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065: In The Beginning...

Nanowrimo starts tomorrow and it is as arbitrary a place to start as any. My schedule is full enough with other things that I could probably put off actually writing the BOOK OF LIES several hundred more months, but schedules, as you know, never really empty. They sort of fill themselves of their own accord. It's like there is some sort of 'nature abhors a vacuum' principle in effect and events and activities slip into these white spaces like kudzu.

I get paralyzed when the kudzu takes over. It's happening in my yard; it is happening on my writing schedule. I'm not really getting much done; well, I am, but not quite the right sort of progress.

So, tomorrow is the first of November. My son is due in less than two months and I can't be frantic now about the impact a new family member will have on my writing time. There will be time enough for that when I'm finger-deep in dirty diapers and Solomon and the cat are both testing my last nerve with caterwauling duets.

I used to have a good pair of headphones with which I could keep the noise at bay, but I broke them again this morning. I go through headphones at a ridiculous rate and I sprang for an expensive set this last time, thinking that more dollars would equal better quality. Nope. Done in by a two cent piece of plastic. Maybe an equally pricey strip of electrician's tape can salvage my investment. I liked those headphones.

In the meantime, here's the premise for the first block of the BOOK OF LIES.

(1) THE FARM
Wherein our hero is drawn into the conflict against his better judgment and discovers that the damsel really is in distress. Friends become enemies and innocence is lost, loved ones die, and the world is revealed to be a strange and dangerous place.

Posted by Teppo at 09:19 AM | Comments (2) October 26, 2003

064: Heka

The Egyptians have two translations for heka: one is a proper name and the other is a more generic term for "magic." In ancient Egypt, magic had none of the dark connotations which it gathered in its translation to the West; magic was, to them, a natural and critical aspect of the religious structure. Heka was one of the three creative energies attributed to the sun god Ra which were necessary in order for Creation to come about. Hu was the personification of the Divine Utterance and Sia was the Divine Omniscience which the king (Ra) employed in concert with the Divine Life Force -- Heka -- as the trinity which was the source of his creative powers.

Heka as a term for "magic" is more appropriately translated as "life force in action" and was the application of energy into ritual. Each person had some of the divine life force in them and utilization of this force through ritual and ceremony was believed to allow the individual the power to communicate with the gods. There is a connection between the name of something and its divine spark, and knowing the name gave you power over the object. Weret-Hekau -- Great of Magic -- is one of the names given to Isis who, as legend tells us, managed to trick Ra into telling her his secret name.

If you look past the charlatans and the dumbed down stories of black masses and horrific rituals, you see that magic is about learning the proper methods of addressing the powers of the universe. Dee's Enochian rituals were very specific about the names of the angels and the powers which they brought with them. Magic is about using language to change the world around you. Language is the key to the codes of the universe.

Posted by Teppo at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) October 09, 2003

063: Grids

I'm working on the plan for the BOOK OF LIES. Though I was part of the dog and pony show at the Keystrokes workshop last weekend, I came home with some good ideas as well. Sort of that whole give and take thing. I kind of hurried in with a cheatsheet card that I shared with the group and now, nearly a week later, I've been giving it some more thought and putting the concept to use.

Instead of breaking things down into 25 chapters like I did before, I'm putting everything into 12 boxes. It's a convenient structure which sets up a four-part three-stage outline as well as nicely following twelve months if I need to spread out the fulfillment of the boxes that long (please, God, no). The cheatsheet is a tiny wallet card where I can put the basic idea of each section into its respective grid, but while at home, I can spread out the 3 x 5 cards.

Yeah, really old school, I know. I even had to go out and buy some this afternoon. I've also sharpened a pencil and made sure it had a good eraser in case, you know...

I'm starting off with a single word or phrase in the upper right of each card -- something that I can crib down to a box an inch long and a third of an inch wide. On the left will go the individual chapter notes -- how many, how long, specific actions which occur therein. It's -- ohmigod! -- almost like having a plan.

I know that middle hump is out there. I'm trying to dodge it; I want to see it coming and to be ready for the uphill grind.

Posted by Teppo at 07:53 PM | Comments (0) October 03, 2003

Year One

Nanowrimo season again. I've activated my account though I doubt I'll be chuckling in the front row like I have been in years past. I'll be working on the BOOK OF LIES and for the rest of October, I'll be working on the outline, getting ready to pound, pound, pound the keys come November 1.

I'm going to become a father during December which is going to interrupt a good number of things in that "surprise! I'm completely defenseless against the world without your help" sort of way. I'm expect that things will be, well, snatched during tiny late night minutes for several months.

I'm participating in a writer's roundtable tomorrow in Seattle. The topic is where does a writer find the time while juggling all the things in their lives (full-time job, family, new children). I'll be regaling the audience with all of the tricks I know and, I expect, I'll be refining them during the coming months. I may have to keep a legal pad and a pencil stashed behind the toilet and "develop" some intestinal trouble which sends me scurrying to the toilet for ten minutes at a time where I madly scribble notes on the page between affected groans of despair.

Posted by Teppo at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)