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i have been trying to write this entry for days.
i am still reading the Baroque Cycle. i finished the first "book" (of the seven). we've at long last encountered pirates and that's fun (it only took 300 pages ~ sheesh). i feel like i might be able to get into a rhythm with it and possibly push through to the end (only about 600 pages to go!). the first book ended with an off-stage war won by the dissenters (led, in part, by isaac newton if i understand correctly), random pirates, daniel washing out of religion and natural philosophy to become a political whore, and leibnitz tossing his calculating machine to work on solving euclidian mysteries.
if i had the energy i would explain why all of this makes for just about the most depressing end of a book ever (excepting The Painted Bird, which will never be eclipsed in my mind). suffice it to say, it's only the first book of seven, though, so i fully expect stephenson to get daniel (at least) to rebound. there are things about stephenson's writing that grate on me a little. his occasional lapse into old english spellings (when not in the dialogue) is kinda obnoxious and pretentious, i think ~ particularly because it seems pretty inconsistent. but i feel more or less grounded in the story finally (and there seems to be a plot forming), so i will push on through the next book even though it does that supremely irritating thing of starting fresh with a whole new set of characters who will eventually dovetail with the first, but not for another 300 pages or so. grrrrr.
i am making a tag for this nonsense because i have a feeling you will hear more about it along the way. that, and i'm studying the book's structure as an experiment, so i might make the occasional comment about the style, etc.
: o p
in writing: this is going to seem completely random, but i am working out a disaster scenario. i need a fire and a flood, but i need to figure out how to work them into the mix. feels a little crazy to be adding something like this so last minute. i mean, i always knew i wanted it in there, but never really saw how it fit in and now that i am trying to mega-outline, i see that it's sorta necessary after all if i can somehow work it. i dunno. this may be the last platform on my departure from any vestiges of sanity. as i try to work out the details, i'm researching the johnstown flood. i don't want anything of quite these proportions, but it's a good place to round up grisly details.
of the more than 2,000 people who lost their lives at johnstown,
one third (nearly 800) were never identified.
maybe i picked a disaster because that's how i feel about my life. also, plots need active conflict and most often my conflict is too internalized.
i hate plot. plot will be the death of me.
i had other stuff to share about stephen crane and james joyce, but i don't have the wherewithall to try to articulate any of it.
school has caught up to me, life has caught up to me.
i'm off to make soup and might not be back for a long spell. i still have a bunch of prompt illustrations to post, but i may not get to them until december. sorry all.
: o p
i am still reading the Baroque Cycle. i finished the first "book" (of the seven). we've at long last encountered pirates and that's fun (it only took 300 pages ~ sheesh). i feel like i might be able to get into a rhythm with it and possibly push through to the end (only about 600 pages to go!). the first book ended with an off-stage war won by the dissenters (led, in part, by isaac newton if i understand correctly), random pirates, daniel washing out of religion and natural philosophy to become a political whore, and leibnitz tossing his calculating machine to work on solving euclidian mysteries.
if i had the energy i would explain why all of this makes for just about the most depressing end of a book ever (excepting The Painted Bird, which will never be eclipsed in my mind). suffice it to say, it's only the first book of seven, though, so i fully expect stephenson to get daniel (at least) to rebound. there are things about stephenson's writing that grate on me a little. his occasional lapse into old english spellings (when not in the dialogue) is kinda obnoxious and pretentious, i think ~ particularly because it seems pretty inconsistent. but i feel more or less grounded in the story finally (and there seems to be a plot forming), so i will push on through the next book even though it does that supremely irritating thing of starting fresh with a whole new set of characters who will eventually dovetail with the first, but not for another 300 pages or so. grrrrr.
i am making a tag for this nonsense because i have a feeling you will hear more about it along the way. that, and i'm studying the book's structure as an experiment, so i might make the occasional comment about the style, etc.
: o p
in writing: this is going to seem completely random, but i am working out a disaster scenario. i need a fire and a flood, but i need to figure out how to work them into the mix. feels a little crazy to be adding something like this so last minute. i mean, i always knew i wanted it in there, but never really saw how it fit in and now that i am trying to mega-outline, i see that it's sorta necessary after all if i can somehow work it. i dunno. this may be the last platform on my departure from any vestiges of sanity. as i try to work out the details, i'm researching the johnstown flood. i don't want anything of quite these proportions, but it's a good place to round up grisly details.
of the more than 2,000 people who lost their lives at johnstown,
one third (nearly 800) were never identified.
maybe i picked a disaster because that's how i feel about my life. also, plots need active conflict and most often my conflict is too internalized.
i hate plot. plot will be the death of me.
i had other stuff to share about stephen crane and james joyce, but i don't have the wherewithall to try to articulate any of it.
school has caught up to me, life has caught up to me.
i'm off to make soup and might not be back for a long spell. i still have a bunch of prompt illustrations to post, but i may not get to them until december. sorry all.
: o p
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