Science Fiction and Science Fact

An interesting article in CNN about the super-collider in Switzerland:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/30/doomsdaycollider.ap/index.html

What I find most interesting are viewpoints of the doubters, the 'what might go wrong,' and how that might spark ideas for stories.
Too...the what-might-be-discovered opens up all kinds of possibilities.

One Week Later

One week after the workshop, and I've decided that I LIKE NOT KNOWING HOW THE BOOK I'M WORKING ON WILL END.

This way I don't have to worry about heavy-handed foreshadowing, or trying to manipulate events to make things go according to my plans. I put a collection of well drawn characters into an intriguing situation, and then watch as they figure it out for themselves, page by page, chapter by chapter.

I can see advantages to planning ahead, though. I admire those who can do it. So how many of you like to plan out everything beforehand, and how many just write as you go?

Writing Tip--sounds a little inelegant, but it's for real

Years ago my daughter introduced me to the concept of BUTT GLUE.

BUTT GLUE is what you need to keep you at your desk when your brain wants to fly away in lots of different directions--in other words, it wants to do anything but write what you are supposed to write and your rear end resists gravity to fly away from the comptuer desk chair as well.

Example: I turn on the computer. Today I intend to finish writing a chapter. I know what I want to say and where I want the plot to go, but there's something about what a certain character is supposed to say that I'm not sure about. Instead of tackling that knotty detail, I wander into the kitchen and make popcorn. Then I remember that I haven't watered the plants. By the time I water all the plants, I have to go to the bathroom and I notice that the toilet needs cleaning, so I clean the toilet. Then my friend calls and I talk to her for a while. I head back to the computer, but then I remember the popcorn and go back to the kitchen. I also need a drink, so I get that. In the meantime, I've forgotten pretty much what I wanted to do with the chapter. What I need is BUTT GLUE. If I had some BG, I would have already have the chapter pretty much written. Sigh.

I've also found out that the amount of BG a person has is in direct relation to how early or how late the person who is writing is awake. For some reason the very late night hours or very early morning hours tend to be when the most BG is present in a person's chemistry. The farther away from those hours PLUS the number of other people who are awake in the house (especially children), or in the same neighborhood for that matter, he more BG is diminished. Inversely, BG is increased as more people are asleep while you are awake.

Some types of music increase BG ratios when the number of people awake in my house also increase. For me, putting in ear buds and turning on my iPod to music without words keeps BG from diminishing as rapidly as it usually does. The busier the music or if it has words, the less BG I have. It may be different for different people.

Good luck finding your BG stimulator!

How's the Writing Going?

So how many of you are working on a new book right now? How is it going?

Devious Plotting

I came up with a possible plot summary for Earthcrosser over the weekend. I thought I'd run it by all you wonderfully creative, perceptive, amazing people and see what you thought. I've put it in the comment section so as not to clog the blog.

SOME TIME LATER- Only twenty four hours and now I have a completely different story line in mind from the one I posted! As a chronic multi-drafter, I've never tried to come up with a plot beforehand before. I just build a setting, create some characters, then let them loose and see what they do. I'm trying something new by getting my story in mind before I take off. This is hard for me because I'm just itching to write chapter 2, but always in the past I've spent about 100 pages meandering around before I get to the story, and I want to see if I can skip that stage this time.

Good news

Whew! I've been working steadily since the conference and today I finished going over the line edits for the copyedited version of the first Entomological Tales book and will send them back to Houghton Mifflin tomorrow. Thanks for all of your comments on ET2, as my publisher calls it. I'll start back to work on it tomorrow as well. Now all of you have to finish what you've been writing so you can submit and we can all celebrate together as we're all successful. Laura (Dene)

So What Did You Learn?

I know what you mean, Chris, about not being able to sleep last week. As for me, I still can't sleep.

So what did everyone learn at the workshop? I think the most significant thing I discovered is that writers, agents, and editors are real people! Lots of them are really nice, too, especially the ones who come to BYU for WIFYR.