The World Sandwich

I was reading The Sandwich-Maker description from "Mostly Harmless" today and my thoughts wandered, as they often do, to world-building. But I hate that term.Writing isn't world-building. Writing is character-building. The world is just part of what builds characters.

Allow me to split 'world-building' into three broadly-defined but manageable chunks: Environment, People, and Scenery. there, that was pretty easy. People is all the characters, taken as individuals. Environment is what the characters interact with, whether that's climate or politics. Scenery is all the cool stuff that accentuates the other two.

Now allow me a metaphor. It's like a sandwich, People is the meat and cheese, Environment is the bread, and Scenery is all the rest. It can be thick (but not too big for a mouthful) or thin (but not so thin as to be soggy), but above all it should be a damn Sandwich: greater than the sum of its parts.

If readers are spending all their time looking at the Scenery and not enough time looking at the People while mostly ignoring the Environment, that's not a Sandwich.

That's just a pile of meat and cheese and bread with some tasty condiments.

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Sometimes...

If you ever feel the need to lecture somebody...

Please don't do that.

It's almost, but not quite, as effective as leaving a passive-aggressive note, and at least we can all laugh at those later instead of yelling across each others' verbal broadsides.
 
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250 words? Yes
Short Story "Kritarchy"
Short Story "A Blot on the Escutcheon"
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Reading - "Mostly Harmless" (Douglas Adams)

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Location Independent

I'm slowly coming to realize the vast opportunity of this Internet Age as it relates directly to me, Creative.

I'm almost entirely self-motivated, almost certainly hypomanic, almost always ready to work smarter and harder if there's gain to be had. The Internet Age allows me to work from anywhere. I can write from anywhere I have a pen and paper, edit from anywhere I have a laptop and publish from anywhere I have an internet connection.

Not to mention that the Internet lets me do research at a blinding-fast pace on any number of projects at any one time, whether it's my latest blog management difficulties to the exhilarating complexities of real space travel to the delightful intricacies of Pali. Much more so the complexity of formatting and the Business Side. It's a big pool of awesome knowledge and the cost of entry is incredibly low.

All this means is that my physical location is only important with regards to social life (sorry, internet people, you don't have beer and girls) and access to technology and other resources. All of my Writing can happen in nebulous cyberspace. The upside of all this is that being a bohemian is actually a good business strategy now instead of just an eccentric lifestyle choice.

So that's good for me, and for you too.

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Minor terrible confession: Yes, I do schedule posts in advance. The Internet 'round here is prone to dying abruptly and for long periods of time, and I don't feel like updating via my satellite phone. Basically any time you see a post going up at exactly 6:00PM you can know that I'm incommunicado.

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Let's be serious for a moment.

I can't say that without laughing. Writing completely serious things is not my style. I know: some people don't like to mix humor with their Art, and I certainly agree that too much humor is distracting from a serious work, but...
Give me some comedy, dammit! If I've slogged through your deadly serious book and nothing remotely humorous happens, I'm going to hate you forever. They invented Dark Comedy for a reason, you jerk. Anyways, the humor doesn't have to be obvious.

Comedians make the best tragedians.

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250 words? Yes
Short Story "Kritarchy"
Short Story "A Blot on the Escutcheon"
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Reading - ?

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Vegetables

I have a terrible confession to make, but it's time I came out of the closet. I know it's difficult sometimes for people like me to live openly, but I'm really quite far away right now in another country. There will be some backlash, some will decry my lifestyle, but I've got to be true to myself. Yes, people, the truth is that I love Vegetables.

Nothing pleases me more than eating some tasty steamed vegetables, maybe with some chicken if I feel like putting in the effort. The colors, the taste, the overwhelming wholesomeness of the whole experience. The simplicity of clean-up certainly contributes.

This carries over into my writing in some way or t'other. Perhaps my characters are assumed to have more balanced diets? Well, at least I can decry processed food while simultaneously writing space adventures. The future will have hydroponics.

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By the by, thanks Critters for going all-out on "Drugs are Legal, People Ain't"! You have been impressively helpful, and it's only the midweek point. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Critters is a fine free online workshop where friendly people will tear apart your story for you. Whoo! Critters Writers Workshop!

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It's less than a one-minute walk to my local emporium of fresh food, and that food comes from a reasonably small radius. It's not organic, though, but you can't win everything. I wash all my vegetables anyways.

And those chickens I eat? I know their names.

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250 words? Yes
Book "Lived Too Long To Die"
Short Story "Drugs are Legal, People Ain't" - final edit, cover
Short Story "Kritarchy" - exciting new direction!
Short Story "The Language of Ice Cubes" - comically unfinished, jeez.
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Reading - ?

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