Science Fiction Fanatics for Sarah

Like science fiction? Like Sarah Palin? Then join the new group Science Fiction Fanatics for Sarah at Team Sarah.

My mother and I were so inspired by Sarah Palin since she was announced as the VP pick. (If only she was equally inspired by science fiction--- though she does think David Tennant of Doctor Who is cute.)

Anyway, if you feel likewise consider joining Science Fiction Fanatics for Sarah because it needs members bad.

A History of the New England Vampire

This is my latest article written for Associated Content. I seem to be on a vampire kick lately....

We think of vampire folklore as something that emerges from Eastern Europe, yet there was an outbreak of suspected vampirism in the United States during the nineteenth century. The New England vampires are as much a part of the folklore of the region as Lizzie Borden and her ax, though the name 'vampire' was not used for the phenomenon at the time. Read more....

Note: I'm not allowed to post the whole article here because Associated Content owns it. Or me. I'm not sure which.

Technorati's having 'issues'

Tried to ping Technorati and they inform me they are having 'backend issues'. What the heck are backend issues? Should I send them some Pepto-Bismol?

Warning: NaNoWriMo is coming!

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is almost upon us. Run! Hide! Or you may get caught up in the madness.

NaNoWriMo, for the happily clueless, is an international event where nerds get together in an attempt to write a 50000 word novel in one month. Massive caffeine intake is required, actual writing is optional. (Links to NaNo and other WriMos are somewhere in the sidebar.)

I've been doing a lot of Wrimos this year, from JanNoWriMo in January, to JulNoWriMo and AugNoWriMo, and at last, GothNoWriMo in October. It seems like I've written fewer words each WriMo, and I'm pretty WriMoed out.

So this November I've decided to do something else goofy. I'm working on not one, but two novels. One is a fantasy called Among the Lost which is about street urchins in a Dickensian environment and vampires. The other is a science fiction novel called Gems of Kolbe featuring soil-building pioneers on the terraformed world of Kolbe.

I've put up two word count meters for the novels above. They are located below the Technorati widget and before the social newt-working.

The idea is this: I work each day a little on each novel. About once a week or so I'll take the word count and put it up on the meters. It's going to be kind of like a race, only there's no prize since I don't know how to give a prize to an unpublished novel.

Since I set my word count goal at twice the sacred 50000 of NaNo, and I'm doing two, I'd say I deserve at least four months to work on it.

So--- those are my plans. If any writers out there have plans for doing or not doing NaNoWriMo, drop me a comment.

Blog Review: The Sci-Fi Catholic

The Sci-Fi Catholic is a blog dedicated to sci-fi, fantasy and manga. It's written by D. G. D. Davidson, who has more initials than your average blogger, and his co-bloggers Snuffles the Dragon and Lucky the Goldfish. Read more....

GothNoWriMo starts Tomorrow

GothNoWriMo, aka Gothic Novel Writing Month, starts tomorrow. If you have a yen to write something creepy/weird, now's your chance.

I myself, having signed up, am ready to go. All I need to do is decide what the heck I'm going to write about.

There may be vampires. Or robots. Or forbidden experiments with feral children. I'm not quite sure.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


here lies Dobby, a free elf

Confession, Sci Fi Catholic style

"Me: Twice this last week, I sneaked into my dragon's room and read some of his shoujo manga.

Priest: You did what?

Me: I know, it's awful--

Priest: No, I mean, what did you do?

Me: What? I sneaked into my dragon's--

Priest: Your what?

Me: Dragon. I live with a dragon. That's okay, isn't it?

Priest: I guess...just, ah, tell me what you did, please."

Well, I must make a confession--- the 'me' in the confession above isn't the me me, it's D. G. D. Davidson of Sci Fi Catholic. I actually never sneak into my dragon's room to read his shoujo manga, I have my own shoujo manga.

And, to confess again, I'm not really sure what 'shoujo manga' is, I've just heard tell that some of my comic books are called 'shoujo manga'. Who knew? D. G. D. Davidson, evidently.

Anyway, Sci Fi Catholic has a great post on selecting a Sci Fi Priest to deal with your more Sci Fi related sins, guaranteed to make you run out and go to confession (unless you're Protestant....)

Are you on the Wrong Planet?

The message below is from 'Wrong Planet', a site for people with Asperger's Syndrome. The forums are really good. You might ask--- since these forums are so great why don't I stick to them and not bother the ~normal~ people either here or at AugNoWriMo/JulNoWriMo. Well, maybe it's because I'm on the wrong planet.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alex Plank at Wrong Planet says:

Hello Wrong Planet members. I usually don't send out emails to the entire membership at once so I apologize for adding yet another potentially unwanted email to your inboxes and hope you forgive me (unless of course you're an aspie like me and look forward to getting any message at all. In that case, 'you're welcome' :-P ). Also, I apologize if you got duplicate emails. The server crashed while trying to send out 20,000 emails the first time.

However, I wanted to check up with all you guys and girls by sending a friendly hello and letting you all know what's been going on with WP in the last couple of months. If you haven't stopped by lately, please do so, if only just to make sure all your profile details are up to date.

Click for Wrong Planet:
http://wrongplanet.net

Wrong Planet has changed quite a bit since you last visited (unless of course you visited recently... like within the last few months.. ok). We now have more than 20,000 registered members (try counting that number on your fingers (actually don't. I tried and it didn't work))!

As you're probably aware, Autism has gained a lot of attention recently in the media, not all of it positive. We've responded to these issues with editorials and articles on our front page, in addition to many, many forum discussions about tons of different things.

For instance, X-Files Star Amanda Peet recently spoke out against Jenny McCarthy's anti-vaccine shenanigans ( editorial here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/article372.html )

Also, we reported that Claire Danes is in talks to star in an HBO Biopic of Temple Grandin (article here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/article374.html ).

Anyway, there is so much more content on the site that I'm not going to mention in this email, mainly out of laziness, but also because it's pretty easy to find things on the site now due to a much simple menu at the top of the site and this email is already too long as it is.

So, fire up your web browser, point it to Wrong Planet, and click away fellow WrongPlaneteers! I look forward to hearing from some of you who haven't posted in a while.

I hope you had a great summer (I had an awesome summer which included a trip to Los Angeles for a couple of days! ^_^ )

Wow, just realized how cheesy this email sounded so guess I should apologize for using such an execcisvely enthusiastic writing style. I'm too lazy to rewrite the email and you already read it so I guess its too late.

Best Wishes,

Alex Plank
http://wrongplanet.net

Creating a Novel using the Snowflake Method

Some time ago I first learned about the Snowflake Method on author Randy Ingermanson's web site. This seems like a good method to organize your ideas for your novel and get it to the point where you are ready to write.

In my own case I particularly need organizational help since I have Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism) and have a hard time with the 'big picture' aspect of the novel. (It's not impossible for someone with Asperger's to write, though--- just look at Herman Melville or Arthur Conan Doyle, who are now believed to have had Asperger's.)

The Snowflake method now has a forum at SnowFlakers.net. There is a section on the forum for each step of the ten step Snowflake method. I've joined the forum, I feel it may help me put together my current writing project 'Colors' which I've been having trouble with.

GothNoWriMo--- the spookier writing month

For fans of NaNoWriMo and the other WriMos: now there is GothNoWriMo, Gothic Novel Writing Month in October. Gotta love that!

Science Fiction as Fantasy

Science fiction, we often believe, is realistic fiction projected on to the future, while fantasy is the home of unrealism, mind-speaking horses, and men magically transformed to cats.

But science fiction is also considered to be a sub-set of the fantasy genre. The difference between science fiction and other types of fantasy is that the fantastic elements are seen as yet-unknown forms of science. One example of this is faster-than-light travel. In the current state of science, it is considered that FTL travel is impossible. We might someday discover some other science that gets around it, but until that happens, a spaceship that can travel faster than light is as fantastical as Harry Potter's magic wand.

In fantasy fiction, magic cannot simply solve every problem. There is the price of magic--- it may require years of training, or exotic ingredients, or energy from the wizard's body.

One must use the 'magic' in science fiction--- the future science--- in the same way. It must not easily solve all our hero's problems or there is no story. For example, it may be nifty to have a matter transporter device. But you must consider what the costs of using it are. Does it use up loads of energy --- the amount needed to power a spaceship or a city? Or does it have limited range? Is it subject to interference from various sources? Is it liable to kill you on a bad day? A matter transporter device that works for the hero sometimes but not all the time is a great way to get him into dramatic trouble and leave him to fight his own way out.

A Writing Exercise: Re-imagine a favorite fantasy novel as science fiction. For example, Frodo has, not a magic ring, but a weapon of mass destruction that must be disposed of. The Ring-wraiths are men with computer chips in their heads, controlling their behavior and enabling them to track Frodo. Swords and arrows are replaced by blasters and stun-guns.

Or: re-imagine a science fiction story as traditional fantasy: in the movie Gattaca, the genetic engineering is done by wizards, and the main character uses black-market magical devices to be able to pose as a 'Valid'.

Storytoolz--- stuff for writers

I was working today on Holly Lisle's 'Create a Professional Plot Outline free e-course, and that's where I discovered a link to Storytoolz.

If you are stuck with your JulNoWriMo novel or any other writing project, look at Storytoolz and you may find something to help. They have progress meters (good motivating tool), readability analysis, story idea generator and conflict generator.

Character Name Generators

I usually spend a lot of time finding the perfect names for all my characters. But with JulNoWriMo only days away and only one of my characters named, I'm looking at some of the name generators on the internet. I figure even if the names are far from perfect, I can always rename during the rewrite.

Character Name Generator at Prairie Den

Fantasy Name Generator

Random Name Generator

Irish Name Generator

Name Generator for Different Ethnicities

If you need a Korean name, look here.