Linkblogging!

[telophase]

trobadora is thinking about writing, and is asking about characters, especially in large groups - how do you keep them distinct?

I'm still working through the replies on matociquala's Writing the Other post (why do these big-reaction subjects only come up when I need t be focusing on coding?), but there's a lot of repercussion going on in and around my f-list right now, including several links to deepad's response here.

Haven't read through sartorias's essay Urban Fantasy and Grrlz yet; posting here to remind myself.


And thoughts of this came up when reading the comments - a 1997 artice from the Miami New Times about a whole folklore developed among homeless children in Miami.

To homeless children sleeping on the street, neon is as comforting as a night-light. Angels love colored light too. After nightfall in downtown Miami, they nibble on the NationsBank building -- always drenched in a green, pink, or golden glow. "They eat light so they can fly," eight-year-old Andre tells the children sitting on the patio of the Salvation Army's emergency shelter on NW 38th Street. Andre explains that the angels hide in the building while they study battle maps. "There's a lot of killing going on in Miami," he says. "You want to fight, want to learn how to live, you got to learn the secret stories." The small group listens intently to these tales told by homeless children in shelters.

Absolutely fascinating. And I wonder why I haven't seen anything based on or developed out of this article? (Unless it's in the urban fantasy that's populating the shelves right now that I'm avoiding because I burned out on it years ago...)

Comments

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

also, that miami story link is really interesting. i lived in miami for a few years and man, i still get excited when i see something INTERESTING actually come with it's context.

even though everything literary i always come across with miami has to do with CRIME. even my writing professors in college were CRIME writers.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

My college writing prof was into writing novels that followed the story of a Vietnam vet who became a writing professor in college.

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

:/ that sounds almost as bad, haha. i took only one fiction class in college (because afterwards i decided it was an EXTREME WASTE OF MY TIME) but half the class was 40+ writing mystery and crime stories set in the cool of south beach. and the professor loved it and lapped it up like it was all good. it almost made me prefer the one really bland guy who was wrting really bland fantasy in the class.

one day though, i will write a MIAMI BASED FANTASY STORY THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE CRIME.

if i ever write fantasy one day. hahah.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I wrote a fantasy story that was set up as two guys meeting in a bar and one, a somewhat mysterious tabloid reporter, telling the story to the other. I got it back with red ink all over it, talking about how the setup was so cliche.

Which has mystified me for years, because of course it's cliche! The bar story has a long and distinguished history, and the whole bloody point was that it was cliche! It wasn't a problem with this particular story.

I don't think he liked, or even understood, genre fiction very much. :D

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

hahah i think i wrote this almost surrealistic story that involved some prose poetry as an opener and it was totally unloved. not that it was any good, but my fantastic, experimental vision* was lost!

(*or trash, you decide!)


after that, i quit and took up poetry.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The only things I got from that class were being forced to finish two stories, and how to critique without horking off the receiver of the critique.*

Which are not all that bad, actually.



* Which assumes said receiver is sane. If not, then no guarantees.

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

haha how i love to critique, but yeah, when you get the crazies there's no hope.

all this mention of urban street kids is exciting me though, the more i think about it, because it's totally part of "things i love in life".

i need to learn to finish stuff. or start stuff. instead of stopping work just to get some chicken nuggets.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have always loved secret cultures within other cultures, especially when the secret culture is that of children. Michael de Larrabeiti's Borribles, Clifford Hicks' Alvin Fernald books, etc.

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

ooh i haven't read/heard of those. *looks things up*

i'm a pretty big fan of all colors of street & secret culture. they're just so interesting!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

You strike me as someone who might like the Borribles. :D The basic idea is that kids who get away - from their parents, from their schools, from wherever - sometimes don't grow up. They become Borribles, who have slightly pointed ears and who live in abandoned buildings and basements and who live by stealing things from adults. But it's not a lighthearted series - it's damn dark, with fighting and death, and their mortal enemies are the Rumbles, giant sentient rats.

Most excellent.

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

aww man, you're quite right, being i also love abanonded everything? that sounds totally amazing. good thing i made room on my bookshelf recently? i'll have to pick it up

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Once you read it, let me know what you think! :D

[tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com]

you got it :D

[seawolf10.livejournal.com]

College creative writing courses are a special kind of torment for genre fiction fans.

Nothing like having to explain all the major genre conventions to 90% of the peer reviewers and THE FUCKING PROF, none of whom, apparently, have ever cracked a fantasy novel IN THEIR LIVES!

You'd think having basic familiarity with the conventions of well-known genres would be a requirement for the PROF, at least.

I could go into a whole huge rant on this, but that'd just bore you.