tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56671402865790256002024-03-04T20:58:54.278-08:00In The Margins...For some authors, the most interesting things can be found scribbled in the margins of their manuscripts. At the very least, I hope what you find here to be interesting.Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-32104879242021613832013-06-02T08:00:00.000-07:002013-06-02T08:00:04.578-07:00Website Redesigned!Well, finally, the school year is drawing to a close, and summer is heating up. In perfect time for kicking off summer, my website has just launched the redesign done by Arimaspy.com. Let me tell you, it looks amazing!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVJO3O0uaAKR6DzW9gjRDkHDNXGAJlFy9V3LocxFT1i7qRNe6LLv8N9CJqeeGBo5VfomMcpxw8atAUdy3PGqi4z96BBJO_sQiiSqa8TXXFPVaHPis-oSxE5sI0r07-HM5rsAuGpwWVtg/s1600/david-jace-logo-transparent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVJO3O0uaAKR6DzW9gjRDkHDNXGAJlFy9V3LocxFT1i7qRNe6LLv8N9CJqeeGBo5VfomMcpxw8atAUdy3PGqi4z96BBJO_sQiiSqa8TXXFPVaHPis-oSxE5sI0r07-HM5rsAuGpwWVtg/s320/david-jace-logo-transparent.png" width="320" /></a></div>
It's mostly in the same layout as before, and, so far, with mostly the same content, but the look, wow, you just have to see it. I think you'll be very pleased with how easy it is to navigate around now.<br />
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Oh, but don't think there's <i>nothing</i> new under the DavidJace sun... we've put in some really fun little "easter eggs" and extra stuff, with more coming as we settle in. For instance, keep your eye out for this guy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqTckMZWnU0U8b8L6pAXp7EcNVa-9t3p8X5wYelzNLZV-ABVvThsyXXfxEIxiqrcWx6rqDqNtQJb-X6w4l6WcOu1arH7PvWTQXoVBbR08lKJlVaurgz9YDcbWGS_QSTS1x3pVPOnXvY0/s1600/Robot+Wizard+closeup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqTckMZWnU0U8b8L6pAXp7EcNVa-9t3p8X5wYelzNLZV-ABVvThsyXXfxEIxiqrcWx6rqDqNtQJb-X6w4l6WcOu1arH7PvWTQXoVBbR08lKJlVaurgz9YDcbWGS_QSTS1x3pVPOnXvY0/s320/Robot+Wizard+closeup.png" width="320" /></a></div>
He's our new mascot. Talk about a blend of fantasy and science fiction! Watch for him around the site, because you'll never know where he'll show up, or what he'll be doing. Some of the things that might happen around the site are small, but fun, others are very new and I hope surprising.<br />
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Check out the new site at www.davidjace.com and let me know what you think! Is there anything missing? Anything you wish was there? (And of course, if you happen to run into anything that doesn't work, do let me know, so we can get it fixed.)<br />
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When you're done checking out my new site, surf over to Arimaspy.com to see what else she's capable of, and let her know what a great job she did on DavidJace.com!David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-68337378667423487252012-12-08T09:27:00.000-08:002012-12-08T09:29:01.070-08:00NaNoWriMo in a Blink<a href="http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/davidjace" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo 2012</a> is over. Somehow, unlike past years, this blog was silent throughout the entire month. I was dreadfully irresponsible regarding my blogging. Yes, that does usually happen during the school year, but it's no excuse, and certainly not during NaNo. So this is to recap the month, which was full of firsts and frustrations, tied with a bow of success!<br />
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I am not teaching a writing class this year, so had no students to 'force' through the <a href="http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">YWP</a>. I also did not lead it as an after school program, for various reasons. I did put up a poster to chart my own progress, and I spread the information out to some other interested teachers, but as far as I know, I was the only one in the school writing. (I did get a surprising bit of interest in my progress, so will probably repeat that next year, and may again be the staunch supporter of the school's YWP.)<br />
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However, this year, I decided to shoot for the full 50k. Then, I had an extra surprise: my wife decided to write! It was a very different experience, pursuing our goals together. Then, we decided to get more social than I have in the past. We attended the regional kick-off party, the "Evening of Scribbling Recklessly" (all-night write-in for our region), and even the TGIO party on Dec 1. We made some friends, got well acquainted with our fantastic MLs, and both succeeded in writing over 50,000 words!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBoRw79QBnNf6blxBGkvwFkgEsx9RzhPhQ58bkRbykdJOSvAk4gL0LyOvui0TkETQg8D1c3Qluan2unU2RqIZbHMtwiHWOvO3G1rhUMiHtzObaCWNe_Ox4cmOnQGRfssXKt_wcbKwyZc/s1600/Winner2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBoRw79QBnNf6blxBGkvwFkgEsx9RzhPhQ58bkRbykdJOSvAk4gL0LyOvui0TkETQg8D1c3Qluan2unU2RqIZbHMtwiHWOvO3G1rhUMiHtzObaCWNe_Ox4cmOnQGRfssXKt_wcbKwyZc/s200/Winner2012.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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My wife wrote an <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ElvenFireRPG" target="_blank">Elven Fire</a> campaign, similar to <a href="https://www.createspace.com/3916355" target="_blank">The Beginner GM</a>, which was my project from last year. I wrote The Mayan Millennium, and was surprised at how much my characters took over and guided the work this time around. Pleasantly surprised, I should add. I think they made it a much better story than I had planned! I'm glad that I didn't abandon it at the beginning of NaNo and switch to something else. I stayed faithful to the work, and it rewarded me well. I finished Mayan at 50,090 words.<br />
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Another new thing? I used the writing program <a href="http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php" target="_blank">Scrivener </a>this year and LOVED it. It's a fantastic program that any writer would benefit from trying, in my opinion. Winning NaNoWriMo allowed me to buy it at 50% off it's usual price. Great deal, and now I own it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvQtDQi5cgREC-ZesFoTqt_pkdvePA3Mm8tqVqQhNM5cRbxqr5tOSZqbcNrc52__IxbLumgTsdciEnyruVQMv_d1aEQtSIMj0uLnInMEeHQbJ-SjkLc4FG4rpVazly3F29GTtwO3HhQc/s1600/MayanMilleniumthumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvQtDQi5cgREC-ZesFoTqt_pkdvePA3Mm8tqVqQhNM5cRbxqr5tOSZqbcNrc52__IxbLumgTsdciEnyruVQMv_d1aEQtSIMj0uLnInMEeHQbJ-SjkLc4FG4rpVazly3F29GTtwO3HhQc/s200/MayanMilleniumthumbnail.jpg" width="155" /></a>What's next? Well, I'm planning to submit a story called Slave Princess to the quarterly <a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules" target="_blank">Writers of the Future</a> contest. Slave Princess is a novella that was never posted to my website or otherwise much advertised, mostly written for a friend during a failed NaNoWriMo attempt in the past. However, I've dug it back out of the dust and am now editing and revising to send it in to WotF. After that, I have two novels to edit! <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/davidjace/novels/the-mayan-millennium" target="_blank">Mayan Millennium</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidjace.com%2FOnCommonGroundBonus.html&ei=72_DUJHkMobBygG8noGAAg&usg=AFQjCNF-HBwOcftls3vX5-g3DGUXTLcQ_g" target="_blank">On Common Ground</a>. One of them will be going to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011" target="_blank">Amazon Breakthrough Novel</a> contest, and the other will get agent-shopped and then self-published (if it isn't picked up first) this summer! The question is, which one gets what?? Yet to be determined. I'm horrible at choosing between great options!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0zk_9zIF_Us11kk3sHhZnfg5V047YCDAP0FVUzs8LYUwwH0AK5DA-zTaxclcQz3IkiRslUf9I1d-EBbvrKD9AlUB4bA8gkjxzrd0CxGsHY-F8l7adp7GIwPjg87BeUtVt754t1-1GZA/s1600/Cover-Front.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0zk_9zIF_Us11kk3sHhZnfg5V047YCDAP0FVUzs8LYUwwH0AK5DA-zTaxclcQz3IkiRslUf9I1d-EBbvrKD9AlUB4bA8gkjxzrd0CxGsHY-F8l7adp7GIwPjg87BeUtVt754t1-1GZA/s200/Cover-Front.png" width="133" /></a>Also, my amazing wife has taken up a hobby of cover artwork! She did several NaNo covers through the forums, and modified / finished a cover concept that someone else offered for On Common Ground! I love the new look, front to back.<br />
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Oh, there's one more thing that will be new, but started in November: the website! <a href="http://davidjace.com/">DavidJace.com</a> is getting a redesign, courtesy of Stephanie from <a href="http://arimaspy.com/">Arimaspy.com</a>. I am super-excited about this, and will try to keep updates posted here as it happens. (If you have any thoughts about features or pages you'd like to see on the site, PLEASE comment and let me know so I can get them included in the big redesign!)<br />
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Happy Holidays, everyone.David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-86718087291028583092012-08-20T08:15:00.000-07:002012-08-20T08:15:00.376-07:00Hero Games Introductions: Calvin<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s1600/Hero+Games+Banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s400/Hero+Games+Banner.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I'd like to introduce you to the Beta Testing team for Modson Technologies's newest game in development: <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero Games</a>! Modson is using their proprietary, experimental Neural Interceptor technology in a full immersion virtual setting for this new game. If the Beta trials are successful, they expect this technology to radically change the gaming industry, along with many other applications. Modson has been kind enough to allow us access to this technology to interview their Beta testers. Each one we interview will actually be comfortably at home, hooked into their Modson gaming system. Since this system interacts directly with their minds, we'll be able to get much more complete answers than subjects may otherwise give. It'll be almost like they are having a dream.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In addition, the Beta tester that gets the most attention from their interview (comments, Likes, +1's, etc) will get a special in-game reward AND one of their lucky commenters/Likers/+1-ers will get a cameo appearance in Hero Games!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This week, we'll talk to Calvin Moon! <i>The young, Asian man that steps through the curtain is a shade over six feet. His slender build makes him look taller. Almond eyes peer through the small, round frames that ride high on his nose under the straight, dark bangs. The Hero Games tee shirt clashes styles with the simple slacks, and hangs on his shoulders like a wire hanger.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Hello, Calvin. Thank you for meeting with us.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: Sure, no problem. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Let's start with you, Calvin. Would you tell us a little about yourself and then maybe your heroic alter ego?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: The alter ego is probably more fun to talk about. <i>He laughs self-consciously. </i>Well, I'm 19. I'm a sophomore in architectural engineering at Drexel University. I don't do a lot of sports, well, any sports, and I study a lot. The most exciting thing I do is sometimes I play an RPG game called Elven Fire with a group at school who's into that. I'm kind of a nerd.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Nerds are important, too, Calvin. What about your hero?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: <i>His face brightens up a little.</i> That's where things get more exciting. He's a super hero, obviously. I made him with blond, surfer hair. He's pretty athletic. He has a castle-hemmed cape, and a dragon on his chest. The dragon is for my school. I picked a pair of powers to start with: Statue and Lead Feet. Statue is a single-target freeze, and Lead Feet is an AOE slow. Of course, each one costs energy, so there's some strategy in using them. It's fun.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: And AOE is short for?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: Area-Of-Effect. It means it hits several enemies at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: I see. That does sound like a good combination. Let's talk about powers a little bit. Can you tell us how these powers work, and how you learned them? Press A to shoot, B to jump? Certain hand motions for certain tricks? Is there a tutorial, or do you figure it out in game?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: <i>He laughs comfortably.</i> No, this game isn't like that. There aren't controllers; you're completely inside the game. Whatever you do, you're really doing in the game. A lot of players, when using classic controllers, jerk the controller up when they press the jump button. The game doesn't care if you lift your controller or not. In some more advanced games, lifting your controller <i>will</i> make your character jump. In Hero Games, if you jerk your arms up, your character just jerks his arms up. If you want your character to jump, you'd better jump yourself. You and the character are really the same person.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Okay, so I know how to jump, and walk, but where did the real you learn how to cast "Statue" or "Lead Feet"?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: Oh, that happens in the Training Room, with TrainerBot and his TAs.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: That sounds interesting. Can you tell us a little about that?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: After you make your character, you go down a mirrored hallway to the Training Room. It has a very high, arched ceiling and is mostly steel walls. You go back to the Training Room any time you learn a new power, to learn how to use it. TrainerBot is a floating robot. He's metallic humanoid on top, but the bottom half of him is a round floating set of equipment. He guides you on using the powers, and the TAs, Training Assistants, are basically the practice dummies. They look like gym class rejects until they start coming at you.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: The TAs attack you?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">CALVIN: I think it depends on the kind of power you have. Mine is actively offensive/defensive, so yeah, they attacked me so I could use my powers on them. Using the powers is mostly a matter of concentration and focus. Since the entire game is wired into our heads, it makes sense that using the powers would just be in our heads, too.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other Hero Games Introductions:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-nick.html">Nick "Virgil Ante"</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-paul.html">Paul "The Peace Keeper"</a></span><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/08/hero-games-introductions-erin.html">Erin "Vanessa Pyre" </a></div>
David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-78776914960142922762012-08-06T05:38:00.001-07:002012-08-06T05:38:58.511-07:00Hero Games Introductions: Erin<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s1600/Hero+Games+Banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s400/Hero+Games+Banner.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: white;">I'd like to introduce you to the Beta Testing team for Modson Technologies's newest game in development: <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero Games</a>! Modson is using their proprietary, experimental Neural Interceptor technology in a full immersion virtual setting for this new game. If the Beta trials are successful, they expect this technology to radically change the gaming industry, along with many other applications. Modson has been kind enough to allow us access to this technology to interview their Beta testers. Each one we interview will actually be comfortably at home, hooked into their Modson gaming system. Since this system interacts directly with their minds, we'll be able to get much more complete answers than subjects may otherwise give. It'll be almost like they are having a dream.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: white;">In addition, the Beta tester that gets the most attention from their interview (comments, Likes, +1's, etc) will get a special in-game reward AND one of their lucky commenters/Likers/+1-ers will get a cameo appearance in Hero Games!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="background-color: white;">This week, we'll talk to Erin Moore. <i>The girl that steps through the curtain has intelligent, watery blue eyes and red streaks in her shoulder-length black hair. Black combat-style boots with large buckles on the side peek out from under faded blue jeans. The leather jacket hangs loosely off her shoulders, and a simple black t shirt peeks out between the zippers. A thin black choker circles her neck, and her eyeshadow is dark, creating pockets of shadow around her eyes. She lounges in the guest chair looking very comfortable. She offers a pretty smile and waits for me to begin.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
JACE: Hello, Erin. Thank you for taking the time to join us today.<br />
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ERIN: <i>She shrugs.</i> It's no problem. They said you were interviewing all the Beta testers.<br />
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JACE: Yes, we are. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself to get us started?<br />
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ERIN: Okay. I'm seveteen. My birthday is October 8th if you want to send me a present. I read a lot. I do okay in school. I've never been arrested, but I beat up the last guy that said I was emo. When I was a kid, we had a lizard in our backyard, a gecko, and I got friendly enough with him that he would let me feed him. I like your goatee, and I think I've run out of things to say.<br />
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JACE: <i>I'm caught a little off guard by her reference to myself. We were supposed to be talking about her!</i> Ah, thank you, Erin. What about Hero Games? Are you enjoying being a Beta tester?<br />
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ERIN: Yeah, it's fun. When I read, I kind of fall into the story, you know? This game is even better than that; I'm <i>really</i> in the world and action.<br />
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JACE: <span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Can you tell us a little about your character?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: Sure. Her name is Vanessa Pyre. She's kind of a vampire. She wears a gothic corset and dress, and she can do some of the traditional vampire stuff, like turn into mist and bite people. Her bite just puts them to sleep right now, though.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Traditionally, fire is one of the ways to kill a vampire. Was the irony in your character's name intentional? A pyre is a burning structure.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: <i>She flashes that pretty smile again, perhaps even slightly longer and larger.</i> I think you're the first person to get that. I didn't start with that in mind, but I liked the idea, so I went with it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: So, Vanessa is a vampire. Is that one of the options when you make your character? I don't think we've heard much about that.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: No, the Character Creation isn't like that. There are tons of options, and none of them are stereotypes. Obviously , you <i>can</i> stereotype if you want to, but it isn't setup by default. There aren't even player classes like in most games.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Could you explain more about that for our readers who might be less game-proficient than others?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: Well, most games like this, you choose a 'class' of character, like an tank, or a blaster, or a mage.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: I think you lost me there, Erin.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: A tank is the term for someone who can take a lot of damage. They run in and keep the bad guy's attention, doing a little bit of damage, but taking all the hits while the other guys attack the same bad guy. A blaster is someone who attacks from a distance, like an archer or gunman. And a mage is someone that uses magic. There are other types, but that gives you the idea. When you choose one of those characters, you choose powers or abilities or weapons that work for that type of fighter. In Hero Games, you don't pick a class, and all the abilities are open for anyone to choose. You can make your own class, or spread it around and be a little of everything. It changes the strategy a little bit that way, and that's cool.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: What about the social aspects of the game? Are you making lots of new friends?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: <i>A slightly disgusted look crosses her face.</i> I don't make friends. Yes, you can group, and there are options for that in the game, but you'll have to ask someone else about that; I work alone. Everything's going social these days. People act like you can't do anything on your own, like it's a bad thing to be by yourself.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgbOP2HvY0Ns1AiIWC7k8UrBDr7OiQ954-ibWQ5VNAZw1me6P1EJYcnChiU4qdPKgXYQl-95fPW3JqEBK0vvezt4cB5yFfxQfxuP2n2rEfpQuthC9yIAYX_mv2heag1tKIqU-mFBiovU/s1600/Vanessa+Pyre.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgbOP2HvY0Ns1AiIWC7k8UrBDr7OiQ954-ibWQ5VNAZw1me6P1EJYcnChiU4qdPKgXYQl-95fPW3JqEBK0vvezt4cB5yFfxQfxuP2n2rEfpQuthC9yIAYX_mv2heag1tKIqU-mFBiovU/s320/Vanessa+Pyre.png" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image created by HeroMachine.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: So you don't talk to or interact with anyone else in the game?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: Well, there's this one guy that's helped me out a couple of times. He's kind of sweet, really, but that's the sad part, cause he's just going to get hurt in the end. Nice guy, though.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Well, if you don't go in for the social aspect, what is <i>your</i> favorite part of the game.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">ERIN: <i> She clearly ponders this for a moment, her watery blue eyes looking off into the distance.</i> I like the pure freedom of it. I get to experience things without worrying about getting trapped, or getting hurt. I've jumped off a building and faded into mist half way down, drifting gently to the street. I can talk tough to the bad guys, cause their just computer pixels. Yeah, I like the freedom to feel anything.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other Hero Games Introductions:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-nick.html">Nick "Virgil Ante"</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-paul.html">Paul "The Peace Keeper" Granados</a>
</span></div>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-61299547447636190302012-07-30T13:35:00.000-07:002012-08-06T05:40:48.836-07:00Hero Games Introductions: Paul<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s1600/Hero+Games+Banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Nil9LCxDU4isJXpqY_yxeg2QFWyMNQvTCf7ATQK_FYjzp93AbnmInZ8JweAi0YIQiZ3dmZipD86Lx04b0QDoRij-QSE0xP5MW412asbEwQEajv3zjkIgReZkGozh0C2J6EQQMNIIbcE/s400/Hero+Games+Banner.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">I'd like to introduce you to the Beta Testing team for Modson Technologies's newest game in development: <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero Games</a>! Modson is using their proprietary, experimental Neural Interceptor technology in a full immersion virtual setting for this new game. If the Beta trials are successful, they expect this technology to radically change the gaming industry, along with many other applications. Modson has been kind enough to allow us access to this technology to interview their Beta testers. Each one we interview will actually be comfortably at home, hooked into their Modson gaming system. Since this system interacts directly with their minds, we'll be able to get much more complete answers than subjects may otherwise give. It'll be almost like they are having a dream.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">This week, we'll talk to... Paul! <i>A stocky, broad shouldered Hispanic guy comes in, smiling and waving to a non-existent studio audience. He pretends to shield his eyes from bright studio lights (though his lime green sport glasses are bright enough), scan the 'crowd,' recognize someone with a big smile, and point them out before finally joining us in the overstuffed interview chairs. The Hero Games tee shirt from the company is put on over top of the collared golf shirt he wears underneath.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Good morning, Paul. You seem to be in good spirits today.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Every chance I get! <i>He shrugs. </i>I try to focus on the happy side of life. So, what did you want to talk about?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: <i>Laughs.</i> Well, I thought we could talk about your role as a Beta tester, and your experience in the game, and maybe a little bit about you. Tell us about Hero Games.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Okay. Well, you have this tower thing, with a helmet-gizmo attached to it. I think they call it a Neural Inter-something. Anyways, you put on the headset, and your whole body starts feeling numb. Oh, and everything is dark. Then all of a sudden you're floating kind of in space, and there's a start button that you can reach out and click, then you're in the game. You start by making a hero character, and then you become the hero and go out and fight crime.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: That sounds intriguing. So, what sort of hero did you make?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Oh, mine is named The Peace Keeper. He's got all this body armor, and he uses a quarterstaff that shrinks down when I'm not using it. When I level up some more, I plan to get a Bolo Gun.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: I couldn't help but notice that you switched pronouns, there, Paul. You went from talking about 'him' to yourself. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: <i>He grins sheepishly.</i> Yeah, well, that's kind of the way it happens in the game, you really do become the hero. It feels so real. Once I finished creating the character and got into the armor myself, it was me out there fighting crime. It isn't like you're just pushing buttons and watching a screen; you're really out there- or, <i>in</i> there, or whatever, I <i>am </i>the Peace Keeper. It's great.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: So, Paul, there may be some of our audience that don't know what a Beta tester is. Could you explain that for us?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Sure. When a company is making a video game, they have to write all the programming, and then part of the programmers' job is to test it. Only they can't see all the problems, cause they're too close, so they do a Beta Trial. They invite a small group of people to play the game and see if they can find mistakes, or problems. We can make suggestions, and we can even try to break the game. I know one guy that always tries to find the highest part of the game he can and jump off, just to see how the game handles it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: I see. Have you tried that in Hero Games?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: <i>He shakes his head vigorously.</i> Not me; not in Hero Games. It's too real. I'd feel like I was really jumping off a building. Some of the heroes can fly, though, so maybe they've tried it. But you do some exploring, you try to go into places of the game environment that the designers don't expect you to go. I'll be honest, I've mostly been having fun just playing the game. The world's pretty complete, though. My buddy Blue Bow has been following the NPCs trying to figure out the patterns. He says they're more complicated than any game he's seen yet.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-dFTgCSRSsZRzgQonQkPzf8i0lb53R6mZ1nVmkLuF0dkx-h-WQeyE2vpJAdeSA61KXbets2AGSOLRf8Xoujg7AhPxFWseA9vxaInicyDVNRW0f4sDTKCuSPbHhc6gV1NlmwHV3Fnmd0/s1600/Peace+Keeper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-dFTgCSRSsZRzgQonQkPzf8i0lb53R6mZ1nVmkLuF0dkx-h-WQeyE2vpJAdeSA61KXbets2AGSOLRf8Xoujg7AhPxFWseA9vxaInicyDVNRW0f4sDTKCuSPbHhc6gV1NlmwHV3Fnmd0/s320/Peace+Keeper.png" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images thanks to HeroMachine.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: NPCs?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Oh, sorry. NPCs are Non-Player Characters. They're just fake people run by the game to help fill up the world the game is in. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: Well, Paul, you've told us a fair bit about the game, but what about you? Who is the 'man behind the Peace Keeper'?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: <i> His grin expands to cover half his face.</i> Aw, there's nothing interesting about me. I'm just a guy.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: I don't believe that for a moment. What's your family like? What do you do for fun?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: Not much family, really. Just my mom and me. Mom doesn't want me to work so I can concentrate on school. She wants me to get into a good college. She says she's supporting me now so I can support her later. <i>He laughs.</i> She says when I turn 27 she's going to retire, so I'd better be ready to take care of her. For fun, right now, I mostly just play Hero Games. It gets pretty addicting. I'm in there most of the time.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">JACE: <i>Offers Paul his hand to shake. </i>Well, Paul, it's been a pleasure having you stop by. I wish you great success in the future. Before you go, though, I have a special announcement to our audience:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The Beta tester that gets the most attention for his interview will receive a special in-game reward! So, tell all of your friends to come check out your interview, and comment, Like, +1, etc so you can get that special in-game prize. Also, the lucky Beta tester will choose one of their supporters at random for a cameo appearance in Hero Games!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">PAUL: You got it! <i>He gets up and again waves to the imaginary crowd, his grin as big as his heart. </i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hero Games Introductions:</span><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-nick.html">Nick "Virgil Ante" </a><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/08/hero-games-introductions-erin.html">Erin "Vanessa Pyre" Moore</a>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-90598644341450601482012-07-23T20:58:00.001-07:002012-08-06T05:41:15.268-07:00Hero Games Introductions: Nick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">I'd like to introduce you to the Beta Testing team for Modson Technologies's newest game in development: <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero Games</a>! Modson is using their proprietary, experimental Neural Interceptor technology in a full immersion virtual setting for this new game. If the Beta trials are successful, they expect this technology to radically change the gaming industry, along with many other applications. Modson has been kind enough to allow us access to this technology to interview their Beta testers. Each one we interview will actually be comfortably at home, hooked into their Modson gaming system. Since this system interacts directly with their minds, we'll be able to get much more complete answers than subjects may otherwise give. It'll be almost like they are having a dream.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">We'll start with Nick. Nick is one of the younger Beta testers of the group<i>. A skinny teenager with long, stringy black hair enters the room and takes a seat beside the desk. He's wearing a trademark Hero Games tee shirt (provided by the company) and ripped jeans.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
JACE: Hello, Nick. Thank you for agreeing to talk with us today.<br />
<br />
NICK: Sure. I got a free tee shirt for it! <i>(He leans back and pokes out his chest to show off the tee shirt.)</i><br />
<br />
JACE: Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself, Nick?<br />
<br />
NICK: Well, I'm 14. I go to Bridgeton High School. I like to swim; I like to game. That's pretty much it.<br />
<br />
JACE: You like to swim? Are you on a swim team? I mean, do you compete?<br />
<br />
NICK: I used to be. I'm not any more. We can't afford it now. I still do laps in the school pool when I can, though.<br />
<br />
JACE: Alright, we'll talk more about that later. Have you had a chance to try the game out, yet?<br />
<br />
NICK: <i>(He gets a little more excited and slides forward to the edge of his chair.) </i>Oh, yeah. It's completely wicked. You're totally inside the game. It's so real-feeling. When you make your character, it's like you're standing in this room, and there's a pool of goo that turns into the person as you're making him, and then he kind of comes to life, but he isn't really alive cause you aren't in him, yet. He's just showing off a little personality, you know?<br />
<br />
JACE: No, I don't quite know yet, but it sounds very interesting. What kind of character did you make?<br />
<br />
NICK: Ha! I made this wicked eight foot blue giant with red eyes. He's got a leather jacket and these crazy techno gloves that shoot lightning. <i>(Nick starts gesturing and acting out his description.)</i> He's wicked strong and he can jump out of a high window or something and land on the sidewalk, making all these little cracks in the cement... it's completely wicked. <i>(He brushes his hair out of his eyes with one hand as he finishes the description.) </i> I called him Virgil Ante. Like, vigilante, you know, a hero kind-of guy?<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
JACE: He sounds quite intimidating. So, Virgil Ante is a hero?<br />
<br />
NICK: Oh yeah, they're all heroes. The game has it setup like that. If you do non-hero stuff, you lose experience and can't level up.I think if you do too much of it, they kick you out or something. It's still a pretty cool game, though. It needs a soundtrack, but I think that might be an unlock you can get later.<br />
<br />
JACE: Excellent. Well, I'd hate to spoil the game while it is still in Beta, let's talk more about you.<br />
<br />
NICK: If you want, I guess, I don't have much interesting to talk about.<br />
<br />
JACE: Well, how about your family? What do they think of you being selected for the Beta test?<br />
<br />
NICK: Uhm, well, my mom I don't think really knows. She's working a lot these days, so I don't see her very much. My little brother knows, but he's just kind of a pest, and I don't allow him in my room. Bad things happen when he goes in my room. <i>(Nick pauses thoughtfully, as though surprised at his own words.)</i> Yeah, uhm, so anyways, he knows, and that's kind of the house, cause our dad died a few years ago.<br />
<br />
JACE: I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?<br />
<br />
NICK: Well, when I was nine, I found this gun on the way home from school. It was just laying beside the fence in a paper bag, right? And I saw it, and I thought "Wicked. It's a real gun." I figured it'd be fun for me and Joker, that's my best friend, his real name's James, anyways, fun for me and Joker to shoot tin cans or something sometime. Plus, it's not safe to leave something like that just sitting out where anybody can get it, you know? <i>(He paused with the same look of self-confusion.)</i> Anyways, I took it home and I was checking it out in my room when I heard my dad come home. I knew he'd probably flip and want to turn the gun in, which was fine and all, but I hadn't even had a chance to shoot it yet. I mean, a couple of days difference won't matter.<br />
<br />
So I stuffed the gun under my bed and went out to talk with dad and throw the suspicion off. He started talking about this big swim meet that was coming up, and maybe how we could celebrate if I placed well enough. <i>(His shoulders slump slightly, and his voice grows softer.) </i>Then I see my kid brother coming out of the hallway holding the gun. He loved playing in my room, and it always made me so mad, cause he'd break stuff. This time was the worst, though. He'd found the gun, and he was only three, so he didn't even really know what it was. He totally didn't know it was real. He pointed it at us, and said "bang, bang!" We used to play that game. He'd point his finger at me and say "bang bang" and I'd all die goofy like. He thought it was funny. Only this time the gun was real, and it was loaded. I don't think dad even really ever knew what happened. His eyes got all wide, and he tried to talk, but he couldn't, and he fell on the ground.<br />
<br />
<i>(Nick pushes the tissue box away and wipes his nose and eyes on his sleeve instead.)</i> I know I shouldn't have had the gun in the first place, but if he hadn't gone in my room; if he'd just leave my stuff alone...<br />
<br />
JACE: That must have been terrible for both of you. Is your brother okay?<br />
<br />
NICK: <i>(shrugs.) </i> I don't think he even really remembers it. He was pretty young. He probably didn't even understand that I'd cost us both our father. I mostly take care of him, cause mom's working all the time to make ends meet, and dad's gone, so it's just us at home.<br />
<br />
JACE: Sounds like you're trying to be his hero.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eIsFwhPxueaMGrh1RpGsajzM5j9uNg_p_lMmlpQ9ny1C_ROOP03Ra3QyuF4VYhyghWabwS6TkodIZRhaAx48XopnxIcXZreHgVq1DD0pIhwSMPrQjBxVwBCinsBC2QQuUtwpyXJ3ous/s1600/Virgil+Ante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eIsFwhPxueaMGrh1RpGsajzM5j9uNg_p_lMmlpQ9ny1C_ROOP03Ra3QyuF4VYhyghWabwS6TkodIZRhaAx48XopnxIcXZreHgVq1DD0pIhwSMPrQjBxVwBCinsBC2QQuUtwpyXJ3ous/s320/Virgil+Ante.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images thanks to HeroMachine.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
NICK: Nah, I just make sure he doesn't starve or anything, you know? I mean, it's the least I can do, after... everything.<br />
<br />
JACE: Well, we're almost out of time, so let's try to end on a high note. What's the coolest thing about the game that you've found so far?<br />
<br />
NICK: Hero Games? Aw, man, there's so much wicked stuff in there. <i>(He thinks about it a moment.) </i> Probably the feeling of being somebody completely different. In there, I'm not just looking at the back of Virgil's head; I <i>am</i> Virgil Ante. I'm eight feet tall, with blue skin and muscles, and I can shoot electricity. It's all so wicked-real.<br />
<br />
JACE: Again, Nick, thank you for joining us, and we look forward to reading all about your adventures in <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero Games</a>.<br />
<br />
Tune in next time, and we'll talk to another of our Beta testers for Hero Games, from Modson Technologies.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hero Games Introductions:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/07/hero-games-introductions-paul.html">Paul "The Peace Keeper" Granados</a><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2012/08/hero-games-introductions-erin.html">Erin "Vanessa Pyre" Moore</a>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-3405820693593053262012-07-16T00:14:00.000-07:002012-07-16T00:14:00.201-07:00Children Make Great Villians<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8VYL5d8K3VMdsFffcAsJjxCnizmrW1hfo1HqiElhGs8qwT93936Llu3uNi3_ElIeRHLr_ETEY1wvvVT5HUrRhuBnWVpL0sJgt7TVJbScBs9kXFVwve73Syhl985NpXUXqmLNaAphFPY/s1600/Villianc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8VYL5d8K3VMdsFffcAsJjxCnizmrW1hfo1HqiElhGs8qwT93936Llu3uNi3_ElIeRHLr_ETEY1wvvVT5HUrRhuBnWVpL0sJgt7TVJbScBs9kXFVwve73Syhl985NpXUXqmLNaAphFPY/s200/Villianc.jpg" width="145" /></a></div>
I often wonder at the mindset and expectations of criminals. How they can possibly dream up some of the things they do? How can they feel good about doing it? I never feel like I understand the "darker psyche". However, tonight I have come to realize that the greatest source of inspiration for villainy is children. My wife had a blog for a time called "Step-Eclecticity" and used little code names for the kids, so I'm going to borrow those monikers for this.<br />
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Tonight, I awoke from bed to yelling (possibly, I was still asleep there) and then the definite sounds of loud crying. I got out of bed and made my way to the children's side of the house. When I hit the hallway, I paused to determine which direction the crying was coming from. Both directions?? (We currently have two kids in the house, as their older brother, 'Scooby', is out of state for the balance of the summer.) After a moment of listening, I decide the louder crying seems to be coming from the left, so I start in that direction. There I find 'Bliss,' our 11 yr old rock-climbing daughter, lying on the bed, holding one side of her head and in terrible tears.<br />
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"My face is broken," she sobs out. I'm slightly in shock, and resisting the instant urge to go destroy the vile miscreant who has chosen to bring my daughter to such painful tears and heart-wrenching beliefs. "He pressed my face down with all his weight, and I heard it crack!" She fully believes that her twin brother has literally broken her face, cracked her skull. After a few more minutes of gentle holding and reassurances that her face appears to be just as pretty as always, other than tear-tracks and puffy eyes, I get a grip on my temper and head for the other end of the hallway.<br />
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On that end of the world, I discover Digi, our 11-yr old baseball fanatic and potential genius, curled into the fetal position on the giant beanbag under his Texas Rangers comforter. He, too, is sobbing his heart into the night. I ask, calmly, what happened. "She turned off the light, and pushed me off the ladder, and made me feel like I wasn't even a <i>person</i>!"<br />
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I tennis-matched back and forth for an hour, comforting, interrogating, chastising, and reassuring the pair of them, and in the end, after much begging to see each other on both their parts, I let Digi in to see Bliss, and he tearfully said he was sorry and begged her forgiveness, as she apologized to him and told him it was alright. There were hugs and 'I love you's as I watched from the door. There will certainly be more talking in the morning, but as it was after midnight, I put them both to bed with kisses and instructions to get some sleep. Oh, what was the fight over? The top bunk. When there are <i>four</i> kid beds to choose from in that end of the house.<br />
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So, I'm reasonably certain that her face isn't broken, and I'm pretty sure he <i>is</i> a person, but I was completely floored at the actions they were willing to take against someone they each profess to care deeply about, and for so little an incentive. Truly, childhood is the stuff of villainy. Earlier this week, one of them slipped around the table while I was chatting with their cousin, and then whispered behind my back (I can still hear pretty well in my doting old age) to that cousin, who promptly stepped back to my attention and asked about playing on the Wii with the child that was so conveniently positioned behind me. I asked why my child wasn't the one asking, and promptly came the defense that the cousin had just been asking to play. Yeah, right. Manipulative little... villain.<br />
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Their older brother Scooby isn't innocent on this, either, by no means. Every time he travels between houses, he smuggles a shipment of toys back east. There was even an entire post on my wife's old blog a couple of years ago about a certain candy thief that was caught chocolate-handed.<br />
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I am probably far too tired to try to assess what this observation might mean from a psychological point of view, but I am quick to spot the writing advantage! What is a villain willing to do to get what he wants? Look to the children. Lie ("I didn't put that there!"), Cheat ("Oops, I moved my piece too far. And that was a practice roll."), Manipulate, <span style="background-color: white;">Steal,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and, apparently, break a little girl's face, or turn their own brother into a "non-person." Frankly, I'd call that a pretty impressive list for a villain. </span><br />
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I was about to say that the crazy thing is, if we base villains on children, they don't even need all that convincing a reason for their evil deeds. I mean really: he wanted the top bunk. Then again, was all that really about who got the top bunk? Or maybe about how one made the other one feel? Don't get me wrong, I don't care <i>how</i> someone makes you feel, reciprocal violence is not an acceptable response. Yet we must take something like that into account when writing villains: they have reasons for what they do. They also must have a certain viewpoint about it. Either they feel it is justified, or they have to be in some way conflicted about it. Or perhaps numbed to it, as they have lived that way so long.<br />
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My problem with villains, or writing any character that isn't just stock criminal, is that I have trouble making them be truly evil. They don't <i>lie,</i> they kind of sort of tell half-truths... When just watching my children should make me realize that, angels they may be, but they'll lie to you. Straight up, stare you in the face, I-didn't-do-it-and-you-can't-prove-it lie. Not to mention the other things they are willing to do, especially in the heat of the moment, even if they feel bad about it later. Maybe my next villain will cry himself to sleep at night, trying to justify his actions, or push blame onto the victims of her crimes. Or maybe we'll see their dad, lying in bed, trying to figure out where he went wrong to raise someone so... <i>human.</i>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-33816533437445932612012-07-09T06:00:00.000-07:002012-07-09T17:12:34.741-07:00Publication!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSC_krTR5MlCUp9E6XsTn44gQ4XjWmNjeBaIbvJ_65L25uexGdlrLICakhaiwFeiI3ktTaiWJ6mSFHvDH6oR2cdnHaPMcoh2dTKTVxj1ykdyPVtOMhLQSLsrE8qbyash3xzXmXpTIbvw/s1600/ELF+for+the+Beginner+GM+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSC_krTR5MlCUp9E6XsTn44gQ4XjWmNjeBaIbvJ_65L25uexGdlrLICakhaiwFeiI3ktTaiWJ6mSFHvDH6oR2cdnHaPMcoh2dTKTVxj1ykdyPVtOMhLQSLsrE8qbyash3xzXmXpTIbvw/s320/ELF+for+the+Beginner+GM+small.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
We'll talk about where I've been later. First, I want to celebrate! I now officially have a published work. Elven Fire for the Beginner GM is finished and published, through the wonderful folks at CreateSpace.com. It took several re-uploads for small corrections, but it's done and available on <a href="https://www.createspace.com/3916355">CreateSpace </a>and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elven-Fire-Beginner-David-Jace/dp/1478170328/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1341608133&sr=8-11&keywords=Elven+Fire">Amazon</a>.<br />
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Last summer, George F. Rice published the <span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elven-Fire-Living-Vida-Medieval/dp/146620074X/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341609017&sr=1-5&keywords=elven+fire">Elven Fire</a><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">manual, introducing his family's 20-year project to the world.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elven-Fire-Living-Vida-Medieval/dp/146620074X/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341609017&sr=1-5&keywords=elven+fire" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKjAc9OS-1jqDezONmCuMQafQ5qmC_5laDbsuSf507_XIO23pklWLVi-E0GjxY9ttEOQsLEA-6OTW7raF1lTMP15LtD7Omr3XJcQwzxaJ9VFBzBqAgPY7w6zTDIVOHJahpwAED8V2B1eo/s200/Manual+Cover.jpg" width="200" /></a>Elven Fire is a new RPG tabletop game, like many others available on the market, but with some very unique aspects such as the Damage Class table that allows a player to use any kind of die in existence (or that can be conceived) to play the game. In addition, it is more "family friendly" than many in the genre, while still maintaining the classic, high fantasy style that has made these types of games famous.<br />
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Elven Fire for the Beginner GM is not an alternate manual. Instead, it is a guide for inexperienced GMs of Elven Fire (or if you've never even heard of RPG games before!). 'The Beginner GM' includes an introduction to the special challenges of being a GM (in addition to being a player) and then walks the reader through three 'arcs' (storylines) of labyrinths. Each labyrinth is five rooms, which is a several-hours night of gameplay. Each labyrinth includes step-by-step instructions for the GM, specific battle statistics for every creature or opponent, and occasional tips and tricks for the GM.<br />
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You'll still need the manual to make your characters, and you'll <i>want </i>the manual for all of the other great information there. This is by no means a replacement for the manual. However, playing a starting group through all three arcs of The Beginner GM will bring that starter, no-nothing group of rag-tag adventurers all the way to the threshold of the Intermediate level.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMCQUIvMczeGMTdB3QFaVrrK4gLukMSY8WzXpTQNCDmKXD7KI4NVdrRqTtSPJrTtOZL171q2Fd_MU5FlbSVOlm6AVy-XJ3xFcdAGM5qvIDC457rlOLZpZTZJZrAYjABdCFFfTKo3vmlA/s1600/nano_ywp_11_winner_120x240.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMCQUIvMczeGMTdB3QFaVrrK4gLukMSY8WzXpTQNCDmKXD7KI4NVdrRqTtSPJrTtOZL171q2Fd_MU5FlbSVOlm6AVy-XJ3xFcdAGM5qvIDC457rlOLZpZTZJZrAYjABdCFFfTKo3vmlA/s1600/nano_ywp_11_winner_120x240.png" /></a></div>
The most exciting part, however, is that <i style="font-weight: bold;">my name's on the cover!!</i> My author's copies will arrive this week, so I still have some exciting celebrating to do, but I wanted to go ahead and write up the blog post to announce it. I would also like to mention that I wrote this work during last November, while leading several middle schoolers through <a href="http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo's Young Writers' Program</a> and I would certainly like to thank the Office of Letters and Light for all the hard work they do to make that program happen. (Not to mention the Winner's Codes they give out for those who make it!)<br />
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<br />David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-64297245032037562202012-02-07T02:51:00.000-08:002012-02-07T03:35:24.688-08:00Gods of Justice Review: Blunt Force Trauma<i>I won <a href="http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/2011/06/gods-of-justice-contest.html">Gods of Justice</a> from <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/lisagailgreen">Lisa Gail Green</a>. It's an anthology of superhero short stories. Lisa asked if I would write a review of the anthology, but since I like to give more than asked, I decided to do a review of each story, one at a time. In case you didn't know, I really like superheroes, so this was a great prize for me. I'll be reviewing them one story at a time in this "<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html">Gods of Justice Review series</a>."</i><br /><br /><i>Blunt Force Trauma </i>by <a href="http://www.kevinhosey.net/">Kevin Hosey</a> truly does play some head games with you. There isn't a lot of "superhero action" in this one, but the one hero/power that you do get to experience is pretty cool. It starts right at the beginning, giving the reader the advance warning of Psykore's precognitive superpower. It's done almost as a second voice inside his head, giving him a heads up on what's about to happen with a couple of well chosen words. This gives him the advantage on his opponent. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work on inanimate objects, like a bomb, which quickly ends his career and causes his power to go defunct at the beginning of the story.<div><br /></div><div>We pick up the story many years later, with Psykore making ends meet, permanently wounded and defeated by the bomb, living alone. He gets a call from his mentor/partner from even before we met Psykore, to tell him about the death of his partner's daughter. His partner quickly changes gears, however, and tells him not to come. Apparently, they had some sort of major falling out back in the day, which is hinted at and slowly unveiled as the story moves along.</div><div><br /></div><div>This story specializes not on cool super heroics or flashy powers, but on relationships and plot twists. I saw the love interest coming, and I suspected the baby's origin maybe halfway in, but I was taken completely by surprise with the identity of the mastermind behind it all. Caught by surprise, and left gasping for breath, with my mind spinning to grasp the ramifications of it all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Many stories make the mistake of throwing in a random culprit or piece of information at the very end, in order to effect a plot twist of this magnitude. It's called <i>Deus ex Machina</i>, which is Latin and means God of the Machine. However, stories like this, in today's modern world of storytelling, feel contrived, unplanned, or the reader feels cheated. Not so with Blunt Force Trauma. The clues were all there, nothing was truly hidden, it just didn't come together until the end.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a little on the slow-paced side, as so much of it was angst and relationship-building material, leaking out tips and hints of what had happened in their past, but in the end, my overwhelming feel is that this story hurt to read. Not that it was bad writing, but that the actual story hurt. I didn't want it to be that way. I hurt for Psykore; I hurt for the kid. I just wanted to raise my hands into the air and scream "It's not fair!" Life isn't fair, and good literature reflects life. </div><div><br /></div><div>You can get more of Kevin Hosey's work on his site, <a href="http://www.kevinhosey.net/">www.kevinhosey.net</a>, his <a href="http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKevinHosey">Facebook </a>page, or follow him on <a href="http://twitter.com/kevinhosey">Twitter</a>.<br /><i><br /></i><br /><b>The Rest of the Series:</b><br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html"><i>The Mass Grave of John Johnsons</i> by Micah Urban</a><br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-daughter-of-nyx.html"><i>Daughter of Nyx</i> by Kelly Wisdom</a><br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/08/gods-of-justice-review-going-my-own-way.html"><i>Going My Own Way</i> by Dayton Ward</a><div><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/10/gods-of-justice-review-identity-crises.html"><i>Identity Crises</i> by Lisa Gail Green</a></div></div>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-78797195362638314242012-01-30T05:00:00.000-08:002012-01-30T05:00:03.836-08:00Revising ViolentlyThis Saturday I printed out the first arc of The Beginner GM and curled up on the couch to make my first editing pass. It was a massacre. I shed so much red ink that I'm not sure the ME would be able to identify the body. I slashed paragraphs and carved similes into imagery. I ripped the metaphorical throat out of some of those passages, and then I put it back in backwards. In my defense, those pages deserved it. I'm not sorry I did it, and first chance I get, I'm going to do it again!<br />
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I've never liked to revise, or even proofread, for most of my life. I'm not sure why. When I clean and think I am done, I take a last look to catch anything I missed. If I'm eating a good meal, you'd better be sure I check the pot before giving up my plate. Revising, however, I hated. I don't know why. Perhaps it was admitting I had been wrong, or that I could have done it better, though you'd think I was used to that. Maybe it just felt like too much work. It could be that I was scared to see how bad it was. Whatever the reason, When I threw down my pen and pages, I was done, for better or worse. I promise you, it was worse.<br />
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Revision, as detestable as it might be to some, is critical to good writing. I don't know why it's impossible to do it right the first time, but it is. I've never ever heard of a successful writer that didn't revise. Moreover, every time I recall an author talking about revision, they talked about how MUCH they revise! Many authors are still mentally revising their work <i>after</i> it's been published.<div><br />
</div><div>So, I can't tell you why we need to do it, but I can tell you how it helps. The most obvious is basic proofreading. People make mistakes, all the time. Proofing lets you spot and fix those mistakes before someone else does. Revision allows you to see the places in your story that need tightening, or loosening, or more explanation, or less exposition. It lets you follow the voice of your characters, and better recognize when they shift, than when you were writing mad about the wet newspaper and it soaked into your characters. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I think Writing and Reading are two different parts of the brain, perhaps editing is as well. When you take a second look at what you've written, after letting it cool for a time, you see it as a reader instead of the person writing it, and that makes all the difference. Writers have no clue when they have screwed up. Readers can always smell it. Fortunately, the best writers are both.</div>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-35966042628117142252012-01-23T04:44:00.000-08:002012-01-23T04:44:00.330-08:00Switching GearsDespite what I said in my last blog post, I'm switching gears. I had planned to finish editing and revising The Beginner GM and then return to work on Hero Games, which I had practically abandoned last summer. However, <a href="http://fantasy-faction.com/">Fantasy Faction</a> has thrown a metaphorical wrench into my plans.<br />The wrench they threw into my machine is their new <a href="http://fantasywritingcontest.com/">Anthology </a>and the contest for the valued slots for unpublished authors.<br /><br />Their submission requirements are pretty strict: anything fantasy. I can do that. Targeting about 8,000 words.<br /><br /><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_FAc-nTL_TNQ98qgSwR0E6qC8nqQXmEvCoLjvxuLscxId-rlB"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 231px; height: 219px;" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_FAc-nTL_TNQ98qgSwR0E6qC8nqQXmEvCoLjvxuLscxId-rlB" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />So, over the holidays, I had an idea for a story based on the Mayan calendar's end of time. I theorized that maybe the 2012 deadline wasn't predicting the end of the world, but a major change in the world as we know it. (A little quick research lent substantial credibility to such a theory.) So I figure, if the world is going to completely change, why not play with physics? The story I have planned will take the world from science to magic, much like it did ages ago when the pendulum swung the other way. One will slowly fade, and the other will grow in power and awareness.<br /><br />So, for those who care, that's my new agenda and why. Sometimes, a wrench in the gears just means your machine does something new.David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-24222423278099482422012-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:19:34.761-08:00Pretend This is a Creative Blog Post TitleIt is a new year, and with new years come... calories, if we're going to be honest about it. <div><br /></div><div>Over the holidays (and just after), I finished <i>Elven Fire for the Beginner GM</i>, which was my NaNoWriMo project this year. (I did hit my goal, but had some finishing pieces I wanted to add.) Now it's time for that to go into revisions so it can be published this spring. The actual <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elven-Fire-Living-Vida-Medieval/dp/146620074X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1326133372&sr=8-4">game manual</a> went out last summer. That has been a fun experience, and a new type of project for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once that's done, I'll be going back to work on <u><a href="http://www.davidjace.com/HeroGamesBonus.html">Hero Games</a></u>, which I abandoned in the middle. I've decided to try an unusual (for me) approach, though, and writing each character's storyline independently, then weaving them all together. With the plot well mapped, it should be doable, and may help to maintain the continuity of their voice.</div><div><br /></div><div>One night over the holidays, I had to get up in the middle of the night to write down a couple of story concepts so that I could sleep, and hopefully not lose the ideas. When I shared the ideas with my wife later, she praised the concepts, but commented that she thinks I have enough projects on my plate.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even ignoring the "real life" commitments of teaching and family, she's right. I have just finished writing one project that requires editing before a deadline for publications; I am still in the midst of a challenging novel with a dozen main characters, each with their own subplot. I have at least three other novels-in-progress awaiting their turn in line. I have a Santa's List of story ideas waiting to become works-in-progress. I have blogging that I try to do weekly, Tweeting that I do whenever I can, which isn't often enough. <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/OnCommonGroundBonus.html" style="text-decoration: underline; ">On Common Ground</a> is gathering dust waiting to be edited. On top of all that, I <i>really</i> should be trying to build my portfolio by entering contests, submitting short stories to magazines, networking within the blogosphere. Oh, I'd completely forgotten that Derek Daniels, my poor <i><a href="http://www.davidjace.com/TheNaniteChaser.html">Nanite Chaser</a>, </i>is desperately in need of another episode or five.</div><div><br /></div><div>How does a writer do it? Do we throw some of these wonderful ideas away? Should I start a Writer's Idea Bank and store them there in the hopes that some other author may be able to use one? It makes me wonder, of those amazing authors that are out there, the prolific, and the departed, how many of their stories went unwritten? How many amazing tales have passed unpenned? I hope there's a library in heaven, and I hope Satan's not in charge of the publishing house.</div>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-64917798872289588742011-12-17T07:18:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:19:34.762-08:00Merry ChristmasI'm sure Santa's moving my name from one list to the other this month, for I've not posted at all in December. Actually, I think I posted one that I had drafted and saved a while back, but screwed up and dated it sometime in October. A shame, it was a good post, and probably went unnoticed because of that. Ah, well, it's the thought that counts. Or maybe only the thoughts you write down.<div><br /></div><div>So, here's my Christmas gift to all of you: a piece of fiction. First, you must ask yourself are you naughty or are you nice? </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><i>For the Naughty Girls and Boys...</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IiZI76LevKwMFF618oODtYbG9PUG_4PyMcsFstNRmSk/edit">"Shame on you! What are you doing reading this filth?" The voice echoed in her ears...</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Coming soon,</div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><i>For the Nice Girls and Boys...</i></span></div><div><div style="background-color: transparent; "><b id="internal-source-marker_0.33273989032022655"><span style="font-family: Georgia; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ">"I'm so proud of you! Santa’s going to have something special in his sack for you, my boy!” He opened the email to read it again...</span></b></div></div></div>David Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224602942702732512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-45766955782218958542011-11-30T05:23:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:19:02.372-08:00NaNoWriMo's Last BreathToday is the last day of 2011's NaNoWriMo. Let's see how it all has turned out, with the understanding that there are still about 16 hours left for things to change.<br />
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My 2nd period, who had a word count goal of 60,000 (30 kids x 2k words each) topped out yesterday at 62,058 words with threats from some of bringing more today. (Their class doesn't meet today.) Way to go, kids!<br />
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My 4th period came in just short of their 38,000 goal (19 kids x 2k words each) with 35,932 words. Remember, there's still 16 hours left for them to come bursting into my classroom waving sheets of scribbled words and numbers, yelling out their total word count. They aren't too very short. One kid could make it happen for them.<br />
<br />
Each student that succeeded in hitting their goal is invited to the Thursday Dec 1 afternoon pizza party NaNoWriMo Celebration! (Wow that's a long name for a party.)<br />
<br />
I would like to brag and celebrate my own personal success of winning MY first NaNoWriMo YWP, passing my 25k goal with 26,733 and counting! Woot for me!<br />
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My afterschool WriMos trudged in with sad faces yesterday. They were falling far short of their goals, but, I am proud to say, they were still writing. There was one that usually comes later, however. (She's in spelling bee practice the first half after school.) Word in the halls was that this sweet girl with a modest 12k goal, had over 20,000 words in hand. She arrived, and it was true. She had over 170%! Oh, how we celebrated.<br />
<br />
Then, I went to validate her words, and she stopped me. <blockquote>"No, Mister! Don't do it."</blockquote><br />
I was startled, and tried to explain that I was validating her win, so she would have her little purple Winner bar.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"No, I don't want to do that. I didn't finish the story. I'm only half way done, and there's no way I'll finish it in time. I'm not a winner yet, and I hold to that decision."</blockquote><br />
How can I not respect such integrity? I searched the FAQs but could find nothing on what to do if you hit (or explode) your word count, but aren't done with the story at the end of the month. For now, she remains unvalidated... but she's a winner in my book.<br />
<br />
<br />
****************************************************<br />
<br />
Update: My wife went and found some information and emailed me to have something to help sway the girl, since she couldn't comment from work. The email is below. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>From the FAQs, The Basics, "How do you win?": <br />
<br />
"You win NaNoWriMo by writing to your word-count goal by midnight on November 30." <br />
<br />
Writing to your word-count goal. Not finishing your novel. <br />
<br />
Also, in the CreateSpace talks: <br />
<br />
"... you will receive a redemption password when you reach your word-count goal and become an official NaNoWriMo 2011 winner." <br />
<br />
When you reach your goal. Not when you finish your book. <br />
<br />
I'd say it's pretty clear!</blockquote><br />
So during my off period, I pulled her out of class and presented this information to her. After assuring her that she could (and should) finish the work and pursue publishing in the spring, she confirmed that she did want to validate now. So we quickly grabbed a computer and got her validated. I am so very proud of her, and excited about the future of her story.<br />
<br />
Then, when I got home, I had the following email from the Office of Letters and Light. I think Tim said it quite well.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Hi there,<br />
<br />
Wow, she has real grit to go with her drive, it sounds like; that's fantastic. Our official position is basically that, if she hits her word count goal, we consider her a winner. We also encourage young writers to continue writing their novels, and to edit them in later months. I'm going to link a FAQ about it here: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/node/512033<br />
<br />
This is also our official position on how to win: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/node/512006<br />
<br />
I hope this helps! Thank you for writing in, and please let your student know that we are incredibly proud of her accomplishment, and that she deserves to celebrate!<br />
<br />
Tim Kim<br />
Office Captain<br />
The Office of Letters and Light</blockquote>Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-49599354934221213562011-11-21T08:16:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:19:02.373-08:00Missed a weekMissed a week? I don't know what you're talking about.<br />
<br />
Yeah, okay, I admit it. I could blame it on being sick, but I didn't get sick until the middle of last week, so I don't have much of an excuse. I wish I had a really recent update on my students, but I was out sick much of last week, so I don't have their current numbers. The week before that, though, one class had a total of 35,000 words! Fantastic. I'm really excited to see what they have after this week of Thanksgiving break. It'll be the last class period during NaNoWriMo, so really have to be done by that point, and they know it. Crossing my fingers.<br />
<br />
I, while still underscoring for the official adult WriMo goal, am having my best NaNo year yet! I currently as of yesterday have just over 15,000 words, which is 60% of my 25k goal. Today and tomorrow are dedicated to writing, with Wednesday as a safety net. I plan to be done by Thanksgiving. It is a marvelous feeling to finish a book like that. To set a momentous goal and achieve it is a sensation that you carry with you. I love seeing it in my students. I love feeling it in me.<br />
<br />
Now, on to random-doesn't-actually-matter-just-thoughts-about-me-out-of-my-head stuff. This morning, I spent nearly an hour in Barnes & Noble waiting for the Jewelry store next door to open. I don't usually have the time to just "hang out" in B&N, or any other bookstore, much to my chagrin. Got to tell you, I love it. I imagine finding my name on the shelf. I run my fingers tenderly across the leather spines. (Have you SEEN the new B&N Leatherbound Classics editions? <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/discount-books-bargains-classics/379001146/">Bibliogasm</a>.) I touch the covers of treasured stories from my past, or of world-changing classics and there's an electric charge that runs through me, connecting me with Captain Ahab, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dorian Gray, Shakespeare, Scheherazade, or HG Wells. It's a world that I love being a part of. The power and joy of the written word, the very feel and pleasure of holding a good book. <br />
<br />
I do enjoy having digital books, and I use Shaker (my iPod) to read on, but shopping in iTunes and downloading a pdf just doesn't have that same experience. You can laugh. Apple and the Nook people certainly want you to, and make fun of that sentiment in their commercials, but the reality is it is true. I am not lighting torches and waving pitchforks over the coming of digital publishing; I think it's awesome. Neither, however, am I using my old paperbacks for toilet paper. They can, and will, coexist. And I will indulge in both.<br />
<br />
Now it's time for me to get my name on one of them.Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-84262426289866076622011-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:19:02.374-08:00Day late and a few words shortThis post is going up a day late because, well, life is just like that.<br />
<br />
I had 3366 words at the end of last week, and I was excited about the forward progress. Then the weekend came and I had time to really sit down and talk through the project. I realized that i had made a mistake in my planning. Fixing it meant that I had to toss about 300 words of the labyrinth I had begun. (I saved it for later.) 300 words isn't much, but that meant my word count was going backwards! Plus, I no longer had that planned labyrinth. I had to come up with something new. It was just a setback, not an ending, and I am pushing forward and will be successful.<br />
<br />
My students, on the other hand... nearly knocked me over with their word counts! They each have a goal of 2,000 words. Most of them came back after the first week with quite respectable word counts. Some, however, really surprised me. I have two that were within 200 words of 2k, and several that passed the 50% mark! This may not be high word counts for the WriMos that are used to thousands a day, but for a class of Middle School students that may not have chosen the class and had no idea it included a project like this, these are great numbers. The best part is that when I asked if they were almost done with the story itself, I got answers like "No way, I'm still early in the Rising Action." and "I just hit the Inciting Incident!"Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-69160667290653162882011-10-31T06:53:00.000-07:002011-10-31T06:53:00.346-07:00Wonderful Time of Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg004jHSdkfZ0nUnWy4HTnM8v1xc00OhTqccqNJxCksfvRrh_dg8Og1ktCsfPW38l88UObBjNE7X_eCQ-MpzUpCnPEXu3u3Hxb9_1-aw6UitNECznn0FQUj-IHL8UiqkTkZi38ddQd4YKM/s1600/Logan+Eyes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg004jHSdkfZ0nUnWy4HTnM8v1xc00OhTqccqNJxCksfvRrh_dg8Og1ktCsfPW38l88UObBjNE7X_eCQ-MpzUpCnPEXu3u3Hxb9_1-aw6UitNECznn0FQUj-IHL8UiqkTkZi38ddQd4YKM/s200/Logan+Eyes.JPG" /></a></div>I won't say it's the "most wonderful time of the year," but for me it comes pretty close. I get Halloween, when I can wear costumes without people laughing and pointing (except in a good way), and then stepping on the heels of it starts NaNoWriMo! It's non-stop fun! (Yes, that's me painting my daughter's eyes black for her batgirl mask.)<br />
<br />
Like last year, my classes are participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'll be giving updates on them throughout the month. This time, I only have two classes of creative writing students, so they are going to target one total anthology. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2seWDTbsVCW2N-2snHZmvcv4QtqIAGRv4Ciwgh-NCa3c82TzUnFqaH3ecsE2tgDrNB0Ob_3yEaMzEiiYyZIgc8Yuj8TyZLfmgX6PuBRup3sW7T85AVsKwLLy7pGXe9EAakvjEmX8yUDs/s1600/Manual+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2seWDTbsVCW2N-2snHZmvcv4QtqIAGRv4Ciwgh-NCa3c82TzUnFqaH3ecsE2tgDrNB0Ob_3yEaMzEiiYyZIgc8Yuj8TyZLfmgX6PuBRup3sW7T85AVsKwLLy7pGXe9EAakvjEmX8yUDs/s320/Manual+Cover.jpg" /></a></div>This past summer, my family published the game manual for a table-top rpg that they've been designing and playing for about two decades called <a href="www.elven-fire.com">Elven Fire</a>. (This is still on topic, trust me.) Labyrinths for the game, however, are always in constant demand. I've been writing labyrinths for the past year, both for family games, and for my school's after school program. So I decided to use NaNoWriMo to write a set of labyrinths that I can then put out there for other people to use. The creator of the game is <i>also</i> using NaNoWriMo to write a book of labyrinths, so mine will be targeted for the GM-in-training (Game Master), so to speak.<br />
<br />
tLike most things, This is more complicated than it sounds. I have to figure out what information inexperienced GMs need, and how to divide the complexities of the game between GM levels. Well, much like governments sometimes, I will drive ahead determinedly, despite being dreadfully uncertain of exactly where I am going!<br />
<br />
If you are interested in getting a copy of the manual (labyrinths coming soon!), You can get it from <a href="https://www.createspace.com/3666809">CreateSpace</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elven-Fire-Living-Vida-Medieval/dp/146620074X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319926359&sr=8-1">Amazon.com</a> Check out the game's history and such at <a href="http://www.elven-fire.com">www.elven-fire.com</a>.Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-46239402816435238762011-10-24T05:49:00.000-07:002012-01-21T17:19:53.734-08:00Gods of Justice Review: Identity Crises<i>I won <a href="http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/2011/06/gods-of-justice-contest.html">Gods of Justice</a> from <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/lisagailgreen">Lisa Gail Green</a>. It's an anthology of superhero short stories. Lisa asked if I would write a review of the anthology, but since I like to give more than asked, I decided to do a review of each story, one at a time. In case you didn't know, I really like superheroes, so this was a great prize for me. I'll be reviewing them one story at a time in this "<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html">Gods of Justice Review series</a>."</i><br />
<br />
***Warning: Spoilers on this one***<br />
<br />
<i>Identity Crises</i> by <a href="http://www.lisagailgreen.com/">Lisa Gail Green</a> is the story of identical twin sisters who have more in common than either of them realize. One sister is the classically perfect kid: the best grades (Easily), the social butterfly, the shining extra curriculars, the boyfriends, and, to top it all off, super powers. The other, less fortunate sister, struggles to pass, never gets the guy she likes, feels awkward, and buries herself in video games and books at home. <br />
<br />
As the story goes (that sounds so legendary), Leslie, the less-than-perfect, follows Miranda "Mir," the more-than-you-could-ask-for, into the bad side of town at night to catch her doing something she shouldn't. I like names to mean something, without being Pilgrim's Progress level of allegorical. Green uses extremely subtle names for the twins that are not at first obvious. Leslie = less while Miranda, Mir = more. Very clever, though what mean parents they must have! <br />
<br />
Naturally, Less catches More changing into her superhero costume in a back alley. Then she, in turn, gets caught in the back alley by More's boyfriend (who Less loved first, of course). The boyfriend and Less leave the safety of the alley to watch the battle between SuperMore and the Big Bad Ugly guy, who is a tech villain. In the course of the battle, Mayhem, the villain, attacks an "innocent bystander" (naturally, he picks Less) and the boyfriend jumps in the way to save her. The boyfriend gets frozen, SuperMore takes a serious hit/injury, and Less shows that she's braver and smarter than she thinks she is. Mayhem takes off with his new popsicle as hostage/collateral, and throws back a meeting time and place.<br />
<br />
Less helps More back home, and More insists that Less must take her place and go rescue the boyfriend, as More is temporarily confined to bed until she heals. Less practices all day with the magical stone in the belt (source of powers) and argues with herself about whether or not she can pull this off,and be the hero.<br />
<br />
I'm going to leave you in the dark about what happens to the boyfriend and the villain, but she does make a pretty good showing of herself as a hero, and the twins decide to <b>both</b> be SuperMore, as the better sister confesses that she always thought the other one was better, due to her "street smarts" and quick thinking.<br />
<br />
Now that you have the summarized storyline, on to my review. In short, the plot/action of this story was very well done. The villain acted reasonably, while still being classically villainous. In fact, there's one part, toward the end, where the villain is talking too much (they do that), and starts whining about how the hero's not acting the way she is supposed to. He studied videos of her moves and style and spent <i>hours</i> fire-proofing his suit. Shut up and take it, whiney-butt, she's taking you down. I loved that moment.<br />
<br />
Some of the best foreshadowing in the action was during that initial scene where Less is watching SuperMore's battle. Despite her self-deprecating, she thinks fast when she gets involved, and sees errors the sister is making, tricks the villain is laying, before anyone else does. It's a good setup for her being successful later, and painted well. It makes me "buy-in" to the sister being good at it later, while defusing the bomb of the "instantly amazing superhero" that this could have been. A cape and a mask do not make you invincible. (They just make you look really cool!)<br />
<br />
However, reviews, like coins, have two sides. What I didn't like about the story, was in the characterization. Not that the characters aren't good ones. I like the idea of Less-More twins, but the nature of the writing made the characters difficult to bring out. Let me explain. The problem with Flash Fiction (very short stories) is that there is very little in the way of resources to play with. With such limited word count, you have to develop the characters fast, and if you want to make the reader care about them, you don't have much time to do it, because the climax is right around the corner. If you are working with deep, interesting characters, this makes it even harder. Green could have spent her entire word count just developing these twin sisters. Instead, she has to paint their entire lives and relationship as fast as she can in order to move the story forward. Thus, the characterizations come across a little rushed and heavy-handed. I think it would have been nice if they had either tried to show a little less depth, or lengthened the story to allow for smoother development.<br />
<br />
The other thing that got me was the first person narrative. I actually have comments on both side for this. First, let me say that I've never been a fan of first person writing. My first impression is almost always "Why are you telling me this?" It hardly ever feels like an actual recounting of the events as experienced by the person telling them. I tend to avoid it myself. However, I did not at first even notice that it was first person, I was just reading. That's a really good thing. Being first person, however, meant Less spent a lot of time telling me how great her sister was, and how pathetic she was. Telling is something said to be avoided in fiction anyway, and this just got a little tiring after a while. I once broke up with a girl for the same reason. Despite that, I did like Less, and really enjoyed her meeting with Mayhem.<br />
<br />
In the end, the girls decide to share the identity of the Super Hero. (Is it split personality if you have two people sharing one personality instead of two personalities sharing one person?) Their resolution and disagreement over who is the better sister was a little too easy for me. Perhaps because of the first person narrative, we never got inside More's head. I was rather hoping they would find a way to be super heroes together, but both being the same super hero has some interesting possibilities as well.<br />
<br />
My summation: worth reading, I just wanted more of it to read. <br />
<br />
You can find more about and from Lisa Gail Green at her <a href="http://www.lisagailgreen.com/">website</a> or on her <a href="http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/">blog</a>. She's also a delightful person to follow on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/lisagailgreen">Twitter</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>The Rest of the Series:</b><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html"><i>The Mass Grave of John Johnsons</i> by Micah Urban</a><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-daughter-of-nyx.html"><i>Daughter of Nyx</i> by Kelly Wisdom</a><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/08/gods-of-justice-review-going-my-own-way.html"><i>Going My Own Way</i> by Dayton Ward</a>Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-10475811330744322802011-10-22T07:37:00.000-07:002012-01-21T17:18:39.532-08:00My Teaching Materials: The Letter<i>One of the things I rather enjoy is making pertinent materials for my writing classes. Yes, I probably do way too much myself, and should save energy by finding or buying and using pre-made stuff, but I like it. So, I thought I would share a few of those with you. </i><br /><br />The past couple of posts in this series have focused on spelling. My classes are graded in three areas: Prewriting, Writing, and Editing. Spelling falls under the editing category. This week, I thought I would jump over to the Writing category. The following is not so much a worksheet, as a model for them, to show how to add detail in order to "explode the moment," as my district calls it. Beginning writers have a tendency to gloss over entire scenes, because they are used to watching them play out on television or in movies instead of reading through them. This, I believe, is the same reason they struggle so much with describing characters and setting: on the screen, it is never described, just shown.<br /><br />The first one I show them is a short little paragraph that covers an entire scene. Below is the first version of <i>The Letter.</i><br /><br /><blockquote>The Letter<br /><br />It was night. It was windy. The girl stood on the roof. A man walked up to her. He gave her a paper. Then the man jumped off. The girl read the paper and cried and threw the paper away.</blockquote><br />This I show them on one screen. Even the kids can tell you it's bad. Then I tell them I have another version, and ask them to see if they like it better. Reading the second one has every kid's attention.<br /><br /><blockquote>The Letter<br /><br />It was a dark and stormy night. The wind howled around the corners of the street. Above the street, the wind and rain assaulted the rooftops.<br /><br />On the roof stood a girl, wearing a dark trench coat with a hat pulled low over her eyes. Whether it was meant to keep out the rain, or hide her face wasn’t clear. She seemed to be waiting for someone. It must be an exceedingly serious reason to be out on a rooftop in such blustery wind and biting rain.<br /><br />Suddenly, the rooftop door opened. The wind slammed it against the wall. The man standing in the doorway had long, stringy hair and a cruel-looking face. His countenance made the scar across one eye look almost cheerful. He stepped out onto the roof, leaving the old wooden door to slam and swing back and forth helplessly in the wind.<br /><br />As he walked up to the girl in the broad-rimmed hat, he held out his right hand. Clenched in his fist was a paper envelope wrapped in plastic. She hesitated, but accepted the mysterious package. In a flash of lightning, she could just barely make out the address on the outside of the envelope.<br /><br />She looked up to ask a question just as he stepped up onto the ledge. This was so startling that her question froze unvoiced in her throat. Then the man jumped.<br /><br />“No!”<br /><br />She stepped forward, but it was too late. He was gone, even more mysteriously than he came. She ripped open the envelope and held the letter in both hands to keep the wind from ripping it away. As she read, her sudden tears mixed with the pouring rain. She finished the letter and stood, frozen, shocked. Finally, she opened her fingers and let the wind take the hateful letter out of her life.<br /></blockquote><br />After reading this, I have to go through 5 minutes of questions about what happened to the two characters and what was in the letter. To which I have to shrug repeatedly, with a knowing smile. Then we discuss what made the two versions different. I go back to the first version and point out how every piece was turned into something larger. Practically every sentence in the first version became a paragraph in the next. "It was night. It was windy." From those two sentences, we get a full paragraph of setting description in the second. The same with the next sentence about the girl, and so on.<br /><br />At the end, I ask them to choose a piece of their writing that they feel matches the first version, and turn it into the second one. This has been a pretty effective lesson in the past; I look forward to trying it this year.<br /><br />*********<br /><br />Other posts in this series:<br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-teaching-materials-xanth.html">Land of Xanth</a><br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-teaching-materials-thief-chief.html">Thief & Chief</a><br /><a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-teaching-materials-key-to-happyness.html">Key to Happyness</a>Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-78905151263328828472011-10-17T05:42:00.000-07:002012-01-21T17:18:39.533-08:00My Teaching Materials: Key to Happyness<i>One of the things I rather enjoy is making pertinent materials for my writing classes. Yes, I probably do way too much myself, and should save energy by finding or buying and using pre-made stuff, but I like it. So, I thought I would share a few of those with you. </i><br />
<br />
This is the companion worksheet to <a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-teaching-materials-thief-chief.html">Thief & Chief</a>, which I posted last time. Before giving out either of these, we cover the rules that are included in them.<br />
<br />
Name: _________________<br />
Period:___ Date: _________<br />
<br />
<br />
Please correct the following paragraph. These mistakes focus on the following rules: Changing Y to I, and Doubling the Final Consonant. Previously covered spelling rules may also be present. Each of the 25 errors is worth 4 points.<br />
<br />
Their was one key to happyness in Jane’s life: she partyed. Parting was everything to her. It occupyed all of her free time and deli ghtted her and her freinds. There favorite place to party was a club that admited them even though they had not agged to 18 yet. They had made copyes of they’re driver‘s licenses and handded them over, smileing. The IDs claimmed the girls were 21. They had tryed to get into other clubs, but the bouncers stoped them at the door. One threatenned to call there parents! Jane finaly was geting to have a good time, when suddennly, she heard a bad sound: “Police. Everyone stay where you are!" They were takeing everyone’s IDs and puting them under arrest! When her parents came to get her, she was ashammed of what she had done.<br />
<br />
*********<br />
<br />
The first post in this series was <a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-teaching-materials-xanth.html">Land of Xanth</a>.<br />
The second was <a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-teaching-materials-thief-chief.html">Thief & Chief</a>.Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-91490517143002812392011-10-03T07:39:00.000-07:002012-01-21T17:18:39.534-08:00My Teaching Materials: Thief & Chief<i>One of the things I rather enjoy is making pertinent materials for my writing classes. Yes, I probably do way too much myself, and should save energy by finding or buying and using pre-made stuff, but I like it. So, I thought I would share a few of those with you. </i><br />
<br />
I hand out sheets that detail a few spelling rules, and then cover them about two at a time. After covering the spelling rules, I give out a worksheet for homework that has a very short story or passage which targets those particular rules. The following little story targets three rules: <i>i before e, dropping the final e,</i> and the homophones <i>there, their,</i> and <i>they're</i>. The students have to correct the errors for homework. There are 25 of them in this little story.<br />
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<blockquote>The Theif was rideing a stolen bicycle he had gotten from the Clown Cheif. The fameous Cheif had said that it was absolutly the safest ride in town. The clowns had decieved the theif, however. The bike was not the safest ride at all; it was a hopeless peice of junk. There idea of a joke was going to leave the theif sitting they’re on the side of the road. Although the theif beleived that it was a well-mad bike, the wheels were becomeing a problem. The rubber was wasteing away as he rode. Soon, he was sitting in the gutter, hopeing to recieve a bit of timly luck. Fortunatly, a nieghbor was driveing by at that very moment. They threw the bike into the trash and went looking for thier freinds the clowns.</blockquote><br />
You can find the first post in this series <a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-teaching-materials-xanth.html">here</a>. And no cheating!Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-64874151774093186422011-09-26T05:16:00.000-07:002012-01-21T17:18:39.535-08:00My Teaching Materials: XanthOne of the things I rather enjoy is making pertinent materials for my writing classes. Yes, I probably do way too much myself, and should save energy by finding or buying and using pre-made stuff, but I like it. So, I thought I would share a few of those with you. <br />
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This first one I usually give out the first week, and they mostly get credit for trying. However, it's a fun way to judge how well they edit, their "wordsmith" level, and give them a peek at what is in store for them. I didn't write this one, I borrowed the passage from Piers Anthony's <a href="http://www.hipiers.com/xanth.html">Xanth </a>series, credited at the bottom.<br />
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Let's see how many errors you can find! Leave your count in the comments. ;)<br />
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Name: ________________<br />
Period:________________<br />
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Dor is a student in a land called Xanth, which is next door to a place called Mundania. His teacher asked him to write an essay about Xanth. Dor isn’t a good speller, so he got a “spelling bee” to help him. Thanks to the bee, nothing in his essay is misspelled, but he still didn’t get a very good grade. Can you do better than Dor? Find and correct all of Dor’s spelling mistakes. Here’s a hint: there are 52 of them!<br />
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The Land of Xanth<br />
buy Door<br />
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Eye live inn the Land of Xanth, witch is dis-stinked from Mundania inn that their is magic inn Xanth and nun inn Mundania. Every won inn Xanth has his own magic talent; know to are the same. Sum khan conjure things, and others khan make a whole ore illusions ore khan sore threw the heir. Butt inn Mundania know won does magic, sew its very dull. They’re are knot any dragons their. Instead their are bare and hoarse and a grate many other monsters. Hour ruler is King Trent, whoo has rained four seventeen years. He transforms people two other creatures. Know won gets chaste hear; oui fair inn peace. My tail is dun. <br />
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From Centaur Aisle by Piers Anthony, p. 14Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-52929657545064072952011-09-19T06:05:00.000-07:002011-09-19T06:05:00.933-07:00Writer's UpdateSchool is back in, and I now have a schedule of writing on Saturday mornings for 3 hours. My goal is <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/Hero%20Games.html">Hero</a> <a href="http://www.davidjace.com/HeroGamesBonus.html">Games</a>. That project has been mostly stalled since the beginning of the summer. Every time I start to attack it, something else comes up. Just this week, I got an email from <a href="http://www.cliffhangerbooks.com">Cliffhanger Books</a> about another publisher, <a href="http://damnationbooks.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/anthology-call-for-submissions/">Damnation Books</a>, that had put out a call for submissions for a corrupted superhero anthology.<br />
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Naturally, it caught my attention. I even happen to have an unfinished corrupted hero story buried in my archives. But, I told myself, I am supposed to be working on Hero Games. I know that story would need dusting off and polishing, at the very least. So, I took a glimpse at it, and it could certainly use some work. It also, however, is a pretty good story. <br />
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Thus, I get caught by this little dilemma: novel-in-progress, or anthology submission? Not to mention trying to maintain this blog, keep up with Twitter, read my blogroll, etc. etc. At least NaNoWriMo isn't really until November, and I have time to plan for that during NaNoWriMo after school. (I have three students ready to write, so far!)<br />
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NaNo is November, the anthology due date is December, and Hero Games has no schedule but mine. So, for now, I go back to Hero Games until I can get it figured out. <br />
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I leave you this week with one thought: With so many irons in the fire, how does one find enough fuel?Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-549666426518676722011-08-28T15:22:00.000-07:002011-08-28T15:22:01.590-07:00Back to the BooksSchool has started again. Summer's lazy (ha!) days are at an end, and pencils and papers once more begin. This, of course, means I'm suddenly swamped with all kinds of stuff, as I teach middle school Creative Writing and Theatre, sponsor after school programs (three, this year), and have to organize for the school plays, as well as NaNoWriMo.<br />
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I do intend to maintain my regular posts, but there are likely to be some teaching ones added in as well. We've only been back in school a week, but my students have already edited a passage of writing, made their first, basic character, and written a short piece of fiction.<br />
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The short piece of fiction was my favorite thus far. Here was the assignment: They were to write a short (half-page) bio about themselves for homework, due the next class day. The catch? Everything in it had to be lies, except their name. (Had to know to whom to give the grade!)<br />
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It was awesome. Their initial reaction to having to write a short bio was predictable: groans and disappointed expressions. The news that it was required to be packed full of lies, however, was met with a mixture of disbelief and delight. <br />
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The results were even better. In my classes, I have a popstar that hangs out with Nikki Manaje and Selena Gomez, a top secret rocket-maker (can't tell you his name, it's classified), a kid that got into a fight with Justin Bieber, a successful 32-yr old writer (25 books to his name, but not sure why he's still in middle school!), and a Hollywood director. <br />
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All in all, this looks like it will be a fun year.Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5667140286579025600.post-31588469854146921762011-08-15T06:26:00.000-07:002011-08-18T19:30:29.152-07:00Gods of Justice Review: Going My Own Way<i>I won <a href="http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/2011/06/gods-of-justice-contest.html">Gods of Justice</a> from <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/lisagailgreen">Lisa Gail Green</a>. It's an anthology of superhero short stories. Lisa asked if I would write a review of the anthology, but since I like to give more than asked, I decided to do a review of each story, one at a time. In case you didn't know, I really like superheroes, so this was a great prize for me. I'll be reviewing them one story at a time in this "<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html">Gods of Justice Review series</a>."</i><br />
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<i>Going My Own Way</i> by <a href="http://www.daytonward.com/">Dayton Ward</a> struck me as an exercise in characterization. The plot was thin and the setting, other than the midst of a building on fire, was nonexistent. That being said, the characterization was fun. It was a very interesting twist to see a super-powered individual stepping into what is traditionally a mortal's job.<br />
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The story follows Daniel Balin as he and his partner work through a fire trying to rescue people trapped in the farthest possible safe place. The narrative is split between the current action and flashbacks of Daniel's life, stepping stones that led him to where we find him in this story. The depth of Daniel's character, and his decision not to follow in his father's famous footsteps, make an excellent main character. I particularly like the touch that we see him and his father interact at the end. Don't expect any tearful reunions or fatherly advice, however. Despite Daniel's personal life decisions, he isn't any different at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. Daniel is a static, instead of dynamic, character.<br />
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At the beginning, his partner's character starts to develop, and it feels good. However, about half way through, she seems to just become another complication for him to overcome. A shame, really. She was almost the weakness that otherwise doesn't seem to exist for him. Remember, even Superman has his kryptonite. Daniel isn't all powerful, I was just never afraid for him, nor felt pity for him during the story. I liked Daniel, I just didn't feel any sympathy toward him.<br />
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The plot of the story was rescuing the group of people from the fire. There were some good twists here, despite being a very simplistic plot. The safe room housing the people was in the farthest section of the basement of the building, and the closer stairwell has already fallen victim to the fire. The first explosion was a little predictable, but fun and well done, with even an injury to complicate things. The final entrapment from the fire, however, was more of a surprise. It was also the closest I came to questioning Daniel's safety and/or success.<br />
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The flashbacks, instead of adding complication and revealing plot, merely revealed character. No bad thing, but it helps the character without helping the plot. Ideally, a flashback can do both. <br />
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As an overall read, the characters were unchanged from beginning to end of story. Despite being static, the characterization was deep and rich, with lots of potential and unique traits all his own. The conflict, though surely great for those trapped, was minimal for the main character, and almost non-existent for the reader. The setting was limited, being almost completely restricted to the fiery basement, though well-painted otherwise.<br />
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The next installment of this series will be Lisa Gail Green's <i>Identity Crisis</i>.<br />
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<b>The Rest of the Series:</b><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-mass-grave-of.html">The Mass Grave of John Johnsons by Micah Urban</a><br />
<a href="http://davidjace.blogspot.com/2011/07/gods-of-justice-review-daughter-of-nyx.html">Daughter of Nyx by Kelly Wisdom</a>Jacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13923175310269099458noreply@blogger.com0