Finished?

I think I finished Founder. I have never attempted anything quite like it. It may be good. It may be horrid. I am not sure. Usually I have a better idea about things.

What makes Founder hard for me to comprehend is the style. I won't tip you off as to what makes my head buzz and spin when I read it--maybe it is painfully obvious or maybe I have gone barking mad. But when I would try to write another scene, I would have to refer to the previous scene and the writing style would make my eyes cross and I would have to stop.

I am ready to get back to something more conventional for me. My long-term project is Bryton Wyld. No fancy stuff, just plot, character, setting, motion, motion, motion. So that is probably what's next. I have 10,000 Bryton words. Another 5-10 and before I know it I'll have another novel. This time I'll have one with a hook! (Except that who knows if anyone will bite at it).

I have talked about Ben Franklin before, but I have found that he is probably overused in speculative fiction. I would love to do more steampunk, but I'll need to work up an idea first.

So, back to the drawing (writing) board.

The New Paradigm

I am not in love with my phone--that thing in the home that sounds an alarm when someone wishes to speak from theirs to mine. My distain for the phone is rooted in my ideas regarding self-interest. Will people tend to call me when it is in my interest or theirs?

Obviously, people will tend to call me when it is in their interest. Sometimes their interest overlaps with mine, but not enough to make me glad to hear phone ring. Occasionally I am pleasantly surprised.

Why would I want to carry this thing with me everywhere? Yes, I am so old that I do not routinely carry a cell phone.

But the young folk, who have not figured out this self-interest thing carry the phones. Well, that is not entirely true. Young folk carry the phones, but they almost never answer phone calls. They look at the display, see who is calling, but do not answer. However they answer text messages. Why?

My theory is that text messages allow the receiver to better control the communication channel. The self-interest thing applies. That is, a young whipper-snapper can glance at the message and say, "Oh, Sparky wants to meet for lunch. I hate Sparky. Forget it." Then she does not return the message. Or she might say, "Athena says her boyfriend yelled at her? Wow, I gotta' know more!" And then she can return the message.

Talking is much more efficient than typing from the standpoint of being able to communicate large amounts of information. But maybe the young folks do not want large amounts of information.

As I read everywhere I turn, the new technologies may be training the young to have zero attention spans. Two "friends" walk down the sidewalk, each texting someone else, not very aware of each other. Or maybe they are actually talking on the phone--each to someone else (how did they get anyone to answer?).

Which brings me to what triggered me to write this. The hallway outside my office was empty. A student passed by me. He said, "Where is Dr. T.'s office?"

It turns out that I could not just say, "Third on the right." There is a corner, a side door, and another side door to navigate. I stopped to give him directions. I said, "It's on this floor, but it's not easy to find." But he did not stop. He kept strolling, not looking back. I paused, waiting for him to stop and pay attention. He kept walking.

I said, "Good luck finding her."

I wonder if he remembered that he had asked me the question. Maybe he was busy texting?

Counting

Number 3, the eleven year old, said, "I want some fruit loops."

Number 2, the sixteen year old, said to Julia, "He already had seventeen chicken nuggets."

I said, "Yeah, I saw him with a plate full of nuggets, there may have been seventeen there."

Julia said, "You have eaten plenty."

Number 3 said, "Number 2 ate one of them!"

Rockport

Baby, I need you. I need you like I need another shoe. -- Tom Tom Club

I walk back and forth to work. It takes about thirty minutes. On the way there, I am walking down the mountain, so it is easier than coming back. Lately my feet have been hurting as if severely bruised on the soles.

I think this is a problem with my shoes. They both have lots of holes. I could probably poke three fingers through one side and out the other (though I have not tried). Really it is a problem with the soles of the shoes and the holes merely indicate that I have mostly worn them out, soles, holes, and all.

Today I bought new shoes. The store had one of those buy one pair get one pair at half price things going on--they always have it going on--so I bought two pair. They were soft and came in a wide size. It is quite a change for me to wear shoes that are not too tight.

Now you can sleep soundly tonight.

What Are They Doing?!

I just realized that I have talked a lot about the current problems in the financial system but have not talked about the proposed solution.

Remember the problem is that firms have all those mortgage backed securities that no one knows the value of. Paulson, the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, recommends that taxpayer money be used to buy up those devalued mortgage backed securities. That way the questionable securities will be taken out of the market, removing the uncertainty that has shaken the market.

No, taxpayers would not have to hand over $700 billion today. The U. S. debt would increase by that amount.

What will the government do with those securities? As long as the government holds the securities, it will earn money from them, offsetting their cost somewhat. Eventually the government would sell them, possibly for more than they bought them, so that in the long run taxpayers might not end up any worse off. However, taxpayers could end up worse off if the securities sell for less than the government buys them for.

On balance, I am not opposed to the Paulson plan. I view the securities as a poison that the U. S. government brewed up with the Community Reinvestment Act in the laboratories of Fannie and Freddie and poured into the financial system. I am OK with the government removing that poison, especially since the cost may be substantially lower than the $700 Billion.

But, then, I am in favor of sellling Fannie and Freddie to the private sector and scrapping the Community Reinvestment Act. We should aim for long-run health.

Inspiration?

Ann Crispin (famous sci/fi author) said in a workshop that when she cannot figure out what to write, she scrubs her bathroom floors. Sometimes it takes two bathrooms, and sometimes she gets all the way to the kitchen.

I get ideas while walking. Things start to fit together when I have the pulse raised, but do not have anything to concentrate on. The shower is another place where I am stuck for a while without anything else to think about. Sometimes ideas strike me there.

Now and then I have to work out big plot things, like who knows what and when do they know it, and why would they do the thing to get them from A to B. Sometimes I just envision the next part of the story.

Today, for instance, while walking I was thinking about the next part of a scene. The husband is driving home. He sees this spooky guy who has taken an unhealthy interest in the husband's wife. The spooky guy is walking on a lawn in his neighborhood, the opposite way of the husband's house, as if he is coming from that way--and there is no reason for the guy to be in this neighborhood, except to visit the wife, who is home alone. The spooky guy, oblivious, walks behind a house. The husband pulls up in the driveway and runs around the house, but does not see the guy. He looks for places the guy could have gone. Did he duck into the sun room of the house?

As I was out walking I decided that the husband should whip out his cell phone and call home. But there is no answer. The guy is somewhere close by. But there is no answer at home, so he's got to speed home at once.

Maybe that sounds like a little thing. I think it adds to the atmosphere and builds suspense. I will make some headway on the story tonight, then walk to work tomorrow.

I will be done with the story by the end of the month if my shoes hold out.

Shouldn't I Know More?

I recently listed some protagonists and antagonists from my writing. You may have noticed that the protagonists have the longer character descriptions. However, I think that writers' antagonists should be as richly developed as their protagonists.

How do I reconcile the last two sentences in the previous paragraph. I withheld more about the antoganists, so as not to kill the suspense. In fact, I withheld some information about the protagonists to preserve some suspense.

Though we usually think of the protagonist as "the good guy," sometimes the protagonist is not so good. The protagonist is the character who is the most changed by the events of the story.

Taken as a whole, who is the protagonist of the first Star Wars trilogy? The person who undergoes the most change over the three films is the guy who is usually credited as the chief bad guy--Darth Vader. Star Wars is Vader's quest, and Luke serves as his guide for the quest.