04 April, 2010

The ONLY writing advice I can give.

There's a lot of advice out there.

That's it.

That's my point. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to writing.

Oh, fine. I'll yap in this black hole a little longer. You see, you have to read and write a whole lot, and there really is tonnes of advice out there. Mine? Read the advice by the writers whose FICTION you like, and would like to understand. It's probably not my fiction, which is why I'm not saying what I think. You may have seen my work around. I find I can get most of what I write published these days. It's just that there isn't much out there yet, and it isn't in the highest-profile places.

My favourite book on writing is "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan. It's nice to remind myself that a human can accomplish anything, provided they are willing to fight hard enough. Einstein once said, "There's nothing special about me. I'm just passionately curious." If that's true, then talent is a matter of love.

If talent is a matter of love, success is a matter of persistence.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must get back to writing. Even though it's Easter, I'm writing a short story today. I can't control how many agents read this blog and decide I'm the next big thing, but I can control my time, my effort, my patience, and I can't accept not trying.

02 April, 2010

Comments on the modern Star Trek movie

Amazing how many people "loved this movie". It was trash. Many people are saying it "moved fast enough" that the problems occured to them later... Really? Is it possible for a human being to be that dim? Part of being sentient is that things occur to you AS THEY HAPPEN, so when someone stumbles into a hole and happens to find Spock, it just doesn't make sense.

To anyone who doubts the awesomeness of the original series, I challenge you to re-watch seasons 1 & 2 (3 was trash, as was every odd numbered movie... or is that even numbered? Whichever one didn't include Wrath of Khan). Seasons 1 & 2 were excellent, and small wonder. They were written by some of the best script writers of all time, including Theodore Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison.

There is a difference between revitalising a series and smearing over-egged crap all over its face. This movie accomplished the latter, and did so hiding behind the idea that "Rebooting lets us do anything!" While technically true, Star Trek deserved at least one decent writer behind the project, and any decent writer would have made use of the strengths already present in firmly established characters and in the relationships that made the first two seasons great. Good writers also tend to care whether their plots make sense, and good writers tend to write for the smartest, most attentive reader/viewer possible, not the people too slow to realise that Spock can't be down every hole simply because it serves the plot.

Also, please would every moron look up the word "reboot" in a f**king dictionary? It doesn't mean what you think. Film magazine writers don't get to alter language just because they don't respect the vocabulary of their average readers.

Sorry to rant, but as a lover of Science Fiction, this movie offended me on a personal level.