"Characterization"

char·ac·ter·i·za·tion  [kar-ik-ter-uh-zey-shuhn, -truh-zey-]

noun

1. portrayal; description: the actor's characterization of a politician.

2. the act of characterizing.

3. the creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters.

This post is about author-reader trust. It goes both ways, and you trust each other to behave and to not behave.

Let's start with the author. We have to trust the readers to not behave. We can't just say "BALROG" and expect the readers to go "Wow, great big monster, I'm scared for the hero!" just by referencing a Balrog. We need characterization. We need to set a land away from troubles, we need to make characters, give them faults, and admire them for "trying more than their successes". 

But that trust goes further. We use characterization because we can't expect our readers to react and feel these emotions just willy nilly, we need to build them up to it. But that's the problem. If the reader isn't putting themselves into the one-word-balrog, why will they put themselves into the trouble-less shire? That's reader trust. That they engage you there. You start entry level, so they can climb in easily, and then build them up to caring. But it's the reader's step to make, not ours, and we have to trust that they'll make that step. If they won't? They're not going to read it anyways, probably.

But then we've got them. They're reading along, putting as much of themselves into our characters as we are. And that's a pretty special thing, a relationship only an author and reader can share. It demands trust, from both sides. The reader trusts that we won't give them some flat hero who has no faults, whose attempts equal their successes. Such a character evokes as much empathy as a piece of cardboard. They trust that these characters and this world is consistent and real. That these characters, imbued with a special concoction of reader and author actually feel the events going around them, are afraid of their potential failures like both reader and author are.

We make a potion, authors and readers. The author puts the base ingredients into a character. All the mundane stuff, the dry if you will, while the reader puts in the wet ingredients. Together you mix it up through the events of the novel and the result is something that should come alive. Just don't forget the time it takes to stir and mix. For every Balrog there is of course an entire Shire.

"Alchemy" - Resolutions Pt 3

al·che·my  [al-kuh-mee]
noun, plural al·che·mies for 2.
1. a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
2. any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

Attempt to get through these ridiculous resolutions #3!

11) Be able to play two songs - any - without error.

This refers to the violin that I received for Christmas  I have always wanted to learn the violin but was always too young to teach myself. Perhaps now that I'm "mature" I can actually figure it out.

12) Finish a day, from morn to eve, without thinking of my behaviour by that point, or failing at being me.

Terrible grammar, activate! See, I have a problem with being me. On very nearly every day I have a moment where I fault myself for not having the strength of character to truly be me. I am often ashamed of my diseased mind and how it infects its way into my daily behaviour. I just want one day to go by without being ashamed of myself.

13) Write an entirely new novel for NaNo.

Every NaNo, I write something old, or spin something that I've already conceived. I need tgo actually write something new, and proper, and 50,000 words as to the spirit of NaNoWriMo.

14) Orchestrate enough material for the Steampunk Anthology.

When the individual running the Steampunk Writers group moved away, I offered myself to lead them into a glorious age of fiction creation. They were cool with me doing that but I haven't been doing my job very well. So I want to get out there and help generate enough material that our anthology will be something.

15) Get new glasses.

... long overdue. I'm half blind and they're held together with super glue.

Few, only 10 more. Hopefully I can getum done in only one more post. At most two.

"Masculinity" - Being comfortable with it

mas·cu·line   [mas-kyuh-lin]
adjective
1. pertaining to or characteristic of a man or men: masculine attire.
2. having qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength and boldness.
3. Grammar . noting or pertaining to the gender of Latin, Greek, German, French, Spanish, hebrew, etc., which has among its members most nouns referring to males, as well as other nouns, as Spanish dedo,  “finger,” German Bleistift,  “pencil.”
4. (of a woman) mannish.

I've been told I'm comfortable with my masculinity--many times. I'm not entirely sure how to take this every time it's thrown at me, I'm never doing anything for spectacle or to evoke thought and discourse. It just happens, which always leads me to believe that I'm not intentionally foraying into the land of femininity to prove that I'm being masculine but that I'm just being me.

Sorry, that was more confusing than it should have been. Let's start slower. I am, as a friend once described themselves, "painfully cys-gendered". Those around me have recognized it. I am not gender fluid. I am a man, and there doesn't seem to be a counter opinion. I am also a writer and have fun with words. One such way that I have been doing that is with the word "gay". I've been using it for years, to refer to myself, because it's true. I am an incredibly gay person.


gay  [gey]
adjective, gay·er, gay·est.


3.having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music. Synonyms: cheerful, gleeful, happy, glad, cheery, lighthearted, joyous, joyful, jovial; sunny, lively, vivacious, sparkling; chipper, playful, jaunty, sprightly, blithe. Antonyms: serious, grave, solemn, joyless; staid, sedate; unhappy, morose, grim; sad, depressed, melancholy.

I started doing it in highschool, and I still continue to do it today. In fact, just yesterday I made some quip about how the root word of "games" is "gay" with the revelation on the use of "gay" as "happy". The friend I was talking to remarked at how comfortable I was with my masculinity. I was confused.

Why would that have anything to do with me being masculine? I could be gay and masculine. Hell, I could be feminine and masculine. Masculinity is tricky. It can be a heavy mantle that some people reject, and that's fine. It can be something that people feel essential and core to their person. That's fine too. Some people use it as a weapon, to dictate other people's behaviour. That's not okay.

Masculinity for me isn't about being buff, or dexterous, or a gentleman at all. It's not about the physical, but it is about strength. For me, being a man is about being able to make the hard decisions, and risk friendships if need be to tell someone when they're being out of line. All that other stuff comes about as a result of the inner strength of man, not vice versa.

"Change"; resolution part 2

change
verb (used with object)
1. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history.
2. to transform or convert (usually followed by into  ): The witch changed the prince into a toad.
3. to substitute another or others for; exchange for something else, usually of the same kind: She changed her shoes when she got home from the office.
4. to give and take reciprocally; interchange: to change places with someone.
5. to transfer from one (conveyance) to another: You'll have to change planes in Chicago.

Here's another batch of my "25" resolutions of the year!

6. Perform 3 muscle ups.

Muscle ups aren't the point here, nor is the exercise. The specific point I want to be at, I feel, is capable of doing 3 muscleups in a row.

7. Finish COT.

Well, Canon of Thunder has been a long time coming. A very long time indeed. I started that book nearly a decade ago, and I think it's time I stop rewriting it and actually move on to something more interesting. It's time to actually finish the book, rather than rewriting.

8. Finish Elemental Poems

This one is a bit tricky to explain. And that's part of why I'm trying to. A lot of things are very central to my being, as I describe it, and don't fit well into words. I'm just motivated towards actions and ideals with little conscious language to explain it. Beyond all that, I'm a poet on the side and I had a grand idea for an anthology of poetry to chronicle and close the book on some darker stages of my life. By opening the anthology with poetry of the good times, by literally creating that life anew, destroying it myself, and molding the ruins into something hopeful again I think it will help me move on with life.

7. (Yes, I realize I'm repeating, but I didn't when I first wrote these in my notebook) Make a soufflet!

Soufflet girl? Doctor Who? Sounds fun. My cousin could make these when he was still in elementary. Time for the big boy to give it a shot.

8. Finish Star Trek TNG.

One of the things that has held me back the most in life is my age. My age is always a factor. I'm between clicks and I don't quite know why. For the most part I was too old for a lot of my groups. I didn't like their bullshit immaturity so I tried to find more mature groups. This meant people a bit older than myself and the unfortunate reality is that they almost always see me for my younger age. Only my body is young. Really. So I need to build that cultural cache that my copatriots already have to really compete at the same level. That means finishing TNG. Only 2 seasons to go. ;)

9. Average 2 coffee dates a month.

:) I love the people close to me, and what better way to celebrate friendship than with company of friends? And what better place to celebrate good company than with good food and drink, in the sunshine, specifically when the elements are bad and you're glad to be out of them? There are a few special people I'll be spending a lot of time with, if I can manage it.

10. Treat the lovelies twice.

Of those special people the lovelies are certainly included. "Treat" means supper. "Supper" has nothing to do with time of day and refers purely to the biggest meal of any given day. So, treat the lovelies to supper at least twice in the coming year, on myself. Might be a bit stretched what with the trying to buy a new $2K desktop.

"Resolution"

res·o·lu·tion

noun

1.

a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, alegislature, a club, or other group. Compare concurrent resolution, joint resolution.

2.

a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

3.

the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

4.

the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

5.

the act or process of resolving or separating into constituent or elementary parts.

     I was quite tempted to use "resolve" instead but seeing as that is a force quite core to my being I'll stave off for a better time.

     Those resolutions I spoke of? Yeah, I'll be going through them here. It's one of those posts. One way or the other I'll be listing them, going through them, and systematically explaining where it came from and why it's important to me.

     Shall we?

1. Take the Math Placement Test.

     I am in my fifth year of university. By all rights I should have my degree by now--indeed I could have if I wanted to play it that way, but there are a lot of reasons why I haven't and don't want to do that just yet. The MPT is the gate and key to science courses. I love science. I'm a nerd, a geek, and have always excelled at sciences.

     To boast: I've always done great at sciences. In grade school I'd theorize units we hadn't covered yet--correctly--and come up with my own equations. I'd frig off until exams, at which point I would make up equations on the spot to complete the test. I once got halfway through a 2000 level physics final exam before realizing it was the 3000 level public exam. And to top the cake? I've gotten 100s on exams before. Sciences are where I excel.

     To depreciate: I am an Arts student. I just registered for Medieval Studies 3000 (Women Writers). In the first class the professor gave everyone a cue card to list some basic information, such as year, majors, and minors. For "Major" I wrote down English, History, Medieval Studies, and Classics. For minors I wrote Sociology and Russian. Everything I have done has been in the arts because I love the arts. I am a writer and submerse myself in art that I cannot help but painfully appreciate, yet I have never achieved higher than a 75 in any course. I have only broken the 70 barrier thrice.

     Wow this is longer than expected: There's a lot of self loath there. To claim to be an artist, and be submerged in art, and be an utter failure at it. But I can't be, can I? People enjoy my work so I can't be. But I still fail. And I'll never understand why, I don't think. Either way, the sciences, I miss them. I'd like to take at least one post secondary course, and the MPT is the gate and key to that.

2. Get some sort of degree/qualification/certificate.

     Pretty self explanatory. See above. I've been here way too long to still be empty handed. I'll have a degree or something by the new year.

3. Take a Comp Sci course.

     How many people, in this day and age, can say that when they were a nerdy, geeky child they wanted to grow up and be a programmer, or work with computers. With my lack of sciences, and involvement in web-businesses I think this sort of thing could help me out a lot.

4. Get 5 new members in any combination of CreW/DISC/MG who were previously strangers.

     I feel like I need to really get down to business and start really working towards the things I'm involved in. The Creative Writing society (CreW), the Disability Information and Support Centre (DISC), and Studious Gaming (MG). But it's a cop out when someone I know is a new member. Whose to say they're there for the content as opposed to the relation? 

5. Exercise an average of twice weekly on 25 different weeks.

     Wouldn't that mean once weekly in the year? Nope! Sometimes things just come up and certain weeks can't be counted. 25 separate weeks is all I care about because I don't particularly care about my weight. I've made a decision to cosplay a character and need to lose a bit of weight by then. It's not a problem for me, I just do a few situps and the body goes "Oh, you're trying to lose weight? Sure, no prob" and presto. I'm pretty sure that's not how it works for most people, but it works for me.

There's 25 of these suckers. and with the length of the first one I'll stave off for a bit before posting again.

"New"

new  [noo, nyoo] adjective

1. of recent origin, production, purchase, etc.; having but lately come or been brought into being: a new book.

2. of a kind now existing or appearing for the first time; novel: a new concept of the universe.

3. having but lately or but now come into knowledge: a new chemical element.

4. unfamiliar or strange (often followed by to  ): ideas new to us; to visit new lands.

5 .having but lately come to a place, position, status, etc.: a reception for our new minister.

Well lovelies, It's a new year. It's a new semester and a new life for sure.  It took me awhile but I relented and jotted down some (25) resolutions in the style of my buddy, Angus.

Of those resolutions was to get back into blogging. I have a lot of rants and tirades from day to day but never find them time to write them down, or care enough to remember them for another day. That's where you come in, oh dear blog of mine! I'll be shaming myself here often, what with all the wading I'll be doing, right into the controversial debates on some facet of libterty or what not. I get angry at stupid people. It's why I'm a writer. 

So bare with me, readers, and I'll bear with you as we barrel through 2013.