Every time I run into a literary wall, my main character is going to pull out his weathered copy of Atlas Shrugged and read the giant speech near the end out loud. Doesn’t matter if he is on the subway or in Subway. Ayn Rand. Loud. In full. And, as the man hunched over the keys trying to tell you this character’s story, well, it would only be fitting for me to transcribe the speech as he gives it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing the character justice. I wouldn’t be doing my job. And goddammit, if there is one thing I take serious in life it is writing real life stuff about real life people and if my main character wants to read the giant Atlas Shrugged speech ten times throughout the course of my (huge fake in-the-air finger quotations) novel, well then, it is my right…no, my duty and obligation, to allow you, the reader, the chance to multiply the cheat-factor and just skip it (like everyone in the entire world actually does with said part when encountering it within the confines of said book). And if you, the reader, the general public, don’t like it, tough tittie. Write a chapter about it in your own book.
Month: October 2010
Hello from the Yukon
Hey Everyone. The winter is here. Maybe not for you guys, but for me it is. There has been snow on the ground for months already and the sun rarely comes out. I’ve been working 7 days a week now since August and its starting to drain on me. However, since the sun is so scarce, we are cutting back on work and it looks like I’ll have some free time and some money to throw around in the next few months.
My job means that I am constantly having adventures. As a kid I used to canoe around my parents cottage and imagine that I lived in the woods. I guess I lost that part of myself at some point and I became a city slicker. Anyway, now I’m back into the bush and I’m loving it. I use my axe all day long for making posts (which are used to identify a land claim) and for chopping down trees. I’ve gotten really good at chopping down a tree because I have to clear so many out for the helicopter to come and pick me up at the end of the day. Often I find myself pushing through thick alder trees or leaping over dead fall. Last week I ran into a bull moose. I waited for him to walk away and then continued my day. He was a big guy.
Anyway, I’m back in town for this month and taking days off and I’m hoping to write some stories. My real life is probably more wild then any story I could write, so I may include some truths as well. I like what I’m reading here and I look forward to reading more of everyone’s work.
— your good buddy Tim
False Starts: Supertanker
I know wasn’t the only one who found it somewhat surreal when pirates suddenly became a daily topic. South Park tackled the subject brilliantly, but long before that episode aired I had an idea for a story about a man who, upon discovering the re-emergence of piracy on the high seas, goes quite mad and attempts to become a pirate in Lake Ontario.
As is often the case with these whim’s of mine, I didn’t get very far. But I think the beginning is quite fun, so I thought I’d share it. Here goes:
Salamander Dunderhead
Editors Note: I just found this mystifying and super-fresh ballad by Tasty Yumyum in the post queue. It took me a couple reads to get the words to fit into my brain—I suggest you do the same. Read on and enjoy Salamander Dunderhead
New NaNo Challenge: iPhoning it in
Hello there blogosphere,
After writing my first post about the prospect of writing a lot of my NaNo on my iPhone, I got to thinking….why not write the whole thing on my iPhone?
I conferred with our benevolent editor and we decided, yes, this is too exiting of an idea to pass up. I test drove the WriteRoom app, and after working out a few kinks with the new WordPress app (which I am using to make this post) everything seems to be in order.
The prospect of writing 50,000 words is a daunting enough task on its own, so we’ll how much more of a challenge it will be on a 9cm touch-screen.
Hello from Elizabeth
Elizabeth Kurz joins the team at Stranger Than Truth with an introduction that cuts straight to the point. Let’s all welcome Liz and her twisted NaNoWriMo 2010 plans!
Current obsessions: misplaced phone calls, elaborate dream sequences, doubles, technology, monsters, underworlds, visions, David Lynch, lost girls, blackouts, white noise, skyscrapers, mirrors, bridges, feral animals, secret lives, lesbians, black cats, creaking houses, miscarriages, secret places, toothless prostitutes.
I haven’t written anything in ages but I’ve been thinking of some ideas for a while. My biggest inspirations at the moment are Haruki Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Twin Peaks, Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, and Paul Auster’s City of Glass. Essentially I want to write an absolutely terrifying psychological thriller that makes people kill themselves. I also am reading Les Miserables right now and therefore think there should be more toothless prostitutes clawing at suited men in general.
My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 5
Further we plunge into my failed attempt at NaNoWriMo last year, and we are approaching the halfway point! This chunk is much longer than the last, but I think it’s quite entertaining—Jeromy & Cam, many of whose dialogues are based on real conversations between myself and my good buddy Tim, are without a doubt the characters I fleshed out best.
Massive Fuckjob
You read it here first. Well, you will, soon enough. And good thing, too, because I can’t imagine MASSIVE FUCKJOB is going to be a widely-released literary phenomenon.
First things first, my name is actually Cory McCallum, but I have more aliases than Carter’s got pills, so I have decided the NaNoWriMo moniker should be an old classic, Tasty Yumyum, fictional guitar player extraordinaire from Dank Resin, the best band ever to never play a note.
My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 4
This part is short and sweet, introducing some important new characters (only one of whom I got to using, though I had very specific plans for the rest). The more I revisit this effort from last year, the more I think there is something worth salvaging here, and I play to give it a go after NaNoWriMo.
If you missed them, check out parts one, two and three first.
A Bulko Introduction
By trade I work for Spacing, a Toronto magazine focusing on issues within the city’s public realm. While I don’t get tired of the lavish, opulent life of infrastructure, transit, local politics, and pedestrianism, NaNoWriMo is a chance for me to exercise my penchant for adventure, fantasy, and folk tales. This also provides an excuse for me to offload some previous, forgotten works, both published and un-. So grab your compass, +3 flaming battleaxe, and 10-foot-pole; the realm of swashbuckling and derring-do marches on NaNoWriMo.
While we await more from Mike, check out his take on Apple’s smart bike patent over at the Spacing Toronto blog.