Typosphere

Website of Science Fiction Writer Ron Collins

Archive for August, 2008

Chapter 19

Aug 25

Posted by Ron Collins in Daily Writing, Novels | No Comments

So I got to Chapter 19 and everything went off the wire. I mean…yeah…ok. Let me start from the semi-beginning because I know so many folks are reading this that you forget a few things.

Part, the First: Rather than start this new writing kick by doing something small, like a short story, I decided to shoot big. I am working through one of my novels, trying to see if I can make it work–or at least trying to see if it’s even possible to make it work.

Part, the Second: I’ve been working at a pretty fair pace, and overall I’m happy. My micro-writing needed quite a bit of work, which was concerning, but what the heck. The story moved pretty well, and if I have one area I’m focusing on it is trying to be much more clear about the strength of my main character’s persona. I think he sometimes disappears.

But overall, I’ve been able to work with my story and make things sing much better than they had been. Overall, I was thinking this was a pretty good story.

And then I got to chapter 19, and suddenly there was no flow. Dialog was redundant. My characters proceeded through a series of discussions that were beyond tepid for nearly twenty pages. I wasn’t really sure what happened, but I’ve worked on it for nearly two full days. Then this morning, I think I get it. This is a critical point of the story for the MC. It’s a place he’s making decisions. And, to be blunt, my writing shows signs of being afraid to lay it out there. My main character is hesitating, and so was I.

Armed with this thought I’m going back to it again.

What do I have to lose, eh?

Usain Bolt

Aug 17

Posted by Ron Collins in Sports | No Comments

Usain Bolt ran a 9.69 100-meter dash yesterday to break his own world record and win an Olympic gold medal. His run was so dominant that he essentially stopped running in the last 20 meters, and instead began his celebration.

I admit I’ve become inured to the in-game celebration. It happens now, regardless. A guy tackles his opponent and raises his hands to the crowd. A dunk draws a chest pounding as the dunker jogs back down the court. A homer is now incomplete without the stand-and-stare-and-point-to-the-sky move. I admit I don’t like it, but hey, you know it’s just the gig today. So, great.

Bolt’s action bothered me for some reason, though. And it’s just today that I was able to put it into words simple enough to represent what I’ll call truth. In each of the cases above, the player has at least accomplished something. They have won, but more important, they have tried to do their best and they have accomplished something by doing so. Their crime against my sensibility is one of ego.

If Usain Bolte had run the last 20 meters at his race pace, it is reasonable to assume he would have beat his world record by an astounding number. Perhaps another tenth. Perhaps further. Who will know? But instead he stopped performing before the event was over in order to celebrate.

The message this sends to me is: I don’t care about doing my best. I just want to beat you.

At the end of the day, I guess that’s fine. I like competition, and being competitive is a valuable trait. But it bothers me because it doesn’t seem particularly Olympian, and because it just seems to be out of order. Athletics are so powerful because they are a metaphor for other areas of life. And in the end, I think the order should be: I will do my best, and then I will hope that’s good enough to beat you.

In this light, Bolt’s “crime against my sensibility” is not purely one of ego but also one of a form of sloth. Or, maybe better said, one of lazy craftsmanship.

Think about it.

Simple Goals

Aug 15

Posted by Ron Collins in Daily Writing | No Comments

I have given myself a goal. This goal thing works for me. I don’t know why. I mean, I should be able to just sit down and write as a general course of action, but for me I’ve always needed a goal that I believed in to really make something stick.

My goal came about as a result of several things, but the most obvious and direct was a podcast interview I heard Tobias Buckell give where he was asked how to get back into writing after a break. Among the options he gave was a classic–just commit to sitting in front of your screen for a certain amount of time. A side-bar to this is to consider it a success even if you do nothing, but to realize that eventually you’ll get bored and do something. The kicker of course is that when you commit to sitting in front of your screen you allow yourself only one other form of action–creating words.

So, that’s my goal. Sit in front of the screen for a certain amount of time each morning.

I’ve not been perfect–I missed one morning due to work needs. But I managed to get words done more often than not, and I’ll take every step forward at this point. All progress is good.

About Ron

Ron Collins has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Nature, and several other magazines and anthologies. His writing has received a Writers of the Future prize, and a CompuServe HOMer Award. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and has worked developing avionics systems, electronics, and information technology.


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