Two books and one job later...
It's been less than a week since the last time I posted and quite a bit has happened. In the first place, I finished two books. One was Hogfather, and it was pretty good. Then again, most of what Terry Pratchett writes is good. So it's not that much of a surprise.
The second book was Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It's the basis for Blade Runner and, I've got to admit, if the movie were put into book form, I'd prefer it.
Dick's writing is a bit off, in my opinion. While his characters are depressed, frightened, confused, and never really happy, it's hard to feel it. It's like someone sitting at a table with you, and they have the perfect poker face. They tell you, "I'm an emotional wreck and in the throws of a great, terrible depression the likes of which have never been seen before." There is no apparent emotion happening on their face, it's just blank.
Well, yes, they could be depressed, but are they really? It makes the reader feel like they're just observing something. While I know a lot of people probably like that, I prefer books, movies, and stories that I can get lost in. Blade Runner did that for me, Dick's book didn't.
There's also a number of other problems, in my opinion. There's an almost unnecessary character that does nothing major for the plot, yammering about how important animals are and Deckard's obsession with them, a war that devastated Earth, and a religious movement called Mercerism. If none of this sounds familiar, it's because all of it was cut when they wrote the screenplay. Blade Runner remains faithful to the main idea of the book, but is a much improved delivery of that idea.
During all this reading, I got a new job. It's at KMart, but it's in the electronics department. I've been working there for three days, today is my fourth, and I like it. The day's go by quickly because there's always something to do.
I've got to say, it's so much better to work than it is not to. You come home tired, but it's a different kind of tired. It's the tired that means you've done something. I'd rather be that kind of run down over the "I've sat around all day and haven't done a thing" brand of tired.
However, my new job means I don't have as much time to write. So I haven't posted anything to Runaway Tales in almost a week. That upsets me. I'm trying to get into a writing regimen and haven't found it yet. Hopefully I will, or I'll get my laptop back in time.
As a side note, if you don't know what Runaway Tales (RaTs) is, here's a link: http://community.livejournal.com/runaway_tales/. It's a writing community that has various prompts designed to get you working on character creation and worldbuilding. I've only written four prompts, but it's done me a lot of good. I highly recommend it.
JML
The second book was Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It's the basis for Blade Runner and, I've got to admit, if the movie were put into book form, I'd prefer it.
Dick's writing is a bit off, in my opinion. While his characters are depressed, frightened, confused, and never really happy, it's hard to feel it. It's like someone sitting at a table with you, and they have the perfect poker face. They tell you, "I'm an emotional wreck and in the throws of a great, terrible depression the likes of which have never been seen before." There is no apparent emotion happening on their face, it's just blank.
Well, yes, they could be depressed, but are they really? It makes the reader feel like they're just observing something. While I know a lot of people probably like that, I prefer books, movies, and stories that I can get lost in. Blade Runner did that for me, Dick's book didn't.
There's also a number of other problems, in my opinion. There's an almost unnecessary character that does nothing major for the plot, yammering about how important animals are and Deckard's obsession with them, a war that devastated Earth, and a religious movement called Mercerism. If none of this sounds familiar, it's because all of it was cut when they wrote the screenplay. Blade Runner remains faithful to the main idea of the book, but is a much improved delivery of that idea.
During all this reading, I got a new job. It's at KMart, but it's in the electronics department. I've been working there for three days, today is my fourth, and I like it. The day's go by quickly because there's always something to do.
I've got to say, it's so much better to work than it is not to. You come home tired, but it's a different kind of tired. It's the tired that means you've done something. I'd rather be that kind of run down over the "I've sat around all day and haven't done a thing" brand of tired.
However, my new job means I don't have as much time to write. So I haven't posted anything to Runaway Tales in almost a week. That upsets me. I'm trying to get into a writing regimen and haven't found it yet. Hopefully I will, or I'll get my laptop back in time.
As a side note, if you don't know what Runaway Tales (RaTs) is, here's a link: http://community.livejournal.com/runaway_tales/. It's a writing community that has various prompts designed to get you working on character creation and worldbuilding. I've only written four prompts, but it's done me a lot of good. I highly recommend it.
JML