Street Fighter IV

Everything I know, I learned from Street Fighter IV

Adrian

I’m not talking about a triple spinning uppercut–although I’d love to be able to do that in real life. But let’s start with some context

When I was eighteen and in college, there wasn’t much to do on breaks and lunch. So myself and a boy I hung around with would play arcade games. Street Fighter, as I recall. I’m dating myself horribly, but I have a point. I played for weeks. Maybe three or four. And got thrashed continually by my friend. There was a lot of specialized moves, hand eye coordination, and understanding of the game’s patterns of movement. Certain moves were called for at certain times, certain moves of your opponent needed certain defences, and some things you could do were simply unstoppable (a glitch in the system, and super annoying to the uninitiated). Anyway, I got beat. A lot.

Then one day, I didn’t. My mind and body clicked, and suddenly I was winning. In fact, I was thrashing my friend, because I’d found a couple of moves that were difficult to defend with the character he liked to use the most. I remember he looked at me and said. “It’s about time.”

I think a lot of things are like that. You learn and you try, and you learn and you try, and if anything, you seem to get worse. Then one day, something clicks, and suddenly you’re better than you were. Not that you’re the best yet, but you’re a level up. And it shows.

I believe that it’s the same in writing. I’ve felt it. Not in everything (I don’t have a book deal yet, and may never), but I found a year or two ago that my story pitches were getting more attention on website competitions. It had clicked with me how to write one. Not that my story ideas were always somebody’s cup of tea, but they were getting more attention. I’d leveled up.

I’m not sure if this is a craft tip, but maybe it’s a bit of hope for writers who are new and finding things frustrating. You can get better. You WILL get better. You just have to keep getting thrashed first. 🙂

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It’s close to one of my birthdays, and I have to admit to feeling a little bit of the blues the last week. On the writing journey, there are no signposts or guarantees that you’re going to get to the promised land, or even a friendly rest-stop. But I hope to shake this mood off soon and remind myself that I take joy in the writing, the creating, and getting better.

And maybe one day my ‘level up’ will be something more significant…

This image is a quick effort in Prismacolor. I tried to stay true to the low pixel original screen images, but I’m not sure how well it came out. A fun effort in any event.

Claws Around the Cage

Adrian

I learned something after 2 years of hanging out on the SCBWI discussion boards. And the Blue Boards (when they were still separate). And occasional contests and… well, you get the idea. This is what I learned.

I was no longer learning much.

Because I wasn’t a newbie writer anymore. I was weighing in on random topics, gossiping, and helping people new to the boards. But not really improving my own craft. So I shelled up, became a hermit crab, and started making sure my limited free time either improved my writing, or WAS writing in some fashion*. It doesn’t replace writing. And hopefully never will.

So this is what I learned:

Limit your online time.

Limit the number of blogs you follow. Prune.

And limit the time you spend aimlessly wandering discussion boards and getting sucked into heated debates and critiques. Especially once you’ve moved up the learning curve and would benefit more from the insight of industry professionals (those who spend time on a professional polish, rather than the basic foundations of writing). You don’t have to cut it out entirely, but be careful it doesn’t suck up all your time**.

So build a cage, and put the laptop in there with you.

Then Write. Ruthlessly guard your time, and the value you get out of any writing activity. Learn new things. Don’t get stuck in a rut.

…

So what are you waiting for? Write!

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*yes, yes, I know that I have a blog on the topic of writing, which contradicts all this with great irony, but my blog has a stated purpose and time allotment each month, which I’m pretty firm about keeping.

**Fair warning: opinions vary, and this is just mine. The optimal approach to writing discussion board participation depends on what your priorities are. If fun and social interaction is what keeps you going down this thankless road, feel free to disregard! 🙂

For a general update, my short story is now up on OWW and I opened all my files on the Broken Detective (new title forthcoming), the old unloved story that I want to spruce up and put out into the world. A bit exciting and daunting, but hopefully this will be a fun detour for a few months. I still think it’s worth doing. We’ll see what the rest of the world thinks. 🙂

The featured image here is ink and black Prismacolor. I’m experimenting a bit to see if I can figure out a low maintenance style that would work well on the go, as I might consider a little bit of art in the Broken Detective manuscript if so. If I can make it convenient, it would make it a lot more likely!

old tree

Chase Your Character Up a Tree

Adrian

chased up a tree

 

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I sat through a few episodes of Master Ink, which I’d never seen before, as some diversion as I coloured this. I find I can listen to a TV show and let my hand and the back of my brain work, which is very different than when I write. Interesting. And it was interesting to see an art-related reality TV show. Fun.

Anyway, I might do more of these (Writing Rule cartoons) if there is interest and I find I like the look of it later. Might tweet it too, use some of my new social media skills. 🙂

First draft of the fantasy short story now done, a little less than 4,000 words. Will polish it up and post to OWW, see what people think…

Silly Flash Fiction

Adrian

Done for a twitter contest I stumbled across, and a lighter tone than most of my novel writing (more MG-flavored, which much of my more humorous writing is), but a fun detour for half an hour. Enjoy.

I may delete later, if I wake up tomorrow and wonder what the hell I was thinking. 🙂

Contest: http://shortstoryflashfictionsociety.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/friday-flash-fiction-contest-2/

It’s a Flash Fiction with a cool photo prompt, an old house waist deep in sand (inside the house), as if a desert flowed through.

http://www.nature-places.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/most-amazing-ghost-towns-07.jpg

The story (237 words):

The Hour Glass House.

My sister has powers. So do I.

My parents left us at home alone and told us to be good. They’re optimists.

When my sister wouldn’t pass the remote, I made the TV screen show her face smudged on a fat man’s butt. She glued the couch to my ass. Scratchy. And harder to accomplish than you might think. I unlocked her diary to figure out how she’d done it. She caught me, and wasn’t happy. Like I care about Dreamy Jeremy’s eyebrows?

She slammed me into my bedroom wall and jammed the door behind. Which pissed me off. I had places to be.

But it’s okay. I’m sneaky, and still one ahead. She’s probably just now realizing that I slipped a snake into her braids, which has been chewing her hair. All day. He he. What’ll Dreamy Jeremy think about that?

Woom. Tinkle.

I think she just flipped the house upside down. There’s sand coming through the windows, like a tipped-over hour glass. Um, that’s probably not good. I’m not sure she’s joking anymore.

Crack.

I’m going to puke spiced meatballs. Flipped again.

My sister has powers. But so do I. And chest deep in sand or not, I’m clutching her diary, reading like a madman. Double pinky lift? Interesting. A smile hurts my sand-scratched face, but I don’t care. Ring the bell. Time for the next round.

I’m not finished yet.

circles

Overlapping Circles, I’m Enamored!

Adrian

I remember a post once that said you can’t break down all the pieces of a story and line them back up again, like you would the building blocks of a castle (can you tell I have young boys who like Lego?). The reason is that the elements of a story overlap. Each scene accomplishes multiple goals. The first scene especially. Let’s look at a sample first line:

The man in the torn coat strode toward the army checkpoint.

A single line, but it helps develop plot, character, and tension all at the same time. To tackle each element, for example with a single sentence each, would be too clunky. You need to multi-task (please don’t tell my wife I’m capable of such! It would shatter her world view…).

So in the last few days, based on some new word processing skills, I have to admit to loving overlapping circles, as shown below. So I thought I’d help use them to make this point. And also do some work on my new short story at the same time. The circles are the elements that I want to incorporate in my first scene, to make the story start off well. See the image below to see how I worked through the exercise:

overlapping circles w website

 

Just filling in circles won’t give you the answers on how to accomplish all the things you want, but it will certainly point out things you’re missing, and get the good old hind brain working on how to fix it.

I have found that it’s good to put some thought into what you want to achieve before you start the first draft of a scene. Partly because those words, once written, seem to solidify on the page, at least for me, becoming brittle and harder to change with each day that passes. It’s easier to get it right the first time. Or at least try.

And let’s face it, those circles are pretty. Aren’t they? 🙂

 

…really, please don’t tell my wife I can multi-task.

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As always, images are copyright. Please link to, but don’t steal them…