• Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Bio
  • Appearances
  • Links
  J M Beal

Blow the Ballast, Here We go!

8/29/2014

1 Comment

 
So here on my normal blog, I talk about Science-Fiction on Fridays and originally at the start of the week I was going to do that on the Art of Procrastination too this Friday. Maybe find something interesting to talk about in regard to what it takes to get into the SFWA, or something else that tied it to publishing.

But midnight starts the annual 3-day Novel Challenge. I'm taking the weekend off from being a publisher. Until midnight on Monday I'm just a writer. I like to talk about writing. And cheese. And occasionally sheep.

Someday on here I'll go into the whole story of why we're called Golden Fleece Press. Or maybe Kate will. One of us will happily drag you into the fabled land of crazy with us eventually, don't worry. When we do, why I've mentioned sheep when I'm going to talk about World Builder's Disease will suddenly, miraculously, make sense. You're welcome.

I have fully realized, type A, un-treatable World Builders Disease. Like it needs a national day of recognition, it's so bad. So I should understand the impetus to draw a map of your fantasy kingdom, or tell me the full five-generational family tree of your main character. I should have gobbled up those pages of genetic coding in Jurassic Park, instead of skimming past them to get back to the swimming T-Rex.

But I don't, and I didn't. I lose patience incredibly quickly with information I don't need.

You think the next thing I say is going to be that you shouldn't do all that, don't you?

Not in a million years. Because that highly-detailed, rich background world hiding in your notebook will leak onto the page in a million other places. In places I want it, because it keeps your world and your characters from being weak card-board cut-outs. So watercolor a full topographical map of your kingdom. Figure out the exact science of gene-splicing your frog-bat. Determine exactly how Frank Idiot the Third is directly related to the Holy Roman Emperor.

Just only tell me the stuff I actually need to know.

This super short post is brought to you by the fact it is 11:28 and I'm already itching to dive into creating a pin-board of visual inspiration I shouldn't have time to look at this weekend.

1 Comment
shareit.onl link
1/13/2025 01:33:26 am

I wanted to express my gratitude for your insightful and engaging article. Your writing is clear and easy to follow, and I appreciated the way you presented your ideas in a thoughtful and organized manner. Your analysis was both thought-provoking and well-researched, and I enjoyed the real-life examples you used to illustrate your points. Your article has provided me with a fresh perspective on the subject matter and has inspired me to think more deeply about this topic.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    There's a link to my bio at the top of the page, but for these purposes it's probably best to just say I'm strange.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2021
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Aliens!
    #atozchallenge
    Book Lover's Bazaar
    Book-Lovers' Bazaar
    Book Review
    Bunny
    Camp Nano
    Canyons
    Contest
    Cornucopia Conundrum
    Editing
    Fantasy Friday
    Goals
    Guest Posts
    I Don't Know How To Tag Anymore
    Kids Stuff
    Life
    Misc
    Miscellaneous Monday
    Movie Books
    Movies
    Nanowrimo
    Outlines
    Procrastination
    Pseudoscience
    Publishing
    Science!
    Sci Fi Friday
    Sci-Fi Friday
    Screaming Fits
    Short Fic
    Snowballs
    TerribleMinds Challenges
    That Title Makes Absolutely No Sense
    The OUTDOORS!
    Three Day Novel
    Unholy Vacuums Of Suck
    Weirdness
    Well Written Wednesday
    Wellwritten Wednesday
    Writing
    Year Of Creative Pursuits

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.