.

It's odd – when writing this I'd completely forgotten the obvious fact that Persephone is disobeying the television's instructions. I am useless.

That this is the second time that data access in the underworld has been referenced in this issue makes me wonder whether my own router problems were working their way into the comic. All work is autobiographical, but not usually that crappily.

(Don't worry. It's solved now.)

Great Jamie expression on the final panel, of course. The colouring of the section was one of the most debated bits of the book, and I like where we ended.

Page 23

I suspect I've got some pun interstitials which are worse than this ahead, but not many. That would be impossible.

Anyway – back next month for top sitting in the dark adventures.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #Writer Notes

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authorkylehartman · 7 years

Text

New ask game for writers

1. Favorite place to write.

In a room alone on my laptop, however I’ve been poor lately and my laptop is broken, so I’ve been writing on my phone. I come to enjoy writing on my lunch break at work in my car.

2. Favorite part of writing.

It would probably have to be the world building as far as the villain is concerned and showing them off to the reader.

3. Least favorite part of writing.

Being distracted

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

Not really. I just do it. I used to have to take a bath and getting my mind working before sitting down are writing.

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

There are things always being added to this list. First off, I’d be amiss to not mention that me having any sort of style is thanks to Micheal Creighton. I was always very creative and good at writing, but in 2009 I had read Next not long earlier and decided to write a story of my own that I am now embarrassed of.

Anyway, Max Hathorne who writes Kronos Rising was a huge influence. I might not write the same kind of science fiction as him, but the way he approaches things, including the villains and Kornosaurus/ Kraken inspired me to added scence in the Zoey series that center around the villain, lord Neball.

Neal Asher’s solid world and character building left me in awe as I read the Transformation series, this has inspired me to do a better job with those aspects.

George R.R. Martin has inspired me in similar ways, but also to not always be afraid to have to many characters. Sometimes it fits and works best with a series.

6. Favorite character you ever created.

Oh damn, that is a loaded question. On one hand I’ve got a character named Haley who is extremely depressed, abused and also has a lot of anxiety and some addictions. I don’t think a depressed character has been written to this extreme in a novel, at least that I can remember.

Zoey, is my first love obviously. She is the title character to the first series I ever started creating. The title character to an absolutely massive series. There is reason enough in that for her to be my favorite.

Randy would have to have a place high up on this list because he is the main hero for most of the Zoey series, I can’t give away why he isn’t actually. Though I highly enjoy his personality despite his life threatening flaws.

Hollie is a character in the Zoey series that comes in much later, but I quite enjoy her as well.

I also have a soft spot of a character named Eric in a store that is very nearly ready to be written, Let it Die. He’s the main.

7. Favorite author.

Micheal Creighton

8. Favorite trope to write.

I don’t feel I have one. Though sometimes I’ll be writing a scene and one will pop into mind and I’ll have to insert it somewhere.

9. Least favorite trope to write.

Again, I don’t have one. I don’t go out of my way, they just pop into mind.

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

Neal Asher would probably be my number one, especially since Creighton couldn’t happen. Obviously it would have to be a book that takes place in space. I think I might show him the small outline I have for a novel I have currently named Collapsing Universe.

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

It depends. The Zoey series is a terrible example. For them, I really only do the plot of the novel, write down a description by chapter, sometimes it has to be tweaked during the writing process. It also isn’t very long. For a series that is typically 200 to 300 thousand words a book, the outline might stretch twenty pages. In comparison Cruel World has over ten pages for it’s outline and I don’t think it will hit sixty thousand words. Let It Die, a novel I haven’t put much pen to paper for, so to speak, I started with writing down a description for it. Then I detailed it out more with a chapter by chapter outline. Then I went and read through it many, many times and added on. The outline is over twenty pages for what will be a typical sized novel, 90 to 100 thousand words. Next is to do character details, though I will probably read through the outline before and after this step. Then I will start fleshing out the manuscript. After I finish that, I will read it and edit, read it and edit, read it and edit. (I’m a perfectionist.) Then I’ll have others read it and edit it from there. Then I’ll read it and edit it. Hopefully get a publisher behind it at this point.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

I honestly try to ignore them. If I can’t I will actually read chapters that are about Lord Neball from the Zoey series. It’s still my favorite writing that I’ve ever done.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

Sometimes I will actually step back for a few days or a week or two and just read other peoples work. If nothing else it might inspire me to continue or give me a new idea.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

Zoey. I have probably put in three days worth of research just with the first novel which has gone through peer revision and now overhaul inspired by Martin and Asher. I’ve probably put in another twelve plus for the second book which sits at a thrid of the way done.

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

The desire to write. The desire to have someone read my work. To have someone say they got lost in the book and couldn’t put it down. I don’t care about fame or fortune. Right now I make roughly 2,000 dollars a month, if writing started doing that steadily, I’d quite my job and be happy with that for the rest of my life.

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

Reading. Either what others have published or what I have written.

17. On avarage, how much writing do you get done in a day?

I typically write about a thousand words. In a week it could be about ten thousand.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

Hell. I’ll want so desperately to be done, but I go through my manuscripts over and over until I feel like it flows well enough and moves at the right pace, and everything else enough to share with others.

19. First line of a WIP you’re working on.

Haley lays under her covers in her room which is somewhere around seventy nine degrees. The only thing that is good in her opinion. She however is not sleeping peacefully. Laying on her side, her body is struggling with something that is not just in her head.

That is the first paragraph for Cruel world. The first line isn’t the most exciting, but I think the paragraph sets it up well.

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

This one I must preface. Lord Neball has finally turned on those that thought of her as a slave and this scene has her with the leader, the one who had been keeping her as a slave until her evil side awoken. I love this because leading up to this you have seen how, sick, vile, twisted, and depraved Neball can be.

"This time, I'll let you finish," she whispers into his ear. True to her words she squeezes him as tightly as she can and feels him begin to finish inside her. Aliessense lifts herself back up to a sitting position on top of him. "I am no longer, Aliessense," she breaths fire through her hate filled words and Dalient opens his eyes. The most fearful expression crosses his face that she has ever seen, as he looks up at her. "I am Lord Neball," she bellows at him. I am Death, Dalient thinks. A blinding light fills the room and the last word is stuck on repeat. Death is what the word Neball means in their language. After a moment, the light disappears, along with his head. That is one wound Dalient will not suffer through.

21. Post the last sentence you wrote in one of your WIP’s.

This is from Zoey: The Intergalactic Fighting Tournament (Second book). She is having a real tough time of things as of late and is about to figure out why, but that is actually in the next paragraph. It’s a very huge why.

"I know you are. I am far from angry with you. I'm worried. Admittedly I am afraid. Zoey, please, don't be afraid to tell me what is going on, if you have anything at all that you are hiding." Randy tells her, wrapping his arms around her. Not so oddly Zoey now feels safer and more relieved.

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?

It depends. I can see Cruel World getting one or two drafts. Zoey, as longer books, I can see as many as five or six... or seven.

23. Single or multi POV, and why?

Cruel World is for the most part single, until the end of the second to last chapter and the final chapter. Zoey will end up having had ten plus. Let it Die, two or three. Departure is the first book in my Argoes series of four books. It will have one predominate one and maybe two or three others throughout.

24. Poetry or prose, and why?

I’m going to say neither, but I do do poetry, mostly from a dark place.

25. Linear or non-linear, and why?

I prefer linear, but sometime there might be so story lines slightly further along, thinking from Zoey. I don’t really use non-linear though.

26. Standalone or series, and why?

Both. Though I have more love for the stories that are a series.

27. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

I don’t like to share until I’ve gutted my work with a chef’s knife.

28. And who do you share them with?

People who like to read. I don’t really know to many other authors.

29. Who do you write for?

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written. I like the lines that shatter either the readers mind or a character, though I can’t exactly think of a favorite line.

31. Hardest character to write.

Haley

32. Easiest character to write.

Zoey. She flows so well.

33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Yes. Mostly Black Metal, but sometimes if something fits well, I’l switch it up for the scene.

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

Typed

35. Tell some backstory details about one of your characters in your story ________.

I can’t give away much about Zoey without revealing the entire mystery of the series.

Randy is not human. He is a species called Avant. He isn’t the most powerful Avant to ever exist. He actually isn’t even one of the most powerful warriors in the universe currently, but he is the most powerful protaginist in the series.

36. A spoiler for Zoey.

Zoey is a key to a lot of things. Much more than just say Randy’s hidden power. Far more significant things. Let’s just say that a certain creature that is bored and spans the multiverse more than knows of her.

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” - Stephen King

38. Have you shared your outline of your story Depature (book one of Argoes) with someone? If so, what did they think of it?

My girlfriend. She liked it, but I had to overhaul half of the opening part of the book. She doesn’t really like love stories and it had a small one. Though I never wanted that to be much of the book. So it works better without it.

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

I have done so with one, but that was it. The character Grant Stewart in the Zoey series is based off a friend of mine.

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

Original Fiction. It’s more satisfying to create your own characters and world.

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

I have been writing both Cruel World and Zoey this year, but more so Zoey for the last month.

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

A lot of thinking and looking around. I have started trying to use the profile sheets that pop up on here to see how that works.

43. Are you an avid reader?

Yes, but I haven’t read a book in the last few weeks. Not since I finished Infinity Engine by Neal Asher.

44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Probably that my characters in Zoey are so exciting and relatable. I was told by a beta that they were excited for what was coming next while they read my original “final” draft of Zoey The Avant Rises.

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Hmm. not sure I remember. Anything that isn’t helpful I tend to forget about.

46. What would your story Zoey look like as a tv show or movie?

Probably similar to The Expanse or Defiance, but with more fighting and more time spent on Earth than there is with the Expanse. Also a lot more school settings at least at first. After the first few seasons, because a movie would be impossible. It wouldn’t have much for school scenes.

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

Plot. The main character comes with that usually and I flesh out a outline with them and add characters from there and expand on the outline. Somewhere in there I usually get a story name.

48. Favorite genre to write in.

Science Fiction. Zoey, Argoes, Collapsing Universe are stories, the first two being series that I am working on or planning out that are Science Fiction.

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

The beginning. except for Zoey, most everything comes pretty easy with the series, at least so far.

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

I once seriously considered one from a dream I had. There was a staircase that went all the way down to “hell” and there were wicked creatures at the bottom of the mile upon mile long staircase. (sounds like a Stephen King book)

51. Describe the aesthetic of your story Cruel World in 5 sentences or words.

Oppressively depressing and dark.

52. How did writing change you?

I have an obsession now. I also imagine far more then I should in my daily life. It gets me in trouble sometimes.

53. What does writing mean to you?

Everything. I can’t live without it now. Nowhere to jot down my ideas and stories would be devastating.

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

If you can handle going through the worst hell to get your story written then do it. If you can’t torture yourself, then writing isn’t for you. After that we can go from there.

#questions #questions for writers #this was fun

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roadswewalk · 7 years

Text

Time to lay some ghosts

Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

- Elizabeth (Bennet) Darcy in Pride & Prejudice

[Disclaimer: Though far from my usual content, this is not an anti-Johnlock post, and it is not informed by TFP spoilers. It’s also not the new normal for my blog: we’ll be back to gifs and stupid jokes soon.]

I want to enjoy the possible last episode of my favorite show, and that means letting go of some expectations. This is largely a personal post that I’m writing to clarify my own thoughts and prepare mentally for TFP, but perhaps it may also help anyone who is dealing with shaken assumptions and unwanted or unexpected developments from T6T & TLD. If it does, then I’ll be glad. Anyone can feel free to reach out at any time with questions or just to talk about the show. I joined this fandom to engage with people, and I’m entering a strange interval where I have unusually minimal real-life obligations.

This post has two parts. Part one: notes on some specific theories that I’m finally rejecting post-TLD. Part two: thought process and personal attitude, for context. Skip part two if you don’t care - unless part one pisses you off, in which case I’d appreciate the chance to explain myself. That is, if anyone reads any of it at all. ;) All under the cut.

And yes, I realize many fans are well beyond this point mentally and emotionally:

Well, Watson, we can but possess our souls in patience and see what the hour may bring.

- Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

Conclusion: Bring it on, dads. You’re still pretty cool. Just don’t embarrass me unforgivably.

Or, if you’re indeed about to jump the shark, please do it at the climax of an epic jet-ski chase, replete with risk, loyalty, danger, hair dye, big coats, romance, gorgeous smiles, splashy effects, lame puns, excessive guns blazing, and impossible physics amazing. Well, you’ve promised the first few, anyway.

The ghosts I am laying to rest

Context: I am hiding from spoilers from the TFP screening (and apparently the Russian leak, WTF), so I don’t know as much as others right now, including what’s been confirmed or not. A bit of mood has filtered through from my activity feed (e.g no one’s laughing at Eurus jokes, or laughing much at all, or engaging with vague new theories). But I can’t draw specific conclusions from that, and otherwise I have no idea.

Knowing the nature of most of my followers, let me start by saying that I consider all of these theories to be logically separate from the basic possibility of canon Johnlock. I know some people feel differently, and have more elaborate theories that depend on certain characters being revealed in certain ways, etc. I won’t write “why Johnlock could still happen” for each item below. In general, it’s just this: it can be simpler than that, and still work. A hundred thousand fanfics have proven that. As a reminder, I am not a committed TJLC believer, though that’s not saying much, as I’m skeptical of everything - see part two for explanation.

I have flirted with these theories to varying degrees, but never actually invited them out for a foot chase or Chinese food. Most I’ve never even mentioned on here, primarily for lack of time, for coming too late to the fandom, or because I had nothing unique to add. So my comments in dismissing them are accordingly brief, and may come across as blunt. In all cases I’d be at least intrigued to be wrong - and knowing our writers, most likely pleasantly surprised as well.

Mary: She’s dead. This was part of the consequences we were promised for Sherlock and John’s insane lifestyle. And as awkward as the death scene was, John’s grief in the moment and throughout TLD was real. I’m letting her rest in peace. That includes leaving her murder case closed. It was shocking (in part for not being shocking enough), but was heralded adequately by the episode, the creators, and television history.

Mary as villain, Moriarty associate, etc.: Speaking of peace, there is by now plenty of textual evidence for Mary as a sympathetic character. The evidence for her villainy remains subtextual or subject to interpretation, and the challenges to her personality were always emotionally charged. As I’ve said elsewhere, the explanation given by the show for her shooting Sherlock is entirely acceptable within the show’s established boundaries. Even as a temporary romantic obstacle in a romance, she still wouldn’t qualify as a villain.

Anti-Johnlockary friendship: This is closely related to the above. Sherlock genuinely liked Mary, valued her judgment, and wanted John to be happy with her. This was clearly shown both textually and subtextually in TSoT and T6T. In T6T when he was anticipating his death, he may have even hoped that she would pick up where he left off, after. Her importance to John can’t be made clearer than in TLD. Meanwhile her advice to Sherlock in that episode is not really more ridiculous than what Sherlock did to himself the day after he met John Watson. The teasing between the three of them is pretty typical of mature, clever, close friends, in my experience.

Lazarus was false: The creators have said on a few occasions that they wished they had been as clever as the fans. Perhaps this is one case of it. But in the end, they wrote a television ending for a television show. Again, it’s acceptable within the show’s established boundaries. And after they dug up the characters’ feelings again but not the details of the act, I’m convinced the Lazarus explanation did indeed survive the fall (and the hiatuses).

Sherlock has been depressed and dabbling in drugs since TEH, and his increasingly elaborate mind palace sequences are the result: My own theory, though not something I’m desperately attached to. Now that I’ve definitely seen Sherlock deducing on drugs, it’s clear the writers were just having fun with their own trope, previously.

Continuity errors, set choices, and plot holes indicate T6T and TLD are not real: My immediate instinct with T6T was reliable narrator, at least to the extent that Sherlock is capable of it. Without adopting preconceptions based on other theories, that remains the most fitting explanation. The twists in this episode were not as deep as usual, perhaps because the show had an extra agenda of “consequences” to communicate. The housekeeping episodes are always a bit of a mess, anyway. As for TLD, we now have textual examples of how the creators handle drug-induced hallucination and memory distortion. We have the first serious misfortune contemplated by the show as well as massive character development in the span of these two episodes. Audiences would not accept their reversal, and the writers knew and intended this when writing. cf bullets below for opinions on the potential “mistakes”.

EMP or any other (TD12 etc.) massive retcon/rehash stretching into previous seasons: They wrote “it was all a dream” once, and even then, Sue and Benedict were hesitant to sign on, critics were unimpressed, and some casual fans were alienated. Even with 26 pages of dialogue between Mycroft and Sherlock in TFP, with flashbacks throughout, it wouldn’t be possible to go back and re-interpret major events from multiple seasons. The questions raised in T6T and TLD alone will be difficult to address in just one episode (because there’s still whatever new plot they devised, as well). In the end, there’s also the simplest question: why would you want this now? We have enough character development, enough beautiful moments, and enough mind-fuckery to be going on with.

Adlock as a central focus: This isn’t a popular theory, but it may be a common if unacknowledged fear. The way Irene’s re-introduction in TLD was handled - as leverage for a scene about John and Sherlock’s friendship - makes me confident that anything further to do with her would be sideplot, comic relief, or tension release at best. But (branching into pure speculation here) based on what the writers have said in the past, I think it most likely she’ll remain a mysterious yet absent symbol of the ambiguity that defines part of Sherlock’s appeal.

Mega flashbacks of Johnlock scenes: Honestly I’ve never really been on board with this. The fact that the creators have had to remount expensive scenes like the fall and the tarmac for subsequent seasons proves that they just don’t plan this far ahead when writing and shooting. In any case, logistically, there is simply not time to fit it in now.

Finally, the one that hurts the most. Johnlock as television history / groundbreaking representation: If they’re not doing Johnlock, they’re doing it wrong. But unfortunately, if they’re doing Johnlock, they’re also doing it wrong. All the metas about romantic character arcs, slow burn, and audience manipulation to combat heteronormativity were absolutely right. Series 4 was the time to draw this story together, or at least to build it to its climax. At this point, a S4 Johnlock resolution would have to be addressed so quickly (because there’s so much else to address already in TFP), it would blindside casual fans, not convince them that it’s what they were seeing all along. It would come across as one more rug pull, and would be derided with all the vitriol that this fandom has been intercepting in the meantime. We didn’t join this game only to be met with a moving or shrinking target. Could they still do it in series 5? Maybe. They introduced enough estrangement and other darkness that delaying relationship progression now makes actual emotional sense. But the show is at its peak influence right now, they’ve never been assured of a 5th series, and the writers have admitted that their plans for series 5 amount to little more than notes. Canon Johnlock is possible, but I think they’ve missed their chance to make history with it.

How I got here

None of you know me personally, and I almost never post this type of thing. So if anyone’s reading it, some background is called for. Let’s start with the impersonal bit, which you might have a chance of relating to.

As a television audience, we have to draw a line: where do we suspend disbelief? Some shows make this decision easy, but Sherlock makes it nearly impossible. We either draw the line generously, redraw it constantly, or commit to endless (fun?) mental anguish. In defense of generosity, and to avoid the disappointment and evasion of declaring it all “bad writing”, it’s important to keep these facts in mind:

The show is written by committee, pass-the-pen style, so inconsistencies in characterizations and plot logic are bound to occur, even with the head writers vetting everything.

The writers’ commitment to shocking rug pulls and the attendant necessity of obsessive secret-keeping mean that some writing choices exist in a critical vacuum, unexamined and un-analyzed except by the core creators. Market research is impossible here, and history illustrates the many potential pitfalls of this approach.

The show’s influence is outsize and its quality is tremendous in comparison to its relatively tiny budget and production team. We ARE watching low-budget network television, so expectations need to align.

The fandom vastly outnumbers the production crew, and vastly outspends it in both (re)creative and analytic effort, so we’re bound to catch more details than they do.

Some members of fandom also vastly exceed the creators in cleverness and creativity. I’m constantly astounded by the intelligence, imagination, and critical capacity of the fans, and between you and me, that is saying something. Our creators are clever and imaginative, but they’ve got nothing on some of you.

At the core of that production team is a nepotistic hive mind. It’s not nice, but it’s true. There is definitely a virtuous circle, a positive feedback loop, going on. Part of this is borne of the secret-keeping, part of the low budget, and part of the usual human tendencies to value our own, to seek comfort, and to submit to confirmation bias.

The writers and actors have admitted to not fully developing backstories before jumping into the scripts [BC] [AA]. I actually thought Benedict must have been lying in that NPR interview (or trying to wind Steven up) when I first read it, but later interviews have confirmed it. Our best fanfic writers take backstory more seriously than this, so we should expect OOC moments.

The writers don’t often use consultants, even where they obviously should and easily could. Plenty of unnecessary mistakes happen when you don’t ask for help.

Various breaks in the show’s own internal logic suggest that the writers also didn’t bother to map this out fully before they began. They firmly believe that Sherlock “exists in a slightly exaggerated version of our own universe“, so they make assumptions accordingly. Except, obviously there are huge differences between the Sherlock universe and the real world. They simply go unacknowledged, with little or no explanation offered to help fans make sense of them. We’re meant to let them pass unhindered over our suspension lines. Rowling’s or Tolkien’s meticulously-planned fantasy world this is not.

Our creators are nonetheless at the top of their crafts, producing an entertainment product that never fails to be unique, surprising, visually stunning, mentally engaging, and emotionally wrenching. The original reason we (most of us) are here is still this amazing show.

And now for the personal part. First, it’s my policy to let entertainment enhance my life, but never to ruin it. If that sounds flippant, know that it’s something of a self-preservation tactic: part of managing a tendency to depression. It’s also my policy to believe nothing without proof. I’m heavily influenced by scientific skepticism, and prefer “reliable and valid [conclusions] to ones that are comforting or convenient”. That makes me an extreme outlier among humans, let along among conspirators, which is why I say that my non-belief in TJLC has little bearing on anything. Theory-wise, I don’t have a lot of chips on the table - most of mine are partly crack or lightly researched. I do have personal investment in queer representation in media. I even have a little bit of money on the table for this show. But not all my eggs are in this basket: I’ve always believed that it’s a larger battle than this one show can wage (again, self-preservation).

As for enhancing my life, I had a blast watching TLD. But I was strung out, panicked, and somewhat disengaged watching T6T. The quality of writing and nature of the episodes can partly account for it, but when I examine my own mind, I know that a huge part of that was expectations. I came to TLD after a week of overwhelming work obligations. I’d had to abstain from the fandom, had missed nearly all the theories and analysis, and brought mainly my own impressions of T6T with me. By contrast, I came to T6T fully steeped in fandom culture and theory (mostly TJLC), having spent a shocking fraction of my December devouring meta, analyzing promo material, making a fanvid, rewatching multiple times, and even leaking a bit of content. My first impression was “difficult to engage with”, and I was constantly distracted with thoughts of the fandom - this despite the fact that I usually have no problem forgetting outside life while I’m consuming entertainment. It was depressing, and literally for my own sake, I can’t afford to get depressed.

The simple explanation is that my expectations were too high and too specific. In a brief career in corporate America that included marketing work, I learned that the key to avoiding failure in almost any human interaction is managing expectations. Cynical, but true. It’s a valuable life lesson, though, and one that I guess I am lucky to have learned so early. I am now something of a career traveler, and the same truth holds: when I travel to a new place for the first time with sketchy plans and low expectations, I never fail to be amazed. High expectations frequently result in disappointment. I do know to apply this truth to entertainment consumption, as well, but I was a little swept away in the fervor pre-T6T. I’m trying not to make that mistake again.

The name of my blog is meant to represent how I engage with this show, and indeed with everything. Challenging my own perspective frequently and rigorously is important to my worldview and self-worth. Quotes to live by include “the un-examined life is not worth living”, “an echo chamber is a reassuring womb but no place to live”, and “the surest way to corrupt a youth is to teach him to hold in higher regard those who think alike than those who think differently” (paraphrased, you can Google ‘em). I pursue multiple interpretations (roads) simultaneously, compartmentalizing to avoid cognitive dissonance. The demons beneath are the perils of committing to any one path without justification: dangerous to theorize without data and all that.

Over the years, so few fan theories have been borne out by the show. That’s not any kind of shade on fandom. If anything, it proves how wondrous and limitless is human imagination. I’ve enjoyed reading theories so much, I wonder if there is anything to do with Sherlock, or indeed anything nerdy under the sun, that wouldn’t entertain me. (Yes, I used to read the dictionary as a child.) But Moftiss have shown time and again that their idea of a great television story is simpler, more traditional, and more worthy of an old white man than what the fandom tends to imagine. So I’m taking them at their word for most of the previous episodes, and resetting my expectations in hopes of at least being entertained, if not validated and delighted, by tomorrow’s episode.

(Actual conclusion is outside the cut, above.)

#sherlock #fandom #s4 #speculation #clueing for looks #tfp #bbc sherlock #omg

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