Wordle :D

Fun little thing on the internet. Paste in a bunch of text and you get a word cloud. This is from the current 11,000 words of my 2009 Nanowrimo, Red Crown. There’s some great phrases been turned out in this thing - look for the Smile Dragon!

Alternative Vampires...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3318687

This thread made me realise something.

I’m not particularly a fan of Twilight - and particularly not of Meyer’s wussy sparklepires - but the way that people both love and viciously hate her ‘alternative vampires’ makes me think.

In my writing (not that any of it is published… yet) I have several different types of what are named Vampires which are to appear in various different stories; linked or otherwise. Some examples;

• Nosferatu and others - from my Earth-based White Horse fics, the nosferatu are exactly what you think they are: typical vampires. There are several varieties however, from those which can only drink blood and those who can eat human food but MUST drink blood too, to those which can consume everything and walk in during the day…
• the Lilitu - from my usual Chronicles of Avania chronology, the Lilitu are immortal daywalkers; they more or less fit the romanticised type, the Rice type. They are immortal creatures which are created from other beings (not neceessarily humans, on Avania) by magic or another lilitu turning them. They can consume normal food but since they are no longer equipped to digest it this makes them violently ill; they are designed now to survive on a sanguivorous - blood only - diet. They have enhanced senses and are much stronger and faster; they can go outside during the day, but because of these enchanced senses bright lights cause major problems for their eyes, even through sunglasses!
• Avanian Vampires, Sanguivorous Sapiens - these are the Chronicles of Avania main vampires and are the ones I am most worried about. They are well and truly alternative vampires; for a start, they’re mortal. They can go out in the sun (but their pale skin means they burn easily) and they don’t have to drink blood at all (on of them is vegetarian - really veggy, not any of this ‘drinks only animal blood’ rubbish) but are simply adapted to be able to survive on a sanguivorous diet. They are somewhat romanticised - they are, for the most part, gorgeous - and play of several vampire cliches (they all have really pale skin and black hair; make no mistake, however, they are not all goths!). They look human apart from their fangs and they act it mostly, though some of them retain animalistic instincts from the creature they can turn into (which is a Big Reveal so that is staying secret).

Now what that link above made me think about, is how they will be received. When I came up with all of this it all seemed like a very good idea. However, I’m sure Meyer thought so too when she said one day, I Know Why My Vampires Can’t Go Out In The Sun: I’ll Make Them Sparkle!

It is not at all because I can’t take criticism (I can), it’s just that I fear immensely that my vampires, should I ever get around to being published, will be ripped into in the same manner that the Twilight characters have been. I am immensely attached to my characters, and I have worked hard on them, even if no one else can see that yet. It would be so crippling to learn that everyone hated the idea.

Feedback would be marvellous, if anyone can spare me a moment…

(And please, by feedback I don’t mean liking my post or reblogging it in order to bash Twilight. That is not the purpose of this!)

Aaaaaaaah Nanowrimo has ground to a halt...

So here’s an extract from what I’ve already written…

Ser’e Rah, Kefni Khiara Keh-Deshret, was nearly eighteen, and he was not looking forward to it. For most people, their eighteenth birthday was the holy grail of birthdays, symbolising their passage from child to adult; new independence and freedom. But for Kefni, the event would not pass in a furious tumult of drunken excess in a pub.

Being the Prince of Caftro had been, up until now, a simple, generally pleasant life, but with his coming of age festival on the horizon, Kefni found himself wishing he could just be normal, just for one day. The fuss had been going on for several weeks as his mother, Pharaoh Nephthys, made her preparations and sent out invitations to her almost infinite guest list.

Now, as the date drew inexorably closer, Kefni wished more and more than there was something he could say or do which would stop his mother from going through with the entire fiasco. It was futile, however – once Pharaoh Nephthys was on a course, she didn’t stop until she had practically bulldozed her way through every obstacle and reached her goal. The damned woman was unstoppable; but then, she was rakjasan, and rakjasan women were notoriously… difficult. Nothing would sway this one from her path.

“Your mother,” King Shakir had said when Kefni bemoaned the fact of the coming spectacle that was ‘his’ ceremony to him, “Is like a wolf with a bone, and she can not be persuaded by anyone or anything to stop what she is doing. Heaven forbid she actually listen, son.”

Kefni sighed as he remembered that little scene. His father had smiled fondly and patted the Prince on the shoulder.

“Just grin and bare it, and it’ll all be over soon enough.”

“Maybe for you. I’m going to be the one in the middle of it all! I don’t even want this stupid ceremony…”

The King had simply laughed and ruffled his son’s hair. “It’s not for you, Kefni, it’s for the people,” he had said. “Remember that.”

Kefni wondered if the people really cared, or if they just wanted an excuse to party. Probably, he decided, the latter.

Why you should never ask artists for freebies... especially designers!

“Once again I must remind people about the business of fashion. Designers such as myself put a lot of time and effort into what we do. We go to school for years to study how to make patterns and how things are sewn, as well as how to design garments. It’s a lot of time, money, sweat and tears. We fight for jobs because they are so few. When we do things, it’s not because we’re bored soccer moms puttering around Joanne’s looking for a fleece no-sew project. It’s because it’s how we live. We design things, we sew things, we SELL things. When people BUY things, we make money. That money PAYS OUR BILLS AND PUTS FOOD ON OUR TABLES. I’m sure the concept is hard to grasp, but just pretend. When someone asks me, or any other designer, how to do something, for a copy of the patterns, for a tutorial if we haven’t already posted one, or worse, if you can knock it off, it’s insulting and it’s also robbery. If I give it to you for free, then how can I justify asking anyone to buy my products? Do myself and other designers a favor and buy our products. Don’t even ask about getting stuff for free, how to do things, or for patterns. Or, get $60,000 to $100,000 and go to design college and maybe then you can understand what we go through when you ask us these things.”
~Dedredhed

“I’d like to share with you an ancient piece of wisdom that I learned some time ago, when I was just a wee small brain in a wee small jar. When you do creative work for others, it’s good to make sure the people you undertake the work for understand this mystic triangle: Good. Fast. Cheap. Write these down on a piece of paper. Carve them into stone if you must. Chant them repetitiously as you spatter the blood of a freshly slaughtered chicken about your body. I really don’t care. Just make sure these three ideas are burned into your memory. Now here’s the trick - when you’re creating art for somebody else, they are only ever reasonably entitled to expect you to provide a combination of any TWO of these three. The third, whatever it is, gets lobbed out of the nearest open window. You can work fast, and cheap, but the work won’t necessarily be any good. You can produce good work cheap, but nobody better expect you to be fast about it. And you can maybe - just maybe - work good AND fast. But NOBODY had better expect that to come cheap! This is fact. Here endeth the lesson.”
~hde2009

Is it just me, or is moaning all some people do?

Without naming names - that would never do, and one cannot risk the person in question finding it and learning what one really thinks! :D - there is a particular facebook contact of mine who updates about twenty squillion times a day, and every status update, is a complaint about something hurting, or how crappy life is, etc.

I mean, doesn’t anything good happen, ever? Don’t you ever get one brief little happy moment occasionally?

I know I moan a lot, I know I complain, but at least it’s not 24/7. For example, to counteract this moan, a positive comment:

New ipod!

One with a working screen at that :D