Newbies, Lurkers, and Splashers
Hop on In!
Hop on In!
Question for everyone:
if you were writing a novel,
which time period would it take place? Why?
if you were writing a novel,
which time period would it take place? Why?
|
New to the site? Check out the FAQs and New User Guide
|
Don’t be shy! Now’s your chance to de-lurk and say hello!
|
May the 4’s be with you
Say hello to the newest member of the Frog Pond
My answer to the question: mid- to late-1800s. It would take place here in the desert southwest and follow the stories of people who became U.S. citizens overnight with the border moves, whether they knew it or not.
The 1990’s. I’d like to rewrite a lot of that history in a novel form.
if only we lived in a Matrix-like universe and everything could altered by a few taps of the keyboard and clicks of the mouse.
This is what we in the trade call a “world processor.”
I just finished writing a world war II YA fantasy novel in part because I wanted to explore the ethics of war. The current one is set in the fantasy now, because it’s book III of series set in the now. The first one was set now because I wanted to look at the potential interface of contemporary computer technology and magic.
hi KMc, nice to see ya and definitely glad to hear that more books are on deck with your name attached to it. I was showing a couple of family members WebMage last week at Powell’s in Beaverton.
Hope you’re doing well. paz
Howdy Man E,
Thanks for the kind thoughts and the family endorsement. I miss the frog pond and wish I’d been around more of late, but the books in question along with some accelerated deadlines have kept me from having much time to do anything beyond write and deal with RL. It’s a great problem to have, but I’m looking forward to getting WebMage III done and heading back to a more normal pace.
Great to hear from you, and I hope life is treating you properly. Gotta go try to knock out this chapter now.
Kelly
You should have come over to Seattle to Norwescon, Kelly. A good time was had by all.
what a novel question, manny.
anything to avoid the odious tasks I’m currently stuck.
I think it would be set in the civil rights/anti war movements of the mid/late 60’s, early 70’s. that time period offers, imnsho, a great many parallels to the situations that we are attempting to cope w/ today.
probably along the lines o some of vonnegut’s works.
too bad I haven’t the skills, nor, frankly the desire, to attempt such an undertaking.
but it has been a long strange trip nonetheless.
later…the millstone beckons.
my vote is for more trip, less millstone in the next chapter š
I’d write a sort of film noir detective mystery set in 1949. I’m a sucker for that stuff. The lead would have one of those opaque glass office doors with his name painted on it, and would drive a ’49 Hudson. And nobody would ever take off his/her hat. And it would be perpetual dusk. And…
Yes, there is truly not an original thought in my head.
you had me at noir
You’re in good company. There are lots of writers who make good money writing the same thing everyone else has done. (Some of them make good money writing the same thing they’ve done.)
I think that I May have heard Firesign Theater’s Nick Danger, Third Eye one too many times to be serious about it.
l see a Bulwer-Lytton Award in your future b2
2006 winner:
go for it…:{)
That’s the stuff!
Hmmm. That’s a good question. I think I would probably write a fantasy novel set in an alternate world — less research involved.
Actually I would like to do an “alternate history” novel someday if I can ever get off my butt and write something longer than a 4-minute song. Alternate history novels take a particular event and explore what would have happened if that particular event had turned out differently or never happened. What if Jack Kennedy had served out his term, for instance? Or what if Dwight Eisenhower got off the train on the way to West Point and started playing clarinet instead of becoming a soldier? (That, by the way, is the hook for a very cool story you should look up if you can ever find it. It’s called “Ike at the Mike” and it’s written by Howard Waldrop. One of the main characters is Senator Elvis Presley (R-TN).)
Alternate histories are a bit harder to write than actual histories, though, because not only do you have to have a firm grasp on the history up to the point where things changed, you have to be able to extrapolate “what happened next?” as far forward as you need to.
Still, it sounds like it could be a hoot. Right now I’m just happy that after Norwescon (the science fiction convention I went to last weekend), my chimerical poetry muse has kicked into gear. I’ve written about four songs in the last week and have started several more, although most of them wouldn’t make sense except to other science fiction fans.
into my crystal ball (formerly known as a champion marble), I forsee a series of Griots. On Sundays perhaps; that would let that chimerical poetry muse strut its stuff. š
I went to ComicCon in San Diego a few years ago, that was a blast so I can imagine how exciting your weekend was.
Well, it could happen, but it’s more likely to happen as an irregular set of stories rather than just on Sundays.
About 20 years ago Mrs. Omir and I took the kids with us on a business trip to Comicon. The boys in particular (both right around 10/12 at the time, I think) were mightily impressed with that much comic book goodness in that small an area.
I love going to conventions. I just wish Norwescon would happen sometime other than Easter. We had to leave Sunday morning from Seatac to go up to North Seattle to go to church and weren’t able to stick around for all the dead-dog parties that happen after the con is officially over.
wish I’d made it up for Norwescon…crud.
Got a couple of ideas floating around my head. One is a present day novel, about a couple that adopts three very strange children — ’nuff said about that one. (A couple of strategic parts are set at the Pinnacles State Park near Hollister, so I’ve got to talk the spouse into making a trip down there.) Working title is Eyes of a Child but I’m not thrilled with it — hopefully something better will turn up.
The other one is a fantasy novel, set in alternate universe but a few hundred years back from present time, with a young woman who rebels against her very patriarchal society to restore the old nature religion…at least that one has a title, Moondancer Waxing…
Oh and one more that’s just germinating — a young adult mystery/drama set in the 1920’s, just right before the stock market crash. I’ve been trying to get the spouse to help me with some research regarding South Bay transportation in that era…
It’s by Terry Pratchett and it’s part of his enormously successful Discworld series. It’s about a bumpkin acolyte who tends to the melon patch at a monastery, and his god appears to him because, basically, he’s the only one who really believes in this particular god.
Not quite what you postulate about restoring the old ways (which is a very good idea, IMO) but similar, and as I recall, a very good read. But then all of Terry Pratchett’s novels are very good reads.
Alternate Kennedys — I think it was a collection of short stories by some well-known SF writers, who were all following the “what if” strategy of the Kennedys surviving their assassinations, Teddy not driving off that damn bridge at Chappaquidick, etc. I’ll have to look it up and see if my favorite used bookstore has a copy…or maybe check Powell’s as well. š
I never got to read “Alternate Kennedys” but I remember the very “Meet the Beatles”-esque cover of Joe, Jack, Bob and Ted.
Iceland voted to become Christian in the year 1000. Must have been an interesting time as people decided whether or not to accept the new religion.
sounds like most places. the irony is when cultural synergy works its magic and the conquering religion becomes something altogether different due to local influence.
love your sig line!
Thanks. I stumbled across it on a site with environmental quotes.
Phew! I thought BooMan had offended the guinea pig gods again and the world had ended.
Was the site out for you? It took me a while to get on. It wasn’t just here; I pinged another site in Texas for a while and never did get through to it.
Yup,
I got home and tried to log on around 5.30 – nothing, but other sites were also slow. Back to normal around 5.45.
En Ess Aye must’ve been in the process of switching servers, or somethin’
has anyone gotten sucked into Second Life yet? I played around the other day but then went on vacation.
Yeah, that’s just what I need, one more thing to eat my life. š
you can create your avatar and then make it slack for the rest of its existence to satiate the lack of it here in the First Life.
The heck with that, I want the avatar to work so I can slack!
It is enough work living a real life who wants a second one..that is virtual??
Well, I think that I would write a book set in the late 1800’s, perhaps about a girl who explores a wilder side of life after discovering Walt Whitman.
Hey TT, how’s everyone at your house doing?
Are you enjoying your vacation week this week (or was it last week)?
The house is pretty good CG. My little guy is getting big and adding new words everyday. He is a thoroughly exhausting blast.
I’m on vacation this week, so I have “enjoyed” watching the rain and snow and feeling cold so far.
Is your house on vacation this week?
Sounds fun…it’s so cool when kids start stringing longer and longer sentences together!
We had our break last week. Hung out at home mostly, but spent a day hiking and boulder climbing and swimming in the creek and then went to a Yankees game on Easter (in the snow, believe it or not).
Now we’re trying to knuckle under and get back into the routine…only 10 more weeks of school after this week.
Ten weeks – sweet, sweet relief. I have been swamped with paperwork. My own fault I suppose, I could just be a slacker teacher and give worksheets I don’t bother to read.
Baseball in the snow is just wrong!
Our school district has begun using something called Study Island…homework done on a computer website, no reading or grading by the teacher required. I’m not sure how I feel about that. š
It still feels like mid-March here weather wise. I wish it would warm up!
It’s nice to see you here in the pond. Good night!
Good night.
sounds like you could cross many genres with that premise š
That’s good – it will suit my “style” of meandering aimlessly while looking for a plot.
Write a novel? Not so much. š
But I would love to be able to go back in time and see what the area I live in looked and sounded like during the late 1700s…especially if I could take my kayak down a local creek or two…does that count as an answer to your question?
even though your novel was a couple of sentences, I was instantly transported to a kayak, rowing through a tunnel of overhanging trees.
I like the idea that it would be totally quiet, no airplane or car noises, and no development to speak of.
Public Service Announcement: Cheeta is celebrating 75 years of starpower
just thought I’d toss a lil’ sump’n inta ring here bouts ; )
Howwwwdy, and Howwwwdy agin, good to see most of these here froggers are still a frog’n, and it’s good to hear sum of dat dere bellar’n on ocasion….
y’all take care, and I’ll catch ya’s agin when I gits some more time….till then..
peace be with you always….
wado
buenos dias/buenas tardes iPig! Sounds like you need to take a remedial slacking course so we can reap the benefits of reading more of your alligator antics š
I agree, been working way too hard lately, and I’m going to take off this weekend for a full blown weekend fish-a-rama….fresh water on the Peace River all day Saturday, and then off to the coast on Sunday for flats fish’n…..youwwwwww-sir ; )
later
My dear Infidel, somehow I’m always away when you drop by. I miss your diaries – think you’ll ever get inspired to write again? Hope your fishing weekend was perfect. lots of love –