The Written Word http://swingthesickle.com/forum/ http://www.eblah.com en Need a platform to place my poems on!!! http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1223463121/ http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1223463121/#num1
]]> Wed, 8 Oct 2008 03:52:01 waynedek It's Kind of Like You Never Left http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1199607510/ http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1199607510/#num1 text browsers. Then there were graphical browsers. Now I have created...

Bookmarks!

I know what you're thinking: "Haven't those been around for a while? I think Internet Explorer even has them." Those aren't the kind of bookmarks I'm talking about. I've created a way to make reading Map Makers even easier!

I understand how busy people are, and that at 5,000 words, you may not have time to sit down and read all of the first episode, "The Pluto Incident," in one sitting. I have added small bookmark icons beside each paragraph. By clicking the bookmark icon where you stop reading, you will be returned right where you left off when you come back!

This nifty feature will also be available for the next two (long overdue) episodes as soon as I get them posted. I meant to spend more time writing today, but I ended up spending six hours writing 67 lines of code to make the new bookmark feature a reality. Let me know what you think of the new feature, and, of course, any thoughts you have on "The Pluto Incident."]]> Sun, 6 Jan 2008 00:18:30 Matthew John August: Writing in a Digital Age http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1192054278/ http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1192054278/#num1 his blog. If you're a member of a forum, have a Facebook profile, have your own blog, or even have ever posted a comment on a blog, you need to read this speech. If you are reading this post right now, at least one of those is probably true for you, so go read it:

The Challenge of Writing in a Digital Age

I know 19 pages can be a little overwhelming in this "digital age," but it may be the most important reading you do this week. If you don't want to read 19 pages on a screen, he's provided a PDF you can print (that's what I did). And here are some quotes:

Quoted Text
I make my living as a writer. But I?d argue that most of us in this room make our living as writers. And as more aspects of our lives are conducted online, how we present ourselves in writing will only get more important.

Quoted Text
There have always been experts. But writing in a digital age allows for extremely specialized authorities. In fact, everyone in this room is a potential authority on some subject: Northern Iowa high school basketball.The video oeuvre of Rhianna. You become one by writing about it.

Quoted Text
If you look at writing over the last decade, it?s become much more casual. Not just grammatically, with its sloppy punctuation and really badly thought out emoticons, but tonally. We write everything as if we?re writing to our very best friends, whether it?s appropriate or not.

Quoted Text
The cliche thing for me to say is to question authority. Yes, it?s a cliche because it?s true.... Whether something was difficult to find?like that book in the library in 1988?or incredibly easy?like an article on Wikipedia, you need to be rigorous.

But I want to move beyond Questioning Authority to set a more ambitious goal for you: Become an Authority. I?m not exaggerating to say that in this audience, everyone one of you is a potential authority on some topic, no matter how esoteric. You become an expert by researching. You become an authority by writing.... The internet has billions of readers. What it needs are writers who write with authority.

Quoted Text
[I]f you can?t stop the madness, what can you do? You can step out of it. You can refuse to participate. Turn off CNN. Stop reading the Drudge Report. Stop trying to ?keep up with current events,? because they?re irrelevant. I know it seems like I?m urging you to be less informed.... I?m actually telling you to go deeper.

The only things you should follow closely are those things you find fascinating. Those things you might just be an authority on.

That?s the only way out of the trap of immediacy. Stop reading, and start writing. Be the guy who provides context, criticism, reflection. Organize your own thoughts, and help organize them for others.
]]> Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:11:18 Matthew Story as Conversation http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1191959475/ http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1191959475/#num1
A conversation is dependent on both parties actively engaging each other. The author is preaching if he fails to engage the audience. Allowing for this interactivity is going to make you more vulnerable. The reader brings her own thoughts to the text interpreting it in ways you did not intend. Truly great stories depend on this conversation.

I do not find Torchwood's existentialism problematic, because it is a dialogue between Russell T Davies and me about our beliefs. Similarly, my Christian faith is obvious in my short story series Map Makers. I'm not attempting to preach. My faith is something very dear to me that naturally comes through in my conversation.

Conversation is not the only metaphor for story, but much commercial television, film, and literature is bland and not engaging because the creators have completely abandoned the metaphor of conversation. It's not a conversation unless you have something worthwhile  to say. It's not a conversation if it doesn't reveal something about yourself. No matter how much you pour into jokes, mythology, or style, it will fall flat if it doesn't engage me in conversation.]]> Tue, 9 Oct 2007 12:51:15 Matthew The Silmarillion http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1191684066/ http://swingthesickle.com/forum/m-1191684066/#num1
"Then Iluvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Iluvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done.  And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.  For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.'



]]> Sat, 6 Oct 2007 08:21:06 Joab