in which i once again praise and thank mst3k

A few months ago, my dad gave me a copy of a James Michener book called The Eagle and the Raven. “Read the introduction,” my dad said. “I think it will speak to you.”

He was right. The introduction was all about how Michener saved everything he cut out of his novels, and described how the book I held in my hands was born from material he’d cut out of a different book he’d written years before. I never throw away anything, and it was spiffy to read that one of my behaviors as a writer is mimicked by someone who probably cut more words out of his novels than I’ll write in my entire life. I thought about this earlier today when I came across a file called introduction.odt, which I assume it was going to be an introduction to something, at some time:

When I was twenty or twenty-one, I read an interview with Joel Hodgson, one of the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was asked about the uncommonly high number of obscure references and jokes that were lost on a large portion of the audience. Those obscure jokes were one of the main reasons I loved MST3K so much, so I paid very close attention when Joel said that they didn’t ask themselves, “Will anyone get this joke?” but instead they said to each other, “the right people will get this joke.” That philosophy was and continues to be a very strong influence in my writing, so

and then it just ends. I can’t remember where I was going with this, or what it was for (I didn’t check the date stamp on the file before I reflexively saved it after opening it this afternoon) but it remains true: MST3K was a huge influence on me during some of my formative years.

The MST3K crew reunited recently to give an interview to my old stomping grounds, The AV Club, and in it, Joel said:

No one was saying, “Don’t put that in, no one will get that.” We had a very open architecture in the writing room. The only person that could remove any joke was basically an individual who said, “I have a problem with that joke, it offends me.” And then we would throw it out, no questions asked.

I’m doubt that Joel or anyone from MST3K will see this, but I want to publicly thank them all, not just for entertaining me during the exciting rock climbing portion of my youth, but for inspiring me to never worry about trying to be all things to all people.

I got some important work done today, and I’m going to celebrate by watching something from the 20th anniversary box set, probably First Spaceship on Venus .

Oh, while I’m talking about MST3K: People who can make this happen, please get Lost Continent and Rocketship X-M onto DVD, mmmkay? I haven’t seen them since 1990, and after waiting all this time, my lungs are aching for air.

a story of the clockwork century

I’ve been damn busy, and it looks to remain that way for the near future. I’m not complaining. However, I have, as the old saying goes, many spinning plates in the air, and my feet are tangled in a mob of lemurs.

Until I have some spare creative energy, or something worthwhile to say, the best I can do is point you to my friend Cherie‘s superawesome Steampunk long-short-story/novelette in the Fall edition of Subterranean Online, Tanglefoot:

Stonewall Jackson survived Chancellorsville. England broke the Union’s naval blockade, and formally recognized the Confederate States of America. Atlanta never burned.

It is 1880. The American Civil War has raged for nearly two decades, driving technology in strange and terrible directions. Combat dirigibles skulk across the sky and armored vehicles crawl along the land. Military scientists twist the laws of man and nature, and barter their souls for weapons powered by light, fire, and steam.

But life struggles forward for soldiers and ordinary citizens. The fractured nation is dotted with stricken towns and epic scenes of devastation–some manmade, and some more mysterious. In the western territories cities are swallowed by gas and walled away to rot while the frontiers are strip-mined for resources. On the borders between North and South, spies scour and scheme, and smugglers build economies more stable than their governments.

This is the Clockwork Century.

It is dark here, and different.

Want to know how awesome Cherie is? She’s currently nominated for a rather prestigious writing award . . . against Ursula LeGuin. Not bad for your first time, Cherie.

I’m back to the salt mines. Have a nice day, and watch out for the lemurs. They’re motherfuckingeverywhere.

four things

Four things this morning:

This toaster gives new meaning to Dark Side.
Newsweek is running a series called the Special Election Project. They had reporters inside both campaigns, with incredible access to candidates and staff, with the understanding that the story wouldn’t be written until after the election. It’s fascinating to me, and I thought I’d pass it along.
Zina Saunders is a brilliant artist and her political work these last couple of months has blown me away. Due to reader requests, she collected her campaign work into a book.
President-elect Obama. I have to keep saying it, because I can’t believe it. Landslide. Mandate. Hoping this is a step toward the end of Lee Atwater-style politics. Quoting myself from Twitter: “Yes we can” is a much better motto for my country than “Be afraid.” Hope > Fear. Unity > Division.

I’m working on something awesome. I can’t wait to say what it is.

in which wil attempts to collect all his writing resources into one post

I’m not doing NaNoWiMo, but I know a lot of people who read my blog are, so I thought I’d collect some of the writing advice I’ve found over the years and put it all into one easily-bookmarked post.

Before I get to the older stuff, a couple new things I’ve found:

io9 (which I feared would be lame like Gawker, but is awesome like Lifehacker) collected some secrets to creating great characters, according to six science fiction authors.
I wrote about the weird feeling of emptiness that I always experience after I finish a project. Charlie Stross expressed something similar in a post titled On finishing.

Got it? Yay! Let’s move on to some older stuff:

five simple ways to Just Keep Writing
Elizabeth Bear, Cherie Priest, and John Scalzi are three authors who are as generous with their advice as they are awesome and successful.
One more post with lots of links to and wisdom from Elizabeth Bear.
Five writing lessons I wish I’d learned the easy way.
Even Neil Gaiman struggles from time to time. This is very comforting to me. (Interesting note. If you read that linked post, you’ll see a mention of my friend who quit his safety net job to be an actor. He’s on Heroes this season. Go David!)
Neil Gaiman, it turns out, is very reassuring to me.
Sometimes, you just get writer’s clog. This is okay, and it will pass.
I explored some of the differences I’ve encountered between writing short-form and long-form fiction. Related to that, from the common sense file: When working on short short fiction, which I’d say is between 500 and 1000 words, I can keep stuff in my head and write it all on the fly. Since I’ve moved into longer-form stuff this year, I’ve discovered that I absolutely must have an outline to follow, so I write that first (I spend a lot of time on it) and then use it as a memory map (much like I use my own memories when I write my narrative non-fiction stuff) when I write the story. I did this with both Star Trek mangas and with one of the two short stories (~15,000 words each) I’ve been working on since June. Of the two, guess which one has been enjoyable to work on? [::headdesk::]
A collection of resources that I’ve come across, which I found useful as a writer.
John Rogers writes very candidly and frequently about writing for television and movies. He is awesome, and so is his blog.

If you’re doing NaNoWiMo, remember that the whole point of the thing is just to get a whole bunch of words together in a hopefully-coherent story that you will have to edit, rewrite, and polish. It is not supposed to be good, it is not supposed to be perfect, or even ready for anyone but you to read. The idea is to write, and write a lot, so let me close with Wil’s Fundamental Truth of Writing: Don’t be afraid to suck. It is easier to fix a broken scene than it is to fill up a blank page.

and there was much rejoicing

A couple of years ago, I successfully hit a writing deadline, and rewarded myself with a Think Geek shopping spree. One of the things I bought was this awesome Black Beast of Arrrggghhh. It has a Brother Maynard on the end of a string, and when you pull it, it makes a terrifying sound. And eats Brother Maynard. And there is much rejoicing. Yaaaaay.

The castle it’s lurking behind is a limited-edition Dungeon Master’s screen that was made to commemorate the release of 4e. Most of them were sent to retailers, but a few were kept and given to people who have made contributions to the gaming industry. My friend John Kovalic was instrumental in making sure this one found its way into my geeky little hands. I haven’t made contributions to the gaming community that are anywhere close to John’s, but I just couldn’t bring myself to refuse this awesome bit of geekery.

Think Geek doesn’t appear to sell the Black Beast any more (you can buy one at paizo if you want) but they sell the Killer Rabbit, and a Black Knight (who is invincible) if you find yourself suddenly in need of Holy Grail items to decorate your home or office.