If there has to be another Alien film—and given the last two outings I’m not sure there should be—it’s not a bad idea to attach some considerable names to it. I would consider Ridley Scott a “considerable name.” Jon Spaihts? Not so much.

Here’s the thing, Fox is trying to revive—I will not say Resurrect . . .I will NOT—the Alien franchise. At first, Fox had announced the Ridley Scott would produce. Good enough, right? I guess not. Fox has now apparently got Scott to direct.

Is this good news? Well, it isn’t bad news, but it does nothing to insure the quality of the next Alien movie. Scott is a fantastic director, absolutely one of my favourites, if not my favourite. But as much as his hits are out of the park, he has his misses. And I’m not sure he needs or should visit the Alien well again.

I understand that Fox wants to make money. Fine. But the original Alien made money and it was, y’know, original. That seems to be something movie studios are losing sight of. Everything has to be an existing franchise, be it a book, a toy, or a game. If Fox can get Scott to direct a science fiction/action property, that’s awesome. How about something original?

Too much to ask, right?

Full disclosure: I actually enjoyed Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. They were no where up to the level of Alien or Aliens, but they were fun movies. However, given the choice between a “fun” Alien movie and a “fun” original sf/actioner, I’d prefer original, please.

So, I just finished the Originals by Dave Gibbons. I picked it up because I like Dave Gibbons work, and after a quick view through, it seemed to be something based on futuristic mods. Having dabbled in the mod revival in high school, this caught my attention.

Now, the story is a good one. The characters are believable, their actions understandable, and nothing in it strains one’s willing suspension of disbelief. The plot, as related on Wikipedia:

Lel and Bok are two friends who have recently finished school. Their greatest aspiration is to become members of The Originals, a smartly-dressed gang who ride on floating scooters, called Hovers. Their greatest enemies are the gangs of leather-clad bikers, which they call “the Dirt.”

Lel and Bok become members of the Originals after helping the gang in a fight against the Dirt. Lel starts working as a drug dealer for the gang’s leader, and the pair soon have enough money for fashionable clothes and Hovers of their own. However, as the violence between the two gangs escalates and the police (”the Law”) begin to crack down on gang activity, Lel begins to realize that being an Original is not all fun and games.

Here’s the thing: I was always under the impression that in speculative fiction, the speculative should be more than window dressing. Science fiction, especially, needs to be more than a story which happens in the future, there needs to be a compelling reason why it must be in the future.

I was constantly wondering why this wasn’t set back in the 60s, or even in the late 70s and early 80s, during the revival. There was no reason to set it in the future. All it does is distance us from the story itself. Was this an editorial requirement, in order to make it palatable to the DC/Vertigo readers? If so, stupid move.

Setting this story in the future led me to expect the future technology, culture, or setting would have a direct impact on the story. I was waiting for it. It never came. It left me unsatisfied. You know that old quote from Chekov? One version of which is: “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there”

I always prefer the misquote: “If there’s a pistol on the mantel in the first act, it should be mentioned in the second and used in the third.”

In this story, the future setting was the pistol on the wall. The problem was, nobody fired it. It served no purpose, except to distance us from the story and provide expectations that were never met.

What was worse, this wasn’t a terribly original story, which is woefully ironic. It’s basically a riff off Quadrophenia. That’s not so bad, and it’s a good story, but it seemed like the science fiction backdrop was put there to try to hide its lack of originality.

So, unfortunately, I have to give the Originals a pass. It’s not that the story wasn’t compelling. It was. It’s a good story, though not a great one. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been set in modern times. Some kind of original twist would also have been appreciated.

So in the end, the Originals simply wasn’t.

You can never have enough Natalie Portman. Never.

Well, except in the prequels, for which Lucas deserves a massive kick in the junk.

But I digress. As the universe moves toward perfect harmony, it is only fitting that Natalie Portman be announced as Jane Foster, nurse and love interest of the titular hero of the upcoming movie, Thor. Natalie is hot, smart, and talented. Could there be a better choice?

Now, will we get a Sif?

I was a huge fan of the late 1980s early 90s Suicide Squad. That means I was a huge fan of John Ostrander. Over at Comic Mix, there’s an article regarding some hard times that have hit Mr. Ostrander. It seems Mr. Ostrander’s medical bills are threatening.

Thankfully, there’s been a movement to raise funds to help Mr. Ostrander. Go check out the article and do your part. If you’re moved to donate, head on over to comix4sight. Spread the word at the very least.

If you’re a fan, do what you can.

According to Variety, Ryan Reynolds has landed the role of Green Lantern in the upcoming movie. Anyone who knows of my man-crush on  Reynolds will figure I’m excited about this. I am. The movie is being directed by Martin Campbell, who might not be an auteur, but certainly has the skills.

The big question–at least for me–is does this impact on the Deadpool movie at all? I pray it does not. While I’ve got wood for a Green Lantern movie, it’s really Deadpool that I want to see Reynolds in.

Yet another announcement of a further partnership from Cubicle 7:

Cubicle 7 Entertainment and John Wick are pleased to announce they have signed a publishing agreement. This partnership will see Cubicle 7 bring award-winning author and game designer John Wick’s games to a wider audience through distribution and retail stores.

 

“I’ve enjoyed John’s games ever since he designed 7^th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings for Alderac Entertainment,” said Angus Abranson of Cubicle 7 “I carried on following him when he left the mainstream industry, set up his own company – Wicked Dead Brewing Company – and produced some fantastic games such as Cat and Thirty. It’s an honour to now be able to work alongside John and help bring some of his newer, and future, games to the wider audience they deserve.”

 

HOUSES OF THE BLOODED is the first book to be published through Cubicle 7: a game of Ambition, Lust and Revenge. Thousands of years ago, the ven ruled the world. They were a passionate people, obsessed with Romance and Revenge, opera and theater, and all the forbidden delights their decadent culture provided. In the end, that which made them beautiful was also the key to their own destruction. Houses of the Blooded is a game about tragic obsession. Set in the fantastic world of ven myth and legend, players take the roles of powerful characters bent on conquering their world, destroying their enemies and possessing all they desire.

 

“I’m very excited,” said John Wick. “My end goal has always been to get as many people playing my games as possible. My partnership with Cubicle 7 will help make that happen.”

Cubicle 7 has been announcing a bunch of partnerships and actions recently. This is great for everyone involved. Everyone, of course, wants another successful RPG company. Further, having met a lot of the Cubicle 7 crew at Gen Con 2008 (and scoring an interview with one of their authors), I have to say that they seem to be a really nice group of people. I’m hoping to hear lots more good things about all their successes.

I’m back with more advice about publishing a novel that you can comfortably ignore, given that I have never published a novel.

My first piece of advice was “perfect your craft.”

My second piece of advice is finish writing novels.

And some of you are thinking: “duh, of course!” Two things about that. 1) That is plural. Novels. 2) I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve spoken to who talk about publishing a novel before completing the writing of even one. A lot of them haven’t even started writing one.

Here’s the thing, unless you are some kind of prodigy, you are not going to sell your first novel. You likely won’t sell your second either. Actually, you might sell them, but only after you are so hugely successful that publishers figure all they need to do is slap your name on a book to make money.

Since you won’t sell your first, nor likely your second, that’s at least three novels you have to finish before you even think of starting to plan to get published. Have you finished three novels?

I haven’t.

How you finish writing those novels and what those novels are about isn’t the issue. Get it done.

There are an infinite number of techniques for writing novels, there are fewer — though still many — techniques for finishing novels. And yes, unfortunately, there is a difference. I have 13 unfinished novels in my “Documents\Writing\Novels” folder.

I have two finished.

Just need one more.

If you have perfected your craft, you should have already figured out what works for you when it comes to writing novels. Maybe not. I’ll tell you what works for me.

An Outline
It’s all well and good to say that the story develops as one writes and that the characters take the story places one never expected it to go. It happens to me also. Thing is, I have a roadmap for where I expect the novel to go. If I do not, I meander. I get lost on side roads. And getting lost really doesn’t help on that goal of completion.

I’m not ashamed to say that without that roadmap, without the outline, I will not complete the novel. I have a strong suspicion that “A Song of Fire and Ice” has no series outline. I will bet “Wheel of Time” had no series outline. If I don’t have a novel outline, that’s what happens. It keeps going. There’s no resolution. Maybe there is a resolution, I just don’t know it, and I keep going.

I need an outline. That doesn’t mean I am tied to it, that the writing cannot take me to places I did not expect to go. What I do have is a clear destination in mind. With that outline, I might take a scenic route, but I’m still moving toward that destination.

Scheduled Writing Time
When I was serious about getting my writing done — and that was before the toddler and the infant came along — I had an hour a night set aside for writing. It might stretch into two or even three hours, but from 7 to 8 was writing time. My wife accepted this. She wouldn’t disturb me during this period unless the house was burning down.

The laptop I used for my writing could not connect to the internet. There lies wasted time uncounted. I did my research and email and sundry other tasks outside of writing time. The latop I used was an old, pathetic piece of technology that still had Wordpad on it. No spell checking. No grammar checking. Just full steam ahead writing.

It was hard at first. It did not take long, though, for the creative brain to understand that 7 PM with a laptop in front of me meant “get to writing.” And I wrote. A lot. Some of it was fiction, but there were other things. Still, I was writing. This is how I got my two novels finished. This is how I brought two other novels about three-quarters of the way there.

For me, that’s what was required to get the novel written: an outline and regularly scheduled writing time.

Find what works for you. Then get at least three novels completed.

We’ll talk more. Right now, I feel guilty. I have a short story plotted out that needs completion. Bet you that won’t happen though. This laptop has access to the internet.

David over at the PodgeCast put together a little Chipin action for Daniel Perez, not only a cornerstone of the podcasting and gaming community, but a really nice guy as well. I’ve tossed in a few bucks. If we all do the same, we can help out someone who really deserves it.

I promised a while back to make a post about my thoughts on publishing a novel. it was in response to a comment/question from Brad: “. . . what advice would you give for someone who wants to write novels?”

I’m not a published novelist, so this is an amateur’s take on the situation based on this amateur’s previous attempts to get a novel published.

This kind of grew beyond what I intended. For this post, I’m just going to look at my first piece of advice. I’ll be back with more later.

The first thing you as an aspiring novelist need to do? Perfect your craft. That craft, of course, being writing. Which kind of leads into the question, how does one perfect one’s craft? I would suggest writing, critiquing, and reading.

Write as much and as often as you can. Any kind of writing helps, but to perfect the craft of writing a novel, you really need to flex you novel writing muscles. That means, write in the novel format. It doesn’t mean you have to always be working on finishing a novel — though if you want to publish one, finishing many is kind of important — but it does mean you should be writing for a novel length project that may or may not ever see completion.

You should be involved in a critiquing group. An in-person group is the best, but Critters is the next best thing. And, of course, you could do both. Critiquing another’s work is a great way to learn what does and does not work. By critiquing other writers’ works, you will improve your own. And by reading other peoples’ critiques of your work, you will improve it. Just remember to provide constructive criticism, and do not take criticism of your work personally.

If you don’t have a thick skin, grow it before you join a critiquing group. Occasional evidence to the contrary, writers need to learn to accept criticism — even that which is not constructive — gracefully. This doesn’t mean that you need to accept everyone’s criticism, it means you accept it and don’t fight or argue with the person providing it.

When you get criticism of your work, consider it thoughtfully. For me, that means I need to read it, get upset (they don’t understand my work! The Philistines!) then come back to it in a few days and evaluate it dispassionately (huh, look at that, they’re right, this doesn’t work). Some criticism you’ll accept, some you’ll reject. In the end it is your work . . . at least until someone pays you for it!

And read. Read novels in the genre in which you write. Read novels in genres in which you don’t write. Read non-fiction, especially when you are doing research. Read short stories. Read scripts. Read the instructions. Read cereal boxes. Read, read, read. Reading inculcates the rules of writing into your subconscious. If you read enough, you will learn proper usage. You will expand your vocabulary. You might even learn a few tricks.

Don’t always read as a novelist. Read as a reader. There are times when you do want to read as a novelist, when you want to dissect the work of other writers and see what makes it tick. Why does this novel work? How does this writer build tension? Why are these characters so compelling? But you also want to read as a reader, to enjoy the novel, to lose yourself in it.

Okay, that’s enough for one post. I’ll continue on with my advice at a later date. Right now, I have my own work to do, though that likely won’t include writing.

If you have any questions or comments, leave them here. Conversely, you can find me over at the Accidental Survivors forums.

Yeah, I was away. Family stuff and all that. I’m back now, but not in full-on mode. Expect more postings, but an increase from zero really isn’t too difficult, eh?

See you around.