Writing Update

Today, 1250 new words for a grand total of 23,840. Some scenes come easy and some come hard. I find changing scenes difficult at times. If I know where the story is going at that moment, then I flow into the next scene and write away. If the story isn't coming easy then I struggle. The best advice for this is for me to really try to become the characters and decide what they would do. Characters must act with their own personality and in their on perceived best interest or the plot will not work.

Next

720 more words, for a grand total of 22,590. Let the grinding continue.

900 words yesterday, for a total of 21,870. This book may get finished someday. Actually, this is a complete rewrite. I wrote the book several years ago. I sent it to some friends that read it and liked it, or so they said. The book then went off to a professional editor, a woman that edits a scifi/fantasy magazine in Australia. Her critique was a fifteen page assault on the gaps in the story and shortcomings in my writing. She was not harsh, but honest. Unable to face reality, I hid the manuscript and critique away for a year. Recently, I took them both out and read the review carefully. This led to me deciding a complete rewrite was needed. Thus began Pursuit of the Prophet 2.0. The goal is 100,000 words, give or take a few thousand.

Writing Update

I'm writing a book, Pursuit of the Prophet. It's a fantasy novel. My writing goal is 100k words. Yesterday, I wrote 800 new words, and this puts me at 20,970.

Our Absent Minded Commander and Chief

This post points out either the ineptitude of the current administration or the total lack of concern by the citizens what our president does to the law.

I really wish someone read this blog for no other reason than to spread this story as much as possible.

Advice from the Slush Pile

For any writers that may make it to this page, I offer this link. It's advice from a writer and what he learned from combing through the slush pile for a magazine. Some excellent advice is included.

'Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.' Harriet Beecher Stowe

World of Null-A

I just read the World of Null-A by A. E. Van Vogt. The book, published in 1948, is Van Vogt's attempt to integrate the philosophy of Alfred Korzybski into science fiction. Korzybski developed General Semantics as a response to the flaws he perceived in Aristotelian logic, the logic most people use without knowing anything about it.

The World of Null-A works as an entertaining science fiction book, but fails as an endorsement of General Semantics. The reason for this seems simple, a book of fiction cannot preach too much or it risks alienating its audience. The book works better in today's world because of the easy access to information. Hopefully, this book will stimulate those who read it to seek out more information on General Semantics. I'm not attempting to conver anyone, but broadening one's horizons is never a bad thing.

The book is well written, but a little campy at times, no surpise given the publication date. The ideas in it our stimulating and fit well with the story, which moves quickly. I won't tell you too much, no spoilers here, but I suggest all fans of Science Fiction should give this book a chance.

For a better understanding of General Semantics, you can attempt the humongous book that is Korzybski's 'Science and Sanity', or you can check out the very accessible 'Quantum Psychology' by Robert Anton Wilson.