stream of conciousness-ish...you have been warned
So. Today was an...off day. It wasn't a bad day, but it wasn't a good day either. It was pretty much just blah. I did laundry and messed around on the computer. I watched an episode of Firefly, then I played some video games, and then I wantched Terminator 3. I chose to stay at home "in the dark" as Kate put it, instead of hanging out with Kate and Anthony and Aaron and Linda. I could have, but I didn't really want to. I don't want to go work tomorrow. But I rarely want to to go work. Scratch that. I never want to go to work and I rarely don't mind if I am there.
I read Lick of Frost, the most recent Merry Gentry book, yesterday. I enjoyed it. It felt like it was moving (at least a little) back towards plot instead of being just porn disguised as plot. I have realized that it doesn't matter how much I think that Laurell K. Hamilton is just mary sue-ing her way through twenty-some books, and will probably continue to do so. It doesn't matter that the writing is not stellar, it doesn't matter that the only female characters that count are the main one in each book, and that you hear more about the color of hair and skin and penis size in the men than you do about personality. It doesn't matter that much of the personality we do see is a little bit carbon copied. It doesn't matter because I am enthralled by her books. I adore the plot. Because it is one of those things that I would love to write but never really would (even without the sex). I love that she feels no need to limit her characters beyond that one flaw that really isn't, because I would love to be able to do that with my characters. I would even love to write some racy (and sometimes raunchy) sex scenes that she liberally sprinkles her novels with. Her books are like a writer's wet dream. Something that you would absolutely love to write, but never would because that "isn't what writers do." Her books are the ultimate self-insert, and I love them for that. But I think her self-insert is much more popular than my self-insert would be.
People don't really read (or watch shows) about male main characters anymore. I've noticed this trend for a while, I'm not trying to offend anyone, and I absolutely love me strong women characters, but while there are some exceptions, many of the fantasy/sci-fi books and shows (at least many of the ones that I have directly encountered) recently revolve around the female lead with male leads being the sidekick. And of course, as I say this I can think of multiple shows that don't follow that pattern. But how many people would have watched Buffy: the Vampire Slayer if the Slayer hadn't been Sarah Michelle Gellar, if it had been say...David Boreanaz or Nicholas Brendon? Of if instead of Jennifer Garner as Sydney being the main character of Alias it had been Vaughn? I loved those shows, and it has always interested me as to why they are so good, when a male lead would have probably bombed. Of course, Supernatural is guys and Smallville is obviously a guy...I think that my brain is done with this tangent. But let me know what you think about it. And maybe it is just my imagination, or just a random thought process that doesn't necessarily take all the facts into consideration before spewing things out.
I have been working on my urban fantasy. I have twin main characters, a girl and a guy, which is honestly a first. I usually have my main protagonists male. Simply because I am male, and therefore it is easier for me to write a male character. But I think that it will be a good writing experience, force me out of my comfort zone a little, make me do some research maybe. It will even help with the dreaded self-insert that I was talking about. Which I catch myself doing with underdeveloped characters. And then I work on character. I haven't worked too much on the characters as of yet. They are young, somewhere in the early twenties, possibly nineteen, I haven't quite decided. They were orphans, raised by a religious group with a fanatical approach to magic, and when the twins started showing signs of the "unnatural" the order was...harsh...to say the least. But that is about all I know about them for pre-story. I am not going to tell in-story details, I have learned my lesson (mostly) about that. If I talk to much about the story I am trying to tell it evaporates. But I do some of my best thinking when I am talking about it to someone, which can kinda suck.
I do have some of the themes for the novel down though. Freedom and choice is important. We are only controlled by the things that we allow to control us. Even if we are physically enslaved, we are still mentally free. And trust. Trust is important. Without it we would fall apart as a society, as a nation, as humans. We would become animals, never trusting someone else to help us, and so never helping anyone else. We are better because we trust, and allow others to hold a part of our self with them, as we hold a part of them.
So...politics. I don't know if anyone read the controversial meme that I did the other day. I snagged it from issa. If you did you would know that I am probably voting obama/biden (probably-as in barring a political disaster on their side or a miraculous epiphany on mccain/palin's side). Some of the things that I am seeing from Palin just terrify me, and I seriously don't want her anywhere near that white house. Maybe if she had some time to learn that she can't be quite so extreme in her views as a politician or maybe if she was a litte more sane I might be okay with her, but at this point it is just a no. I haven't seen/heard a whole lot on Biden, but the little that I have has been fairly decent (if you have word otherwise, please let me know, k?). I am not going to go into all the reasons that I am going to vote for Obama and against McCain, if you are interested in my views on something specific then ask away, but it is mostly an I agree with Obama's stance more than I agree with McCain's stance on pretty much everything. I am liberal, what can I say?
I have been trying to find good books to read. I have considered going back to some books that I read in some of my lit classes. I want to read Orlando by Virginia Woolfe, for reals this time, instead of just skimming it. I also want to reread Tess of the Durbervilles by Thomas Hardy and see what I think of it now. But I also want to read some heavy duty fantasy. Preferably urban fantasy or at least less HIGH High fantasy. That doesn't even make sense to me, but hopefully someone out there has some good recs.
Okay, and now I am going to bed.
I read Lick of Frost, the most recent Merry Gentry book, yesterday. I enjoyed it. It felt like it was moving (at least a little) back towards plot instead of being just porn disguised as plot. I have realized that it doesn't matter how much I think that Laurell K. Hamilton is just mary sue-ing her way through twenty-some books, and will probably continue to do so. It doesn't matter that the writing is not stellar, it doesn't matter that the only female characters that count are the main one in each book, and that you hear more about the color of hair and skin and penis size in the men than you do about personality. It doesn't matter that much of the personality we do see is a little bit carbon copied. It doesn't matter because I am enthralled by her books. I adore the plot. Because it is one of those things that I would love to write but never really would (even without the sex). I love that she feels no need to limit her characters beyond that one flaw that really isn't, because I would love to be able to do that with my characters. I would even love to write some racy (and sometimes raunchy) sex scenes that she liberally sprinkles her novels with. Her books are like a writer's wet dream. Something that you would absolutely love to write, but never would because that "isn't what writers do." Her books are the ultimate self-insert, and I love them for that. But I think her self-insert is much more popular than my self-insert would be.
People don't really read (or watch shows) about male main characters anymore. I've noticed this trend for a while, I'm not trying to offend anyone, and I absolutely love me strong women characters, but while there are some exceptions, many of the fantasy/sci-fi books and shows (at least many of the ones that I have directly encountered) recently revolve around the female lead with male leads being the sidekick. And of course, as I say this I can think of multiple shows that don't follow that pattern. But how many people would have watched Buffy: the Vampire Slayer if the Slayer hadn't been Sarah Michelle Gellar, if it had been say...David Boreanaz or Nicholas Brendon? Of if instead of Jennifer Garner as Sydney being the main character of Alias it had been Vaughn? I loved those shows, and it has always interested me as to why they are so good, when a male lead would have probably bombed. Of course, Supernatural is guys and Smallville is obviously a guy...I think that my brain is done with this tangent. But let me know what you think about it. And maybe it is just my imagination, or just a random thought process that doesn't necessarily take all the facts into consideration before spewing things out.
I have been working on my urban fantasy. I have twin main characters, a girl and a guy, which is honestly a first. I usually have my main protagonists male. Simply because I am male, and therefore it is easier for me to write a male character. But I think that it will be a good writing experience, force me out of my comfort zone a little, make me do some research maybe. It will even help with the dreaded self-insert that I was talking about. Which I catch myself doing with underdeveloped characters. And then I work on character. I haven't worked too much on the characters as of yet. They are young, somewhere in the early twenties, possibly nineteen, I haven't quite decided. They were orphans, raised by a religious group with a fanatical approach to magic, and when the twins started showing signs of the "unnatural" the order was...harsh...to say the least. But that is about all I know about them for pre-story. I am not going to tell in-story details, I have learned my lesson (mostly) about that. If I talk to much about the story I am trying to tell it evaporates. But I do some of my best thinking when I am talking about it to someone, which can kinda suck.
I do have some of the themes for the novel down though. Freedom and choice is important. We are only controlled by the things that we allow to control us. Even if we are physically enslaved, we are still mentally free. And trust. Trust is important. Without it we would fall apart as a society, as a nation, as humans. We would become animals, never trusting someone else to help us, and so never helping anyone else. We are better because we trust, and allow others to hold a part of our self with them, as we hold a part of them.
So...politics. I don't know if anyone read the controversial meme that I did the other day. I snagged it from issa. If you did you would know that I am probably voting obama/biden (probably-as in barring a political disaster on their side or a miraculous epiphany on mccain/palin's side). Some of the things that I am seeing from Palin just terrify me, and I seriously don't want her anywhere near that white house. Maybe if she had some time to learn that she can't be quite so extreme in her views as a politician or maybe if she was a litte more sane I might be okay with her, but at this point it is just a no. I haven't seen/heard a whole lot on Biden, but the little that I have has been fairly decent (if you have word otherwise, please let me know, k?). I am not going to go into all the reasons that I am going to vote for Obama and against McCain, if you are interested in my views on something specific then ask away, but it is mostly an I agree with Obama's stance more than I agree with McCain's stance on pretty much everything. I am liberal, what can I say?
I have been trying to find good books to read. I have considered going back to some books that I read in some of my lit classes. I want to read Orlando by Virginia Woolfe, for reals this time, instead of just skimming it. I also want to reread Tess of the Durbervilles by Thomas Hardy and see what I think of it now. But I also want to read some heavy duty fantasy. Preferably urban fantasy or at least less HIGH High fantasy. That doesn't even make sense to me, but hopefully someone out there has some good recs.
Okay, and now I am going to bed.