I start a blog, write for a month, and then let it fall to the wayside slowly… It’s sad, really, and it means that I have pieces of writing littering the interwebs here and there… I have thus decided to put everything together here, on my own website, where it all should have been to begin with…

So the archive of this blog will slowly be populated by some ancient pieces of writing on art and photography, and also on writing, erotica, music, and, my latest crazy passion: bass building… It’s going to be a little bit of everything, and perhaps sometimes it won’t make sense, but I just want to have everything in one place so that you, faithful reader and friend, can have a glimpse of the mess of things that are going on in my head…

So hopefully my days as a serial blogger are over, and I can start enjoying the single blog life…

However, I’ve taken the habit of having a notebook with me at all times (I’ve actually ditched my wallet and use my moleskine to carry my cash and cards…) in order to jot down notes…

I’ve found that the typing process from written notes produces a better result, because of the editing that goes on when the typing happens. I also find that my ideas flow more easily with pen-to-paper, as it is always the way I’ve written, at least creative writing.

I had started a while ago an erotic novel, in french, and trying to get the story out when typing never worked for that particular story, which is now scattered in my papers at home. Maybe I’ll get a secomd notebook and work on that story as well during November… Or maybe I’ll make December another novel writing month…

At the rate I’m writing and with the general outline I have, I’ll end up with 40 000 words next spring, which is kind of underwhelming, to say the least. With november approaching I think I’ll follow Eliza Wyatt’slead and jump on the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is kind of a misnomer, considering the number of participants from across the globe…) bandwagon and write 50 000 words in a month. I can’t use my original story for the Return to the Old Earth, so I’m thinking spin-off. Something to flesh out the world and which could be a prequel or a sequel to the Return…

This means that I’ll have to get into writing gears on the Return, to get a large enough body of work before November starts, because once I’m in there, I’ll have to work only on that project…

In the meantime I’ll use this space as a idea mixing ground, throw some ideas around, and see what sticks… See you around!

Oh, and if you want to become one of my writing buddies on NaNoWriMo, I’m right here.

The main character I have in mind for this story is in part a walking cliché: a somewhat recluse scientist, called by destiny to become the unlikely hero that will save mankind. However, by placing him as the narrator, and having him be painfully aware of the absurdity of his position, I hope to be able to flesh him out a little more, and to connect a bit more to the reader. I am aware that this is in itself somewhat if a gimicky cliché by itself, but I’ll run with it, and see if it goes anywhere…

The two main storylines of the book are separated by three hundred years, so the cast of both storylines has to be distinct and completely separate. This limits the number of characters I can introduce and use in each story, otherwise it’s just going to become a jumble of characters that’s gonna be too confusing for the reader to follow.

So the part of the story set in the 30th century will be told through the eyes of the narrator, who is personally involved in the events. The part of the story set in the 27th century will be told by the same narrator, telling the story of what happened through his expertise as an historian. This means that the 27th century storyline can be a series of short “historical” stories of specific important episodes, but it could also be the story of one character, as told by the narrator.

I’m still not sure which way to go…

Some of my biggest influences come from fantasy, even if I mostly write sci-fi. I find that the cross-pollination between the genres leads to very interesting concepts. One of my projects is exploring those juxtapositions.

This is the result of one such juxtapositions:

Most of you will recognize the script of the One Ring, from Tolkien’s work. It says:

Mazauk kulat ziimarum. Maaduur kulat snagaum. Nirtumob iistal kulat durbum.

Which is Black Speech, the Language of evil and Darkness…

Translated, it says:
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
Which of course you recognize from Orwell’s 1984…

And the other way around we can get the Ring inscription in Newspeak, which could go something like:

One fingband to love all crimethinkers in unlight.

The Tolkien/Orwell merge is something I find very interesting, and I’m actually thinking about getting the Black Speech text as a tattoo at some point. So there you go, an humble attempt at bridging the genre gap…

I guess that means I have to find another title for my story, and read that book!

This brings to light one of the hardships of fantasy and sci-fi writers: trying to be original, and not step on anyone’s already published work on the way…