[Jatsie]

Not that I'm advocating piracy, but you should totally just download it without paying for it instead.

[Merricat]

Gracie has an art show today -- . She has come to the end of her first summer art class, where she learned to mix colors, try different techniques, and work in different media. I love Gracie's art, partly because she's my daughter and therefore amazing in every way, but also because she likes to experiment, and she always has intention--there's always a reason that she's done what she's done, and she's very cheerful about explaining it. Will and I are going out for coffee, then at the appointed time, we'll come in for the show, then afterward, we'll go to lunch. What a fun day.

[tsa]

Can you show us some of her art Merricat?

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Merricat

Gracie has an art show today -- . She has come to the end of her first summer art class, where she learned to mix colors, try different techniques, and work in different media. I love Gracie's art, partly because she's my daughter and therefore amazing in every way, but also because she likes to experiment, and she always has intention--there's always a reason that she's done what she's done, and she's very cheerful about explaining it. Will and I are going out for coffee, then at the appointed time, we'll come in for the show, then afterward, we'll go to lunch. What a fun day.

That indeed sounds like a fun day.
Among other tasks at my school I also teach art once a week (7-9 y/o kids) and it's one of my favourite classes. I also work with children who have difficulty to concentrate and it's great to see that art can bring out confidence and composure in these kids.

Originally Posted by tsa

Can you show us some of her art Merricat?

Oh, please do!

[Lee in Limbo]

Slow, quiet day. It's cloudy and slightly humid, but basically alright. The stifling heat seems to be seeping back though. I predict that the air conditioner will be on tomorrow if ti doesn't rain today.

I seem to have killed the marriage conversation. I apologize.

My sister, a nature photographer and salesperson for a fledgling mining company, has recently fallen madly in love with Tudor period English history. She's not a historian. She's discovering this through Phillipa Gregory, which pains me, but what can you do? So today I sat her down to watch part of Anne of the Thousand Days, and have concluded that the 60's reading of that period of history is completely different from the (admittedly more sensational, but) rather amoral reading we get nowadays. Do you suppose we have become more jaded and cynical, or is it actually possible that historians and the general public are coming around to a point where they can see and understand that period a little better, without condoning anyone's actions or point of view? Gone are the days when Anne Boleyn is seen as a principled, idealist romantic with a chip on her shoulder, to be replaced by a master schemer ever worried about her family's standing at court and the place of her progeny in the royal line. Has anyone else noticed this shift in perception?

I recently posted a couple of rather gruesome plot synopses for story ideas I kinda dreamed up last year, but decided were a little too horrific to write as is, at least for me. I also started ruminating in my journal over a number of stories I've been either juggling or leaving on the backburner for the last few years. I sometimes think I'm a little too open with my story ideas, but one of the things I've rarely ever worried about is whether I'll run out of story ideas. That never seems to happen. I haven't felt particularly artistic in recent years, and music often gives me trouble these days where it didn't years ago. But story ideas seem to come to me pretty regularly.

I mention this because yesterday, a friend of mine mentioned that he is struggling with a story idea he's working on. I offered to help him out, and he politely refused. I was a little puzzled about this until it occurred to me that he might actually feel a touch threatened by me, fearing that I might steal his idea. I could be completely wrong in that assumption, but it amused me to think it, because if there's one thing I've never felt the need to do, it's steal someone else's idea for a story. I've definitely borrowed elements of other stories, but I've never felt the desire to actually take over someone else's story. The idea just seems alien to me, particularly since I so often choose story ideas that are relatively odd and have an emotional and intellectual centre that most people I know don't share. People I know just don't write stories I actually wish I'd written.

One possible exception is my friend Karen, who dreamed up a story she started working on last year, but hasn't taken far, called The Adversary. She did such a nice job of writing about a similar period to the one that I wrote about in The Bride of War that I actually found myself wishing I could go back and rewrite mine. But then, Karen is a writer I have a strong empathy with, as far as storytelling goes. Our narrative voices are relatively similar, and when she starts injecting her own ideas into the mix, the story usually goes to places that make my brain go ping with happiness. Sadly, she spends most of her time writing fanfic. I try not to nag her about that, but I do often wish she'd devote more time to her own work and less fleshing out stories for television series she watches.

Hmmn. Think I'm gonna have to close up the windows and put the air conditioning on after all. It's getting very stuffy and humid in here. thing is, it also feels like it could rain very soon, so I'm not sure if I should hold out. Guess I'll go look at the weather report and see what they say.

[tsa]

I'm a bit in love with Kate Humble. Every weekday night she presents a live BBC program about British wildlife. She can talk very enthousiastically about birds that look appallingly common to me. But I don't care; she is gorgeous with her beautiful smile and her nice blond curly hair hand her handsome body. As we Dutch say: "Ik zou wel eens een beschuitje met haar willen eten," which translates loosely to: "I'd like to have breakfast (or brunch) with her once."

[Squinky]

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

I seem to have killed the marriage conversation. I apologize.

No, love, that was me, with my flippant remark about the Hamlet needing to post his picture. Seriously, though, I'm not sure there's anything else I can say at this point in my life about marriage that's meaningful. All I can do right now is watch and try to learn something.

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

Do you suppose we have become more jaded and cynical, or is it actually possible that historians and the general public are coming around to a point where they can see and understand that period a little better, without condoning anyone's actions or point of view? [...] Has anyone else noticed this shift in perception?

I'm not surprised, though I'd be wary of judging the shift in perspective as better or worse, or more right or wrong. The way history is perceived and retold has a lot to do with the current state of the world at that particular time. Bias is inevitable; it just seems more right to us now because, well, we're living in it.

Which, of course, is a good thing, in my view. I absolutely hate the dry, fact-driven, date-memorizing aspect of studying history. Completely put me off taking any class related to history after high school. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

I mention this because yesterday, a friend of mine mentioned that he is struggling with a story idea he's working on. I offered to help him out, and he politely refused. I was a little puzzled about this until it occurred to me that he might actually feel a touch threatened by me, fearing that I might steal his idea. I could be completely wrong in that assumption, but it amused me to think it, because if there's one thing I've never felt the need to do, it's steal someone else's idea for a story.

I think I feel comfortable sharing my ideas with other writers because I don't perceive them as brilliant so much as being exercises to improve my craft and a general outlet to vent my creative energy. I'm still learning (and strongly suspect I always will be), so I tend to think that being able to talk to other creative people is more beneficial to me than hoarding.

But then, I also work in an industry that is very open to collaboration by default, particularly because a lot of the best ideas won't even get made unless they have multiple people working on them. A lot of young wannabe game designers also have that idea-hoarding mentality, but surprise, surprise, it doesn't get you very far.

The key to getting me to share in the first place, though, is actually knowing the person in question and having at least some admiration of their work, as well as of who they are. But then, it's not so much worrying about stealing as it is about having to listen to high-and-mighty bullshit from people I don't respect.

***

In other news, I ordered a refurbished 24" iMac yesterday. Yes, I'm jumping on the Mac bandwagon. Yes, I know this will make many of you happy, particularly where future projects of mine are concerned. I'll write more on this point later... and perhaps elsewhere. For now, suffice to say I'm excited to finally be replacing all that old computer equipment that lasted me through most of university (and sometimes beyond). Yay for making money!

I also finished a new game, and it looks like all the right people are understanding it, so that's a good sign.

[Giligan]

Dear blog:

I got a phone call from a college I requested information from. I talked with a representative for a short bit, she asked questions, and it went down well. The representative is calling back in a couple of weeks, to discuss the various aspects of the college, my choice of course I intend on applying for, and to discuss it all also with one of my parents. It's not my top-choice school, partly because of the application process, but I'd be happy to settle for this school. Anyway, things are looking up. At least the representative seemed fairly enthusiastic when she asked me the questions, which is encouraging.

[Merricat]

Dan, how exciting! I loved college; if I could have made a living from attending classes and test-taking, I'd still be there. Good luck to you, sir, and I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.

Lee, most of the writers that I've studied or worked with just aren't collaborators. My husband has worked with partners on different projects, and he finds it enjoyable and inspiring and exciting, but I am not good at playing with others on a creative basis; I tend to have a firm vision and I don't like it when people try to derail it or change it or take it in a different direction.
Or maybe your friend was afraid that if he talked about hsi idea, he wouldn't write it. It's an old workshop saw that if you tell someone the story you want to write, you'll never write it, because you've alread told the story verbally and all the fun and excitement is gone. I think there's some truth to that.
At any rate, having ideas is a fundmental need for a writer, but ultimately, unless or until those ideas are produced in concrete format--story, play, screenplay, poem, whatever--they're up for grabs. People can't own ideas, and even if someone were to "steal" an idea, it wouldn't be your idea, per se, as the treatment of it would be unique to the individual. That's why copyright lawsuits are so difficult to prove.

Jelena, Tsa, I would love to post photos of Gracie's art. I will do so within the week, I think. Jelena, how much fun that must be, teaching art to children. They're so open to expression; it must be wonderful.

Toodle-oo

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Giligan

It's not my top-choice school, partly because of the application process, but I'd be happy to settle for this school.

Being someone who has attended uni courses several times in my life, but finally decided enough is enough I envy you who has all that fun in front of you. What are you going to study? Keep us informed about all the what, when and wheres as soon as you know.

Originally Posted by Merricat

Jelena, how much fun that must be, teaching art to children. They're so open to expression; it must be wonderful.

This year I had a very creative group of children. Starting the art class by telling them about that day's assignment was so much fun since they were so eager to work and easy to inspire. After having worked several weeks with techniques and different types of paints I'd play them a song and have them paint their interpretation of the song. That was the most fun of all!

[tsa]

Originally Posted by Merricat

Lee, most of the writers that I've studied or worked with just aren't collaborators.

Or maybe your friend was afraid that if he talked about hsi idea, he wouldn't write it. It's an old workshop saw that if you tell someone the story you want to write, you'll never write it, because you've alread told the story verbally and all the fun and excitement is gone.

Every time I tell people I am in the process of writing a story or a novel they ask me what it is about. I never tell them because I am afraid they will give me suggestions about how to 'enhance' the story, and I want to make it up on my own. I don't want to be influenced by other people.

Originally Posted by Merricat

Jelena, Tsa, I would love to post photos of Gracie's art. I will do so within the week, I think.

O, goodie!

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by Merricat

Dan, how exciting! I loved college; if I could have made a living from attending classes and test-taking, I'd still be there. Good luck to you, sir, and I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Jelena

Being someone who has attended uni courses several times in my life, but finally decided enough is enough I envy you who has all that fun in front of you. What are you going to study? Keep us informed about all the what, when and wheres as soon as you know.

I can't wait either. I'm either going to study animation or game art and design, depending on which school accepts me, but basically it's video game art.

[Lee in Limbo]

Squinky, you make a valid point that perhaps this friend of mine, though intending no insult, perhaps doesn't care for my work... or it might even be an indicator of what he thinks of me as a person. However, I'm inclined to believe that it's just that he doesn't care for my work. On a previous project, he tapped me to do some graphic design for him, but had other writers he wanted to work with instead. Not sure what his criterion is, but whatever. I'm not as offended as I may sound. We're not that close, so it's really no skin off my nose.

Merricat, I think every writer works differently, and I respect that. However, my friend isn't an experienced writer. It's presumptious of me, but to my mind, he needs to sit down and talk with someone to figure out what's not working. As for collaborating, that's not even a question. Advice doesn't have to include actually working together, and I'm already involved in more collaborations than I can keep up with, as well as working on my own things.

And as for not wanting to discuss a story for fear of losing interest in actually writing it, that sounds pretty weak to me. I can understand not wanting to talk it to death, and frankly, not knowing quite how to explain a story without actually telling the whole plot can be a problem, even for me. But really, if talking about an idea can kill it, either it wasn't a very strong idea to begin with, or you haven't thought about it enough to realize there is much more to it than what you can tell people in a handful of minutes.

I can tell someone the entire base plotline for a story, but they still won't really get a feel for the story until they've read it in prose form. It's not just what you do but how you do it that makes a story live. As well, I often find that, even when I'm writing a section I think I know inside and out, I'm often surprised at what makes it onto the page. Stuff happens that wasn't planned for, and that's where the magic comes in. Perhaps knowing roughly in your head what you're going to do next is as much as some writers can handle, but really, it doesn't matter how well you think you know the story, because the end result will always be different.

I don't make a habit of talking about what I'm writing with everyone I meet, but at the same time, I'm constantly sharing bits of information with certain people just to see how they fly. I find ideas are stronger if they can stand the light of scrutiny from your friends. Otherwise, perhaps you should put it aside and work on something else.

tsa, I can understand your concern. The thing is, stories aren't born in a vacuum. If a suggestion someone makes isn't right for what you're trying to do, politely thank them and then quietly put it out of your mind and get back to what you were doing. You don't have to worry about being impressionable, because if someone makes a suggestion and you actually find yourself down the road agreeing that it helps the story, you're free to use their suggestion because they offered it freely. All you really need to do is try to remember to include them in the Thank You notes.

Even the best writers have been known to use suggestions and even wholesale reworking of other people's ideas or works from time to time. One of my favourite writers, Alan Moore, has on numerous occasions adapted characters from other writers and done things with them that the original creators had never conceived of. He doesn't do that exclusively, but he has done it on more than one project, and yet no one (who knew what they were talking about) has ever accused him of being unoriginal or *gasp* a thief.

If you fully realize an entire plot outline with nobody's help and really believe that what you have is the strongest possible approach, more power to you. Good luck, and let me know when you're finished, so I can find a copy and read it. But you really shouldn't feel resentful of people offering suggestions. It's human nature, and more to the point, they may actually suggest something that you hadn't thought of which actually makes the story stronger.

Okay, enough soap box for me.

[Merricat]

Originally Posted by Lee in Limbo

And as for not wanting to discuss a story for fear of losing interest in actually writing it, that sounds pretty weak to me. I can understand not wanting to talk it to death, and frankly, not knowing quite how to explain a story without actually telling the whole plot can be a problem, even for me. But really, if talking about an idea can kill it, either it wasn't a very strong idea to begin with, or you haven't thought about it enough to realize there is much more to it than what you can tell people in a handful of minutes.

I wish my old mentor Stanley Elkin were alive so I could tell him that his advice was weak.

I don't discuss story ideas with anyone but my husband and my agent, mostly because I'd rather write it than talk about it, and then I can hand people a manuscript. But that's just how I do it (and don't do it). In the end, it doesn't matter how you get it done, as long as you get it done.

[lumi]

I'll be leaving to Finland in a week, and I'm getting excited because I haven't been there in ten years. I'll be visiting relatives and getting familiar with Finnish culture again. It's been too long since I last had lihapiirakka, and I'll have a chance to stock up on the best rye bread.

Other than getting in a fight with a drunk Finnish guy, I'm only worried about getting detained for having skipped army duty. Should be fine, though, because I got a waiver for that, but you never know when papers get misplaced.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by lumi

I'll be visiting relatives and getting familiar with Finnish culture again.

You mean Finnish sauna, Koskenkorva and tango?

[Squinky]

Originally Posted by Merricat

Dan, how exciting! I loved college; if I could have made a living from attending classes and test-taking, I'd still be there. Good luck to you, sir, and I'll be sending positive thoughts your way.

Hmm... I think I'm going to need a few more years before I feel that way about higher educational institutions. Rose-coloured glasses need to kick in, and all that; as it stands now, I'm happy about the fact that I'm most likely never going to have to take an exam again. Nevertheless, I remember being really excited about university when I first started, so be sure to make it count. The first year is always the best.

Originally Posted by Merricat

...and then I can hand people a manuscript.

Where do I sign up for one of those?

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Jelena

You mean Finnish sauna, Koskenkorva and tango?

Yep, and probably in that order too.

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Nevertheless, I remember being really excited about university when I first started, so be sure to make it count. The first year is always the best.

I don't know, but I look forward to finding out.

[tsa]

I liked the last two years much better. You start to specialize and do real research then. That was fun. It still is