With a name like Chaotic Shiny a website’s gotta be good right?
I have to thank Lynn Viehl at Paperback Writer for posting a bunch of links to Chaotic Shiny’s generators. I’ve already put one of them to good use.
I’m sure many of you have used name generators before—and this site has those—but the real beauty here is the sheer number of generators I’ve never seen anywhere else.
The Civilization Generator helped me flesh out an idea for the central culture of a novel I hope to write in the next year or so. You’ll find generators for superstitions, mottos, laws, languages, and much more.
In the “so good I wish I had thought of it” category, is The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. Don’t think of this as a book review as much as a recommendation. I don’t really enjoy writing book reviews that much.
The magic system he’s created in the Long Price Quartet is unique, but one of the best parts of the story is how his use of magic never feels like magic. I’m not even sure it should be called magic.
Essentially, there is an order of men called poets who dedicate their lives to binding abstract concepts (called andat) such as Stone-Made-Soft, or Removing-That-Which-Continues into concrete beings in human form. Think of it as something akin to harnessing the power of a powerful, yet limited deity, subject to your will and desires. These poets serve the remnants of the Second Empire, an loose collection of city-states ruled by royal families called the Khaiem.
There’s the lightest touch of steampunk elements to in the story, but not enough to concern you if that kind of thing turns you off.
What I enjoyed the most was the feeling of reading about the real people dealing with real situations. How does it differ from any another story in that regard? Simply put, there’s not exactly a good guy or bad guy in these books. Every character you meet is flawed deeply as a person, and you are swept along as they struggle to make the best choices they can just like you and me. You get to follow the lives of two young men across three generations of time as they seek to make a better world, end up breaking that world, and are forced to deal with the regret and consequences of their actions as they strive to find a solution to their ills.
I loved the Far East feel to the culture of the Khaiem lands. There’s an elegance and beauty there which makes you empathize with the decisions they make, even when it’s the wrong one.
The second book of the series was a little slow, and in the end it didn’t progress the story nearly as much as the other three volumes. That being said, it was hardly ever boring if you’re a fan of fantasy with an epic touch.
I highly recommend you pick up The Long Price Quartet.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big fan of NaNoWriMo. It’s a great way to get people who are on the fence about writing to buckle down and participate. Many who give it try fizzle out quickly, but there are those who stick with the stuff and pound out the minimum 50,000 words. Sure, the vast majority of what is written during the month of November is drivel, but the cream will rise to the top. Some of those who have participated have gone on to become published authors.
Either way, simply sitting down and committing to the writing life is a good thing. Every word written down, whether on paper or in pixels, is a learning experience. This year’s horrible writer goes on to become next year’s mediocre writer who then goes on to be a good then great writer in the future.
If you’re thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo 2010, you might want to get a head start and begin planning your novel now. Worldbuilding, character creation, conflict and resolution, these are all things you can have worked out ahead of time. Start outlining your novel now, and you’ll find writing the minimum word count is really not all that hard because you’re not forcing yourself to make it all up as you go along.
Here are a couple of resources to help you plan things out.
From Lazette Gifford comes a guide to surviving NaNoWriMo. Honestly, I haven’t read through the whole thing myself, but have seen numerous recommendations about the guide mostly because of the section on Phase Outlining. This ebook is full of tips and tricks from a long-time NaNo participant who is herself a published author and editor. Click here: NaNo for the New and the Insane, and download either the PDF version or the MOBI/Kindle version.
From the Young Writer’s Program of NaNoWriMo comes three separate guides for young novelists. Though written for children, adults will find a wealth of wisdom about the basics of writing and composition, especially in the High School edition. Completing these workbooks during November while striving to write a novel may be too much, so download one and go through it ahead of time to be more prepared for the big event. Click Here:Young Novelist Workbooks, and choose your age-appropriate PDF for download.
If you’re a writer who’s been doing little more than plinking around and want to get serious about your art, consider giving NaNoWriMo a try. It might just be the kick in the pants you need.
So, it’s been a couple of week since I’ve done one of these. That should mean even more great stuff for you to read.
By the by, I must say I’m really enjoying the new Stargate Universe series. We just started catching up recently, and it’s pretty good so far, but I hope it gets better. It kind of seems like it’s Star Trek: Voyager stuck in the Stargate universe while striving to become the next Battlestar Galactica. It’s none of those things, and I hope the show finds its own voice soon enough.
Perhaps the most beneficial practice I’ve undertaken lately is that of timed writing sprints with my kids. I think I’ve mentioned we recently purchased netbooks for my two older children, a decision made mainly because of their desire to write stories. As a way of encouraging them and being involved in their creativity, I started doing writing sprints with them on fairly regular basis.
This all started back during NaNoWriMo when I noticed their official Twitter stream was encouraging mass participation in writing sprints. I got involved in a few, and immediately discovered the benefits. My daughter was participating as well, and so I decided to challenge her to our own writing sprints in house, and found it to be our most productive days during the month.
What’s a writing sprint? Take a timer, set it to count down for a predetermined length of time—usually between 15 and 30 minutes—and write like mad until the buzzer goes off. That’s it! Nothing profound.
Why do writing sprints? Here are a few things I’ve learned.
Brings Focus: There’s nothing like an arbitrary time constraint to make you put butt in chair and start typing. That email you were worried about checking? No time. Those pretty birds singing outside your window calling for your attention? No time. The clock is ticking, and you’re trying to get words on the screen before the timer goes off.
Permission to Write Crap: For me, one of my worst habits is forgetting the first draft is not the final revision. Sometimes I get so bogged down on word choice and grammar that I lose my train of thought. The story gets lost because of over-thinking, but the story is the whole point of writing in the first place. When you’ve only got 20 minutes to put words on the page, the crap flows much more easily. It can always be cleaned up later.
Mutes the Internal Editor: Related to crap writing, when there’s a severely limited timeframe, the dreaded internal editor seems easy to ignore. Perhaps he suddenly begins cheering for you rather than criticizing you because he knows his success is actually tied to yours. He’ll get back to you during the revision stage.
Isolation and Community: Writing sprints can be done alone, but they’re a whole lot of fun when done with others. There’s something about a little friendly competition that sharpens focus. Word counts go up, and even the story itself seems more lively.
Bursts through Writer’s Block: The timer’s counting down, who’s got time for writer’s block?
Try sprints for yourself, and see if they don’t breathe vitality into your writing routine.
Also, for you fellow Mac users out there, here’s a pair of utilities I use to help do sprints properly.
Freedom, allows you to kill the wireless networking on your MacBook or other computer for a pre-determined amount of time. It keeps you from distracting yourself by checking email, or doing “online research.” EDIT: I just learned there is also a Windows edition of this utility, but it costs $10. There is a free version of the Mac edition.
Timer Utility does exactly what you need it to do and no more. Set it for an amount of time, hit start, and watch it count down. You can choose from a variety of sounds for your buzzer, or choose a built-in system tone. I like to keep it floating above my fullscreen Scrivener. Seeing the thing counting down out of the corner of my eye motivates me to keep on typing.
The first three chapters of Brent Weeks latest work in progress, The Black Prism, has been posted on the Orbit website.
I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to as soon as I can. I enjoyed his debut Night Angel Trilogy a great deal, and expect this novel will be just as fun and creative.
You’ll notice I report what I’m currently reading a the top of every post. You’ll also notice I’ve been reading the same book for several days. Here comes the rant.
I’m a very prolific reader, especially since I added the power of a Kindle to my repertoire. One of the maddening things about taking my writing seriously is that it really cuts into my reading time. Maybe it will mean the difference between ever getting published or not, but I refuse to completely give up my reading. I can put up with slowing down, but never giving it up.
Before I chose to take this dream of getting published to heart, I was usually able to get through a book every two or three days. Now it takes me a week or more to get a full-length novel read. Maybe when NaNoWriMo is over I will find some balance between reading and writing.
Who am I kidding?
I’ve been reading the Black Company novels by Glen Cook. Though not as widely known as others in the genre, Cook’s novels are a great read. Imagine being a correspondent following along fighting in the trenches during a great war, and you’ll find yourself reading the Black Company novels. They’re gritty, realistic, and an adventure to read. Not to mention the fact they’re some of the novels Steven Erikson was inspired by when he began writing his Malazan series. High praise indeed.
With a name like Chaotic Shiny a website’s gotta be good right?
In the “so good I wish I had thought of it” category, is 
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big fan of 
From Lazette Gifford comes a guide to surviving NaNoWriMo. Honestly, I haven’t read through the whole thing myself, but have seen numerous recommendations about the guide mostly because of the section on Phase Outlining. This ebook is full of tips and tricks from a long-time NaNo participant who is herself a published author and editor. Click here:
From the Young Writer’s Program of NaNoWriMo comes three separate guides for young novelists. Though written for children, adults will find a wealth of wisdom about the basics of writing and composition, especially in the High School edition. Completing these workbooks during November while striving to write a novel may be too much, so download one and go through it ahead of time to be more prepared for the big event. Click Here: 
Perhaps the most beneficial practice I’ve undertaken lately is that of timed writing sprints with my kids. I think I’ve mentioned we recently purchased netbooks for my two older children, a decision made mainly because of their desire to write stories. As a way of encouraging them and being involved in their creativity, I started doing writing sprints with them on fairly regular basis.
The first three chapters of Brent Weeks latest work in progress, The Black Prism, has been posted on the Orbit website.
