Fictive Non-Fiction

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Sarah Beach

(Originally posted on LiveJournal)

So yesterday, I went to the monthly gathering of the Alameda Writers Group (held at the Glendale Library). Their speaker was addressing how to strategize and plan one’s career plans for the year. It was something I could use a refresher course on, so that was good.

Glendale Library

Glendale Public Library

In the hob-nobbing time before they settled down for the speaker, I was chatting with one woman about a project of hers. The gist of it was that she wanted to do a history of an event she’s been involved with. But she didn’t want it to be dry and boring, so she cast it in a story set 10 years (or so) in the future, and the main character is doing research on the event, trying to sort the facts from the “urban myths” of it.

I thought this was a quite innovative way of addressing the narration, but observed that it would probably make booksellers and librarians a bit nuts. What do you call it? Where do you shelve it?

It led me to thinking about books recently that have gotten into major trouble for being fictionalized “true stories”. If the book was good to start with, should the fact that it wasn’t totally non-fiction destroy its credibility as a piece of writing? Surely we could come up with a label that would flag these things in an easily grasped way.

What popped in my head was the term “fictive non-fiction”.

For that grey area between flat-out fiction and absolute factual non-fiction.

Because I do think that some times for a storyteller, the “real truth” does not make the point you want to convey. So to convey the truthful meaning a touch of fiction is needed to season the prose. I do think that all authors should be honest about when this is being done, though. I don’t think we should ever pass off as the “full real truth” things we know are not so. We should not bow to the pressure of marketing departments when they say “Oh, it’ll be better to present it as all fact! Nobody will know the difference!” In this day and age, it is easier than ever to suss out the fictions in “real truth” memoires and such.

I’m curious: do others think this could become a viable genre? What would you think if you found something labeled “fictive non-fiction”?

Comments

kalimac – Jan. 5th, 2009

It’s probably a good thing I never had to catalog a copy of Edmund Morris’s Dutch, because I would have cataloged and classed it as a novel.

Actually, this isn’t a new problem. I’ve seen a 1950s series of children’s books about various scientific and engineering careers. (Several of them were written by Julian May.) They’re in the form of thinly-plotted novels about kids interested in these careers who have great wads of factual expository lumps dumped at them. LC had no trouble classifying them as non-fiction.

scribblerworks – Jan. 5th, 2009

Intersting. I had the vague feeling it was not that new an approach (I did fleetingly consider the “educating the young through stories” bit).

I do think we could do with more public discussion of the form, though.

godswraith – Jan. 5th, 2009

Fictive non-fiction has a better ring than Lies Based On Truth. 🙂

scribblerworks – Jan. 5th, 2009

Oh, definitely! Heh.

sartorias – Jan. 5th, 2009

This isn’t new–fictional memoirs are a subgenre, as have been fictionalized history clear back since before Jane Austen made fun of them in Northanger and in Persuasion.

hand2hand – Jan. 5th, 2009

What about creative nonfiction? Wouldn’t that be very similar to what you’re talking about?

A great example of dramatized real history is “The Killer Angels” about the battle of Gettysburg.

“Dutch”, unfortunately, just made me mad.

Also apparently people are comfortable with memoir as a genre being “not quite accurate or even true.” poetic license, poetic truth and all that. Mark Doty wrote about that recently in, i believe, Writers & Poets magazine?

scribblerworks – Jan. 5th, 2009

Speaking for myself, I don’t find the term “creative non-fiction” at all helpful in the matter of gaging whether or not parts have been fictionalized.

But, having looked up some uses of it, yes, my term could be applied to such things.

But I would contest the accuracy of your last statment there, regarding the acceptability or “comfortableness” with which fictive memoirs are being received. The reactions to the revelation that Frey’s A Million Little Pieces was largely fictive (even if based on some of his own experiences) would indicate that there is a high expectation that memoirs will not be fictive.

It’s a fine line to tread, I think. I really suspect that if Frey had presented his book not as true facts about his own life, but a fictive rendering of things he and others had experienced, he would not have gotten into the trouble he did.

hand2hand – Jan. 6th, 2009

Indeed; the Frey thing and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil“, back in the day, and of course “Dutch” show how no one can really agree on where the boundaries lie.

My training was in journalism, so I kind of take a very strict view of the line between fiction and nonfiction, but I’ve learned that opinions among English scholars and writers do vary.

Memoir seems particularly sticky and full of disagreement on what is acceptable.

I was at a memoir writing workshop once where the instructor said conflating characters and making up dialog was okay. I boggled. But again: my training was different.

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Website Update December 23, 2008

Posted on December 23, 2008 by Sarah Beach

Actually, just a brief warning, in case someone’s looking for the Phorum.  Hackers had redirected the link.  This is apparently a hack of Phorum, and not my site, as Dixonverse.net has also had the same thing happen to its Phorum message board.  Clicking the link for my message board will take you to a Russian blog.

 It’s going to take a while to sort this out.  Fortunately for me (at least), there’s precious little traffic to my board at present.  I hope to get either the matter corrected, or a new solution set up in the near future.

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Loscon 2008

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Sarah Beach

I’d meant to post about Mythcon back some time ago.  But now I’ve misplace the program listings, which I meant to use to describe the things I’d attended.  Oh well.  I’ll just say, aside from some interesting glitches regarding the location site, the conference itself went off well.  Very enjoyable.

 Instead, I’ll post about attending Loscon this year.  The annual convention for the Los Angeles Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, it’s held Thanksgiving weekend, and draws a pretty good crowd.  I’ve know about it for a long time (several of my friends attend it regularly), but I’d never gone before.  I’m not sure why, other than being a cave-dwelling stuck-in-the-mud lump.  But this year, two of my cohorts for the Mythcon 40 committee mentioned they’d be attending, and I was inspired to look at the programming list online.  And got hooked.  My friend Sherwood Smith was on a number of panels, and she offered me her guest membership (meaning I wouldn’t have to pay more than the parking).  So, then I had no excuse.

 Down I went to the Airport Marriott on Friday, and got myself registered.  I stopped by to chat with Lisa Harrigan who was manning tablespace with information about the Mythopoeic Society and Mythcon 40.  And then I began indulging in the programming.

Partly because of my efforts in getting The Scribbler’s Guide to the Land of Myth out into the marketplace, and because of wanting to apply myself even more seriously to my writing, I ended up attending a lot of programming about writing.  But I didn’t mind it.  Even so, one of the panels was about turning comic books to movies.  That was an interesting panel discussion (Len Wein, Lee Whiteside, Marv Wolfman and the ever entertaining J. Michael Straczynski).  During the Q&A part, I got in a question for which the answers were very interesting: I asked the panelists, excluding their own materials, what comic book would they really like to see as a movie?  JMS very promptly said Cerebus.  Marv and (I think it was) Lee both said Green Lantern.  A later panel was supposedly a discussion about “Our Fascination with Evil”.  The discussion itself ended up wandering around different aspects of the issue.

The Saturday programming included still more panels on various aspects of writing.  I chuckled to myself that I was hooked on them right now, mainly because I’ve been procrastinating working on my own writing.  And in fact, the first panel was titled “What I Do When I Should Be Writing”.  I would probably have attended this anyway, but my friend Diana Gyler (Scholar Guest of Honor for Mythcon 40) was on the panel.  It was fun comparing notes on what we do to avoid writing, but we also touched on how writers occasionally avoid writing because their brains are working out problems of some sort.  From there I went to a panel titled “Page 119”.  The panelists read page 119 of various works and then invited the attendees to make comments about the nature of the story, the quality of the writing, whether or not they’d want to know more about the story.  It was actually rather fun: plus I started drawing up a list of books I’m going to have to check out.  I attended an afternoon panel called “Intermediate Writing” mainly because Sherwood was on it.  But the discussion was stimulating.  And in the middle of it, I got inspired with an idea for an SF short story (I’ll probably write about it on LiveJournal). 

After that panel, Sherwood and I and two friends of hers took ourselves upstairs to the sports bar to have something to eat.  We had a fun conversation over the food, the wonderful sort of geek out that happens when you are in the company of like-minded people.

The next morning, I ran into Sherwood entering the hotel – which amused us, as we’d walked out together the night before.  (Yes, I skipped church on the first Sunday of Advent! Tsk!)  The first panel I attended was “How to Do Research”.  And once it began, I sort of had to admit that I was something of a ringer, since I had 18 years experience researching on Jeopardy!  This admission got me corralled onto the panel.  But it was interesting hearing the different backgrounds people brought to their research (Barbara Hambly told a fascinating anecdote about a research trip to Istanbul).  I really enjoyed it.  Two panels on Fanstasy (“Fantasy – How Can It Be Good?” & “‘Realistic’ Fantasy – An Oxymoron?”) were sandwiched around one on Religion in SF books & movies.  The religion panel was a very good discussion (and no holy wars broke out at all! Heh).  The other two panels had some overlapping panelists, which ended up extending the discussion from the first panel into the second one.  But in the latter panel, the consensus clearly became that realism of presentation, in details and character, is very important for the success of good fantasy, so the title of the panel was sort of pointless, rather than an impossibility.

 All in all, I came home from the convention rather rejuvenated in my “writing spirits”, which is a very good feeling.  Except, of course, that I have to get over that procrastination thing.

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Confluence of Inspirations

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Sarah Beach

(Originally posted on LiveJournal)

I attended Loscon this last weekend, and had a great time. The various discussions gave me a real lift in the spirits, re-energizing my writing impulses. (I talk more fully about the whole Loscon experience here)

Anyway, in the middle of one of the panels, a fit of inspiration hit me.

Recently, I’d been mulling over various options regarding… well, to put it baldly, making money writing. For many years now, my thinking has been focused entirely on screenwriting and novels. I hadn’t tried my hand at short-story writing (per se) since my days as an undergrad. I suppose you could consider comic book scripting as a form of short-story writing, but I tend to think of it more as related to screenwriting (the full effect of the story will be achieved by a collaborative effort with others in both comics & screenwriting).

Aym Geronimo

Aym Geronimo

But a couple of months ago, a friend, J. Morgan Neal, asked me to write a prose short story based on his comic book creation Aym Geronimo & her Post-Modern Pioneers. He wanted the stories November 1 – he’s intending to publish the book as print-on-demand, and had asked several writers he knows to write stories. Even though I’d had nearly two months’ notice on this story, I put it off and put it off. Part of that was feeling unsure that I had a handle on his character – I didn’t want to mangle her, or sound an off note. I’d had a couple of IM chats with John about his characters. But I still put it off. Until about 2 days before his deadline. Then I corralled all my various thoughts for the story, sat down, and pounded out the story, trying to keep it tight, tense and exciting. I was pretty satisfied with it. And was happy when the esteemed Mr. Neal was pleased as well.

That got me thinking again about short-stories. I even went so far as to look up Fantasy & Science Fiction in the 2009 Writers Market, and recheck their submissions requirements. I had submitted a couple of stories to them back when I was an undergraduate (I still have the form letter rejection slips!). And yes, they were still saying that they needed more hard science stories. Not exactly my forte, but not impossible for me.

Anyway, as I sat in this panel at Loscon, I remembered an encounter I’d had at ComicCon this last summer. At one point in the weekend, I’d sat down at a table to take a break and got into a conversation with the other woman at the table. When I’d asked what she did, she said she was into comic and desgining jewelry. But I went on and drew her out about her day-job. Turns out she’s an engineer and designs turbines. My father was an electrical engineer and designed power plants, so I knew a thing or two about turbines. I went on to draw her out further about that, and she started to light up inside. She mentioned how some students she had studied with had left engineering for other things, but she really loved designing turbines. It turned out to be a very vivid encounter, and it came back very clearly to me during this panel.

TurbineIt also arrived with a title in tow, that won’t be shaken off: “The Beauty of Turbines”.

I was jazzed — even though all I had was this intriguing title, and the memory of that woman’s love of designing turbines.

When I got home, I fired up the computer, dashed off two intro paragraphs to the story (don’t know yet if they will stay through the writing process). Then I proceeded to ask myself a bunch of questions about what the story would be: what would the conflict be, the opposition? What was the challenge to her love for turbines? As the ideas flowed out, some of them surprised me — a lot. “I didn’t know the story was going to involve that!” I thought of one particular element. But it seems to have come together very nicely, even so. I still have to do some more research about some aspects of it – not being an engineer, I’m not up on the latest aspects of power generation.

But I just love this feeling of inspiration and work coming together in a very promising idea.

It’ll be great…. as long as I don’t continue to procrastinate.

Comments

sartorias – Dec. 2nd, 2008

Yay! Go for it!

scribblerworks – Dec. 2nd, 2008

Doing more work on it today! Heh. “Strike while the iron is hot!”

godswraith – Dec. 2nd, 2008

I love that story. And I love the story title. I often start writing projects for the stage by first getting a good name 🙂

T

scribblerworks – Dec. 2nd, 2008

Thanks. And I agree, a really good name can hold you to a project for a long, long time. (Another example of that for me is a play I have sitting partially completed: its title is “The Wrecks of Glory”.)

kalimac – Dec. 2nd, 2008

Sounds neat.

I’m interested in writers’ career histories – traditionally most genre SF writers, for instance, start with short stories, then most of them move gradually to writing novels and pretty much give short stories up except for an occasional one. But in the last 30 years or so many more writers in the field have started out with novels than were formerly common.

scribblerworks – Dec. 2nd, 2008

I think it’s true that writing short stories is being treated as a lesser thing these days. I think some of that has to do with money: you’re just plain not going to make as much money writing a short story as you will writing a novel. And I find it disappointing that “mere money” should become such a controlling factor.

But beyond that… You spend the same amount of time creating the “world context” for a short story as you might getting the initial idea for a novel. You might not carry the world-building through to as much detail as you would for a novel, but it still has to be done.

But I also think that for a really good short story, the writer has to focus in much tighter on the story in a craft sense than you do for a novel. In a novel, you can indulge yourself in presenting the context, spending a chapter on set-up of characters and setting. You don’t have that amount of space in a short story.

When I actually sat down to write the story for my friend, I realized it did need to be tighter than I was used to writing. That more needed to be conveyed by narration than I might do in a novel (where you have the space for lots of dialogue). The challenge of conveying “the same picture” but with tighter presentation, well, it was fun to meet. It reminded me of a story-telling form that I haven’t practiced in a while.

So… I like the challenge of this story. I admit that venturing into attempting even a sort of hard science story is unsettling. Will I make an incredible theoretical gaff? Have I overlooked something that more knowledgable SF writers would know off their cuffs? Can I make it credible? I don’t know. But I want to try. The prospect is fun — like standing beside the toboggan looking down the steep slope of the run; soon, I’ll jump on the toboggan, hold onto the grip-rope and hurl down that slope, the wind whipping the skin of my face, a complete adreneline rush.

🙂

kalimac – Dec. 2nd, 2008

The question in my mind is not why the short-story writers turn to novels – they are indeed, as you say, less work per page and more remunerative – but why some eventual novelists begin with shorts and some don’t. I guessed that, at least in the days when magazines propelled the SF field, shorts were easier to sell, and it may also be easier for beginning writers to work on the smaller canvas. But if the latter is true, then how have other writers plunged straight into successful novel-dom without the smaller-scale practice?

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The Age of Entitlement

Posted on September 26, 2008 by Sarah Beach

(Originally posted on LiveJournal)

No cell phone use signI’ve been overdue scheduling a follow-up doctor’s appointment. Back late in May, my (then) doctor changed the dosage level on one of my medication (the one for my blood sugar levels). Plus, I’d taken a sleep apnea test, and the results of that need to be discussed with my primary physician. The glitch in all this is that Kaiser initially messed up my COBRA coverage for two months (paid for, but Kaiser said I wasn’t a member), plus the fact that the doctor I’ve had the last three years is moving on, so I needed to get a new primary physician.

Anyway, I made the appointment yesterday with the new doctor, and told the appointment clerk that I expected blood tests would need to be done the week before the appointment, so the new doctor would have the latest readings. She put me in the system. I did the overnight fasting thing, and went to Kaiser’s lab this morning.

Now, in the last couple of years, I’ve spent some time in Kaiser waiting room, and I know that not everyone pays attention to the signs posted all over the place about No Cell Phones. I once watched a woman in the waiting room for an eye exam, sit down directly opposite a very large version of such signs and proceed to make several calls on her cell phone. I guess she really needed the eye exam.

Now, the lab I visited to day is immediately next door to one of their X-ray labs, and on a floor where other tests are run… with sensitive electronic instruments.

So, I’m standing in the line, waiting my turn with the check-in clerk, and the guy that comes in behind me is going on over his Bbluetooth in a rather loud, carrying voice. And my Rude-o-meter flashes on.

Usually, I just roll my eyes at these people who ignore the signs that are posted throughout all the Kaiser buildings. Today, however, being in a more mellow mood, I turned to the guy (he’d finished the call by now, by the way), and point out to him, that there, immediately in front of us beside the check-in clerks was a small version of the sign saying “No Cell Phones”. I did it pleasantly, with a smile.

I was then promptly treated to the worst case of Automatic Rudeness I’d encountered in a long time. He snapped back at me, “I have to work!” “While you’re getting hospital lab tests done?” I wondered. Instead, I replied, “Cell phones can disrupt equipment. We’re right next to an X-ray lab.” “And how do you know that?” snitted Mr. Politeness Incarnate. “Uh, I can read signs for one thing.” “Wow. You know all that about equipment! You can read signs. Say, I really liked that Mel Gibson movie, Signs. Did you see that too?”

By this time, it was my turn to speak to the clerk, so I left Mr. Can’t Keep His Mouth Shut behind, though he continued to mutter for a moment about “signs”.

Later, when I was leaving the building, it occured to me that I should have shot down his using the movie reference to snipe at me by saying, “Oh, sorry. I understand now. You. Can’t. Read!”

Why is it that people think that because they can’t see the equipment in question, it therefore doesn’t matter whether they use the cell phones in hospitals? Are they thinking that the walls are sufficient insolation for whatever discruption cell phone waves might create? Do they think that just because the airline prohibition of cell phone use on take-off and landing is a precaution, that it is completely unnecessary in hospitals?

That’s one thing. But the other was the guy’s automatic rudeness to my pointing out the Rules of the establishment we were in. Frankly, if the hospital wants to keep people from using cell phones simply to keep the noise level down, it remains their right to request it. They’re not obliged to give reasons for it. But I, of course, committed a great social infraction by intruding on his Sense of Entitlement by pointing out that he was not entitled to do what he wanted.

He obviously felt justified in sneering at me: what could I possibly know about anything? There I was, overweight, in casual clothes, un-made-up. Obviously, I knew nothing about anything. I was really, really tempted to answer his question about how I knew such things as cell phones affecting equipment by saying: “First, the hospital itself says so, and I’d think they’d know whether or not it was true. Secondly, I actually have a Master’s degree – what’s your highest level of education? Thirdly, I can read, and the signs request that people not use cell phones in the building, period. Fourth, I’ve spent 18 years doing research for the game show Jeopardy! which has included verifying scientific facts, including such things at the effects of cell phones. And lastly, I’m the daughter of an electrical engineer, and learned from my father far more about electronic interaction than you ever dreamed of. What are your credentials beyond rudeness?”

It would have been satisfying. But would have taken much more effort than the guy was worth.

So, I leave the parking structure after having my blood drawn. While I’m at the corner, waiting to make a left turn, a guy in an expensive vehicle (an Escalade, I believe), made a left turn onto the street I was on. One handed, because he was talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving!

The California law against holding a cell phone and talking on it while driving has only been in effect since July 1. But I suppose, because he’s driving a Cadillac, he thinks that he’s exempt from the rule.

How did these people acquire this sense of entitlement? What makes them think that they are the exception to the rules that are put in place for the benefit of everyone? And on top of that, where do they get the idea that rudeness is the way to respond to someone giving them a polite, friendly warning? (Seriously, I did not snit at the guy in the lab line. I just smiled and said “You’re not supposed to use cell phones in the building.”)

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The Power of the Physical Object

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Sarah Beach

(Originally posted on LiveJournal)

It’s something I talk about when telling friends about how to get comic book editors’ attention: write a letter and mail it snail mail. The physical object has power – a physical letter with your signature on it makes a surer impression than a posting on a message board or an email to the editor. Indeed, a friend and I were exchanging email comments recently about this — we’d gotten together while I was on my recent trip, and I sent her an actual card thanking her for the evening (well, it was a pretty card, too – selected with her in mind).

Yesterday, I’d gone out on an errand, and when I returned, there was a package on my doorstep. My heart jumped, and I went “Oooo!”

Physical copy of the Scribbler's Guide to the Land of MythYou see, I have been expecting this last week the arrival of the physical proof copy of The Scribbler’s Guide to the Land of Myth. I have been in an excited anticipation at the prospect of seeing at long last the physical manifestation of all my work.

Alas, it was not the proof, but merely some other item that I had ordered.

Today, however, the UPS man arrived at my door, with a package I had to sign for. This is it! I thought. And it was!

Here it is, at long last. It’s physical. It’s real. It’s here.

I’d chosen the 7 1/2″ x 10″ size because the manuscript was long. To have it in hand confirmed the rightness of that choice. It’s 432 pages long, but at that size page, the typeface chosen is just the right size. I could have chosen a smaller size, but I think any smaller it would give readers headaches. This is just right.

There are some things that seem odd, but they are livable. The margins are much narrower than I expected. And because it’s a paperback, the flexibility of the spine occasionally creates the illusion that the printing is slightly skewed – even though closer examination proves it is not.

Then, alas, there are possible minor errors. Even though I spent considerable time reviewing the manuscript proof, just flipping through the end pages, I spotted two “problems”: one title didn’t get italicized in the notes, and in another place I didn’t add some information at the bottom of something (the information is actually available elsewhere, but this was a redundancy I had set up for other works and overlooked it on this one). They may in fact be the only errors still left in the book. But there has been such a long delay in getting this work into print, I will probably leave those points uncorrected (in “this edition” as it were). They are more stylistic matters important to my aesthetic than they are content matters important to the readers. I’ll do some more thumbing through it, but I expect I will approve it as is tonight, which means the whole publication mechanism will begin turning.

Of course, all of a sudden, now that it is here, I realize I have a LOT of work to do now! I have to get the website for the book up and ready. I have to make certain contacts in order to set up a possible launch party in the near future. I have to find what …. the PRICE of the book will be! (BookSurge apparently is the one who sets the price on the book, but their methods of determining that are not explained on the website. I need to contact someone to find out that information.)

But mostly, there’s this really strong impulse to take the proof book and run around going “Look! Looky! Isn’t this cool!?! Don’t you want one? You WILL want one! Looky!”

I sat several days with the printout of the galley on my lap, going through the thing. But somehow, the individual pages of the printout did not have the same physicality of the actual book. It’s not bound, for one thing. It didn’t have an actual cover, for another – especially not the cover with the artwork on it.

I am very, very happy. And now I have to get very, very busy to get the creature out into the hands of readers.

Comments

wellinghall – Sep. 3rd, 2008

Excellent news!

scribblerworks – Sep. 3rd, 2008

Thank you!

sartorias – Sep. 3rd, 2008

Congrats!

scribblerworks – Sep. 3rd, 2008

Thanks! I’ll be working on getting at least a page up on the book’s own website tonight. It’s exciting and weird.

kalimac – Sep. 4th, 2008

Yes! Congratulations; this is exciting. (Index look OK?)

scribblerworks – Sep. 4th, 2008

The index looks terrific, and much more importantly — USEFUL!!!

Thanks ever so much, once again!

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New York Tourist, Part Two

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Sarah Beach

My second day in Manhattan, I walked over to Columbus Circle and caught the A Train, to go up to the Cloisters.  My first visit to Manhattan, back in 1999, I had looked at the subway maps, and thought, “Why get off at the stop they indicate, where there’s a stop after that that’s much closer to the museum?” Ha.  There’s a reason the area is called “Washington Heights“.  The recommended stop at 190th has an elevator that takes you up to the level of the park, while the other stop is at the bottom of a very steep hill.  Oh, you can walk up it, there are walkways — as I learned in 1999.  But it really is a climb.

The grounds of the Fort Tryon park are very lovely.  I got bunches of pictures as I walked the distance to the museum.  But then came the museum.

The Cloisters

The Cloisters

 

If you don’t know, the museum contains much of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of medieval works.  Since I am a medievalist, that’s why this museum is so special for me.

The Cloisters

The Cloisters

 

The building is constructed of parts of genuine structures imported from Europe, so even the architecture is part of the exhibit.  Some might think it a very odd way of proceeding, but to my thinking, it’s entirely appropriate for a museum of the medieval.  People of the Middle Ages collected things that appealed to them, and they didn’t particularly care if it was “in fashion”.  The ecclecticism is just right.

I wandered through the building, taking pleasure in the atmosphere.  One of the cloister gardens also serves as the museum restaurant, so I got a sandwich and beverage and sat enjoying the sunlight falling into the garden.  There was a population of small birds – sparrows, I think – in the garden, who would perch on a column in the center of the square, over the little fountain that played there.  Periodically, they would swoop to the ledge of the cloister arcade on one side or another, waiting for a patron to get up and leave the table.  The birds would then hop to the floor and pick at any crumbs that had fallen.  And if no one sat down promptly, they would hop up to the table itself.  Then in a swoosh, they would be back to the center column.  I enjoyed watching them for some time after I’d finished my sandwich.  (Besides, my feet were a bit tired, and they didn’t mind the least that I was sitting and not moving.)

For me, the highlight of a visit to the Cloisters (yes, after only two visits, I have my little rituals), is in the Treasury, to view the (as it is now called) Cloisters Cross.  Carved from walrus (I believe) ivory, the intricate work on the cross is fascinating to me.  When you think about it, it is an amazing work, for it is not a tiny cross.  There is a detailed book (coffee table sized) on the cross and its history, which I bought on my first visit.  I recommend that to those who don’t know of the cross.

The Cloisters Cross

The Cloisters Cross

In the gift shop, I picked up a book on the museum’s collection.  I hadn’t figured out how to turn off the flash on my camera, and they won’t let you take flash pictures in the museum.  Besides, the professional photographers would have gotten better pictures of the interiors and objects than I could hope for.  However, the time came to head back, since I had a dinner date that evening, and I wanted to shower before then.

My dinner date was with Dennis O’Neil and his wife Marifran.  Denny is a noted comic book writer and editor, now mostly retired.  I have long admired his work, as it had a powerful impact on me (way back when) about what actually could be done with storytelling in comic book form.  Then in the late 1990s I prepared my paper on Green Arrow and Robin Hood by writing and asking Denny some questions about his work on the comic book character.  He very graciously answered them.  A few years later, when Jeopardy! first visited New York, it turned out Denny and his wife were fans of the show.  So I got them tickets to the taping – and we’ve been friends since.

They are a delightful couple, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with them over dinner (at an Indian restaurant – I hadn’t eaten Indian food in quite a while, but it was delicious!).  We talked about writing and storytelling generally.  Denny teaches one course on comic book writing.  Marifran is also a teacher, so I enjoyed listening to them talk about what the students respond to these days.  I so enjoyed the evening, that I almost forgot to take a picture of them.  But I remembered at the last minute, and got this delightful photo.

Denny & Marifran O'Neil

Denny & Marifran O’Neil

 

To my regret, Denny beat me to the check (I’d wanted to treat).  That was sweet of him.  So, instead, I told him that my book on mythic motifs, The Scribbler’s Guide to the Land of Myth (which had been inspired by a conversation we’d had about myth back in 1999), was dedicated to him.  He was very touched by that news.  I had so much wanted to be able to hand him his copy in person, but the BookSurge process has taken longer than I anticipated.  So I at least got to tell him that much in person.

1700 Broadway

1700 Broadway

The next day, I visited the offices of DC Comics at 1700 Broadway, and had a couple of nice chats with two of the editors, Bob Schreck (who works on the Vertigo imprint) and Matt Idelson.  I like talking with them at conventions, but it was really nice to have a conversation that isn’t suffering from the distractions of a con going on around us.  I really appreciated the time they gave me, too, since it was a real work day for them, and they each gave me about a half hour out of their time.  I would dearly love to be in a position to be writing for them (and they know that full well), but I wasn’t going to make a pest of myself begging for a writing gig.  (Well, I did ask Matt about opportunities, but accepted that there was nothing at hand right now).

After that, I took the subway down to the Village, since friends had recommended the Strand Bookstore and its 18 miles of shelves.  Oooooo, a bookstore!  Unfortunately for me, my feet were getting a bit tired of all this walking (remember, not only the trudging I’d been doing in Manhattan and Philly, but also recently at ComicCon).  Plus, it was very, very humid inside the Strand – and I was getting a bit dehydrated.  Even so, I did some prowling.  What a fascinating place, and I know should I get back to Manhattan again, the bookstore will be placed on the agenda.  I ended up buying four books there.

By the time I left the Strand, I realized it was still too early to go back to the hotel (must give housekeeping time to do their magic).  I’d vaguely wondered what to do with my tired self as I walked back toward Union Square.  The answer presented itself in a cineplex — so I saw The Mummy sequel there!  That was a fun two hours or so.

Back to the hotel to shower and change, because I had gotten a ticket to see the stage show Legally Blonde.  A few weeks before, listening to a show tunes channel, I’d heard the “Blood in the Water” number from the show, and got intrigued.  It’s a light, fluffy show, but enjoyable.  The cast was very high energy, and the audience very responsive.  Afterward, I walked the distance back up Seventh Avenue to the Wellington.  And “up” is the operative word.  Not only was it in the “uptown” direction, it was also a bit uphill.  I was pleased to get back to the hotel.

The next day, I departed Manhattan, catching the Amtrak train to Hartford, Connecticut for Mythcon in New Britain, at the Central Connecticut State University.  But that would be yet another post.

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New York Tourist, Part One

Posted on August 30, 2008 by Sarah Beach

On Monday, August 11, my brother David and I took the train up to Manhattan.  I really enjoyed his company, and conversing with him on the ride.  We got into Penn Station, and got a cab to the Wellington Hotel, where I had a reservation.  It was about 11:30 am when we got there, ahead of the check-in time, so my room wasn’t ready yet.  But I left my bags in the check room, and then the two of us went off to a dock on the Hudson off 42nd Street, where the Circle Line tours begin.

The following picture is of the Wellington.  My room ended up being on the 22nd floor, a corner room right above 7th Avenue and 55th Street.  In the picture,  I think it’s the third one down from the top.  I really liked it.

Wellington Hotel

Wellington Hotel in Manhattan

 

Anyway, off we went to the Circle Line.  When we arrived at the dock it was sunny in Manhattan, but over on the Jersey side of the river there were dark clouds.  But I figured that if it did rain, it would be sporatic and blow over.

As out boat pulled away from the dock, an earlier cruise was returning.

Circle Line boat

Circle Line boat

 

Sure enough, as we headed downriver, the rain came down.  Those of us who had been outside on the back upper deck scurried inside.  But as I suspected, the rain didn’t last long.  By the time we passed Ellis Island, it was gone, and the rest of the cruise was precipitation free.

When you’re on the water, and you see the Statue of Liberty, she really is compelling.  You end up taking pictures you know merely duplicate ones taken by professional photographer, photos that adorn thousands of postcards.  But I think there’s always that powerful reaction of I took this shot!  So, I’ll inflict my picture of Lady Liberty on you.

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty

 

The boat turned back from the Statue and headed back toward Manhattan, this time going up the East River.

It’s on the East River where there are (at present) four art installations of waterfalls.  I’d seen a story on the installations on Good Morning America the day they were turned on, so I was pleased that I was going to see them.  They were part of the reason I wanted to take the Circle Line tour.  I did get pictures of all four, but I’m only going to post two of them (You don’t need my whole travel album, after all – I took over a hundred pictures on the cruise! Ah, the wonders of a 2 gig chip in the camera!).

The first of the four installations.  Over all, I liked them, but felt that the scaffolding sort of detracted from the visual of the falling water.  Not sure how I’d have addressed that problem if it had be my work, though.

Brooklyn waterfall installation

Waterfall installation in Brooklyn

 

The second picture is of the installation under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge waterfall installation

Waterfall installation under the Brooklyn Bridge

 

Going up the East River was a nice easy trip.  You get reminded of just how much is packed onto the island of Manhattan.  Past the United Nations buildings, one of Trumps buildings, on the other side of the river, the old Yankees Stadium (the House that Ruth Built) which is going to come down soon, Gracie Manor (didn’t get a very good picture of that, due to foliage from trees on the grounds).

The boat then turns up the Harlem River and heads toward the Hudson.  There’s a swing bridge over the Harlem at one point that trains use, and we had to wait while a train headed north.  Once the train was past, the bridge swung open for us, and we moved forward into the Hudson.

View up the Hudson River

View up the Hudson River

At the north end of Manhattan, you get a great view up the Hudson valley.  The Jersey Palisades stand in their virgin condition, due to the forethought of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.  He wanted the view across the river from the Fort Tyron park in the Washington Heights to keep the pristine view that Henry Hudson would have had when he explored up the river.  So he and other patrons bought up the riverside properties in Jersey and the landscape has been protected since.

George Washington Bridge

George Washington Bridge

I’ve always liked the look of the George Washington Bridge, so I took this picture as we passed under it.  As with the Liberty pictures, I realized that professionals have taken many pictures of the bridge.  But this one is mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, back we returned to the dock.  My brother and I parted company at last, since he needed to catch a train back home.  I returned to the hotel and finally checked in.  And was delighted with the view down Seventh Avenue from one of my windows.

view of 7th Avenue

View of 7th Avenue from my hotel room

 

Since this post is now getting kind of long, I’ll finish it here, and pick up in Part Two

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Philadelphia Tourist

Posted on August 24, 2008 by Sarah Beach

I’m finally getting around to posting at least some pictures from my recent trip to the East Coast.

The first stage was a visit to the Philadelphia area and my brother David & sister-in-law Shirley.  The time I spent with my family back during Thanksgiving, going through my mother’s house, reminded me that I actually do enjoy my siblings.  So the fact that Mythcon this year was in Connecticut gave me an excuse to go visit.  It turned out that their son Justin was also at home, so I got to get to know him better as well.  It was very amusing to watch Justin call his father on his bull, but it was also very funny to see Justin carrying on and arguing in Precise David Mode. Boy! Did it take me back! Heh.

Anyway, David and Justin graciously hosted me to a very touristy visit to the historic areas of Philadelphia.  All the years they’ve lived in the Philly suburbs, and they hadn’t “seen the sights”.  It was a lot of walking, but worth it.

Of course, we checked out the Liberty Bell.

Liberty Bell

Liberty Bell

 

It took a bit of patience to get this shot without bunches of people posing in front of the Bell.  I understand the impulse, that “I was there!” documentation.  But I just wanted a shot of the Bell.  (I did get one with my brother & nephew in front of it, but haven’t uploaded it)  My brother appreciated the layout of the Bell’s housing, with this window perfectly lined up with Independence Hall in the background.  He called that very smart thinking.  It does make for a nice picture!

We missed the timing for a tour of the inside of Independence Hall, and instead had lunch around the plaza.  From there, we checked out the museum that’s dedicated to the Constitution.  Multimedia displays and very interesting. The finale of the circuit of the Constitution museum is what is called Signer’s Hall.  I believe it is based on a painting of the signing of the Constitution.  What they’ve done is create full size bronze statues of the Signers positions throughout this Hall, and visitors can move amongst the figures.

Like this picture of my nephew Justin resting his arm on the sholder of one of the figures.

Justin among the statues

Justin with the statues in the Constitution Room

 

The interactive part of this room is a visitor’s book opened on the Signing Table.  It’s partly just a visitor’s book where you can sign your name, but it’s also a challenge of whether or not you would put your signature to this radical new document, the Constitution.  I did.

Guest book in Constitution Room

Sign the guest book

 

From there we took the tour of downtown Philly in the Ducks — amphibious trucks built during World War II.  My brother appreciated it, in that he didn’t know where many of the landmarks were, and once you see them from the Duck, you realize that some of them would be very nice destinations — like the Betsy Ross House, which has a lovely garden beside it that is a nice place to stop.  Then they took the Duck out on the river!  It cruises downriver a bit, then turns back to the ramp.  “Duck” is a good name for the vehicle when it’s on the water — it waddles along, not particularly fast or manouverable.  But it definitely is amphibious.  Unfortunately, my camera battery gave out just as we reached the Duck part of our excursion, so I didn’t get any pictures of it.  As part of the tour, the tourists are given quackers, which are cheerfully blown when we were on the water.  My 20 year old nephew began with some disdain for this corny bit of entertainment, but the silly fun of the quackers is infectious, and he gave into it, quacking away with the rest of us as we came back up on land.

The next day, David and Shirley and I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum.  We didn’t see the whole museum, but we did spend a lot of time on the main floor.  The highlight of this for me was the collection of Impressionist paintings.  It’s a favorite period of mine.  And although Van Gogh is a favorite artist of mine, this was the first time I’d seen so many Monets in person.  I was entranced.  I shall now have to do some studying of Monet.  This excursion turned out to be more important to me personally than I’d expected.  This is mainly because I’m looking forward to getting back into doing more artwork, painting in particular.  Seeing these paintings was like having a thirst you didn’t know existed quenched with clear crisp water.  I then treated David and Shirley to the brunch buffet the museum restaurant offered.  That was good food!

Justin sleeping

Justin’s goodbye

I’d arrived Friday evening.  Monday morning I headed up to New York City by train.  My brother took the day off to go with me (but that’s another post).  I should note that Justin had given up his bedroom for me for the duration of the visit.  I really appreciated it.  Here’s my nephew offering his good-bye that morning.  Heh.

 

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Eyes and Sighs

Posted on August 24, 2008 by Sarah Beach

(Originally posted on LiveJournal)

Since I got back from my trip, I’ve been doing some work on my fantasy novel, The Ring of Adonel. Some of it has been typing onto the computer one chapter that had gotten skipped in typing (I do the first draft of the manuscript longhand). Another part of it has been actually moving forward with the story – which is exciting, as the story had been stalled at one spot for quite a long, long time.

Anyway, in typing the skipped chapter, I’ve been very conscious of the over-use of two things. Lots of sighs going on, and lots of references to eyes.

Twinkling eyes

Gah.

Now, admittedly, the chapter in question deals with the aftermath of a murder, the grief and other emotions. So on the one hand, it is natural that there would be a lot of sighing going on. But when I start really noticing it, it’s way too much. I see a word search in my future, not just on this particular chapter, but on everything else. Because if it’s cropping up too much there, it might be doing so elsewhere as well.

As for the eyes bit, that’s a bit more tricky. As many have pointed out, J.K. Rowling uses “twinkling eyes” too much. I can well understand the impulse to use the expression, especially since I’m tempted to it a lot myself. And in the ordinary course of events, we do tend to feel that eyes are very expressive. And in the case of my story, there is an additional factor that the appearance of the eyes has actual significance – in certain circumstances, it is indicative of the exercise of power, or of a particular state of existence. That being the case, I will have to be very, very careful about references to eyes in “ordinary” circumstances.

It’s one of those things that I start thinking of when I get beyond “just writing down the story”. Now that I’m back in gear in working on this novel, I’m also much more conscious of what will be needed to make it “publishing presentable”. But isn’t that what they say about serious writing? That it’s all about the REwriting? Heh.

But finding that I have these two stumbling blocks in my prose, it makes me wonder about what other writers find themselves tripping over. How about it? What words to you find yourself using to the extent of terminal redundancy?

Comments

sartorias – Aug. 24th, 2008

I have a file of what I call Irritating Phrases, that is, stuff I find way too often in my drafts. I am super conscious about eye cliches, so I don’t do those, but my characters end up nodding like those dolls on dashboards, or “turned and” when the action after is the important thing.

My irritaing phrases list is long, and searching on them and destroying them is horribly boring, but it’s the only way to force myself to “see” the text, and not the images.

scribblerworks – Aug. 25th, 2008

Dear me! “Nodding heads” Yes! (Nods head in agreement. 😉 )

I’m considering spreading out the various tasks here — write some new stuff, type some other stuff, rewrite some older stuff. I’m not sure whether this will be a good method or not, but I’m trying to get all stages of work caught up to the same point. I’m writing in chapter 14, just finished typing chapter 12, and still have to do serious revision of chapter 3.

The terrible thing is that I realized this afternoon while I was typing that I had not correctly coordinated the movements of two groups of people. I have my hero and his companions arriving to join another company an evening too early. So I need to write in a passage to fill out the day of travel for the larger company. Bleh.

Rewriting!

sartorias – Aug. 25th, 2008

For those I usually figure, transitions r your friend! 🙂

wild_patience – Aug. 24th, 2008

As long as the eyes aren’t whirling, I’m okay with them. That’s what threw me out of Newman’s Guinevere books.

scribblerworks  – Aug. 25th, 2008

“Whirling eyes”??? That’s a new one for me. What does it signify? Extreme eye-rolling?

Wow.

jpantalleresco – Aug. 25th, 2008

Repetition is my biggest problem. I tend to babble on in circles. And and but are the big words I had to clean out. I finished my first round of edits a month ago on my novel and most of it was just deleting those words.

I think we all have bad habits, especially when we get started in a book. The idea is what matters.

Look at the bright side. At least you caught your habit. That’s the first step to correcting it.

JP

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