A commentary on todays use of language, beautifully set with typography and fonts.
I’d love to hear your comments on this.
Archive for category Writing
Speaking with Conviction
Feb 26
A good friend of mine, Rob Peters, posted in his blog some pearls of wisdom he gleaned from Jennifer Kornelsen, Ph.D. :
1) The simplest explanation is the best. (i.e. the most likely, the most accurate, the most truthful)
2) The data is what it is. (trust it, let it be…)
3) If you’re nervous and think you’re going to puke, eat something colourful! (at least then it will be Spectacular!)
Rob found these pearls to be as true in Design as in Neurophysiology. I’m here to say they also apply extremely well to Software Design/Development, and IT work. It’s unfortunate that, in software and IT at least, a lot of people forget item number one.
However, in the writing of fiction, I’m not so sure (well, except for item 3), at least not on the surface. For item 1, when the reader reaches the end of a book, the final explanation of event should be clearly evident and obvious, and yes, even simple. But during the reading of the book, the simplest explanation of the events occurring is usually the one you want the reader to follow, but should not be the true reason. You gotta keep ‘em interested.
In writing fiction, item 2 closely correlates to item 1. This can be especially true when reading a first person narrative, where everything presented to the reader is viewed through the eyes of a single (or potentially multiple first person) characters. If the character looks at the world through rose colored glasses (cliché), then that is how the reader will interpret the events (data) in the book, and therefor, the data is tainted.
Perhaps I should re-phrase my original statement. To the reader of fiction, the above pearls should not be true, but to the writer, they probably should.
I like this guy…
Sep 23
President Obama on David Letterman
A day away…
Sep 13
I had a wonderful opportunity today. I was able to take off and spend the day alone. I brought my laptop, worked on The Courier and started working on the undo/redo code for my WordStar clone: WordTsar (though I may change that name).
I also brought some free range chickens to Ev and Rob in Winnipeg Beach, and spent some time on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. A wonderful and restful day. Thanks Marnie!
Charles N. Brown, R.I.P.
Jul 14
Charles N. Brown, 72, Locus publisher, editor, and co-founder, died peacefully in his sleep July 12, 2009 on his way home from Readercon.
I’ve been a subscriber of Locus for quite a few years now, and his columns were always informative and entertaining. From my understanding of Locus, Charles was the heart and soul of the magazine. I hope it can continue without him at the helm… it would be a wonderful legacy.
David Eddings
Jun 3
SFWA is reporting that author David Eddings (the Belgariad & Mallorean series) has died. I greatly enjoyed his books.
Weekly Links 20080412
Apr 11
Edit: Never, ever post when you’re so sick you can’t even think straight. Even I can’t make sense of the gibberish below. I’ll leave it as is as a stark reminder of how close true madness lies.
What a life. Last week, I didn’t make a weekly links post since worked 24 hours out of the 48. This weekend, I decided to visit my brother in Calgary. I took a day off of work, leaving on Thursday and I’ll be back back home on Sunday. Thursday was okay, but by the time Friday rolled around, I was as sick as a dog. Here it is, Sunday, and I’ve spent most of the day in bed. I’m not even going to describe these links today… I’ll get back to them when I feel better.
http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome-guest-blogger-jack-kilborn.html
ttp://blog.oup.com/2009/03/science-fiction/#more-3858
http://lifehacker.com/5195999/portable-ubuntu-runs-ubuntu-inside-windows
Weekly Links 20090315
Mar 15
I missed my weekly links last week, I only had 2 links to share. Pretty sad. This week is no better really, but here ya go anyway.
Writing
- You can see a video interview of Joe Abercrombie talking about his new novel Best Served Cold on YouTube right now:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
- Joe Blow Neopro. A series of articles Tobias S. Buckell wrote for Speculations, just after breaking into writing short stories, selling his first novel, and finding a small measure of attention via his blog:
Misc
- The New York Times has an article this week on ‘Why Her Paycheck is Smaller‘.
- Sydneysider Matthew Sheil has built what could easily be one of the most elaborate big boy’s toys in the world, and his efforts have earned him a Guinness world record.
Philip José Farmer passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday morning.
He will be missed greatly by his wife Bette, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and countless fans around the world.
January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009. R.I.P.
Weekly Links 20090111
Jan 11
Writing
The David Gemmel Legend Award will be presented for the very first time in 2009 for the best Fantasy novel of 2008. The award will be given to a work written in the ’spirit’ of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy. I’ve been a David Gemmel fan for a long time.
Bain Books is having a short story contest. The theme is to ‘Write a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration.’
Jane Lindskold define what she thinks Hard Fantasy is. An older article by Marie Brennan can be found here.
New York Times-bestselling urban fantasy author Carrie Vaughn has posted an excellent three-part essay about urban fantasy:
- Part One: The Formula
- Part Two: When Things Go Wrong (Pay careful attention to Item #5!)
- Part Three: Deconstructing Urban Fantasy
The Fantasy Magazine blog has a feature on Taboos in Speculative Fiction.
Computers
The WolFire Games blog has an article on why you should support Mac and Linux when writing software.
Your Money or Your Life, a comic about programmers.
Google used its booth at Macworld this year to show off some of the things it was working on with Apple, particularly for the iPhone. But the coolest thing at their booth didn’t have much to do with Apple at all: A hacked Nintendo Wii Balance Board (from the game Wii Fit) used to control Google Earth.
Misc
This is a timelapse map showing the spread of WalMart across the US. Scary stuff.
Science
I’ve taken a recent interest in Quantum Mechanics and found this video on you tube with Robert Anton Wilson describing Quantum Physics in layman terms.
Blog
And last, but certainly not least, a t-shirt that makes fun of those of us that blog for only a small handfull of people.