Jacob Tullos

Action Comics Issues 1-8

2012-05-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

DC’s New 52 continues to blow my mind. One of my favorites—out of a list of about 49 favorites, actually—is Action Comics, the tale of the original Superman, like a “Superman—Year One.” Here we see Superman reimagined…or is he? The first several issues shows the original Superman from like 80 years ago, modernized in a classy and cool way for modern readers. The is the Superman that wears jeans and a T-shirt, the one that can’t fly (…can lead tall buildings in a single bound…), the one that stops wife-beating husbands and local crime bosses, the one that CAN get hurt.

Grant Morrison is like that guy from mythology that turns everything he touches into gold—but, you know, the comic version of that. Every comic title he works on gets revolutionized by him. He did it with “New X-Men,” one of my favorites. He’s done it before with Superman, a long time ago, and he’s doing it again. Superman may have never been this cool.

One thing Morrison does is add more of the sci-fi element to the comics he rights. I love comics, and I love science fiction, so when the two are combined, like a well-spiced recipe, I’m in heaven. The origin of Superman certainly needed some sci-fi help. Why shouldn’t “kryptonite” be a fuel used on Superman’s home world? Why can’t Superman’s armor be made of some kind of Kryptonian super material? Why can’t a group of bad guys hid in a hallow lead bullet in Superman’s brain? Cool. Cool. More cool.
Speaking of armor, Supe’s new tights make so much more sense, and I will eternally laud Jim Lee for designing something so cool. Superman may or may not need armor to protect himself, but unless he’s going to end up naked after every fire-fight, clothes that are as strong as he is would be pretty necessary.

So the first eight issues cover two storyarchs, one imbedded like an interlude in the other. All eight issues together make for something I’d buy a graphic novel of. I can’t wait to get my hands of issue nine. I’m expecting more awesome, and I doubt I’ll be disappointed.

TOS--Mission to Horatius

2012-05-15T16:55:00.001-07:00

I loved this book, its sense of adventure, its fun and action, its old-fashioned phrased and expressions, making the book easy to identify as something published in the sixties. From this, more so than even from the series, I can easily see why Star Trek turned into what it was become down to today—a monster epic with thousands (perhaps millions?) of diehard fans.

I won’t say for one minute that Star Trek (or even Star Wars, another favorite or mine) is the best or only good thing science fiction has to offer. There is a whole world of genre, or speculative, fiction that has proven to be equally, if not surpassingly, awesome. But, after reading Mission to Horatius, a book that is certainly a feat of imagination, especially for the sixties, I can picture children everywhere becoming addicted to the written adventures of of Kirk and Spock, Sulu and the rest.

I also noticed a big difference between this book and those of the nineties—aliens are not an important part of the universe yet. In Mission to Horatius, the only alien is Spock, and he is barely so, more like an elven human. Really, in the early Trek days, any alien in the series was more like a human with powers, the line that divides science fiction and fantasy blurrier than ever.

Another TOS (The Original Series) constant was seen in this book, though better explained than in some episodes: the alien worlds the crew of the enterprise visited were less advanced versions of earth, as if the Federation members were traveling back in time rather than to a new world. I remember, as a child, seeing Kirk beam down to a scene right out of the Old West, and I remember loving it, the simplicity and adventure of it all. Certainly those are some of the same elements I felt while reading this book.

When I read the TNG book, Ghost Ship, I felt that the author didn’t yet have a firm grasp of the character, something I’m sure can easily happen when such characters aren’t yours in the first place, but members of a continuity you are but a guest in. Ghost Ship was so badly written that I was nearly turned off from continuing my Star Trek Mission, especially since the book I read before that, the first book I read, was even worse for me.

But the author of Mission to Horatius really had it right and was comfortable with the characters and setting of the Enterprise. All in all, I loved this book, and I look forward to starting the next TOS book, something that will have to wait, since I’m currently working on another TNG book.

Why Walking Keeps Me Sane

2012-04-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

I used to walk in the mornings, often even as the sun was rising, the fresh pre-dawn air filling my lungs. I listened to music or audiobooks or sometimes allowed my mind to wander, a kind of walking meditation, as I would shamelessly talk to myself. For perhaps the last year, this habit of mine has slowly died, and I’m wondering if I shouldn’t bring it back.

Yesterday, I was feeling quite down, not so much depressed, but empty and unmotivated. Not only did I not want to do anything, I didn’t want to be anything or anyone. I just wanted to work, complete what I had to do to survive and feed my family, and sleep. It was a horrible feeling, a feeling that quickly passed when I went for a little walk. I strode up the streets, muttering to myself, unafraid of what others might have thought, trying to clear the clutter from my brain. And guess what—it worked. In just few minutes, I was feeling much better. More importantly, after a little walk, I had a solution to my problem, something I hadn’t seen when sitting and brooding about my emotional suffering.

Last week, I wrote a short post about writer’s block, in which I described walking with the pigeons in the park as the solution. It was amazing, because that’s exactly how it happened. I was so stressed with the question “what do I have to say to the world?” and I thought it would stop me from ever getting something of substance written. But the walk fixed all that.

I guess walking gives me a new perspective, and it reminds me that I’m not the only person in the world. Probably the increased blood flow and oxygen to the brain help a lot, as well, allowing me to work more efficiently at problem solving and decision making.

I bet that, if I went walking each morning, like I did before, I would be able to solve problems more quickly and stay emotionally balanced. Balance is so important, because I think that without it I would lose all creative energy. A fresh, open mind is the key to inspiration, as is a healthy body.

My wife doesn’t want me to go walking in the early morning, since she says it can be dangerous. But, really, if we allow the threat of danger stop us from living life, will we even have any life left to be in danger?

I think tomorrow I’m going to go for a little walk, and I’ll let my mind wander wherever it wants, my mouth tell me what it pleases, and my feet carry me around in the early morning breeze. Maybe I’ll find solutions to problems I haven’t even had yet.

We Killed the Gatekeepers

2012-04-26T20:33:00.001-07:00

There are more books being written now than in any other time in history, and I’d like to think there are more people reading now than every before, too. Bookstores and libraries, while complaining about losing business and threatening to close their doors, often times look like palaces, hallways stretching on forever, darkened by the towering walls of bookshelves on either side, endless rows of multicolored spines waiting for curious readers, young or old.

Of course, written content floods our homes in other forms, and as the e-book revolution engulfs our culture, the internet has become an eternal tidal wave of words, begging to be read, commented on, shared, pirated, or plagiarized. Blog posts march on by the thousands, infesting the digital world with opinions, ideas, stories, and family photos, begging for links and comments.

Free content means a reader can keep occupied, completely uninhibited by money or geography, never having to leave the computer chair or put down that ipad. Free content also means any writer or author can produce and publish content with a few clicks of a mouse, therefore able to spend more time writing or begging people to read their stuff.

I love the idea of self publishing. I’ve been tempted several times to publish something I’ve written, except for the digital rants like this one that decorate my blog. But I’ve stopped myself every time. Why? Because I’m still not sure the self-publishing machine is worth supporting, a process that, while great as an idea, may not work to anyone’s advantage.

I’ve been debating this in my mind for some time. I used to say to heck with the so-called gatekeepers, those editors that chose who would be published and who wouldn’t. I thought like a true revolutionary, ready to through in my work to the tidal wave of free or cheap content. But I’m not so sure anymore.

Maybe I’ve read my last piece of illiterate junk as downloaded for free online. Maybe I’ve browsed through my last poorly written blog post (and you have every right to think the same about this very post.. I won’t blame you). Maybe I’ve just grown tired of the vanity of it all.

If publishers, and therefore editors, are going down, if we really are toppling the gatekeepers, I must ask myself if this change will prove to be for the better or not. I for one am starting to see the good those gatekeepers did. I’m starting to see their value, and I’m starting to mourn them before they’re actually dead.

I believe I’ve reached a decision. I won’t publish anything myself, at least not for now. Instead, I’ll allow the gatekeepers decided when my work is good enough. Then, when I’m published the “old fashioned way,” I’ll be able to fee the pride of having passed the test. I won’t need comments of links to get validation. I will proudly wear the seal of the gatekeepers, as seal that will no doubt be more valuable still when they are dead and but a memory.

Reaching Readers—Awesome and Shock Factors

2012-04-24T06:26:00.001-07:00

As a writer, I think one of the hardest things about writing is reaching readers on an emotional level, causing them to react with a particular emotional response, whether it be with tears, laughs, or shivers of fear. In writing horror, for example, how can I say something is really scary, frightening enough to make the reader jump or keep him/her up at night, unable to sleep with images from my writing in their head?

Invoking an emotional response through writing is more difficult than doing so in person. When speaking from the platform, I feel reasonably confident in my ability to make a crowd laugh or cry. I’ve done both, but my success may be better attributed to my being able to see my listeners. If they don’t respond the way I want, I change tactics on the spot. In person, I’m flexible, and that flexibility gives me strength.

In writing, I’m not flexible. I can’t change my words halfway through because I don’t feel the audience with me. What’s written is final, and I can just hope that what I’ve written will do the trick.

I guess the easiest response is invoke in a reader is what I call the “awesome factor.” Something is awesome when it’s unexpected, unique, creative, and cool. Here originality is very important, the ability to come up with something subtly different from all the stories already out there. Awesomeness is also measured in how you make things fit together. The combination must be interesting, something the reader will want to keep thinking about long after they’ve stopped reading your work, like a ghost in the back of their mind, a pleasing aftertaste that keeps the mind occupied.

Many books, bot fiction and non, have done this for me. The ideas, situation, or unique combination of elements in some books ring me bell, so to speak, and I can’t help but keep think about the story/ideas long after I’ve had to put the book down. This is a powerful response, a response any good writer should have in his/her bag of tricks.

Related to this is the shock factor, a feeling of surprise the reader feels while reading your work. I think this is very valuable. Why wouldn’t you want to surprise your readers? You can be like the magician, distracting your audience with one hand and fishing a dove from your sleeve with the other. They’ll never know what hit ‘em!

Can you make a character do something unexpected, without such an action being necessarily out of character? Can you save the most surprising fact for a moment when the reader would least expect it? Can you structure your writing to build suspense, without using phony plot twists?

For now, I’m working on these two things—increasing both the awesome and shock factors of my writing, trying to invoke those reactions in my readers. Later, we’ll see what other lovely tricks I can pick up.

Color and Design

2012-04-22T20:03:00.001-07:00

The face of my webpage has changed again, a change that was a long time coming, since I’d grown tired of the prior template some time ago. But designing a blog is mind-bogglingly difficult precisely because it’s so easy, the nearly endless options making me feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store. It takes me hours to shape all the details of a blog, finding the best font, choosing out colors that I like together, customizing images and buttons and menus, adjusting written content, searching for useful pieces of code, figuring out the best arrangement for widgets—the list goes on and on.

You’d think that something that’s so difficult and time consuming would be a task I’d only want to do once, but, for some reason I can’t explain, I occasionally get the itch to change everything, finding myself compelled to revolutionize the look (and sometimes function) of my blog. Thus the present reincarnation of jacobtullos.com—a simplification compared to what was here before, I think.

I’ve kept the same colors, colors that I found on another website, after hours of “stumbleuponing” random websites, looking for color combos that appealed to me. The mid gray, dark and dusty blue, true blue, iridescent sky blue, and slightly-burnt but intense orange make a great combination, a combination I wasn’t ready to throw out the window yet.

The font I made bigger, which I think makes online reading easier, and I made things bold and simple, a change from the rounded boxes from the last design. The site is still missing a custom header, something I hope to finish soon, like by the end of the week.

I’m also putting just one blog post per page, making each post long enough to take up the page, adding a “read more” link if the post stretches any longer. All this to give a more crisp and professional feel to the site. I’ve been hating the crappy content and sloppy editing on this site, a problem I actually see all over the web. If you’re reading this, whether you’re a friend of mine, acquaintance, or prospective reader/client, I want every blog post to be an accurate sample of my writing style and quality. That means working to put out great content.

All in all, I think the blog underwent an improvement, a change that will make readers happy, a change that makes me happy, a design that says professional and crisp. I like being professional and crisp. And I think, if I’m going to do anything at all, I should be proud of what I do because I did it right, because the product I created is the best it can be. I don’t know if this website is the best or not, but no one can claim I didn’t try.

Writer’s Block

2012-04-18T20:09:00.001-07:00

What, if anything special at all, do I have to say? I often face this question whenever I sit down to write, even when all I’m writing is a blog post. For a creative personality type, this issue shouldn’t ever come up, I think, and I suppose I have many things to say, many stories to tell, stories I think others would enjoy reading. But how can I choose which story to call my own and make a reality, knowing that whatever I produce as a writer will mark me, shaping my reputation for years to come? It’s selfish, I think to myself, to be so concerned with reputation. But, then again, in the end all you truly have is your reputation and relationship with others—your name.

Today, I visited the park and watched the pigeons, trying to come to terms with who I am and who I want to be. I walked away wishing I could just be a pigeon and forget about the answer in the first place.

TNG #1—Ghost Ship

2012-04-10T21:27:00.001-07:00

So I finish my first TNG (The Next Generation) Star Trek book, and I have to say I was a little bit disappointed. Though the book was written relatively recently (1991), though it is a novel, not a collection of episodes in prose like my first Star Trek book, though I absolutely love the characters of the TNG universe, the writing left much to be desired.
The story was interesting enough. In the mid nineties, a Soviet carrier is mysteriously destroyed, and none of the crew is ever found. Now, Enterprise is studying a seemingly harmless planet when a massive every being threatens to destroy the ship. What is more, Deanna Troi receives messages from the “ghosts” of those long-forgotten Soviet sailors and officers. Not only must Captain Picard save his ship, but he must also face the desperate plea from these ancient life essences—to finally be allowed to die.
The concept and nature of life is a frequent theme of the book, from the nature of the giant energy being, to the identity of these 20th century Russian ghosts, to Data’s desire to be human.
This theme is well developed, and I would have greatly enjoyed the book, were it not for the horrible use of the omniscient third-person POV. I have problems with 3rd person omniscient, problems that spring from so many examples of writers, experienced and new, fumbling this unique POV to the point of distracting and amateurish writing. In this book, this POV is used as an excuse to tell and not show, a common mistake among many writers today.
Other than the POV frustration, and a bit of sexist descriptions every now and then, there were some ideas hidden in this book, ideas that are like treasures, shiny gems that made the reading worth my while, if even just barely so. The idea that Enterprise is a space-going city, with citizens and even children, is pondered over by Jean Luc at one point, a meditation that leads to interesting conclusions about the future of the federation. Imagine, children growing up with no homeworld. They don’t say they’re from Earth or Vulcan or Klingon; they’re from space; they’re from the Federation. This could lead to peace and unity in the future, and Jean Luc decides in this book that such a bold move is a wise one, though it is a well-known fact that the captain doesn’t care much for children.

Busy Busy Busy!

2012-03-31T21:46:00.001-07:00

Sorry for not coming around that often this month. A lot has happened, which I’ll want to get to real quick. But first a word from our sponsors… hehe, just kidding. I’ve been busy teaching online, and the life of a teacher is, if anything, full of surprises, surprises that, for me, include a soar throat.

I’m working for a school called Open English, which caters to Spanish and Portuguese speaking students, students that I can more easily connect with, living in Mexico. I think it’s very useful for a language teacher to speak the L1 of his/her students, so as to know the likely route the students will take to get to the destination of fluency.

Unfortunately, I may not be with the school for long, but I’m enjoying the time I get to spend teaching. I love to empower students to reach out and grasp a new language, a process that is both challenging and gratifying, both demanding and beneficial.

So this new job is my weak excuse for not posting recently, but I hope to be back on track now. This is good, since I’ve finish another Star Trek novel and haven’t even told ya’ll about it, a misstep I hope to remedy shortly.

Fate of the Jedi—Outcast

2012-03-01T10:36:00.001-08:00

The first Star Wars book after Millennium Falcon, the first book in the Fate of the Jedi story arch, Outcast was the logical choice for me to read next, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the Legacy story arch, featuring the fall of Jason Solo into a Sith Lord, I look forward to what the The Fate of the Jedi has to offer.

Outcast begins with the one of the Jedi Knigts—the son of Jedi Master Horn—suffering some sort of mental breakdown, a breakdown that leads him to go rogue and rampage through the city. These events, couple with already growing government suspicion towards the Jedi Order, leads to Luke Skywalker’s being exiled from the Jedi Order and from Coruscant for ten years.

The story then breaks into three stories. Luke and Ben Skywalker (Luke’s son) travel to find out what may have caused Jason’s turning to the Dark Side. They end up trapped in an underground city with a society of Force users. Han and Leia go to investigate some strange quakes on another planet, while Jaina works to solve the problem of yet another rogue Jedi, which isn’t easy when a government-appointed observer follows her around.

I very much enjoyed all the sub-plots of this novel, although I was originally expecting it to be all about Luke being outcast from the Jedi Order. That part of the book seemed a little rushed, and the Han and Leia story seemed like it hardly fit at all. But in the end, it was all entertaining, leading me to look forward to the next book, Exile.

Millennium Falcon

2012-03-01T04:40:00.001-08:00

I just finished listening to Millennium Falcon, a Star Wars audio book that highlights everyone’s favorite smuggler’s freighter, a freighter otherwise known as a piece of junk. I very much enjoyed this book, and I’d recommend it, since it’s lighter and more fun than the average Star Wars tale is these days.

My only problem with the book was how it began, introducing characters without even telling why or how they are important to us. That makes it hard for the reader to care at all about what is happening. On the other hand, I know the writer was probably thinking that we should see the ship itself, the Falcon, as a character, but that was hard for me to do.

On a whole, the story was very interesting and fun, detailing the individual stories of each owner of the Falcon. Han and Leia Solo, along with their mysterious granddaughter, follow the trail into the past to find the amazing history of the Falcon. I must warn you, though; the ending does feel a bit anti-climactic to me. But really it does fit the light-hearted feeling of the entire book.

First Star Trek “Novel” Finished

2012-03-01T04:37:00.001-08:00

I believe the fist ever Star Trek Book was published in the late sixties. I’ll have to go back and check the date, but I’m too lazy to do that now. One thing I noticed right off the bat is that the book isn’t a novel; it’s a collection of short stories, which were originally episodes themselves. Reading this book was difficult, since I felt somehow cheated.

After doing a little research, I discovered that several episode-books were published before and while actual Star Trek Novels were being released. I think I’m not going to include the episode books in my Mission to read all Star Trek books. I’ll just limit the mission’s parameters to actual novels.

I’ll actually be jumping ahead in me next post, since I’m currently reading the first TNG (The Next Generation) novel, written in ‘88, I believe. But I’ll be coming back to the first NOVEL of TOS (The Original Series) soon.

My Star Trek Mission

2012-03-01T04:33:00.001-08:00

I have a plan, a mission if you will, to read every Star Trek book ever written, more or less in the order they were written. As soon as I can finish one novel, I’ll tell the whole world about it here, on my blog. I’ll talk about it, critique it, praise it, review it, and describe how I’ve learned from it as a science fiction writer. I like to call this little game “My Trek Through Star Trek.” Nah, that’s cheesy; I’ll call it something else.

My love for all things science fiction started with Star Trek and Star Wars, so I figure this will be something like a trip back to my roots. This is especially fitting since later this year, I’ll be releasing a series of science fiction and superhero fiction stories, novellas, and novels. Why not start now to examine what’s already out there?

Of all the Star Trek series out there, I’ve enjoyed TNG the most. (For those of you not into Trek-lingo, that’s The Next Generation.) Voyager comes to a close second, and Enterprise isn’t far behind. The few episodes of Deep Space Nine I’ve seen were great, too. I just never got a chance to watch the show, a problem I’ll be looking to solve soon. So I hope to be updating very soon about my first Star Trek book, which I’ve already read.

To Pseudonym or Not to Pseudonym

2012-02-28T14:22:00.001-08:00

That is indeed the question. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought over the last few weeks. You see, I’m outlining and drafting like crazy lately. Perhaps I’ve finally met my mark, hit my zone, received my inspiration. But my writing interests take me to different places, fiction and non, short and long and serial. Should I give some of my work to a pseudonym?

I’ve been analyzing pros and cons until my head hurts, trying to reach a conclusion that I fear isn’t even there in the first place. Should I consider my reputation, moving my fiction to a pen name, so it won’t show on a Google search for my own name? Is that dishonest?

What about the time I’d have to spend, double twitter feeds, double FB pages, double blogs to post to regularly? What about the delicate balance that is my sanity in the face of so many daily responsibilities and the constant, frustrated desire to create, an activity for which I have very little time as it is?

From a marketing point of view, the division seems like a good idea. I can’t easily develop a functional name from myself if I’m balancing language learning posts with fiction posts with comic reviews. Might someone like my writing, go to my site, and grow impatient when I’m not the simple writer of a single genre, like so many others?

On the other hand, perhaps my unique mix of interests will prove refreshing for others. I grow tired of seeing writers’ blogs all about writing. It’s like all everyone wants to talk about is “their craft.” This is a topic for another post(s), but when I see someone parroting what so many before them have said about writing, I’m not more inclined to buy their self-published political thriller.

Really, each book must stand on it own and sell. A perfect example of this is Mur from “I Should Be Writing.” Her podcast on being a writer does not make me want to buy her books/stories because very little about that podcast tells me if she’s a good fiction writer or not. However, just because I knew her name, I listened to both Marco and the Red Granny and Playing for Keeps. Based on how much I liked those books, I’d probably pay for something else written by her. How much I like I Should Be Writing only makes me want to listen to more episodes of the podcast.

Besides, my SELLER’S FORMULA isn’t necessarily designed to include books of such different sorts as science fiction and memoir, but I don’t see how it could hurt.

I guess in the writing of this post, I’ve come to my conclusion. I don’t have time to keep up two identities online, since that would take away from writing time, something that is already lacking seriously from my schedule. I think I’d just rather express my individuality and variety of interests by writing everything I want to write: science fiction, superhero fiction, personal essays, memoirs, language learning and teaching guides, and anything else that strikes my fancy.

If you don’t like it, don’t read my stuff. I promise not to cry (much).

My SELLER’S FORMULA

2012-02-28T04:21:00.001-08:00

As the countdown for my first (of many) book releases continues, I’ve been thinking a lot about how these books will reach one of their more practical of purposes—that is, to make me enough money to support myself. Now, before you go saying that’s impossible, that I can’t expect to make enough to pay the bills any time soon, you should know that I have a secret.

You see, I require very little money to live. My life is very simple, and I live in Mexico. Two hundred dollars a month is more than enough, just about. Is it so impossible to expect that? Maybe, but I have have a plan, and my plan includes a formula, a formula I plan to share with you now.

X + X(Y%)

That is what I call my SELLER’S FORMULA. “X” represents the amount of money I made of the last book, up to the point of the next book release. The second half of the formula, a percentage of X, represents the increase in sales I can expect with each consecutive release.

The idea here is simple. If I make 5 dollars in a month on my first book, I can expect to make another 5 dollars plus some percentage of 5 dollars for the second book. Let’s say that’s 7 dollars. For the third book, I expect to make 7 dollars plus some percentage of 7 dollars, and so forth. So the formula expands like so:

X + X(Y%) + X’ + X’(Y’%) + X’’ + X’’(Y’’%) + X’’’(Y’’’%) + X’’’’(Y’’’’%), and so forth.

So each sales income increases based on the success of past releases (which would continue selling), whatever marketing techniques are used between releases, as well as the writer’s increased reputation and social networking prowess.

The growth in sales could be exponential or simply a lazy slope upward. Does it matter? Increase is increase; increase is progress.

Koine Input Decisions

2012-02-26T12:22:00.001-08:00

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll use for listening input while I’m studying Koine. Obviously, an audio reading of the New Testament would be ideal, but I wanted to get a little more specific than that. I started to ask myself: what books of the NT would make for the best place to start. It’s hard to say which book would be easiest, and I’m really interested in easy. I mostly want consistent.

Today I was reading about how each writer has certain words that they use more than others. Or they may use certain phrases or expressions more. That made me think. Paul wrote 14 books of the NT. If he used certain words and phrases more than others, that increased consistency would help me learn faster.

So, I’m making a list of books I’ll be listening to fist. I figure I can get very familiar with the 14 books written by Paul before moving into other books of the NT. Then, I’ll want to expand into the Septuagint, which are an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. After that, I’ll want to go on to Classical Greek, with secular resources, like philosophers and historians.

Language-Learning Desires

2012-02-24T06:05:00.001-08:00

I’ve been plagued with the desire to learn languages lately, and it is a hard pull to resist. I had kind of back off from learning, due to my hectic schedule, but with this drive in my chest, I may just find myself taking up my studies once again. What languages do I specifically want to learn, and why?

I’ve been studying—off and on—Koine, or Classical, Greek for some time. I’ve always had the plan to learn both Greek and Hebrew, perhaps as well as Latin. I think it’s time to take that goal up again, but with greater emphasis than before.

When I read an ancient text, I’m constantly aware that I’m actually reading a translation of the original words of that text. I find myself wondering how I would understand or feel about the text if I could read the original words directly.

I’ve done some reading about Hebrew, and I think I would love the language. My excitement for Hebrew and renewed excitement for Greek have moved me to get started again on my learning. For now, I plan to make some flashcards of some key words to learn first. This will be combined with some grammar study and extensive audio and textual reading. After that… well, let’s see what happens.

Why I Write in Long Hand

2012-02-22T04:37:00.001-08:00

We live in the age of word processors. WYSIWYG systems like Word allow you to literally see what the page will look like with your writing on it, a feature that knocks the typewriter out of the race for good. Long past are those nights by the burning candle’s light, scribbling with ink your ideas… or are they?

I still write all my outlines and first drafts in notebooks, using an exact combination of yellow legal pads and thick spiral bound notebooks for final versions. Why, oh why, do I writer in long hand when I have two perfectly (well not perfectly, but you know what I mean) functioning computers in my house? I guess I’m just crazy like that.

Actually, many writers I know write with pen and paper at least some times. So it’s not completely unheard of. And I really do have three perfectly logical reasons for my inky habit.

Writing on legal pads is practical for me, because it detaches the action of writing with the computer. Therefore, I can write wherever I am. Since I spend more than a few hours away from home per week, that’s a lot more writing I can do.
Being away from the computer also means no distractions of Youtube, Twitter, online games, and the like. I find my time with my notebooks is always more productive.
Writing with pen and paper seems better for my creativity, because it’s a simply process and it relieves all the pressure I feel when I sit down to write on the computer.

So, as technology advances, we may all just be talking into a little microphone, watching the computer compose for us. We may one day be able to just think something, and a book is instantly produced. The possibilities are endless. But for now, I prefer to stay with my trusty pen and notebooks, copying my work to computer only when it’s nearing completion.

Why I Read Star Trek

2012-02-17T05:01:00.001-08:00

I finally made the decision: I’m converting to Trekism, and I won’t be looking back. For most of my life, I’ve been on the fence about Star Wars verses Star Trek, afraid to choose a favorite and somehow hurt someone’s feelings (crazy, I know). But I’m jumping off that fence now, and choosing to reside squarely in the Trek Zone. There’s why:
Star Wars is about war. Thus the name. After reading the books for quite some time (since I could read), I’ve come to see that Star Wars just can’t exist without interstellar conflict. There always has to be an evil to fight, armies to destroy, a space station to blow up, or something else like that. Throughout the books, peace is a fleeting thing, because Star Wars isn’t fun unless everyone’s killing someone else.
Star Trek, on the other hand, is about other things. The series focuses on exploration, discovery, honor, responsibility, diplomacy, and peace. Sure, there’s fighting as well, like whenever the Borg come around, for example. But the action isn’t the point; it’s just one aspect of many.
Star Trek teaching values, like being responsible, making decisions, finding peaceful solutions, and so forth. Star Trek also deals with moral and philosophical issues that I love to dedicate brain cells to, like the nature of life and death, individuality, cultural differences, and so forth. Star Trek makes you think.
Star Trek is also backed up by hundreds of hours of serial television, which I thoroughly enjoy, as well as more movies than Star Wars. I’m also very excited about the next movie, which I hear will be out next year.
So my mind is made up. I’m a Trekie (Treky? Trekey? I don’t know). Oh, I still enjoy Star Wars movies and books, but if I have to choose one, I’ll take Vulcans over Wookies any day.

Don’t Judge a Book by its Word Count

2012-02-09T04:46:00.001-08:00

Longer Novels may be in vogue, especially in certain genres, but as I pointed out in the previous post, this may not continue to be the trend. Size—no pun intended—really won’t matter in digital printing. Other things will mater, like great stories, fresh ideas, and good writing. But I feel there specific advantages to short fiction and nonfiction.
We’ve all fallen into the trap of judging a book by its cover. In a physical book store, we may even judge a book by its weight or number of pages. Some people only read shorter books, perhaps afraid that a longer tome is too much for them to handle. Others feel thin books automatically lack depth and intrique, and are therefore not worth considering.
Among writers, these prejudices play out differently. A writer may be afraid to publish a thin novel or self-help book, worried others will not take the book seriously. Somehow, thick books have become builders of ego. When a writer looks at another writer’s books, the temptation is there to say that, because the published product is only 35,000 words, he/she isn’t a real writer (whatever that means).
But I personally see many advantages to short books, and especially to short ebooks. We no longer have to be worried about length. We can worry about other things, like quality of story or ideas. And in my opinion, short books often get this right when longer volumes fail.
I think is proves true again with nonfiction books. When I pick up a book on a certain topic, it may be because I have a simple question that I need answered. But so often, non fiction books resemble textbooks in their way of giving way too much information. Often the shorter book is not only more concise, but truer to the theme.
I look forward to the day when people won’t judge a book by how big it is but by how big its ideas are. People will the writing and reading stories and communicating information that is interesting, fresh, and not overburdened with needless pages of filler.
I hope that day comes soon.

The Age of the Short Novel?

2012-02-03T20:38:00.001-08:00

2012 has been dubbed the year of the ebook. I don’t think that’s too far-fetch of an idea. But along with the conversion from print to e-reader comes the question of how long a fiction or nonfiction ebook should be. I’ve been thinking a lot about this subject, and I think we’ll be seeing more and more short works in the market.
I don’t want to get into the debate as to what we should consider a novel or novella. Like most things, I see these distinctions as fuzzy and arbitrary lines drawn along a steady slope to divide the range from 3-word short story to 5,000-page epic. So I’m avoiding the word novella all together and going with “short novel”.
As writing has gotten easier and easier—due to increased general education, advanced word processing programs (compared to stylus and scroll or even typewriter), and the public’s more and more ravenous thirst for stories—we’ve seen an increase in the average length of published works. From a writer’s point of view, I’ve never gotten this. Why write a 500,000 words epic, and get paid once for it, when you can break it into at least 5 parts, and get paid five times (not to mention 5 possible movie deals) ?
But there’s always been this prejudice against short books. When you hold a book in your hand and can see that it’s only 100-150 pages, you may glance at the author and ask, “Is this the whole thing? You call this a novel? You’re just BARELY a writer, huh?”
And then we have the “amateurs” that finish NaNoWriMo and fight to get their 50,000-word “masterpiece” published, wondering why they’re rejected by every publisher in the biz. The rest of us snicker, thinking, “what a beginner. He’ll learn—REAL books have to be thicker.
Enter the ebook. How long is an ebook? How can you tell? By how long it takes to download? By how much memory it takes up on your SD card? I bet most people don’t realize the length until they’re nearly finished reading the thing!
So, you’re a writer, and you’re afraid your 40,000-word action thriller will fail for being too short. You self publish, and you WANT to hear that it’s too short, because that would mean one or two of two things:

The reader actually read the book… to the end, in fact.
The reader is complaining because they LIKED THE BOOK!

If you don’t like something, you’re glad when it’s over. Like when my family went to see Go-Go Gadget II. We were happy the movie was barely over an hour. Really glad, since even my kid-brothers didn’t like it that much.
So, what do you think? Short books might make a comeback? I hope so!

Yellow Legal Pads Saved My Life

2012-02-02T19:48:00.001-08:00

I’m a simple guy, and as such I like to keep things as simple as possible. In fact, those things that are complicated, those messy and tangled details, complications that limit more than help, or at least amass undue expectations, usually suck away hope of creativity or productivity I may entertain. So, when it comes to writing, I personally prefer to stick to something simple—long hand on yellow legal pads.
Like most writers, I’ve allowed a long-lived love affair with fancy notebooks and diaries. But, even without setting up a poll or scientific study, I can say with reasonable certainty that most writers that enjoy fancy notebooks also share a fear of dirtying them with their writing.
I have discovered that something similar happens to me when I write even on the computer. The complications of a word processor affect me just the same as a leather-bound journal. I lock up, unable to face the pressure of such a medium. Such a fear accounts for most of my writer’s block. What do I do about it?
I use yellow legal pads for the majority of my prewriting and drafting. The legal pad, to me, is so simple and unintimidating compared to other notebooks or a computer.
So, I can say that, as far as my writing goes, yellow legal pads have saved my life. I wonder, digital world, how to do you prefer to write?

Continuity—The Problem With Comics

2012-01-25T21:16:00.001-08:00

So I’m something just short of a die-hard comic-book fan. I read plenty of other things, but I’m somewhat proud to say that the majority of all my fiction reading is in comic form. I grew up on DC and Marvel, and I continue to read them both. But all that being said, these two large, ongoing, comic universes (three, if you count classic and ultimate Marvel) have on huge problem to me… continuity.
Everything changes. This is a fact of life. When you make fiction, a key motivation for your audience to want to keep reading is to see that change. They buy the next issue each month to see struggle. But the problem with comics is the never-ending struggle—the endless change.
Story archs are supposed to be finite. They need an end to work well. Characters also need an end. I don’t mean they need to die; I’m just saying their story has to lead somewhere.
So how do you write a comic for years, keeping things at a constant change, and yet trying to change as little as possible at the same time? That’s what Marvel and DC are faced with. They each handled the problem in different ways:
Marvel started their Ultimate universe, and with Ultimatum, finally showed that EVERYTHING can indeed change. The Ultimate universe is constantly different than it was before. In the classical universe, Civil War certainly changed everything—and I think for the better. Turning SHIELD upside-down and making Norman Osborn a strange and new character is great, great stuff. Really entertaining last couple of years.
DC took a different route. They recently rebooted their entire line. The reset the clocks, so to speak. All the characters we remember (and some new ones) are starting over, not with origin stories, but about 5 years after their origins. I think many things about DC’s New 52 are genius (even if not always perfectly executed). I’m thoroughly enjoying the New 52 stories, and I suggest to everyone to find at least a title of two and start reading.
So, keeping a straight continuity, through the endless deaths and resurrections, marriages, affairs, and secret children, has been a challenge for both companies. But I see them working around it in fun and surprising ways. There are certain times, like when Ultimate Spidey died or when the New 52 #1’s came out, that I’m proud to be a comic fan.

Rekindling the Koine Fire

2012-01-16T20:07:00.001-08:00

I’ve been distracted away from my learning of Koine lately, having moved from one town to another, focusing on my editing and writing work, reading lots of comics, my mind completely used up at the end of each day, so much so that I barely have time to write blog posts anymore. But my love for Koine Greek has recently been rediscovered, and I’m happy announce that I’m back on track.

Renewed Interest

I’m not sure what caused me to jump back on the ancient-Greek wagon again. Perhaps it was my guilty conscience, or else my fondness for the language was like a guerilla soldier, hiding in the jungles, biding his time, sharpening his field knife, perfecting the perfect coup, finally springing at the least-expected moment to capture my interest once again. Whatever the case, I’m glad to be back in the swing of things linguistically. If only I could get back in the swing of things on so many other levels, I’d be great.
I’ve spelled out my plan for learning biblical Greek more than once, but never on this site. So, here is my strategy:

The Plan

My idea is to work on at least two fronts, surrounding the language before systematically conquering it. I plan to focus on input—both listening and reading—and use a book to handle grammar, vocabulary, and all that other stuff. Why not just do one or the other? Because, frankly, I know neither will work without the other, and I know that the only way to achieve one’s linguistic aspirations is to learn smart, not learn dumb.
So, I’ve divided that entire New Testament into 20 equal (or mostly equal) parts. Each share of input is reserved for after one chapter from the textbook. That means, I study the language for a while, and then I enjoy the language for while. That way, my mind is trained to bask in the sounds, rhythm, shapes, nuances, and lexical and syntactical flavors—both through specific lessons, and overall understanding.

Recent Accomplishments

I thought up this plan a long time ago, but I’ve never gotten around to actually making progress. But now, I’ve completed the first cycle of twenty. I can proudly say that I’ve studied the first chapter of my textbook and read the first twentieth of the input. You can say I’m 1/20 of the way to understanding Koine Greek.
I’ll be giving more detail on my plan and progress. But for now, I’m simply overjoyed to be learning the language again. I look forward to enjoying it even more as time passes.

Why I Love, and Hate, Fonts

2012-01-11T19:40:00.001-08:00

I’m not completely ignorant when it comes to design. I like making things look professional, fresh, and creative. I enjoying seeing, for example, self-published authors putting out books with high-quality covers, and proper formatting inside. This is why I’ve studied publishing and design—to help make great books.
But there is one thing that I simply cannot get my head around completely, one thing that I view as both important and meaningless at the same time—fonts. Whenever I’m faced with the decision of which font to use for a book, cover, site, or blog, I’m absolutely baffled by the variety available. On top of that, I feel totally lost as to which font is best for each project. Really, it drives me crazy.
I know fonts are important, and I know there are plenty of people that love understand fonts. In fact, I’m sure I’d love them, too, if I got them. So what can I do to make myself love fonts? Take time to observe them more, I guess.
When I say that don’t understand fonts, I don’t mean that I don’t know the difference between serif and sans serif; I’m familiar with all that book knowledge. My problem is in the intuitive, gut feeling behind those fonts. I don’t feel that one font is better than another, and I can’t figure out which one is best for any given situation.
Maybe if I spend an hour a day staring at different fonts, I’ll eventually get a feel for them. But, then again, if I had an hour a day to do so, I’d just as soon learn another language, which is a skill I personally find more attractive (no offense to the design folks that are monolingual but understand fonts… to each his own).