VONNEGUT ON WRITING FICTION

After a few drinks, my friend Kurt opens his mouth to speak:

Eight rules for writing fiction:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters are, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

- Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

From Troubling Info.

FINGER FRIDAYS

Dong (Eduardo Gamallo):

DON'T GIVE UP ON VISTA

Saw this on a site I frequent. Apparently, it's on several sites as well, and is part of a new series of Mac vs. PC ads launched by Apple. Pretty clever, no?

SURFER DUDE STUNS PHYSICISTS WITH THEORY OF EVERYTHING

An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from scientists.

And you can see his actual paper here.

DRAGONLANCE THE MOVIE

You fucking bastards. T_T

SHELFARI

Finally, a nice place to archive books you own. Add me if you have one. Still haven't uploaded most of my books, though. So far, about 95% of the ones I've searched for are in their database (which uses Amazon's, I think), though not all editions are present, and some, like some Sandman books I added, display incorrectly on my "shelf," so i had to take them down. Apparently, it's a community site too (and a pretty active one), so you can read reviews and join group discussions on your favorite books. Neat-o!

Thanks to cupkeyk for the link.

FINGER FRIDAYS

Adam David:

TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN

Is probably the most epic thing you'll ever get to see in your lifetime.

Okay, anyone who's seen a Miyazaki movie knows what great animé can do. Now place this greatness in a mecha-based genre and watch it trample on clumsy, dumb predecessors like Voltron and Daimos.

Remember, as kids, that feeling of despair when our favorite robot gets beaten up and dragged around on-screen? And remember that feeling that follows, when we gasp in awe as it slowly stands up and proceeds to beat the crap out of the enemy? This is what Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is all about, that feeling that the best fights in Voltes V merely gave us a glimpse of in its attempt.

Gurren Lagann (which is actually the name of the main robot; Tengen Toppa translates to "Pierce the Heavens") is made by Gainax, the animation studio that did Evangelion. The story's more mainstream (less cerebral, more humorous) than Eva, the animation's top notch and colorful, and the characters endearing and inspiring.

Just 27 episodes long (around 20 mins each ep.), this series just finished wrapping up in Japan, so there still aren't any DVD copies out there, and the ones I've DLed are only fansubbed. If you're interested and want a copy, just text me and I'll burn you one.