Mood:  a-ok

Hi, there. My name's Shane...

...that seems an appropriate way to start an entry when one has abandoned their poor little blog to rot for... what is it, now: seven months, give or take?

By now, quite rightly, most no one is reading this post other than Googlers whose search engine has led them a bit astray (and no: I don't SELL 'Cotton Thistle' here, nor do I know anything about 'removing Cotton Thistle' from your landscaping projects).

Got a slew of emails in my absence, which was kinda nice (always pleasant when people are the least bit curious about whether one's dead or not). In my case I didn't die, but I did have a... well, 'medical issue', let's say, that put me in a damn-dour mood.

(No: not cancer, or scabies, or rabies, or anything affecting life and limb. Shane's fine, thank you very much... physically, at least...)

Bottom line: I didn't feel like talking much to anyone outside my... well, real life experience, and wouldn't you know that 'real life' is interfering with my digital pursuits more and more often these days... er... months...

That said, I don't really want this thing to 'die', however one describes it, and the way I see it the only way it CAN die is if I stop altogether. So I won't. I think we'll keep moving, here.

What have I been up to lately, you ask? Lots 'n lots of work on TYPERS, as always, but a ton of 'big picture' stuff (ie: not alot of actual progress on the next actual chapter...) That story, of course, consumes me, and I'm fermenting it quite well in my mind...

Truth be told, there is ONE project I've been devoting quite a bit of time to in the past two months.

Wanna know what it is?

You gotta promise you won't laugh...

Promise?

...well, given that all I hear are crickets out my window, here it is:

...yeah... I'm being serious... seriously... and NO ONE out there does Zelda Fanfiction, do they? My originality is simply staggering!

 The "OOT" storyline that's been swirling around in my head reached 'critical mass' some months ago: I had to do something...

'Something' in this case implies writing a screenplay... despite the fact that I don't know HOW to write a screenplay (some would argue I don't even know how to write a book, but that's another story...)

It's precisely 200-pages-long now (doesn't tell you much because, again, I'm less than a neophyte at writing these things and I take up way too much time detailing stage direction and scenery, I'm sure), with what I like to think are about equal parts 'sweet' and 'sour' notes to it, and at present it's sitting somewhere between a hard PG-13 rating and an R rating...

...hey: if the Dark Knight can con the MPAA into giving them a lesser rating by just not showing any blood, imagine what else is possible in that PG-13 bracket? Of course my Zelda story currently has two 'scenes of torture' (as the ratings bars before films these days now declare, I note) so maybe my OOT adaptation's doomed to an R-Rating from the start...

Waaah, waaah, waaah!

Truth is that I really want to be done with this thing. Once I am I'll damn-well post it to cyberspace and hopefully have that be the end of it: it's a neat little take on the game (not to be immodest) and I guess my main impetus for creating it is to show-off to whatever slimeball producers end up MAKING a Zelda film that it could've been done somewhat decently (I only predict- probably correctly, too- that any Zelda film that does get made someday will be worse than my darkest fears imagine), but I really do have more important things to attend to...

...and look here: I'm wrapping up one of those things, right now!

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:05 AM ADT

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Mood:  not sure

Well over a month since my last post, huh?

I've decided to get on a more regular schedule with this thing: one post at least every other day. Hopefully such a structure will keep me 'regular', more'n a diet of fiber, anyway...

Before I forget, the latest chapter of TYPERS is up on the main site and I'm currently at work on the last two chapters that'll bring "His Moral Antipathy" to a close, and subsequently set the stage for "The Stars Over Heaven" and the final climactic adventures of the Tears' Shower Squadron (again... there's still QUITE a bit to go... cramming everything into 3 books is still my main concern...)

Wanna see the artwork for the next chapter? (Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question...):

Not much of a looker, eh? Way I see it, most of the chapter images in HMA have been far more elaborate than those in The Galilean's Shame, so I'm due for a little slacking.

Also, quite honestly, given the subjectmatter, that's one of the more accurate images I could use for a chapter head. Coulda done more with it, but again: I'm due some slacking in the artistic department...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:50 PM MNT

Updated: Sunday, 25 January 2009 4:01 PM MNT

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Mood:  lazy

Updates have been sparse recently, huh?

Well there are reasons for that. For one, Shane recently got himself a new toy.

It tends to suck at the free time, if you know what I mean (and other nifty add-ons tend to suck at the wallet, too...)

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:54 AM MNT

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Mood:  accident prone

...

Okay...

Now, Shane considers himself a "runner"...

I can run pretty fast, and pretty far, too. I won't qualify for any track meets anytime soon, but let's just say that I can cover 12 miles in a day, if I'm pressed to...

So, when I started this whole running thing, the first thing that got me was Jogger's Thigh (I won't go into the details of that one, thank you very much...) then there was Jogger's Nipple...

I resolved both those issues in short order, care of a little friend I like to call petroleum jelly (again, details are unnecessary...)

Now it's this thing!

"Iliotibial Band Syndrome", they call it. Along with this "Snapping Hip Syndrome"...

God da*m it!

Talk about pain, too. Now, whatever it is that goes into the so-called "Runner's High", be it endorphines or whatever else, it's something real, 'cause I don't feel the pain until well after I do the damage. And the pain is something else. I've even recieved some comments about that "popping" sound coming from my right hip.

I've only got myself to blame, anyway. The only thing that cures this IBS (not "that" IBS, either...) is a certain activity that I've apparently not been doing enough of.

Just a reminder: stretching ain't exactly useless, in the grand scheme of things...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 11:31 PM MNT

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Mood:  bright

This is a good movie...

In fact, it's one damned fine film, indeed.

Go see it, if you haven't. Sweedish, this, and of course one has to be able to read subtitles (given the current state of 'average' intelligence, that can be a stretch these days...)

Anyway: Let the Right One In. Vampire movie, that, but that's a misnomer that only scratches the surface of the themes and moods the movie wants to elicit. Like any well-crafted art it transcends the trappings of any genre you might want to place it in and hammers you in the teeth with neato drama (and rather fine acting by the girl vampire... who's actually a boy, apparently, according to the novel upon which it's based, I think...)

...hmmmm...

And the boy actor who's supposed to be a real boy is a bit of a dramatic drag, but hey: nothing's perfect.

Well, the central tenant of the film does somewhat tug at my own heartstrings: as someone actively trying to make a genre story that transcends its own trappings  (couldn't resist the segue) I'm attracted by the idea.

This is a grown-ups' version of that trashy "Twilight" nonsense that got its start from prepubescent fangirls pouring over their internet chatrooms and fansites. Ironically that book series focuses on characters on the cusp of maturation, and is written for mentally-disabled fangirls, while this movie (Let the Right One In) focuses on a pair of 12-year-olds but delves into waters more suited for people with all their marbles in their head (or at least most of 'em... a few of mine are rattling around under my couch...)

And, of course, when I say "12-year-olds", you have to remember that one of them has apparently been 12 for "a very, very long time..."

Just go see the damned thing, if you can. It's not the Merchant of Venice, but it is intelligent. And in an age of nearly unabated idiocy from our Hollywood, it's most certainly the right film to come out of the cold for.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:45 AM MNT

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So what're the perks of associatin' with a BYDO organism for an extended period of time?

It can f**k up your genetic code and seriously tweak your 'human limitations'...

And what're the downsides to associating with a BYDO organism?...

...It can f**k up your genetic code and seriously tweak your 'human limitations'...

Yeah...

Anyway, this is more of a 'stylized' look at the TSS demon forms (with faces 'half-changed', and all that...) When I say 'stylized', it's a fancy way of saying that I don't have the artistic hoo-haas to put together a more... uh... 'accurate' picture of what the trio would look like.

Interesting side-note: the mesh overlayed on Samantha's face is a chain mail stock image, the marring on Chenine's mug a texture ripped from a picture of duct tape (and all the razzle-dazzle on her body, including the protowings, ripped from a series of fractal art images...), and the spines on Justin's dark side courtesy of a picture of a rose.

I'm nothing if not symbolic...

Don't know if I like how everything turned out, exactly...

But I do know that I like saying 'protowinged'.

Hell, I even like typing the word 'protowinged'...

"protowinged, protowinged, protowinged, protowinged, protowinged"...

Right, I'm got that out of my system, I think.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 9:53 PM MNT

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Mood:  cool

T'art (TYPERS art...): it's what's for dinner.

My latest personal artistic challenge is rendering up the demonic/"Novanjo" forms of my protagonists (ie: the Czech Hedgehog, Bound Angel and Sabre Dancer).

Easiest first. This one's still a work-in-progess and the full image also contains a juxtaposition with Justin Storm's more human form, but the idea is to eventually make a nifty flash file with lighting going back and forth. This would be one 'half' of the finished product, then (I've blacked out the parts that aren't tweaked out, yet)...

...meh.

Chenine and Samantha's demonic forms will provide more of a challenge, I'd think...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:47 PM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

Happy Halloween, Western Hemispherians...

And an early happy Guy Fawkes Day to all you UK-ers.

I thought I'd celebrtate the day by uploading the next chapter of TYPERS to the website...

...but it's not ready, yet...

...hmmm...

on the plus side, the segues between these last few chapters of HMA are such that, once this one's out, the others should be rapidly finished as well.

...'rapidly', in my case, being some time before the end of time...

God willing...

Shane Kent, Shane Kent; t'was his intent to make you wait for updates...uh, 'ments'...

Anyway: have a ghoulish night. 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:26 PM ADT

Updated: Friday, 31 October 2008 2:29 PM ADT

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Mood:  lyrical

"...       The good doctor got to his feet and stretched. He retrieved the envelope addressed to Bydo Labs and crammed it in his pocket, but then he stopped. He opened the top and wedged that playing card [Queen of Hearts] into the fold, grinning all the while. He motioned to the live video feed with his head:

            “That spectacular little piece of tail is really just a card in our deck, anyway. Let her wear her suit with pride! Anyway, Wraith: as for your Committee and all, I’m sure that when all’s said and done there’ll be more than enough credit to go around.”

            Wraith was still staring down at the video feed. The nurse-phantoms, steam rising out the sides of their ugly rebreather masks like hot stink pouring out a wild hog’s snout, were busy holding down the young girl pinned to their operating table like a butterfly. Presently the girl’s entire body went to spasms. A silver knife— more accurately a spear— flittered about against the child’s writhing back as the doctor went to work on her.

            Doctor? Tch! Butcher, more like…

            A mop of hair flailed about, silver streaks dancing a manic chorea and a head turned around. Teeth— perfect, white and salivating with terror— yawned around a black chasm of a mouth, the tongue inside writhing like a snake. Above that a button-nose ran snot and two delicate eyes lay cemented shut, bleeding mighty rivers of water between them, the tears flying in beads from her wriggling head like a melancholy tempest.

            Wraith sighed:

            “Credit? Yes, there’ll be enough of that, I think. That and blame…”

            “What?” Roont turned around.

            The subcommander shook his head and sat up in his chair:

            “A name, Roont; a name. I think I have a name for our squadron, if you’re still interested…”                ..."

                                                                  From page 10 of TYPERS Chapter "If one Wake at Midnight..."

Whaddya think of flashbacks, huh?

I myself am somewhat divided about their efficacy, and Lord do all the proper book-writin' elites have their opinions. More often than not it's a general mantra: flashbacks are lazy writing, cheap and- on top of it all- break your reader out of the action just so you can f**k with the flow of time and give away important plot details you should have more carefully crafted into your narrative flow.

I agree with all those sentiments... to a point...

That snippet from the next chapter of TYPERS is part of the start of the chapter: an in medias res drop into the past without provocation or explanation (that's how I like to do flashbacks, anyway). So, while I agree in principle with the flashback-hating sentiments all around us I do still think they have their place. Here's why:

Third-person limited point of view...  for a given part of a given chapter (for me, specifically, during one of the roman numeral breaks) the narrator is inside a character's noggin and experiencing and commenting on what's going through that person's head. Now, organic flow of thought and conversation being what it is, humans tend to look to the past quite often (that is, the actual character is musing on his or her history; the narrator goes along for the ride). 99.9 percent of the time it's sufficient for the narrator to make a throwaway comment about such musings ("...he remembered the day they first met; she was eating a fig newton..."). Thus the reader is informed about a point's significance and the plot still advances in the here-and-now.

So... what about that .01 percent?

Well, actually, to dredge up some info from a previous post: it's about knowing when to 'show versus tell'...

...don't worry: no more rants about that again...

Basically that flasback up there segues into a present-time meeting between Wraith and Chenine (ie: the girl he's watching endure medical torture). Anyway: she's gonna say... something... in this meeting that prompts Wraith to nearly kill her, unbeknownst to the girl (ie: a 'twitching-trigger-finger-at-the-back-of-the-head' scenario) and he doesn't, even though logically he should.

Why not? Well, if I didn't include the flashback I'd literally have to include this kind of paragraph:

 "...  Wraith felt his actions were justified 'cause he was really, really mad at his daddy (Senior General of the Allied Commanders, blah, blah, blah...) and Wraith wanted to get back at him, but he also felt a little sad about how he was treating his squadron members, who he was technically supposed to be protecting   ..."

Doesn't quite seem as strong somehow, does it?

I honestly don't think it's a question of if flashbacks are appropriate- they can be- but rather when they should be used. Admittedly I use them way too often, probably, and while I usually stick to opening chapters with them (not 'interrupting' the flow of a chapter, in other words) these things should probably only be done a few times in a book, if that. I've only done it once in ROE (my other book) so far, and I don't anticipate another one.

The fact that I do it so often in TYPERS might be a problem, I don't know. Or it might be a product of so much head-jumping: I've got to always be mindful to link people's motives to actions, and sometimes the only way to do that is to follow their trains of thought back to the past.

And, of course, the most important thing to remember is to do it quickly and then get back to the future... running through a flashback at 88 miles per hour is nothing, but that 1.21 giggawatts of electricity can be a real bitch, at times...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:36 PM ADT

Updated: Thursday, 23 October 2008 1:38 PM ADT

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