Yzabel / September 7, 2005

Who’s There: Seth Godin’s New Ebook

I’ve just finished reading Who’s There, the new ebook Seth Godin has put up on his blog, and I must say that it’s been a really interesting read, albeit too short to my liking, in a way. However, he goes to the essential, and in an understandable fashion: what more could one ask? The price? No worries, it’s even free, at least for the moment.If, like me, you’re interested about reading here and there on the subject of blogging, don’t hesitate any longer, and download it here. The book isn’t about “how to blog”, but about why to blog, as a business owner as well as an indivdual who’d like to make his or her niche in the always expanding world of blogs. It also distinguishes the three “main types” of blogs, in a way that isn’t without reminding of the classifications theorized by John and Duncan.On top of it, it’s nicely written and presented.blogging, ebook, seth+godin

Yzabel / September 7, 2005

Monstercake

It had been a few days I had bookmarked this blog with the intent of writing a little blurb about it here, but I got sidetracked by my recent theories about languages, among other things.

Better late than never, here is Monstercake, “a cast of the odd, misfortunate, and downright horrible, brought to you daily” by Eugene Smith. Each blog entry intriduces some kind of “monster”, whether this is evident at first sight, or done with a more subtle approach. Sometimes scary, sometimes funny in some kind of twisted way, inks or watercolor, freaks or folklore monsters, these drawings aren’t always what one would expect of them at first, and the style is one I find very pleasant.

Today’s post features Cthulhu in a salaryman suit. Well, probably not Cthulhu, but isn’t it an interesting way of seeing things?

Illustration © Eugene Smith

Yzabel / September 6, 2005

Wondering about Webhosts

The need to write is constantly growing in me, and I’ve been pondering working on one or two more sites, preferrably blogs. Nothing’s sure yet… simply, ideas are boiling more and more, and I need to let them out somehow. I know I could take some kind of free account at Blog*Spot or similar services, but let’s be honest: I’m used to having “my” hosting and “my” domain names now, and this kind of services usually don’t fit my needs anymore.While I’m very happy with Paradygma (I know, I need to update it!), it’s starting to get a little cramped in there, and I found myself considering other webhosts, more adapted to my needs, preferably not expensive. I’m just hesitant, given that I’ve worked with one host only so far.Read More

Yzabel / September 4, 2005

Languages in Fiction Stories – Part 1

Surely I’m not the only one dealing with the creation of a whole foreign language in my world of fantasy. Since I’ve started to think of it more closely, there are a few “rules” I’ve been able to isolate, both from my own attempts and from observing the works of other authors. This is still a loose list, in a way, but I feel that it can be interesting and useful to lay it down in full, since I know this whole language matter can become bothersome for the reader if not used properly.These rules sure aren’t carved in stone; feel free to add your own if you need to deal with this. I’m going to begin here with the creation of languages; the second part of the article will be developed in another post due to its global length.Read More

Yzabel / September 3, 2005

And Ideas Sprang…

Another of these reflexions about writing that came to me through means to which I wouldn’t think at first…It was 8 AM, I was up since 6, and after some time spent writing, I was itching to move. The weather that wasn’t too warm yet decided me to do something I seldom do: running. Therefore, I laced my shoes and simply stepped out (the good thing with wearing simple tops and shorts is that I’m always ready for such whims).I normally don’t like jogging. I’m much more a squash and strength-training person, and the only thing close to “cardio” that I really like is dancing. This time, however, there was something in the air, or perhaps in my way of viewing the world, that made it different. I didn’t have a MP3 player with me, I didn’t have any company, not even my dog. It was just me and myself, ready to have a little internal dialogue while running with my eyes on the clear sky. This is one of the nice things when living in the country: there are plenty of tracks and places to run, far from cars and other people.And the ideas started pouring in.Of course, I couldn’t note them down on the spot, but I had so much time alone to think of them that they still managed to stick in my mind. In about half a hour, I got ideas for a good nine or ten short stories. I probably won’t use them all—you can be sure that I scribbled them down afterwards to make sure I don’t forget—yet no matter what, it’s a very fine feeling to find myself with renewed inspiration.Too bad I don’t really enjoy running. If I had done this more often, without any other distraction, perhaps I’d now have a really huge stash of ideas.ideas, running, writing

Yzabel / September 2, 2005

Et In Arcadia Nos – Part 4

[Last installment of this story. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.]First came the terror, the terror at seeing how Ewell was wiped off the surface of the planet in a matter of minutes, after the first and last use of the A-M bomb prototype. No more shiny cristal cities, no more communications, no more Rims nor Kellens, no more floating islands in the sky of the main land, architectural and technical wizardry meant to create additional space in a once overpopulated country. Varsa’s government itself started to panick, when every satellite liaison broadcast showed the world what was now left of a whole continent.Second came the Flood, the sudden void created in the middle of the ocean causing the waters to subside first, then rise. When they finally retreated again, finding a new, fragile balance, the face of the world was never to be the same again.In the end, caught in the chain of events that had boiled for decades only to culminate without any point of turning-back, the lead countries and their allies annihilated themselves in a last display of raw, brutal strength.Read More

Yzabel / September 1, 2005

Developing A Story Through The Years

It’s always weird and somewhat thrilling to realize that some of my methods are close or even exactly similar to those of known fiction writers. Today, while going on reading How to Write Science-Fiction and Fantasy, this is exactly what happened to me.In the second chapter of his book, Card describes the genesis of Hart’s Hope, one of his rare forays into fantasy, that took years to develop. How it all started by the map of a town scribbled on a piece of paper. How the town had specific doors that made it so that a traveller entering through God’s Door could only have access to the Temple area, and not to the others. The many processes that made it develop into a town where the gods of old had been defeated by a mere mortal. How this mortal had been able to acquire such a power, through a blood magic to which only a crime could give so much strength and efficiency. I’m not telling more about it here, but do know that it was really fascinating, to see all of these elements gathered through the years combine to shape a whole world and, finally, the plot of the story.Read More