The ongoing process

Every once in a while, it's good to review the basics. I have, several times during the writing of Sterlings, caught myself making rookie mistakes, the most pronounced of which is a sudden shift of point-of-view from Dove to Zia after Dove leaves the room in which the (ahem) action is occurring. I've also had to go back and read stuff aloud to make sure it flows, and to ensure that yeah, my characters really talk that way. Especially with Zia.

But every once in a while, it's important to remember the real basics of a story. I lost track of this while writing Dove's story, so I sat down and wrote them out:

1. Who are my characters? Even Sabienne, who gets one scene and exists only as a foil for Dove, deserves an answer to this question.

2. What do they want? This is especially true for Dove, but equally so for the twins. There are times when they seem to be surprisingly malicious for their stated goals.

3. Why do they want it? This is easier for the twins, but not so for Dove.

4. How do they go about getting it? In Dove's case, she didn't know she wanted "it" until Zia just about forced it on her, and now she's tempted to reject it.

5. What stops them from getting what they want?

6. What are the consequences of getting (or not getting) it?

If you can't answer those questions about your main character, you aren't writing a story, you're repeating a cliche'.

To Fur, or not to Fur.

As I was reviewing my work last night, I realized that I have been desperately, poorly remiss on one major aspect of my writing. It's such a glaring that problem that it's really starting to nag at me.

I haven't written a fur in a long time. Residents and Glass Reunion are very old stories that I polished up for recent publication. About the only recent "furry" story is A Place In History, which is a warped and depressing piece of work by Transhumanist standards. You have to go back to September 2004 to find a story I've written that features a furry character as the protagonist.

All of which leaves me with the Naked City [Edit: I swear, I did not look at the Music field before writing this post!] phenomenon: there are 250 stories to be told among the Sterlings on board the starship Einstein's Canvas, and I've only concentrated on three of them. All of the Pendorians who get involved (Saul, the Twins, Zoeya) are human. I've been canoodling with using other characters (an academic and a journalist) instead of my current stable of government, military, and office types and wondering if I should make the object of their affections furry.

My furry stories have usually been about metaphor: for being a different race, or a different sexuality, or being handicapped by one's shape, or so forth. They've been about seeing past the surface. I've resisted writing fur with Sterlings mostly because humans have gotten so weird for the near-standard Sterling characters that just seeing the surface is hard enough.

Just idly thinkin' here, that maybe some of my fans have been disappointed by the recent lack of catgirls and the like, and maybe I should strive to put a few more in.

I have trouble believing this.

Y'know, I love listening to people complain about how bad the American educational system is. Because when I watch something like this video (on Google Video), I'm reassured that we're not the only country where idiots walk among us.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's the French version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!" and the question is, "Which of these orbits the Earth?"

By the way, as in the English and American versions, the host takes a survey of the audience. The results will alarm? annoy? surprise? you.