Late But Heartfelt

Thank you Arthur C. Clarke for lighting the heavens and my imagination with possibilities. Traveller, I wish you well on your next grand adventure...among the stars, surely.


Excerpt from an article about Mr. Clarke on Space.com (full article is here.)

As news of Arthur C. Clarke's death spread through communities of scientists, writers and science fiction fans, many people shared their memories of how the visionary writer, inventor and futurist inspired and influenced them.

Clarke is famous for his book, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (he also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie), for coming up with the idea for the communications satellite and for predicting space travel long before humans left Earth.

"I think the passing of Arthur C. Clarke is really epical," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "There is no one of his caliber or vision on the scene today ... Clarke's contribution was to motivate people to go after careers because they wanted to help shape a certain kind of future, to be at the beginning of something of millennial importance."

Stern said Clarke's legacy at NASA and in the space exploration community was particularly significant.

"For my generation, the children of Apollo, Clarke's writings were hugely and deeply inspirational," Stern told SPACE.com. "He was not just a technically competent writer of science fiction, science fact and futurism, but he was incredibly optimistic. I have had many emails in the last 18 hours, from friends of mine, from childhood, graduate school, >adulthood. It's amazing to me how many say the same thing: 'I wouldn't be in this line of work if it weren't for Arthur Clarke.' People across the world, especially the backbone of American aerospace exploration and space science, were inspired by Clarke's writings at one stage or another in their youth."

Clarke had a profound impact on technology and invention. His idea for the communications satellite has affected the whole planet.

"Arthur was not only a major figure in the first baby steps in humans' exploration of space, but a major figure in the building up of our planet as an interconnected organism," said writer Ann Druyan, widow of science popularizer Carl Sagan. "He was someone really significant."

Druyan said she met Clarke many times over the decades that he and Sagan were friends, as well as after Sagan's death.

"He was not only a great technical mind, but of course he had a powerful imagination, which influenced every one of us," Druyan said. "If we use anything based on a communications satellite then we definitely owe Arthur a huge debt. In my mind, '2001' remains the greatest sci-fi movie ever made. In many ways today it seems more futuristic than movies made 30 years later."

Many people have wondered how Clarke was able to predict so many elements of the future before they unfolded in reality.

"I think it was partially because his mother was a radio telephone operator," Druyan said. "So here he is as a young person growing up in the early part of the 20th century, at a moment where electronic communication was in its fledgling earliest stages, and he is a guy who has an exceptional imagination. So it was the perfect recipe for a child with Arthur's talents to go in that direction. The modesty of his background is yet another reason why it's so important to educate everybody, because you never know where the next Arthur C. Clarke or Carl Sagan could be."

Druyan said her friend will be remembered long after his death.

"Arthur had a great life," she said. "I don't really feel sadness because I think he had a full measure of life and he used it to the utmost. We are better for [his life]."

Regular Updates To This Blog Have Been Interrupted By...

a) Impending midterms

b) Midterm/semester related educational opportunity deadlines

c) Semi-surprise family visit

d) Search for a day job

e) Revenge of The Cold Part 4: I Still Linger

f) Minimal word count and re-imagining of key scenes in my WIP

g) All of the above


In any case, ETA a few days to a week before more regular posts and updates resume.

That is all!

Tell the Story, Ask Questions

The writing has been harder lately. So much harder that doing anything other than private journaling felt like pulling teeth. Yet, I persisted. Today I tried some new techniques for what to do when you feel "blocked" even though I didn't exactly believe that I was or felt that way. I mean, I was writing. I have an outline and plan. I followed them and made my minimum word counts at worst. And I know part of the writing process is that things stop feeling like that rush when you start a new story and you have to get through. But it was just...not feeling right. Today, I think I figured out why. I was forcing my words the story. I kept saying to myself some variation of, "Write this, write harder. Yeah I have a plan and yeah I can augment it, but structure is important - I need to follow it. Goals to hit. Create! Now."

And this is part of writing process I know, but I completely ignored when my gut said, "This isn't working, this scene is wrong." Or "This character doesn't really want to do this or behave this way." I just nodded and kept going - I thought I was trying to sabotage myself and all my efforts for organization and discipline. I tried to force things to happen and because I made a map (an outline) I wrote to the outline - not to the story I have to tell. There is a difference, at least for me. But it felt like I was writing through stinky mud - possible to do, but not pleasant.

So I stopped. Today through a writing exercise I was asked questions, which inspired answers and more questions...lo and behold I started to get the right answers. Things started to click with the story and characters. I'm going to have to tear up a bunch of words/progress (again!) but for the feeling that this is what the characters would do and where the story ought to go, I feel better, energized and intrigued with my story again. I know I can force characters to do whatever or the story to do what I want. But I realize because I was forcing reactions that progressed the plot (technically) though not the story, the story itself was suffering and becoming flat.

Now, I can continue to throw monkey wrenches at my characters to see if they can dodge or catch them, but I know if they would scream and cry rather than take a hit and act tough then that is what they should do. That is more true. No matter how fantastic a story I may tell, I always want some truth; true lies to be told. It's a thing. So I guess part of the lesson here is to trust my writing instincts. When it feels wrong it probably is wrong. And I shouldn't get hung up about not following the outline if something different feels right. Tell the story.

I'm back to excitement about my 5 a.m. wake-ups. Ok, not excitement but...more positively motivated to do it to see what will happen next in the story. How 'bout that?