The Chapter One Rewrite Club

Kiwiwriters has a new challenge posted that I thought was too fun to ignore. The challenge is called "The Chapter One Rewrite Club" and the challenge is this: Read and re-write the first chapter of Lord of the Rings and post your re-write on-line. Here I am, posting the first bit.

It runs from July 1st (now finished! I didn't write a thing!) to July 11th.

So, the beginning of Lord of the Rings starts with a Poem:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Which I have re-written:

The One Ring - a beat poem

A ring, just imagine, the thing that brings, doom
Like a groom leaving his chick behind in a room at noon
On his wedding day

Rings, three more, says the lore, for Elf lords
Rings, seven more, says the lore, for the Dwarf lords
Rings, nine more, says the lore, for the Mortal lords

Then the one, just the one, no more, says the lore, sits in Mordor
With the dark lord, on his throne, in that dark zone
Like a crone droning on whispering a Zen koan

Pour over the lore and if you can avoid a snore, it will say that the one is more
More than just a ring, but a thing that will bring, the doom to Middle Earth
Like the birth of the dearth, like the door's boom in a tomb
Shutting behind you

SoCNoC Novel - 2009

SoCNoC, or the Southern Cross Novel Challenge is in its 3rd year. This is my third one.

I have been behind on this SoCNoC more than I've been behind on any novel challenge, but a 5,000 word flurry of activity last night brought me to 46,861 words, only 3139 words off my 50,000 word finishing count. As long as I don't get distracted with anything else, I should be fine. There are a few big scenes planned, including an army attacking a city made of diamond weaved buildings. The words should just flow.

I have never been so ill prepared on one of my novels before and procrastinated in May for coming up with an idea and working out some kind of outline, so it's pretty random stuff. I decided to try an idea I'd had back in high school (this is a long time ago - probably 20+ years). Also, part way through the novel, I switched from third person to first person, just because it's faster to write. I don't know if it was a good idea or not, but here I am within striking distance, so it wasn't too bad.

I took the novel out just now and started reading it from the beginning - not something I do until well after I finish, but it was almost 30 days ago, so I decided I'd try and see how bad it was. To my surprise, I enjoyed the voice and writing style. It was clear and had some suitable metaphors, but wasn't overloaded with them. I was pleased. I know it gets much worse later when I was stuggling to get my word counts in, but really, I couldn't have asked for much more.

Storyline summary: Victor, the main character (his name is Victor because of a funny story I will tell in another blog later), finds himself in a new world full of aliens and alien landscapes. Very little explanation is given as to why he is there, but he finds himself talking to alien people who have left their worlds and come to this new one and who are opressed by a group of humans from earth who have come through from various periods in Earth's past. There are Romans and Phoenicians, Babylonians and Vikings, none of whom have a problem massacring aliens who they consider sub-human and just animals getting in their way. Not only that, but the humans have access to the super-technology of the world's original inhabitants who died of a plague a thousand years before.

All a little seat-of-the-pants but some of the scenes are just really fun to read over again.

One of my more satisfying efforts, although quite stressful. Throw into the mix that I moved house over June and had to work late a few days (5 days where I added exactly zero words and another half dozen or so where I added just 200-300, and I would say I did pretty well).

Fur Patrol - free concert in Frank Kitts Park

I really enojyed Fur Patrol this past Thursday downtown in Wellington. It's certainly the best free concert that I can remember going to, and I was stunned that there weren't more people there. They remind me of the 90's Irish band, the Cranberries, with a similar sound and lead singer. Love Julia Bains' clear, powerful voice. I feel bad I didn't get a photo of the drummer, Simon Braxton, since he did an excellent job on some creative and non-standard beats.

Julia Deans, lead singer and rhythm guitar

Andre Bain, bass player

Hello, my name is Travis and I'm a recovering book addict

I am subscribed to the Borders mailing list (just ask, they can add you too). This week until Thursday, there is 50% off coupon available to people on the list. It looks like this:


After my Nanowrimo weekly write in today, I dropped by Borders and brought this coupon. Just so you know, I have a large pile of books that I am trying to read that I might never get through, since I keep adding to it and can't read as fast as I add.

Anyway, I'm proud to say that I did NOT buy any books. I feel like a recovering alcoholic who accidentally wandered into the beer isle at the grocery story who got out without buying anything.

I have made it a resolution to reduce my book pile several times, but after a reasonable start, I pretty much forget about it and go as normal. This feels like a step forward.

It's "Sign up a friend week" for Nanowrimo!

It's November next month. And you know what that means? It's Nanowrimo, and that means yet another novel.

Even though I'm pretty sure everyone who might read this has probably already decided yea or nay on this, if anyone reading this has ever had an tickle of an idea that they might have a novel in them, I can't recommend Nanowrimo enough to you.

It is a rush and a pleasure and a great feeling of accomplishment when you are done.

I'm as excited as I've ever been about my story idea, and I can't wait to get writing. I have already started outlining and that's unusual for me!

Here's to a great novel writing month!

Is human evolution over?

I have rarely posted any of my discussions on evolution and God or religion on my blog. I don't know why - it's bound to produce a lot of interest, but I have avoided it because it feels like it would end up being a lot of work. Anyway - here goes nothing.

In a recent bold statement, British geneticists Steve Jones said that human evolution has come to an end. He puts it down to 3 basic facts:

• Older men are having fewer children (older men have more mutated sperm, so this influences the mutation rate)
• A vast majority of people are living to reproduce (not dying before they can reproduce like the "good old days of low life expectancy")
• Small populations that don't mix is pretty much a thing of the past, spreading out genes and "averaging" everyone out

Having read a lot of books about evolution and having a keen interest in the evolution versus creationism/intelligent design "debate", I have to say, I would expect more from a guy like Steven Jones. He is supposed to understand this stuff.

All of his points are correct - all of these things are true. Yet, why would he reach a conclusion like that? I don't exactly know.

Firstly, even according to his own words, mutation rates have lowered, not disappeared, so even according to his own facts, evolution has slowed down, not stopped.

Also, as someone who has played with genetic algorithms, I know that selection, not mutation is the driving force behind evolution. Has selection stopped?

Jones would say yes, since people aren't dying early like they used to. However, dying before reproduction is only one part of selection - there is another part: How do we choose mates?

People are very picky (even after taking alcohol into account) - what kind of things do people like in a mate? Both men and women have strong feelings about who they would pick to have children with.

I have no doubt that human evolution is proceeding in complete ignorance of what Dr. Jones concludes. No doubt, in a few years, the idea that human evolution has stopped will be look at like an earth centered universe.

LHC - the Large Hadron Collider

I know, I know, everyone is talking about this and discussing it and talking about the end of the world etc.. etc... I'm sure you've all heard enough about the Large Hadron Collider!

For me, it's a little different. Seeing the LHC come on line makes me sad. Sad for the simple fact that we could have been so much better off if both the LHC AND the superconducting supercollider had come on line together.

Comparison:

LHC	SCSC
length=27kms	length=87.1kms
collision strength=14 TeV	collision strength=40 TeV

This means that not only would the superconducting supercollider be 3 times longer but it would have very nearly 3 times as much colliding power. So, for example, if the Standard Model of Particle Physics is wrong, and more power is required for detecting the Higgs Boson (the so-called God particle), then the LHC will NEVER find it. Not to say they can't make other contributions - of course they will, but that would be a real bitch.

The LHC is still pretty cool though, not counting the LHC Rap.