Features vs. Getting the Job Done?

The post "Is a featureless product in your future?" should be read by software-developers and writers alike. Yes, software-developers and writers alike! A software-developer will find an interesting insight in the "Features vs. a tool to get the job done"-area, a writer might think about Scrivener first, but this theory works for the writing itself, as well.

My gut-feeling is, that writers—not unlike software-engineers—are sometimes a victim of feature-creep. Means, adding story-lines or characters to please a certain demographic. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this is bad; the buyer of an application is a customer to the developer of said application, just as the reader is our customer. They expect certain things, and it's their right to do so. The similarities do not end here: Software-development and writing is an art-form and a craft, as well.

"So what has this to do with anything?", you might ask. Let's enter screen-writing (I might review this topic in regard to books at another time). There are two shows on TV which came to my mind while reading the above mentioned post: "Close to Home" and "The Closer." The latter is (IMHO, of course) a perfect example of how a show should be written; everything furthers the story, sometimes spread over a couple of shows, but that is something I don't mind, I'm all for it, actually. The former, well, this "She's also a mother, a working mother, that is!" does not seem to add to the story; granted, it allows to create obstacles along the way, but, based on what I've seen so far, it's just that, the women is a mother, as well. I might be wrong here, but it feels like this "mother-thing" was added to raise interest of a certain demographic for the show. I'm not saying this is wrong, but—for the moment—I don't see the point (yet?).

I'll keep watching, maybe there is something I missed. ;-)

Technorati Tags: Close to Home, The Closer, writing, script-writing

OS X: Another Way to Reset the Spotlight-Indicies

Spotlight is a feature in OS X which allows me to be much more productive in my writing-endeavors. I use a folder on my Mac to store all thoughts, ideas, possible openings for books, etc. The folder does contain a certain structure of sub-folders, but most of the time—when in need for inspiration—I simply use Spotlight to wade through the material. So far, so good.

I recently discovered, that Spotlight couldn't find a certain file I was sure I had created a couple of days ago. The obvious choice would be the command

sudo mdutil -E /

to reset the indices, but not everyone feels like using the Terminal-program (and I did not want to wait for Spotlight to re-index all my harddisks) so I tried something different. I opened the Spotlight-Preferences and switched to the "Privacy"-Tab



If you drag a folder, or even a hard-disk-icon into this list, Spotlight excludes the object(s) in this list from indexing and searching. You might ask, "and this is useful because … ?" It's not the excluding, it's the removal from the exclusion-list. If you remove an object from the list, Spotlight re-indexes the object in question.

So there you have it, selective rebuilding of Spotlights indices, give it a try.

Technorati Tags: OS X, Spotlight, Spotlight Index, Spotlight index rebuild

Writer's Home Gym

What is he talking about this time? Is the current book-project to taxing for him? ;-) No, not at all; OK maybe a little, but I digress. What I'm talking about is the fact that there is (at least sometimes) the need to do a little training, this holds true for most aspects of life, if we like it or not. Be it sports, be it driving, be it (you already guessed it, didn't you?) writing. Most of us know one or more techniques to get the creative juices flowing. (Maybe I should have tagged "know" with an emphasis?) Seriously, when was the last time you used one of the techniques you learned in "Creative Writing 101" or some book / article / take your pick? Don't be afraid, no one will hear your answer. Thought so. Same goes for me, by the way. One major drawback is time we couldn't afford to spend, because it might interfere with our daily work. On the other hand, as outlined in the post about writersblock, we don't have a choice anyway, at least sometimes. But this is not the subject of this post. Moving on.

Time-constraints are to be taken seriously by any writer, since we get paid for the work we are supposed to do. That's the reason I call this home gym, as in doing it while not at work. My best guess is, that all of us need to keep up with some types of events, the subject of said events is not important in respect to this exercise. This means though, we are processing information—in one way or another—not related with the work at hand, usually while we are not working. One well-known exercise is to take a news-item and write a short story about it; I don't know about you, but I always develop a kind of guilt writing some longer piece while I'm supposed to finish something else, could be just me, though. I therefore came up with a simplified variant of aforementioned exercise.

I take a book, the newspaper, or whatever seems convenient and put pencil-markers without looking in the text, usually five to ten. I then write down the marked words and eliminate everything thats not an adverb, a verb, or a subject. The first three hits win, everything else is discarded without looking. The exercise is to write something meaningful in five to ten sentences using the three words. If the result seems to be interesting, it gets filed into my ideas-folder. Done.

This technique might be in the wild already—it feels like a given to me—but still …

Happy exercising in your own "Writers Home Gym."

I came up with a couple of other exercises, if I don't feel too embarrassed, I'll share them with you in the coming weeks.

Technorati Tags: writers home gym, writing, writing exercise

Scrivener: I have seen the Light!

I wrote about my outlining tool earlier, and how I do my writing at the moment. I'm still convinced, that this is the way to go.

Are you the "index-card shuffling type?" Or do you like the fact that paper can be rearranged to play with different flows of a plot; maybe get even new ideas from doing so? Do you prefer to have the details of your characters in plain sight, maybe on printed sheets? Next to an outline of your story? I do, and I've been told, that I'm an analog writer, who should resort to a keyboard in the drafting-phase of my work and keep the research on paper. (OK, I kind of stereotyped a bit, so?) Anyway, this way of working on my stories/articles/etc. seems to mirror the way my brain is working, I feel comfortable this way. I might be even more productive, but—frankly—I don't like this term in respect to the craft of writing. Or should I say art? Don't get me wrong here, I prefer my Mac to a typewriter, but creative writing and "where is the file I wrote the opening for chapter four again?" doesn't feel right for me.

Quick intermission:
If you do not use a Macintosh computer to write—one which runs at least 10.4 (Tiger), to be precise—don't read on, you'll regret it. Don't complain, that you haven't been warned. On the other hand, maybe you should read on and just keep in mind, that I placed this Link. Do not click on it! Read on and remember that it's there. Use it, if you should get the feeling you might have made a mistake in the past.
Back to the regular program.

The thing I was missing was a program that mimics these habits when it comes to getting my notes into the computer. Until a couple of days ago, that is. At that time, I found the program Scrivener. Actually, I did not find the program itself, but people raving about it (does that matter?). I downloaded the test-version, followed the tutorial and about thirty minutes later I saw the light. Finally a piece of software that allows me to work like I do. Everything belonging to a writing-project is neatly tucked away on the left-hand side of the window, and with "tucked away" I mean hierarchical folders, one tree called "Draft" and another one called "Research." Everything can be dragged and dropped there and incorporated in the workflow. Got a sound-file which would play on your Mac? Drop it in and listen to it while writing the summary of it. The first thing that comes to mind is, sound-file? I can put my interviews into the same application I'm writing about it? Sure, go ahead. What about the controls? How do I pause and play said sound-file, without switching windows? Your are able to split the main editing window up to four times, great to keep an eye on outlines, character-bios and the playing sound-file. The whole project is auto-saved, one can concentrate on writing the next blockbuster. "Blockbuster?" Right, I think I forgot, Scrivener is not only great for writing novels, articles, etc. it also allows you to switch to a "screenwriting-mode" or even to "stage-play mode" (US and UK) to cater to the needs of scriptwriting. Imagine for a second, you load your best-selling book into Scrivener, split the main window and start to craft the script in the upper or lower part of your screen (depending on your preferences). Scrivener allows to export the work in a variety of formats (even LaTex) and to be typeset by the program of your (or your publisher's) choice.

I could go on for quite a while, but my suggestion is: Go to the Literature and Latte website, click on the Scrivener link and download the try-out version. It's fully functional and there is nothing more convincing than seeing with ones own eyes, is there? I have a couple of final tests to run, but I think I will switch (provided I can make the program work with subversion).

No, I don't get paid for this article, I just love the program. What about the link in the upper part of this post? Well, if you should use a non-Macintosh computer, go up, and if you click it, you'll find the information to make the program work on your future computer. ;-)

Technorati Tags: script-writing, Scrivener, Writing

Read the Contract

The brains of most writers are not equipped to deal with contracts, since we are in a profession that requires to craft artful sentences, paragraphs, etc. to please the respective reader; contracts on the other hand are supposed to cloak most of the meaning by using a kind of language that is simply mind-numbing to phrase it really friendly.

There are two posts on Pub Rants that every writer should read, especially the ones trying to make it without an agent. The first one is called Agenting 101 Revisited—Author Warranties and the second Agenting 101 Revisited—No Compete.

Read them, seriously.

Technorati Tags: Writing, Author, Contract

Movie: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I finally had the chance to watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. (I know I'm late to the party, so?) It's hard to describe this movie to someone who has not seen it, but here it goes:

The humor is subtle and this is not a bad thing, IMHO. It is not the kind of movie where everyone in the audience bursts out laughing, but all people "getting" the humor will smile for most of the 120 minutes. It's been a long time since a script managed to get me smiling almost all the time.

Some comments I found compare the movie to Brazil, but I think it's more in line with The Royal Tenenbaums, the latter is no real surprise—both movies were co-written and directed by Wes Anderson. The writing is flawless and the cast is a perfect match to the story to be told, it's futile to name names here, every actor / actress fits perfectly for the respective part.

My Take: This will be a movie with a cult-like following. Go see it, if you haven't already done so.

Technorati Tags: The Live Aquatic, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, William Dafoe

Happy Holidays everyone!

Nothing else to say. ;-)

Joseph Barbera 1911 - 2006

I just got the news, that Joseph Barbera had died on 18. December. Now both fathers of the Flintstones, the Jetsons and Scooby-Doo are gone.

Thank you Joseph, for everything.

Good Writing/TV: E-Ring

The TV-show E-Ring is [IMHO, of course] one shining example for good writing. Granted, the better the writing, the higher the probability to get some people on the fences. I'm not talking about the subject, I'm talking about the execution of the job, it is flawless. Why don't we see more fast-paced TV-shows like this?

A quick detour: Fast-paced—in that respect—does not imply 120 cuts per minute (or more), as sometimes shown in CSI:NY. I like all incarnations of the CSI-franchise, but CSI:NY always goes to the bottom of my subjective list, if the editors think they need to do faster cuts to increase the pace of the story. But that is another post … ;-)

Back to E-Ring. It might be easier for the script-writer(s) to compose a convincing story, if they can rely on excellent actors. And E-Ring like, e.g. The 4400, has an excellent choice of actors and actresses. Dennis Hopper as Col. McNulty and Benjamin Bratt as Maj. Tisnewski are to be considered a gift for every writer. The same goes for Aunjanue Ellis and Kelly Rutherford. OK, I have to cut into this list; there has been no actor or actress in E-Ring (regarding the episodes I've seen so far) who seems to be wrong for the part or wouldn't have been my first choice, as well. It would be interesting to hear from the writers, if they would have casted someone else for certain parts, though. I'm not saying that I know all actors and actresses available, but it simply fits.

This is a TV-show which I consider as a good example how things should be done.

Technorati Tags: TV-Shows, E-Ring, Dennis Hopper, Benjamin Bratt, Aunjanue Ellis, Kelly Rutherford

A peaceful Thanksgiving to all

May your turkeys be big ;-)

Gadget abuse?

Don't get me wrong here, I love my gadgets as much as any other guy (I don't think it's a guy-thing any more, by the way), but the article Knock off the gadget abuse now gave me some food for thought.

My new way of writing shuts off some of the distractions, and I think most writers are with me on that one: Being interrupted while writing is a Bad Thing™. So what about other times, e.g. research? Sometimes we are able to work our way through the material without being disturbed, at other times, though …

OK, one has to differentiate: There are people we should be available for, but at all times of day, or night for that matter? As I said, it's a judgement call, isn't it?

Technorati Tags: writing, being disturbed, gadgets

Writing: Doing it the Analog Way

I started a new book a while ago — no computer-stuff this time — and decided to do it in a real old-fashioned way: I'm writing longhand (for all the computer-kids out there: using pen and paper). Hearing that Neil Gaiman does the same thing, more or less, when he was interviewed at Cranky Geeks 30, just helped. ;-)

The whole thing started out with one of the most feared things while writing a book[scary music, please]: THE BEGINNING. I had pondered over several versions, but came to no conclusion how to tackle it. Then the usual happened: Inspiration hit me while sitting on a train; my 12" has been acting up again (does not recognize the battery any more) and the only thing in reach was a legal pad. I grabbed it and wrote four pages in one go, besides one short interruption by the conductor, that is. The experience was wonderful, no distractions, no IMs, no e-mail, nothing. Words or phrases I wasn't sure about got a curly line, to be looked up later. I was able to write down my thoughts without any detours. Don't laugh, try it yourself. It is quite a different thing compared to hacking away at the keyboard.

The process (might be refined in the future, I'll let you know) works like this:

1. I write on a legal pad or my Moleskine.


2. After a while, I read the material again and


3. type it into the computer and


4. do the re-writes as I go.

Seriously, give it a try. Comments via e-mail, please. I'm still fighting with the comment-function.

Technorati Tags: Writing, longhand, writing a book in longhand

Books: 'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman

I finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman a couple of days ago. Actually, not the edition the link in the sentence before points to, but a paperback edition containing the authors preferred text, means the book contains material which was edited out of the original prints. Let's call it a directors cut for the sake of simplicity.

As mentioned in the post Some Books are like old Friends, I am a big fan of Neil's collaboration with Terry Pratchett. American Gods was the first book I read written by Neil alone.

So what is my verdict? I ploughed through the book in three days, reading at every occasion that presented itself. It is fantastic. It's some kind of mystery-thriller with a good sense of humor, and that is all I intend to say about it. I don't want to talk (write?) about anything else of the story, because I fear I would spoil a great experience for all people who didn't read the book, yet. I would even recommend to everyone not to look to closeley on the book's website, you might rue it, because you found something, you're not supposed to know yet.

The only author posing a similar problem (regarding his books) I know, is Tom Holt. If you ever tried to describe one of his books in enough detail to interest someone in a book written by him, you know what I mean. If you never read a Tom Holt novel, get one while buying American Gods. We are done her, head for the bookstore!

Technorati Tags: Neil Gaiman, American Gods

It's not only web-design

The post If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers provides an interesting insight into the downside of designing an website. But the scenario can be applied to almost all creative works to be executed, IMHO.
It actually reminds of a writing-project I did once. ;-) On the other hand, my experiences in the last couple of years have been positive, due to competent editors. Nothing beats an editor who understands you and what needs to be done for a book.

Writers-Block is a Myth!

Don't shoot! Hear me out. Granted, the thing called Writers-Block can be a real problem for everyone putting words on a screen or paper for a living. The term describes the fact that the writer is stuck in the flow of the story and does not know how to continue or is simply lacking inspiration. Writing is a craft, an art form, but why haven't we encountered the term Painters-Block then? Or how does a painter / graphic artist deal with a lack of inspiration? I've been told that they start drawing doodles or something completely different; basically they try to get the thing which hinders the flow of creative thoughts out of their system. Interesting, isn't it?

Let's get back to the loathed writers-block. The writer tries to focus on the storyline, wants to further it and zilch, nothing, nada. What happens more than often, in my experience at least, is not that the brain is suddenly devoid of all inspiration, but some other idea is creeping through the mind, blocking the flow of thoughts regarding the story we are working on. Sounds familiar? Thought so. Why don't we borrow from the painters and try to get this idea out of our system by writing it down? Trying to avoid it and focus on something else doesn't work most of the time – been there, tried that. Even if we think that we lost all inspiration, think harder, isn't there something else blocking your flow? Writing this thing down helped me tremendously and I thought I should share the idea.

Technorati Tags: Writers-Block

If these guys are right…

…we'll see a lot more movies and books about kids growing up. Oh wait…r>;-)

Writing: Is the Process the Solution?

It seems like that, if you take a closer look at Howard Michael Gould on "Page Fright", that is. To be honest, this is pretty much the way I'm approaching my own book-projects or articles (the longer ones; blog-posts are handled in a different way, or not, it depends ;-)). Every writer should read the above mentioned post. But (you guessed it, didn't you?), there is something I have to add and spare you the learning-experience in the process.

Especially when starting book-projects, Backups, no BACKUPS, no [louder] BACKUPS. They not only give you some peace of mind, they are an insurance for everybody involved, thus they should be distributed to another location (hint: gmail for example). Let's face it, even the most elaborate work ends up as a couple of kilobytes, or a megabyte max when zipped, so what's keeping you from storing it somewhere else? Right, nothing. What about the format of the backup? Either XML or some other format that transports well between different programs (with the added bonus that you're able to compress it into really small files).

The proof of the pudding was the size of the compressed XML-files of a 400-odd page book compared to the same book in Word-format, the former was about 500 KB, the latter some two to three megabytes. It might be not your cup of tea (or coffee), but, in worst case, XML can be changed in almost any text-editor available on a computer. This is not to suggest, that everyone should start writing in XML, but to take a closer look if the software used for writing is able to export the data in this format (and read it back in without loosing anything, of course). It might save your day, when your writing-software wants to phone home before letting you make an important change and there is no way of connecting to the Internet. Just a thought.

Technorati Tags: writing, backup, XML

Technorati Tags down? [update]

Is it just me or is there a problem at Technorati and the tagging system? I just researched (OK, clicked) the Vampire Chronicles tag and have been told, that there are no tags for the subject. Strange, indeed.

For the un-initiated, searching for a tag displays a list of blog-posts tagged with this, well, tag.

Everything is working OK again, no idea what happened.


Technorati Tags: Technorati, Tags

Some Books are like old Friends

I mean it, seriously. The current project is (almost) finished and I wanted to read a book. The question is, am I able to really enjoy reading a new book, or do I need something familiar, a.k.a. one of my all-time favorites? I don't think I'm ready for option one, yet. Working on a book is just that, work. Appreciating the narrative of a new book requires, IMHO, a different mindset than the one I have right now. Therefore I decided to search my all-time favorites and found just what I needed:

Good Omens

I bought the UK-paperback years ago – the first edition is from 1990 – I went through the book at least three to four times and enjoyed it immensely. The same goes for this time around, I really love this book.

Back to my opening statement, isn't it nice to open a book, feel right at home, paired with the expectation of the things to come? Basically the same as watching one of your favorite movies, you know what to expect, you know how it ends, you're free to enjoy this work of art. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett delivered just that – if you are into British humor, of course.

The book is still available and there will be a new paperback edition hitting the US-shores in December, if I understood it right. So, if you never heard about this book, take a look.

Technorati Tags: Books, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

A Glitch in the Matrix, no Template, Sorry.

There was a little glitch in the template, that prevented not only the viewing of the blog, but seems to disable the Atom-Feed, at least temporarily. Apologies for that.

Still, the new Blogger is awesome. I'm almost done with a bigger project—more work than it seemed when I took the tast, but to whom I'm talking to… Sometimes it's simply hard to judge a writing project.
:-)

I'll be back soon, promised.