Having read an excellent article about fan fiction in Time of all places, I've found myself ruminating on the nature of characters. If you write a Harry Potter fanfic, are you "stealing" Harry Potter? J.K. Rowling doesn't think so. She encourages fan fiction in the Potterverse. But if you turn around and write one about Jon Snow from A Game of Thrones, is that then theft because George R.R. Martin doesn't want you to write his characters?
Who owns a character? Shakespeare, for example, made his living re-purposing characters from myth and legend into his plays. Even his best known character, Hamlet, dates as far back as 1170, and probably earlier. Indeed, since the sources Shakespeare probably used were written as histories, it's quite possible that there really was a Hamlet (or Amleth or Ambloth) who did some or all what's credited him in the history.
But the historical Ambloth isn't the character we know as Hamlet. The whole "melancholy Dane" aspect that Hamlet is best known for is purely the creation of Shakespeare. There's nothing in the legend that suggests that Ambloth was anything besides a clever warrior who outmaneuvered his treacherous uncle and eventually died in battle with his cousin Wiglek. Whether or not he ever contemplated suicide or struggled with his desire to avenge his father's death cannot be known, but it seems unlikely. But those very struggles are what change history's Ambloth to Shakespeare's Hamlet.
If we can trace the origin of Hamlet to Ambloth, does that make the character any less Shakespeare's? But then, if you take another existing character and add your own twists to him, does that make the character yours?
Consider the sprawling and as yet unfinished Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, written by Eliezer Yudkowsky under the pen name "Less Wrong." In his excellent fan fiction, which I highly recommend, Harry Potter is raised by scientists instead of his abusive aunt and uncle. Thus, Yudkowsky's Harry Potter grows up to try and apply rational thinking to a magical world. The results are amusing and occasionally thought provoking, but in doing so Yudkowsky has created a version of the character that differs as widely from what we know of Harry Potter as Hamlet does from Ambloth.
So who owns Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres?
Obviously, Yudkowsky can't publish Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for sale. Even if his Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres is greatly changed from Rowling's Harry Potter, the rest of magical England is not. Dumbledore still reigns in Hogwarts, and most of the changes to the history and actions of various characters are reactions to the things that Rational Harry does and says. What's more, much of the pleasure to be derived from Methods of Rationality, and indeed any fan fiction at all, is in seeing variations in an established base.
Setting aside the fact that she doesn't mind and in fact encourages fan fiction, does J.K. Rowling have the right to keep Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality from being written or published for free online? Do the writers who do object to fan fiction like Martin, Ursula LeGuin, Orson Scott Card, or Diana Gabaldon have the right to ban people from their personal playgrounds? If he existed and could speak, would the ghost of Ambloth have the right to keep us from watching Hamlet?
I'm not sure they do. It may be an odd to say for someone with aspirations of becoming a professional writer and little to nothing invested in fan fiction rights, but that's the direction I'm leaning. Because it seems to me that all creative work is synthesis. We take bits and pieces of what we learn and experience and re-package it in other ways. Sometimes the elements are so diverse as to be only definable in broad terms, like the idea of a magical school, and sometimes they're more specific like Dumbledore resembling the headmaster of Rowling's primary school with some Gandalf mixed in. But either way, it's still a mix and match of things we know.
The fact that some of those chunks are significantly larger and more recognizable shouldn't invalidate the value of any given work. If Hamlet exists we should allow Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to exist as well. That isn't to say that the writer of latter should be allowed to profit from its existence, mind you, which is a whole other thing. But I have no problem with people reading and writing it.
That said, while I'm willing to defend fan fiction's right to exist, regardless of the preferences of the original material's creator, that doesn't mean it is always, or even often, very good. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality wins my support with some moments of truly excellent writing, which is rare enough in any fiction, much less fan fiction. But I am a big believer in Oscar Wilde's epigram: "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." In other words, the greatest form of writing (and by extension, all creative work) is to manage your synthesis so well that your influences are not only hidden, but that the work itself becomes so well known and appreciated that your version becomes the definitive one.
Which is why people the world over know Hamlet, but I had to look up Ambloth.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Write Everyday Project #7, The Old Republic
In all the excitement over the Bears and the Sox and the Pathfinder game I played in, I seem to have forgotten to mention here the big news about The Old Republic.
For those of you unaware, The Old Republic is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or MMORPG for short , or MMO for very short. The industry leader in the field of MMO is the ubiquitous World of Warcraft, a game that I've played for years and finally gave up on back in March. Unlike World of Warcraft, The Old Republic is a Star Wars based game. Perhaps more importantly, it's a Bioware Star Wars game, set in the same general era as their great Knights of the Old Republic games, which I've really enjoyed in the past.
The combination of Bioware, one of my favoirte companies, with Star Wars, a franchise that shaped my childhood, with a game format that I've played for years, and The Old Republic pretty much hits me where I live. If it had some kind of turn based strategy element, I'd be totally hosed. So, ever since autumn of 2009 when they announced the damn game, I've bee waiting to play it. Finally, there's a release date: December 20, 2011.
I'm a little surprised that they're going so close to Christmas, since the traditional "Christmas release" for a game is late November/early December, but I'll take it. I also don't think it's at all coincidental that The Old Republic finally got around to announcing their release date after Blizzard confirmed that Diablo III was being pushed back to 2012. Nor was it sheer chance that Bioware themselves pushed Mass Effect III back to March from December.
Nevertheless, I'm happy to have a chance to finally play the damn game. A few of us have a Friends & Family Guild in the works for TOR (Republic, RPG Server) so things are looking up from a Star Wars MMO standpoint, if not a productivity one.
For those of you unaware, The Old Republic is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or MMORPG for short , or MMO for very short. The industry leader in the field of MMO is the ubiquitous World of Warcraft, a game that I've played for years and finally gave up on back in March. Unlike World of Warcraft, The Old Republic is a Star Wars based game. Perhaps more importantly, it's a Bioware Star Wars game, set in the same general era as their great Knights of the Old Republic games, which I've really enjoyed in the past.
The combination of Bioware, one of my favoirte companies, with Star Wars, a franchise that shaped my childhood, with a game format that I've played for years, and The Old Republic pretty much hits me where I live. If it had some kind of turn based strategy element, I'd be totally hosed. So, ever since autumn of 2009 when they announced the damn game, I've bee waiting to play it. Finally, there's a release date: December 20, 2011.
I'm a little surprised that they're going so close to Christmas, since the traditional "Christmas release" for a game is late November/early December, but I'll take it. I also don't think it's at all coincidental that The Old Republic finally got around to announcing their release date after Blizzard confirmed that Diablo III was being pushed back to 2012. Nor was it sheer chance that Bioware themselves pushed Mass Effect III back to March from December.
Nevertheless, I'm happy to have a chance to finally play the damn game. A few of us have a Friends & Family Guild in the works for TOR (Republic, RPG Server) so things are looking up from a Star Wars MMO standpoint, if not a productivity one.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Write Everyday Project #6, Retro Gaming
So I started to make a long reply to a buddy's post about Deus Ex: Human Revolution when two things occurred to me. First of all, most of my reply didn't have anything to do with Deus Ex. It was about what I was playing. Secondly, that's what this blog is for these days: to unload my random thoughts on things. So here are some thoughts on my sixth new topic in six posts, what I've learned about retro PC gaming.
Over the weekend there was a big sale over at Good Old Games. You could get an escalating discount on the second generation D&D PC games, with the more you buy the bigger the discount. I ended up laying out $20 to get Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale I & II, and The Temple of Elemental Evil. I suspect that I wouldn't have been quite so eager to pick them up had I not played in that Pathfinder game over the weekend. But old school D&D is where my mind was at, so I grabbed the PC games based on the 2nd and 3rd editions of D&D.
What's interesting about these games, and indeed many games from the '90s and early to mid 2000s, is the depth of mod support for them. Temple of Elemental Evil, for example, is well known for the deplorable state it was released in. Most of those bugs have been squashed in the intervening eight years, and the Circle of Eight mod adds a bunch of nice features and fixes to the already patched and repaired Temple. I've got Circle of Eight installed and the game seems to be playing fine for me, which is a long way from the crashes and hassles I'd have had to deal with had I bought and played it in 2003. What's more, with the sale I ended up buying the game for $3 or so, rather than the $50 I'd have paid at release.
The story's similar for the Baldur's Gate games. Not that either Baldur's Gate was buggy and broken the way Temple of Elemental Evil was, mind you. But since both Baldur's Gates were excellent games in their own right, the mods for them have been focused less on repairing bugs than on adding content. This has culminated in the BiG World Project where the two games are merged into one huge game with a ridiculous 400+ hours of content! New quests, new characters, and the ability to walk from the game world of Baldur's Gate to the that of Baldur's Gate II and back is an amazing achievement.
(It's also a bitch and a half to install and, unlike the Circle of Eight mod which was pretty straightforward, I haven't managed a clean install of BiG World yet. But I'll keep trying.)
Another game that was derided for its buggy release and unimpressive features was Microprose's Birth of the Federation, a Star Trek themed 4X game that failed on it's own but now has a number of mods available, including one that add the Dominion to the game and another where you start in the Enterprise era and evolve until you're using ships from Star Trek: Nemesis.
When I look at the games I've played in the last couple of years, I find that the ones I've played the longest and enjoyed the most are all older games with strong mod support. Dominions III 2006, Civilization IV 2005, Sword of the Stars 2006, Birth of the Federation 1999, Master of Orion II 1996. On the other hand, a lot of the games that I've bought new in the same time frame have been disappointing. Starcraft II, Elemental, Civilization V...all of those games left me cold. What's more, I paid $50 a piece for all three, where as I could get all of the older games (excepting Dominions III whose pricing is insane) for $100 or less. Maybe a lot less.
Indeed, it's getting to the point that I'm becoming more and more reluctant to buy new games. Not only are new games far more expensive, but they're more likely to be broken with the "release now, patch later" mentality that infects so many software developers. And even if a game is released in perfect working order, it won't have the kind of mod support that can elevate a decent game into a great one.
There are exceptions, of course. The Mass Effect games have been pure win for me, and I don't regret paying full price for them. World of Warcraft gave me a couple good years of play, much of it with my brother, so that was worth it too. But then again, Mass Effect is a Bioware game, and as they proved with Baldur's Gate, Bioware puts out good games that work. And World of Warcraft is essentially heavily modded. After all, gamers who played WoW in 2004 will find the 2011 version literally unrecognizable.
If someone asks, "Have you played <Hot New Game>, yet?" the answer will almost certainly be "no." I'll probably be playing something five or more years old instead. Although Sword of the Stars II does come out next month, and The Old Republic is out in December...
So maybe not.
Over the weekend there was a big sale over at Good Old Games. You could get an escalating discount on the second generation D&D PC games, with the more you buy the bigger the discount. I ended up laying out $20 to get Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale I & II, and The Temple of Elemental Evil. I suspect that I wouldn't have been quite so eager to pick them up had I not played in that Pathfinder game over the weekend. But old school D&D is where my mind was at, so I grabbed the PC games based on the 2nd and 3rd editions of D&D.
What's interesting about these games, and indeed many games from the '90s and early to mid 2000s, is the depth of mod support for them. Temple of Elemental Evil, for example, is well known for the deplorable state it was released in. Most of those bugs have been squashed in the intervening eight years, and the Circle of Eight mod adds a bunch of nice features and fixes to the already patched and repaired Temple. I've got Circle of Eight installed and the game seems to be playing fine for me, which is a long way from the crashes and hassles I'd have had to deal with had I bought and played it in 2003. What's more, with the sale I ended up buying the game for $3 or so, rather than the $50 I'd have paid at release.
The story's similar for the Baldur's Gate games. Not that either Baldur's Gate was buggy and broken the way Temple of Elemental Evil was, mind you. But since both Baldur's Gates were excellent games in their own right, the mods for them have been focused less on repairing bugs than on adding content. This has culminated in the BiG World Project where the two games are merged into one huge game with a ridiculous 400+ hours of content! New quests, new characters, and the ability to walk from the game world of Baldur's Gate to the that of Baldur's Gate II and back is an amazing achievement.
(It's also a bitch and a half to install and, unlike the Circle of Eight mod which was pretty straightforward, I haven't managed a clean install of BiG World yet. But I'll keep trying.)
Another game that was derided for its buggy release and unimpressive features was Microprose's Birth of the Federation, a Star Trek themed 4X game that failed on it's own but now has a number of mods available, including one that add the Dominion to the game and another where you start in the Enterprise era and evolve until you're using ships from Star Trek: Nemesis.
When I look at the games I've played in the last couple of years, I find that the ones I've played the longest and enjoyed the most are all older games with strong mod support. Dominions III 2006, Civilization IV 2005, Sword of the Stars 2006, Birth of the Federation 1999, Master of Orion II 1996. On the other hand, a lot of the games that I've bought new in the same time frame have been disappointing. Starcraft II, Elemental, Civilization V...all of those games left me cold. What's more, I paid $50 a piece for all three, where as I could get all of the older games (excepting Dominions III whose pricing is insane) for $100 or less. Maybe a lot less.
Indeed, it's getting to the point that I'm becoming more and more reluctant to buy new games. Not only are new games far more expensive, but they're more likely to be broken with the "release now, patch later" mentality that infects so many software developers. And even if a game is released in perfect working order, it won't have the kind of mod support that can elevate a decent game into a great one.
There are exceptions, of course. The Mass Effect games have been pure win for me, and I don't regret paying full price for them. World of Warcraft gave me a couple good years of play, much of it with my brother, so that was worth it too. But then again, Mass Effect is a Bioware game, and as they proved with Baldur's Gate, Bioware puts out good games that work. And World of Warcraft is essentially heavily modded. After all, gamers who played WoW in 2004 will find the 2011 version literally unrecognizable.
If someone asks, "Have you played <Hot New Game>, yet?" the answer will almost certainly be "no." I'll probably be playing something five or more years old instead. Although Sword of the Stars II does come out next month, and The Old Republic is out in December...
So maybe not.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Write Everyday Project #5, Farewell to Ozzie
While I had considered doing a piece on United States' first brush with becoming a superpower in the wake of the Civil War, I seem to have been overtaken by events. And, unlike the late, lamented Ozzie Guillen, the Civil War isn't going anywhere.
Alas poor Ozzie, I knew him well. Love him for winning the World Series or hate him for not having a filter between brain and mouth, Ozzie Guillen was never boring. He finally talked his way out of town and is on his way to Miami to be the manager for the Marlins in exchange for a couple of prospects from the Marlins' system.
While I personally love the guy and wish he'd have stuck around, this was probably the best time to cut him loose. How often can you fire your manager and get another team to pay the last year of his contract and give you players for him? The Marlins need a face of the franchise with their new stadium opening up, and Ozzie is both famous and has a history with the Marlins since he was a coach on their '03 World Series winning team.
So it makes sense on both sides, but damn, baseball just got a lot less interesting here in Chicago all the same. Here's hoping Guillen meets with success with Florida and the stars align to bring him back to the Sox in a few years.
Godspeed, you crazy bastard!
Alas poor Ozzie, I knew him well. Love him for winning the World Series or hate him for not having a filter between brain and mouth, Ozzie Guillen was never boring. He finally talked his way out of town and is on his way to Miami to be the manager for the Marlins in exchange for a couple of prospects from the Marlins' system.
While I personally love the guy and wish he'd have stuck around, this was probably the best time to cut him loose. How often can you fire your manager and get another team to pay the last year of his contract and give you players for him? The Marlins need a face of the franchise with their new stadium opening up, and Ozzie is both famous and has a history with the Marlins since he was a coach on their '03 World Series winning team.
So it makes sense on both sides, but damn, baseball just got a lot less interesting here in Chicago all the same. Here's hoping Guillen meets with success with Florida and the stars align to bring him back to the Sox in a few years.
Godspeed, you crazy bastard!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Write Everyday Project #4, The Bears Still Suck
Pursuant to the "write whatever's on your mind as long as you do it every damn day" credo for the WEP, some thoughts on the plight of the Chicago Bears in the 2011 NFL season.
The Bears still suck.
The offensive line did better and kept Cutler from being sacked until well into the second quarter. And he was only sacked three times which is a nice improvement over the six times he got creamed against the Saints. But seriously, nine rushing attempts for two yards? TWO? When you get one dimensional like that the defense only needs to protect the pass, and guess what? That makes it a lot harder to get any yards through the air.
This also makes the second game in a row the Bears' defense fell asleep at the wheel. 30 points against New Orleans and 27 against Green Bay isn't going to cut it, especially with a one dimensional offense! There were too many big plays made against the Bears, who are a defense designed to stop big plays! If you can't stop that, what can you stop? Not much, apparently.
Even special teams, normally a Bears strength, suffered. The Bears pulled out one of the best special teams plays ever...only to have it called back by a holding penalty.
Nothing was working for the Bears yesterday, and now they find themselves in third place and two games back only three weeks into the season. Now to be sure, last year things seemed to be going equally poorly early on in the season and the Bears ended up winning the division and making it to the NFC Championship game. So there's still time to right the ship.
But the Packers aren't weighed down by injury this year and the new Detroit Lions are playing better than they have in decades, so it'll be a tougher road to the playoffs for the Bears in 2011. Are they up to it?
Initial signs say no.
The Bears still suck.
The offensive line did better and kept Cutler from being sacked until well into the second quarter. And he was only sacked three times which is a nice improvement over the six times he got creamed against the Saints. But seriously, nine rushing attempts for two yards? TWO? When you get one dimensional like that the defense only needs to protect the pass, and guess what? That makes it a lot harder to get any yards through the air.
This also makes the second game in a row the Bears' defense fell asleep at the wheel. 30 points against New Orleans and 27 against Green Bay isn't going to cut it, especially with a one dimensional offense! There were too many big plays made against the Bears, who are a defense designed to stop big plays! If you can't stop that, what can you stop? Not much, apparently.
Even special teams, normally a Bears strength, suffered. The Bears pulled out one of the best special teams plays ever...only to have it called back by a holding penalty.
Nothing was working for the Bears yesterday, and now they find themselves in third place and two games back only three weeks into the season. Now to be sure, last year things seemed to be going equally poorly early on in the season and the Bears ended up winning the division and making it to the NFC Championship game. So there's still time to right the ship.
But the Packers aren't weighed down by injury this year and the new Detroit Lions are playing better than they have in decades, so it'll be a tougher road to the playoffs for the Bears in 2011. Are they up to it?
Initial signs say no.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Write Everyday Project #3, Pathfinder
So I played what I think is my third ever game of Pathfinder yesterday. It went well, and though I never played all that much 3.5 upon which Pathfinder is based, I'm stating to think I'd like to play in a Pathfinder campaign.
Here's the thing. Fourth Edition D&D is a great tactical game, which emphasizes what you can do in any given battle. It's perfect for one shots or a series of tactical encounters like D&D Lair Assault or, well, Encounters. Pathfinder, drawing its influence from traditional D&D, is a better strategic game, which rewards long term planning and preparation. That makes it better, I think, for long term campaigns.
Of course, I'm running no less than two long term 4E campaigns and have played in three Pathfinder one shots.
I seem to be doing things wrong.
Before I run a Pathfinder campaign, I think I'd prefer to play in one first. Our Encounters group is thinking of quitting Encounters at the end of the current season in favor of either an ongoing 4E game or Pathfinder one. I'm hoping I can convince them to go to the latter. Ace, the DM of last night's Pathfinder game, said he might be able to run a Pathfinder game for us, but that wouldn't be before December at the earliest.
Complicated.
Well, that is the bane of the adult gamer. Finding time to play gets harder as people have more and more work and family commitments. Somehow, we'll just have to make it work.
Here's the thing. Fourth Edition D&D is a great tactical game, which emphasizes what you can do in any given battle. It's perfect for one shots or a series of tactical encounters like D&D Lair Assault or, well, Encounters. Pathfinder, drawing its influence from traditional D&D, is a better strategic game, which rewards long term planning and preparation. That makes it better, I think, for long term campaigns.
Of course, I'm running no less than two long term 4E campaigns and have played in three Pathfinder one shots.
I seem to be doing things wrong.
Before I run a Pathfinder campaign, I think I'd prefer to play in one first. Our Encounters group is thinking of quitting Encounters at the end of the current season in favor of either an ongoing 4E game or Pathfinder one. I'm hoping I can convince them to go to the latter. Ace, the DM of last night's Pathfinder game, said he might be able to run a Pathfinder game for us, but that wouldn't be before December at the earliest.
Complicated.
Well, that is the bane of the adult gamer. Finding time to play gets harder as people have more and more work and family commitments. Somehow, we'll just have to make it work.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Write Everyday Project #2, Chopped!
Since I know I'm going to be busy pretty much all day tomorrow, I'm going to do my writing for Saturday now. Technically it's pretty much the same day as my first post, but we're past midnight and I think technicalities count.
So, having just caught episodes two and three of the current season of Chopped Champions, it occurred to me why I like the show so much better than the other competitive cooking shows.
It is pure cooking.
You see, most cooking competitions muddle things up with other elements. The Next Food Network Star is more about your camera presence than your food. The Great Food Truck Race is mostly about about location and selling your food. Iron Chef America lets you pre-plan your menu and gives you three sous chefs!
Only Chopped, in all its variations, is really about one chef and his or her skill at making food to the exclusion of all else. In Chopped, you and three opponents get 20 minutes and a basket of unusual ingredients to cook an appetizer. The least successful of the four of you is "chopped" and leaves the show. The remaining three competitors get another basket and 30 minutes to do an entree. Again you're judged, and the surviving two chefs get a third and final basket and another 20 minutes to do a dessert. The winner is judged on his or her overall meal and takes home $10,000.
That's it. The chef able to think on his or her feet and cook the best under difficult conditions wins.
And that simplicity is what I like. It doesn't matter if you're telegenic or if you have business sense, or how good you are at directing subordinates. How good is your food?
What could be fairer than that?
The show is so simple, in fact, that they resort to gimmick seasons, like the current Chopped Champions where winners of the regular show compete against each other in a two round tournament for $50,000. There was even a season where the contestants were all members of the Food Network "family," including some judges from Chopped itself!
So, if you find yourself with an itch to watch chefs duke it out, I recommend Chopped.
So, having just caught episodes two and three of the current season of Chopped Champions, it occurred to me why I like the show so much better than the other competitive cooking shows.
It is pure cooking.
You see, most cooking competitions muddle things up with other elements. The Next Food Network Star is more about your camera presence than your food. The Great Food Truck Race is mostly about about location and selling your food. Iron Chef America lets you pre-plan your menu and gives you three sous chefs!
Only Chopped, in all its variations, is really about one chef and his or her skill at making food to the exclusion of all else. In Chopped, you and three opponents get 20 minutes and a basket of unusual ingredients to cook an appetizer. The least successful of the four of you is "chopped" and leaves the show. The remaining three competitors get another basket and 30 minutes to do an entree. Again you're judged, and the surviving two chefs get a third and final basket and another 20 minutes to do a dessert. The winner is judged on his or her overall meal and takes home $10,000.
That's it. The chef able to think on his or her feet and cook the best under difficult conditions wins.
And that simplicity is what I like. It doesn't matter if you're telegenic or if you have business sense, or how good you are at directing subordinates. How good is your food?
What could be fairer than that?
The show is so simple, in fact, that they resort to gimmick seasons, like the current Chopped Champions where winners of the regular show compete against each other in a two round tournament for $50,000. There was even a season where the contestants were all members of the Food Network "family," including some judges from Chopped itself!
So, if you find yourself with an itch to watch chefs duke it out, I recommend Chopped.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Write Everyday Project #1, Get Some Sleep!
Pursuant to the idea of making myself write every day, I'm going to try and write at least a paragraph here every single day. This will be random commentary about the world, without limits. It could be about politics or religion or sex. It's somewhat more likely to be about movies, television, video games, or just random crap I read on the internet. The point is less to write a coherent narrative or establish a personal philosophy as it is to simply reinforce the habit of writing every day.
Rather than long posts made once every couple of weeks as I did back on my LiveJournal, I anticipate this will be shorter, more stream of consciousness type affairs. In other words, whatever happens to be on my mind at the time.
Right now, I'm thinking about the link that Neil Gaiman put on his Twitter to Seth Godin's blog which advocates what I'm doing here: writing every day. So I figure I'd give it a try.
What do I have to lose? A few minutes every day, some self-esteem if I can't keep it up. Totally worth the gamble.
So for this introductory post I thought I'd share something I've learned from observational data. If you want to write, get enough sleep!
How much "enough" is varies from person to person, of course. And there are probably outliers who only do their best work hung over and strung out after being awake for thirty six hours or some such nonsense, but in my personal experience, the difference between how much I can get done on six hours of sleep versus eight hours is immense. As I understand it, the guys who wrote Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength say that a person's willpower is affected by the amount of glucose in that person's bloodstream at any given time. I don't have the science to know whether getting more sleep versus less sleep affects glucose, I just know that it's easier to write on more sleep.
So that's Jon's Advice for Writers #1: Get enough sleep!
Rather than long posts made once every couple of weeks as I did back on my LiveJournal, I anticipate this will be shorter, more stream of consciousness type affairs. In other words, whatever happens to be on my mind at the time.
Right now, I'm thinking about the link that Neil Gaiman put on his Twitter to Seth Godin's blog which advocates what I'm doing here: writing every day. So I figure I'd give it a try.
What do I have to lose? A few minutes every day, some self-esteem if I can't keep it up. Totally worth the gamble.
So for this introductory post I thought I'd share something I've learned from observational data. If you want to write, get enough sleep!
How much "enough" is varies from person to person, of course. And there are probably outliers who only do their best work hung over and strung out after being awake for thirty six hours or some such nonsense, but in my personal experience, the difference between how much I can get done on six hours of sleep versus eight hours is immense. As I understand it, the guys who wrote Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength say that a person's willpower is affected by the amount of glucose in that person's bloodstream at any given time. I don't have the science to know whether getting more sleep versus less sleep affects glucose, I just know that it's easier to write on more sleep.
So that's Jon's Advice for Writers #1: Get enough sleep!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)