Trash and writing

https://www.vox.com/culture/24128560/amazon-trash-ebooks-mikkelsen-twins-ai-publishing-academy-scam

Found the above article and felt really sad about the state of the art, so to speak.

I feel sad for my friends how are actually published authors using Kindle to publish their books and having to fight the trash book system. I love the internet. I think the internet is a bad idea.

People. What can you do? Can’t eat ’em, can’t exist without ’em.

16 years of pongo wu?

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 16 years ago.
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging. Wow – that was unexpected. I just signed on to make a note about bitching about how hard it is to publish a book. Ha! Thank you for all of you who actually read this blog.

The Solo Adventures Toolbox

Tags

beer, brewery, craft-beer, dungeons-dragons, rpg

So I happened upon a YouTube video of a person playing a solo D&D game (a game by themselves) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2nVilB8QeY] using The Solo Adventurers Toolbox, which immediately made me think of story generating ideas and writing. And playing D&D of course. It looked like fun and probably a bit of work. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

[ah hell, first person narrative]

I’m a PC, I don’t know what class, race, or whatever yet. I guess I should do that first. Enter Random D&D 5e Character Generator (https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-char-gen.html). I’m Orilo “Skywatcher” Katho-Olavi (I’m gonna change that name probably). Goliath, fighter (rune knight), soldier background, female, 35 years old. Occupation: artisan or guild member [brewer]. Trait: “I’ve lost too many friends, and I’m slow to make new ones.” [so I drink] Bond: “Someone saved my life on the battlefield. To this day, I will never leave a friend behind.” [not that I have many left] Specialty: Cavalry [maybe elephant cavalry, because goliaths are not small]. I became a soldier because: “A relative of mine was a soldier, and I wanted to carry on the family tradition.” [My uncle, Captain Brillo Skinscratcher Olavi]. High ability: Dexterity. I’m lithe, agile, graceful. Low ability: Constitution. I’m sickly, pale. [really? a fighter with low constitution. Well, maybe I stopped being a soldier because I got sick after being wounded and am still recovering from that. During my recovery, I started brewing beer.] Interaction trait: Hot tempered. Flaw or secret: Shameful or scandalous history. [I disobeyed my father and ran away to the goliath army when I was a teenager (underage) and had to sleep with the personnel officer in order to join up.]

I’m in town to enjoy the brewfest. The town is called Stoneglen, which is in the foothills that rise above the grasslands. When I get into town, I pass a house that is all boarded up, the gates locked. A passerby informs me that this is the house of a local nobleman who hasn’t been seen in years. It’s rainy. When I get to the local bar (the Blessed Scoundrel) (because where else would I go?) I hear from a fellow traveler that the brewfrest is being threatened by tyrants.

How does that work? Well, reasons for not wanting a festival celebrating brewing to happen should be explored. It could be a Mothers Against Drunken Slaying group or a local religion’s edict of sobriety or if the brewfest is a competition, maybe one brewery is angry that another was chosen to be the host of the event? Maybe foreign brewers are taking over and moving and threatening to turn this brewfest and competition into some sort of mass-produced beer sponsor thing – think Coors or Budweiser running a craft brew competition (I have nothing against either company, but local brewers – microbrews – and beer aficionados are not usually supportive of mass production). Maybe it’s a combination of all of those. So, in searching for motive, means, and opportunity – who has the most to gain by disrupting the brewfest?

Also, timing of when the brewmaster disappeared – when did that happen? Before or after I arrive at the festival?

I rolled up some random NPCs. There’s a female half-elf who is a cartwright. She’s well-off, but she’s afraid of something. She’s also lawful evil. Her name is Jastira. There’s a female half-orc herbalist who’s cocky, who is financially just getting by. She’s lawful neutral. Her name is Sharn. There’s also a male dwarf commoner who is unemployed – yet he’s extremely wealthy and frivolous. He’s lawful good. His name is Tinbull. And finally there’s a female dwarf adventurer -warlock, level 4, who is neutral evil, malicious, and extremely wealthy. Her name is Hildagold.

The toolkit also has verbs. Yes, verbs! If you recall, some years ago I attended a writing conference where the speaker was all about verbs (Damon Suede, Verbalize). The verbs I randomly rolled were aid, apprehend, betray, assassinate, and annoy. The toolkit didn’t indicate what to use the verbs for – but to use them in answer to whatever question might come up. For example, what am I doing ? I’m going to AID the brewfest organizers by finding out who is trying to ruin the day. I will help the local police APPREHEND the culprit or culprits. Someone has BETRAYed/will BETRAY someone. Maybe someone has ASSASSINATED someone – maybe that missing noble from the house mentioned earlier? And I’m sure someone is going to ANNOY someone or me or something during this process or maybe I’m going to ANNOY someone.

Because this is D&D, there has to be some monsters – so not just your average person behind the tyrants or as part of the tyrants. This boss monster should be fought. Other monsters should be a part of this. So the brewmaster has been kidnapped, in an effort to halt the brewfest. The brewmaster is being held somewhere sinister, surrounded by traps and puzzles and monsters. Maybe its a green hag? https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Green%20Hag#content

an Annis hag? https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/D10_Volo_Hag159.pdf

I suppose I shouldn’t figure that out yet, but as a satisfying story, I want to know who my BBEG (big bad evil guy) is.

So – lots of possibilities. Maybe I’ll play this out using the toolkit. It sounds fun.

I hope you all have fun too!

Employment thoughts

So I have a friend who stopped working in 2000 something. Mostly because the friend left a job or was fired from a job. This friend then did assorted jobs but couldn’t find the right match. The friend always said they were going to follow their dreams and do creative things.

This never happened.

Then the friend’s parent got sick and they stayed home to care for the parent.

Years passed.

Fast forward to now, 2024. The parent has passed. The friend needs money in order to maintain their housing and lifestyle. The friend also does not have any romantic relations and is desperate to connect with someone. One such connection almost happened, but when the friend said, “I’m going to go camping with this group and do you want to go, btw, it costs money to get in,” the potential mate said “WTF? You have no money yet you’re spending money?”

That ended that quasi relationship.

Friend also reported selling working musical instruments to get cash to do things. But then later reported to me that money had been spent to purchase broken instruments with the intent of fixing them and selling them for more money.

Things like this boggle my mind. Was I the only one who had “work is how you get money, which is how you are able to afford to have fun” ground into them?
This friend is not the only one I know who is able to live and have fun without employment.

Was there a class in high school or college about paid slacking that I missed?

Jealous not jealous

Dear Universe, I just wanted to say that I am grateful for my gainful employment and wish to remain employed until I have a successful retirement. Thank you.

Starship’s Mage

Kindle is a wonderful way to see new books. Don’t get me wrong, I love physical books, but an electronic version of a book from an author I don’t know…reading that is easier on my physical bookshelf space.

The most recent new author (new to me) is Glynn Stewart and the Starship’s Mage book, which is a lovely mix of magic and space opera. Magic drives FTL and some other things. Mages are feared and regulated. The universe is ruled by a Mage-King of Mars.

The book is a little episodic, sometimes reintroducing people to the crew of the Blue Jay, which I think could have been smoothed over during the editing process. Also, the main character, Damien, the starship’s mage, doesn’t have a clear motivation for what he does in the end. I think I would have handled it a little differently (no spoilers), but that’s just me.

So, light on characterization/motivation, heavy on action and some military/gun info. Still a fun read. There are 15 books in this series. I’ve just purchased book 2. It kind of reminds me of the easy fun read that Marie Andreas’ books provide. She has a spaceship series as well.

Check it out – Starship’s Mage by Glynn Stewart.

And more stuff

So, if I can keep writing blog posts maybe I’ll eventually put a story up here again. You know, a story? You read ’em.

Check out Chuck Wendig’s take on AI making art. So perfectly expressed. Go Chuck! https://terribleminds.com/ramble/2024/01/10/just-say-no-to-artificial-intelligence-in-your-creative-pursuits-please-jfc-wtaf/

And for you Dungeons and Dragons and Firefly enthusiasts out there…Nathan Fillion playing D&D!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RotKcfod6wQ

Another favorite of mine. Just because. Frog Leap Studios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9FyLsfDzw&t=2s

Woot Thursday!

Work avoidance

So, I should be working at the job that currently pays me, but I need a brain break.

I looked up my friend Marie’s website to see if she’d done anything new lately and whether she has a new book out.
https://faeriesdragonsspaceships.blogspot.com/
She doesn’t appear to have updated her blog lately, but she did have an interesting post from last year in January (2023). Using a planner and tracking word count to estimate production. You go girl!
I don’t have that drive. Hell, I can’t even get myself to finish the current work-that-pays-me project.

Anyway. Work is often seen as a burden, but I try to remind myself that it is a sacrifice of time and effort to the money gods. In return, the money gods bless me with a steady income, a house to live in, a car to drive, food to eat, and the occasional expensive trip to wherever we go (everywhere, excepting to visit my family home, tends to be an expensive trip).

What have you sacrificed lately?

Back to the grind 😉

2024

Egads! It’s 2024 already. How did that happen?
Where did all of my writing time go?
Yes, just like the Pink Floyd song, I pissed it away (the moments that make up a dull day). But I do want to write. Doesn’t that count for something?

December 2023 was a mix of highs and lows. We went to Atlanta to see some friends and their new house, went to the Atlanta Aquarium, which was awesome, and ate a lot. Then got home and found a long-time friend had passed away. No apparent illness. Just a little cough and done.

Then Christmastime. Had a good time there. Saw Blue Oyster Cult play and had an in-person D&D game. All very fun.

Then this past weekend, another long-time friend passed away, apparently in his sleep.

So I say – stop that shit please, Universe. I get the message. Have more fun, love more, be more in contact with others. Live.

Write the damn story.

I hope your 2024 is going well and may it be a peaceful and prosperous year for all of us!

Project Blue Book

Found Project Blue Book being shown in the RoKu channel. Loved it. Very X-files and good cold war stuff.

Just wanted to note that. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6632666/

Noodling

Goal – something concrete and not an emotional need.
Motivation – why you want that goal.
Conflict – why you can’t get that goal.

Traits – a character could have four personality traits, with at least one being a flaw. [I find it interesting that the Dungeons and Dragons’ player character (PC) sheets have personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw as choices for developing a character background and possibly character arc.] Here’s a link from Indeed, of all places. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/character-traits-definition-and-examples

Sticking to the D&D theme (and why not?), let’s say a half-elf (which gives the D&D trope of conflict between the elf background and the other race that generated the “half” part. Many people say “human” is the other half, but really, it could be any other humanoid race). So half-elf girl has a goal (pay off a bond-debt), motivation (wants to be free), and conflict (has no money to pay off the debt).

Plan – make money somehow? get a job? steal some money? just run away and not pay the debt? Or be content with how things are and continue to work in bondage (like a serf)?

Her traits. Let’s say she’s resilient, curious, and persistent as positives and argumentative as a negative.

Her ideal: Aspiration. She aspires to make something of herself.

Her bond. A bond, according to Skullspliter Dice (www.skullsplitterdice.com), should matter to the character and be something the character would always act on, given the chance. So, something tied to her traits. She would always ask about something until she gets an answer(?). Where’s Waldo? Where’s Waldo? I said, where is Waldo? The choices for D&D 5e are more specific (and more interesting). I’ll have to think about that.

Her flaw. Well, based on her negative trait, she likes to argue. Maybe she needs validation of being right or thought intelligent or maybe she just likes arguing? There are other (also more interesting) flaws listed for D&D 5e, such as, “I seem to lose everything good in my life, so I am hesitant about new things.”

Let’s sum up:
Half-elf half-something female character is a serf/slave. She can become free to be her own person and own her own things if she pays off her serf fee. She came into being a serf from probably being a half-something (because racism) or some other circumstances but being half-something definitely has weight. We don’t know who her overlord is, but we can assume that person/entity is less than stellar. She’s poor. She’s probably a bit desperate but she’s persistent and will keep trying to get out of her situation. Maybe she’s new to her situation? She’s argumentative, which makes people reluctant to help her? She wants to make something of her life, which she can’t do as a serf/slave. She has plans to escape her situation.

Conflict. Possible conflicts for elf-girl. Well, she wants to escape and the overlord entity/person doesn’t want her to. She needs help but people won’t help her because she’s argumentative and they probably don’t want to get into trouble.

Consequences – conflict relies on consequences. If she doesn’t escape, she can’t make something of herself. Ho, hum, who cares? So maybe she needs a why. Why should she make something of herself ? What is her motivation there? Maybe she can’t save a loved one unless she makes something of herself (aka. money) and she can’t do that unless she escapes (because serfs get paid poorly and most never earn enough to become free). Being a heroic setting (I’m still going with D&D ideas here), she needs a bigger why – maybe she’s the last of the line (hidden heir trope!) of a goddess’ followers and she must save the temple (ticking clock) before it is destroyed by X, but she was caught by overlord and is now a slave/serf. She would need to become the priestess of goddess (make something of herself), which requires some additional conflicts – but step 1, escape.