James Wilson's Blog
October 25, 2014
Some Very Bad Advice
Of old there was a saying said,
To sooth dark failure’s pain,
If at first you don’t succeed,
You should try and try again.
Full many a failure now lies behind,
Beneath oblivion’s cloak,
Whoever said that stupid saw,
I hope upon it choked.
And so I add a word or two,
To help those burdened souls,
Reminding them that failure stinks,
And upon their heads heap coals.
So if at first you don’t succeed,
Go get a sharper blade,
And if your very last shot fails,
Your shame will never fade.
If at first you stumble and fall,
Lie still and fake a cramp,
If all your plans should come to naught,
You can be a perfect tramp.
When failure breaks your heart and mind,
Shut up and quit that cryin’
What failures could be greater than,
old William Jennings Bryan,
When naughty folks your pathway hedge,
You could try a bigger gun,
And when humiliation rules,
Remember suicide's less fun,
When preaching makes you feel unworthy,
You can always punch the preacher,
And if your schoolwork's very poor,
You can still become a teacher,
�When you feel that no one cares,
Just skip a month of rent,
If someone makes you feel you’re poor,
Just tell him to get bent.
And when you feel you’re worthless,
Why then everything is gain,
And if you feel you can’t go on,
You can always fail again.
You think that failure hurts too much,
Well suicide hurts more,
At least that’s what I’ve always heard,
And funerals are such a bore.
If depression is your only friend,
There’s no need for you to grouse,
There's one without a single friend:
The Speaker of the House.
Each time you make a fool of self,
Pretend that you don’t care,
And when others think you’re dumb,
Just ask from them bus fare.
You lost your job, your house, your car,
Don’t worry the worst’s ahead,
You could’ve lost your life you know,
And you will...someday you’re dead.
So if at first you don’t succeed,
Arsenic won’t solve a thing,
'Cause even failures can do well,
Bob Dylan can’t even sing.
You can fail a million times,
And still retain your pride,
And if you lose that? Well my friend,
Shame's better than suicide.
To sooth dark failure’s pain,
If at first you don’t succeed,
You should try and try again.
Full many a failure now lies behind,
Beneath oblivion’s cloak,
Whoever said that stupid saw,
I hope upon it choked.
And so I add a word or two,
To help those burdened souls,
Reminding them that failure stinks,
And upon their heads heap coals.
So if at first you don’t succeed,
Go get a sharper blade,
And if your very last shot fails,
Your shame will never fade.
If at first you stumble and fall,
Lie still and fake a cramp,
If all your plans should come to naught,
You can be a perfect tramp.
When failure breaks your heart and mind,
Shut up and quit that cryin’
What failures could be greater than,
old William Jennings Bryan,
When naughty folks your pathway hedge,
You could try a bigger gun,
And when humiliation rules,
Remember suicide's less fun,
When preaching makes you feel unworthy,
You can always punch the preacher,
And if your schoolwork's very poor,
You can still become a teacher,
�When you feel that no one cares,
Just skip a month of rent,
If someone makes you feel you’re poor,
Just tell him to get bent.
And when you feel you’re worthless,
Why then everything is gain,
And if you feel you can’t go on,
You can always fail again.
You think that failure hurts too much,
Well suicide hurts more,
At least that’s what I’ve always heard,
And funerals are such a bore.
If depression is your only friend,
There’s no need for you to grouse,
There's one without a single friend:
The Speaker of the House.
Each time you make a fool of self,
Pretend that you don’t care,
And when others think you’re dumb,
Just ask from them bus fare.
You lost your job, your house, your car,
Don’t worry the worst’s ahead,
You could’ve lost your life you know,
And you will...someday you’re dead.
So if at first you don’t succeed,
Arsenic won’t solve a thing,
'Cause even failures can do well,
Bob Dylan can’t even sing.
You can fail a million times,
And still retain your pride,
And if you lose that? Well my friend,
Shame's better than suicide.
October 24, 2014
World-building Fun
I first started creating fantasy worlds at the tender age of 11 when I first played Dungeons & Dragons. I loved looking at the maps, reading about nations that never existed, and strange new races, so I made up my own. I must've created 500 before I turned 18, but I finally settled on two main worlds and worked on them extensively from about the age of 14. They were "Blackroote" and "the Circle." Both of them have since been thoroughly cannibalized into the "Sundered Spheres," where all three of my published novels take place. You can find out more about it at sundered spheres.com if you so desire.
Those early worlds taught me a lot--mostly how much I don't know. I wanted to make up a world worthy of Tolkien, yet I had to work against my indifferent education and grotesque ignorance. I've always been a nerd, though I have tried hard to deny or change it at times, and so I was blessed with the intellectual arrogance that comes not so much with intelligence, but from being constantly informed that one is extremely intelligent.
I suppose I was an exceptional child in some ways; not every nine-year-old reads "The Killer Angels" and not many have read "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" by age eleven. All my friends had read the last two, so it didn't seem that strange to me at the time.
I also read "The Lord of the Rings" at age eleven, and up to that point I had been a mainly military nerd. I became a fantasy freak from then on. I have read Tolkien at least once a year since that time, so I'm thoroughly acquainted with Middle Earth.
Tolkien's Middle Earth has few rivals. Some of the others who loom large over the world of fantasy didn't really bother much with making their world breathe. Barsoom is a bit of a joke, even though the stories are all kinds of fun, and the Hyborian Age only breathes because Howard was such a great storyteller; he infused life into an indifferent copy of dead cultures by sheer talent.
I don't think I have that kind of talent, so I opted for creating a world that was as realistic as possible outside of the requisite fantasy elements. Getting the balance right is always difficult; in some cases, like Westeros, the world is magic-poor, but still unrealistic in the non-fantasy elements. In others, like Xanth, there are really NO realistic elements and magic is ubiquitous; it's all fantasy (at least after the first book or two).
In my case I decided that magic would take the place of science. I even came up with a magical equivalent of the Industrial Revolution, and my very own version of Adam Smith to get it started. My novel "Errant Knight" takes place towards the beginning of the revolution, though few recognize what's happening yet. And my Adam Smith is set two centuries before that time, instead of causing an instant revolution the way the real person did.
Besides the published works, I've written several other stories and novels with different experiences with magic. Different peoples use and treat magic differently, but even those who try to resist eventually have to take it into account, because without it they are terribly vulnerable, just as science works today. Iran may be trying to maintain a 7th century social system, but they're still building nuclear reactors and trying to build the bomb. The same dynamic works in the Sundered Spheres, that those who refuse to accept the changes that come with entering that world still have to learn the mechanics even if they pretend to disbelieve the fundaments that make it possible.
And then there's the problem of realism: how much or how little? Take Westeros; the cynicism of so many of the characters I find ridiculous; you don't get that kind of hypocrisy without a sturdy religious structure to secretly subvert. The religion on Westeros is scarcely there; it's a warmed-over Wiccan kind of thing, which simply never has had the kind of social pull to bring out that level of rebellion. Pagan was a term of derision from the beginning; it comes from the quaint country practices of the rustics. Earlier tribalist cults also had no means for bringing out hypocrisy to the same degree; they were us/them 'religions' without any real concept of ethics outside of 'don't hurt our side' and 'everyone else is fair game.' It takes a universalist religion that is widely accepted to bring out the secretive wickedness such as is seen in Game of Thrones, yet no such religious social structure exists--and the scale of the nations is such that they simply couldn't exist without such a social structure. It's ten times the size of the Persian Empire without any unifying cultus. The Romans solved the problem with their Pantheon and the Greeks with their version of ecumenism, equating their twelve Olympians with twelve similar deities of other nations.
The religious aspect is seemingly missing from Tolkien, but he solves it with mysticism. The Valar are mentioned, and a few other hints exist, but there is remarkably little overtly mentioned religion in the story. Yet it underlies the story in many ways that are often missed today, and I think in part because it's not enough recognized. A medieval setting really requires an equivalent to the medieval church, but Tolkien is not really medieval. He borrowed heavily from history in many ways, and his world is Eastern Empire/Barbarian West, i.e. the Dark Ages, than medieval. He uses Gandalf as a sort of prophet and Christ figure, returning from death but without what Catholics refer to as the Passion. He's more like an Old Testament prophet, like an Elijah come back to advise a Justinian.
In my world the religion is much more involved than in most, not least because the deities are not deities; they're angels sent from other universes to heal the Sundered Spheres and bring all the spirits trapped there home. When you join their religion, you're not worshipping them; you're enlisting to help them defeat the evil powers in the pocket universe. And still that belief system has spawned a church and a dominant ethical system for people to rebel against. And what's more, one can not only rebel, but enlist with the enemy. The Three Divines are opposed by the Four Malices and the False Three, who run the Cold and Hot Hells respectively, and if you like, you can join their teams instead. They're opposed to each other, as well as the Three Divines, so there's plenty of conflict.
However I didn't stop there. About a dozen other major religions exist in conjunction with the dominant religion, and many smaller cults as well. It required quite a bit of research to create them without simply copying existing religions, which personally I think would be disrespectful, even if I'm think the religion in question I would consider mistaken.
This is just one way of injecting a realistic feel to the fantasy world, and I've spent decades trying to get it right. The Sundered Spheres is still a work in progress, despite published novels that use it for a setting. I may even finish all the background some day; I'm up to 988,000 words in the guide books that will eventually be published only three of the twelve are finished. Then I have more than twice that in other formats that aren't meant for public consumption. It's a LOT of work, and I've been at it a long long time.
It may never equal Middle Earth, but it won't be because I didn't try.
Those early worlds taught me a lot--mostly how much I don't know. I wanted to make up a world worthy of Tolkien, yet I had to work against my indifferent education and grotesque ignorance. I've always been a nerd, though I have tried hard to deny or change it at times, and so I was blessed with the intellectual arrogance that comes not so much with intelligence, but from being constantly informed that one is extremely intelligent.
I suppose I was an exceptional child in some ways; not every nine-year-old reads "The Killer Angels" and not many have read "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" by age eleven. All my friends had read the last two, so it didn't seem that strange to me at the time.
I also read "The Lord of the Rings" at age eleven, and up to that point I had been a mainly military nerd. I became a fantasy freak from then on. I have read Tolkien at least once a year since that time, so I'm thoroughly acquainted with Middle Earth.
Tolkien's Middle Earth has few rivals. Some of the others who loom large over the world of fantasy didn't really bother much with making their world breathe. Barsoom is a bit of a joke, even though the stories are all kinds of fun, and the Hyborian Age only breathes because Howard was such a great storyteller; he infused life into an indifferent copy of dead cultures by sheer talent.
I don't think I have that kind of talent, so I opted for creating a world that was as realistic as possible outside of the requisite fantasy elements. Getting the balance right is always difficult; in some cases, like Westeros, the world is magic-poor, but still unrealistic in the non-fantasy elements. In others, like Xanth, there are really NO realistic elements and magic is ubiquitous; it's all fantasy (at least after the first book or two).
In my case I decided that magic would take the place of science. I even came up with a magical equivalent of the Industrial Revolution, and my very own version of Adam Smith to get it started. My novel "Errant Knight" takes place towards the beginning of the revolution, though few recognize what's happening yet. And my Adam Smith is set two centuries before that time, instead of causing an instant revolution the way the real person did.
Besides the published works, I've written several other stories and novels with different experiences with magic. Different peoples use and treat magic differently, but even those who try to resist eventually have to take it into account, because without it they are terribly vulnerable, just as science works today. Iran may be trying to maintain a 7th century social system, but they're still building nuclear reactors and trying to build the bomb. The same dynamic works in the Sundered Spheres, that those who refuse to accept the changes that come with entering that world still have to learn the mechanics even if they pretend to disbelieve the fundaments that make it possible.
And then there's the problem of realism: how much or how little? Take Westeros; the cynicism of so many of the characters I find ridiculous; you don't get that kind of hypocrisy without a sturdy religious structure to secretly subvert. The religion on Westeros is scarcely there; it's a warmed-over Wiccan kind of thing, which simply never has had the kind of social pull to bring out that level of rebellion. Pagan was a term of derision from the beginning; it comes from the quaint country practices of the rustics. Earlier tribalist cults also had no means for bringing out hypocrisy to the same degree; they were us/them 'religions' without any real concept of ethics outside of 'don't hurt our side' and 'everyone else is fair game.' It takes a universalist religion that is widely accepted to bring out the secretive wickedness such as is seen in Game of Thrones, yet no such religious social structure exists--and the scale of the nations is such that they simply couldn't exist without such a social structure. It's ten times the size of the Persian Empire without any unifying cultus. The Romans solved the problem with their Pantheon and the Greeks with their version of ecumenism, equating their twelve Olympians with twelve similar deities of other nations.
The religious aspect is seemingly missing from Tolkien, but he solves it with mysticism. The Valar are mentioned, and a few other hints exist, but there is remarkably little overtly mentioned religion in the story. Yet it underlies the story in many ways that are often missed today, and I think in part because it's not enough recognized. A medieval setting really requires an equivalent to the medieval church, but Tolkien is not really medieval. He borrowed heavily from history in many ways, and his world is Eastern Empire/Barbarian West, i.e. the Dark Ages, than medieval. He uses Gandalf as a sort of prophet and Christ figure, returning from death but without what Catholics refer to as the Passion. He's more like an Old Testament prophet, like an Elijah come back to advise a Justinian.
In my world the religion is much more involved than in most, not least because the deities are not deities; they're angels sent from other universes to heal the Sundered Spheres and bring all the spirits trapped there home. When you join their religion, you're not worshipping them; you're enlisting to help them defeat the evil powers in the pocket universe. And still that belief system has spawned a church and a dominant ethical system for people to rebel against. And what's more, one can not only rebel, but enlist with the enemy. The Three Divines are opposed by the Four Malices and the False Three, who run the Cold and Hot Hells respectively, and if you like, you can join their teams instead. They're opposed to each other, as well as the Three Divines, so there's plenty of conflict.
However I didn't stop there. About a dozen other major religions exist in conjunction with the dominant religion, and many smaller cults as well. It required quite a bit of research to create them without simply copying existing religions, which personally I think would be disrespectful, even if I'm think the religion in question I would consider mistaken.
This is just one way of injecting a realistic feel to the fantasy world, and I've spent decades trying to get it right. The Sundered Spheres is still a work in progress, despite published novels that use it for a setting. I may even finish all the background some day; I'm up to 988,000 words in the guide books that will eventually be published only three of the twelve are finished. Then I have more than twice that in other formats that aren't meant for public consumption. It's a LOT of work, and I've been at it a long long time.
It may never equal Middle Earth, but it won't be because I didn't try.
October 23, 2014
My nifty plan
For many years I had the goal of writing 1,000 words per day, and I failed very many times. In June of 2013 I decided instead I would try to write 10,000 words per week, upping the ante a bit while not worrying about the daily amounts.
I've written at least 10,000 words every week since.
Sometimes I barely write anything for much of the week, and have to rush to make it up at the end. I say to myself, 'well, here's your big chance to goof up a record of X weeks!' And somehow I get it done. It's been 65 weeks, and I'm in another bad week. Today felt like it lasted at least a five or six, and it's only going to get worse tomorrow. My day job is sometimes like that, though thankfully not too often. Any one of us goes on vacation it make life SO exciting for the rest. Now if only a few hundred thousand people would buy my books I could quit the day job and finish some of my almost complete novels.
There are a lot of them, I'm afraid. The way I manage to get 10,000 words a week is by just dodging around writer's block. I get stuck on one story I switch to another. If I can't get anywhere on any of the novels already underway, I work on the background information for my Sundered Spheres pocket universe where most of my novels take place. And if that doesn't work...I blog. Or write essays. Or something, anything, to get that tally filled. Even poetry, though that doesn't really add a lot of words. It keeps the mind moving the right direction, though, so it's still worth it.
So I'm going into Friday this week with only 1,500 words. Not good.
It's my big chance to fail. Somehow or other, I think I'll manage to get it done. I really really REALLY don't want this to be the week I break the streak.
66 weeks. 66 weeks. Gonna make it!
I've written at least 10,000 words every week since.
Sometimes I barely write anything for much of the week, and have to rush to make it up at the end. I say to myself, 'well, here's your big chance to goof up a record of X weeks!' And somehow I get it done. It's been 65 weeks, and I'm in another bad week. Today felt like it lasted at least a five or six, and it's only going to get worse tomorrow. My day job is sometimes like that, though thankfully not too often. Any one of us goes on vacation it make life SO exciting for the rest. Now if only a few hundred thousand people would buy my books I could quit the day job and finish some of my almost complete novels.
There are a lot of them, I'm afraid. The way I manage to get 10,000 words a week is by just dodging around writer's block. I get stuck on one story I switch to another. If I can't get anywhere on any of the novels already underway, I work on the background information for my Sundered Spheres pocket universe where most of my novels take place. And if that doesn't work...I blog. Or write essays. Or something, anything, to get that tally filled. Even poetry, though that doesn't really add a lot of words. It keeps the mind moving the right direction, though, so it's still worth it.
So I'm going into Friday this week with only 1,500 words. Not good.
It's my big chance to fail. Somehow or other, I think I'll manage to get it done. I really really REALLY don't want this to be the week I break the streak.
66 weeks. 66 weeks. Gonna make it!
