Quote of The Day

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true."
-James Cabell

Be seeing you,
Steven

Uh, A "Writing" Update

I have to start over.

It's kind of hard to believe. I finally got rid of Windows XP on my computer and switched over to Linux's Ubuntu operating system (which I'm semi-regretting, at the moment) this week. As a result, everything that was saved into the hard-drive had to be erased. That was OK, though, since I had backed up everything. But one of two things happened: either the disc I copied to was corrupted, or there's something very wrong with my CD-RW drive. Whatever it was, the end result was that when I tried to copy my files to my hard-drive again, a lot of the files got an error message saying that they could not be read. And guess which files were among the slain? That's right. The ones with the novel I was working on; the background notes, the rough draft of the opening chapter, and--this is the hardest of all--the OUTLINE for the thing that I was so proud of myself for having gotten so far on.

Yeah, I know: hard copy. Normally, I'm good with that. But in this case, I just didn't get to it. I was rather over-confident in technology and it screwed me over. It's not quite that bad, however. Before I even put down a single word, I had thought a lot of the book through. Plot, characters, scenes, the world it existed in; it's all still there in my head, I just have to put it all down again.

Now the only problem is whenever I think of it, it really hurts. All that work shot straight down the toilet.

A Baptism By Film

I like to consider myself a bit of a film buff. I collect DVDs, and make sure to see all those classic movies; one of my goals in life is to see every single film listed on the AFI's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. As film buffs can attest to, there are certain films that absolutely must be seen. No excuses. "If you're a film buff, this is a film you have to watch." Last night, I went through one of those cinematic rites of passage.

The Silence of The Lambs.

The film that practically defines a psychological thriller. I watched it. And I'm not entirely sure, but I think I survived. Though there isn't much gore (there's some, but not a huge amount), there is an incredible amount of horror. A good deal of it comes from a wonderful performance by Sir Anthony Hopkins, but a lot of it also comes from the concept itself; as if a cannibal wasn't enough, there's also an Ed Gein-like serial killer who skins his victims in order to make a suit for himself. Throughout the movie, I kept wondering who was the worse monster.

This is truly a cinematic masterpiece. However, it was sufficiently terrifying to ensure that I probably won't see it again. It hit a little too close to home at some points, almost enough to make me say, "There but for the grace of God go I". I think we all have that kind of monster within us, and at some point we have to choose which way we'll turn. Will we follow through with every monsterous thought or will we purge ourselves of evil and take the path towards the light?

All in all, a great film. Just make sure that, before you see it, you get yourself into a mental place where you could spend a couple of hours in a room with a corpse.

Be seeing you,
Steven

The Broken Mirror

When God created the heavens and earth
And everything therein;
The stars and worlds, the heart and soul
Of everything within,
He said, “We shall create a man
In th’image of the divine,
To bear the face of heav’nly light;
His form the same as mine.”

So man and woman came to being,
The double-face of God;
They reflected Him in every way
And walked where He had trod.
But then one day they turned from God,
Away from the heavenly aim
Of a perfect mirror for the Lord;
And they were put to shame.

God wailed and cried, “My children both,
Why have you disobeyed?
You were my hope, you were my dream,
And now you both have strayed.”
So they left paradise to God,
Who sat on his heavenly throne
And shed a tear for his children dear
Who had left him all alone.

We remain a broken mirror now,
A shattered image at best;
In the abyss, as far from God
As east is from the west.
The mirror broken, the reflection dimm’d,
The glory gone from our face,
We await the day when we will go
To a new and better place.

Be seeing you,
Steven

A Love I Cannot Tell

I miss your smile and eyes so shining bright,
Your heart was warm and friendly like no other,
Your face seemed to me to shine with heaven’s light
And yet I only seemed to be your brother;
I loved you with a love I cannot tell,
A love that burned so deep and truly bright,
Your voice was like the ringing of a bell,
The fire burned through the day and all the night;
And yet I never spoke to you this way,
My love was silent as the stars at night,
I have lost all love now that you’re away,
Only darkness reigns where there once was light;
My love for you can only be as friend to friend,
With you my heart stands still and all love ends.

Be seeing you,
Steven

Writing Update, Part Duex

So I've finished what I would say is about one-third of my outline. I want to have three acts, a prologue, and likely an epilogue as well.

Right now, I'm at the point where things change dramatically; not necessarily the climax, but the point where everything you believed about the direction the story was going to take has to be chucked out the window. I'd say it's only the first of quite a few WHAMS that the plot will throw. These will naturally increase in size with each successive blow, starting with a wrench, then moving on up to a crowbar, a sledgehammer, and an anvil.

Maybe if you're lucky, I'll even post the title I have in mind. And possibly the premise, too.

Be seeing you,
Steven

A Writing Update

So I'm sure you're wondering, "But Steven, according to your blog you want to be a writer. I thought writers write. Why don't you tell us about what you're writing?"

Well, to be honest, I don't do that much writing at the moment. I certainly did a lot more when I took my grade 12 writing course, and I'll certainly be doing more as I continue in my courses at college. I make sure to write a Christmas story every year, and I've been thinking about adding one for every birthday as well. Right now, I'm working on the outline for a science-fiction novel involving alien cultures and no humans. I'm very excited about it, as it will be the first major project I'll ever have outlined. I got what I consider a good chunk of it done yesterday and I'm proud of myself for working out certain plot details in the introduction that I hadn't figured out yet. I only hope I can do it again for the middle of the story, which I haven't figured out with any detail whatsoever.

Be seeing you,
Steven

Book Review

I just finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger this morning and I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts together to be able to piece them together into anything resembling a coherent manner. There’s just so much I want to say about this book, that I don’t know where to begin. So I guess I’ll just start off by educating those who aren’t familiar with this book by quoting the blurb on the back:

"When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Henry and Clare’s attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and unforgettable. The Time Traveler’s Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it’s about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time."

That gets a little cheesy at the end, I know, but the book is truly magnificent. I don’t read a lot of recent fiction; most of it is way too post-modern (or, as I like to put it, full of “weird crap that depresses me”). This is different somehow. I’ll try not to give too much away, but the ending, although rather sad, is also satisfying. I found myself emotionally engaged with the main characters, something I rarely find in modern novels.

Normally, I’m very sceptical of romantic stories. Not this time. Something in the writing, or the people involved, or the story itself just caught me up and weaved a web around me that I couldn’t escape from and ended up pulling me in to this book like no other. This is truly an unforgettable love story.

Well, Oh-Six Is Here...

...and a Happy New Year to all!

Be seeing you,
Steven