Aging Fictional Protagonists: A Dilemma

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

Alexandra Alter interviewed authors of fiction for the WSJ July 1, 2011.

Huge conundrum for mystery writers of aging protagonists: What happens when that energetic young detective (or whomever) after ten or twenty years of chasing desperadoes finds himself/herself now in their fifties, sixties, or older?   What happens if those arthritic knees won’t cooperate when there’s a tall building they have to leap?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576405813466095564.html

Ms Alter captures the authors’ thoughts and concerns, and I’m certain that the authors’ followers won’t let this pass without their say.  I’m one of those, as these authors have kept me captivated for many hours on end–and sometimes (many times) late into the night.

Our fastest growing population in America are the baby boomers. Give them their heroes.  The fifty, sixty, and older crime solvers will have knowledge and wisdom beyond the mere span of the forty years olds, where half of their age was entangled in working out childish games.  If a crime stopper of the senior ilk comes from good stock, and keeps in shape–there’s no reason he/she can’t scale that wall, draw the 9mm HK, or run up that flight of stairs.

Heaven knows the mass media does everything it can to degrade those of earlier birth.  Ads and articles boast how to stay slim, trim, fit, and youthful. Every commercial offers medicines to cure anything  that a person imagines could be wrong.  If you haven’t thought of it  a few minutes of watching television will make you wonder if you have restless leg syndrome or the start of hemorrhoids.  Magazines make anyone who isn’t anorexic think they’re old and fat. It’s time to honor our elder citizens with a good guy (or gal) in the second half of their life who’s a “wise-can-do-take-em-out” hero.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ted Talk–Secrets about Artists and Geniuses

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

Posted in Stress test | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Two TEDs every writer needs to know

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

Writing well demands solid and unique ideas presented in an appropriate format.

The ideas: TED, Technology Education and Design, curated by Chris Anderson, finds the latest and the best in creative, innovative, and intelligent thought.  Treat your muse to the on-line, free for viewing and posting, videos of keynote speeches made by thoughtful, insightful, and forward thinking people.

“It is the remarkable ability first of all to model some aspect of the external world inside our heads . . . and secondly to play with that mental model until suddenly. . . bingo . . . you find a way to rearrange it so it’s actually better. This is the amazing engine that underpins both technology the T of TED, and Design the D of TED.  It is this skill that has made possible the human progress of the last 50,000 years.”  Read Chris Anderson’s complete speech to the Harvard Graduate School of Design this last month.    A speech to Harvard Architects Graduates 2011.

The format: TED, The Editorial Department, founded by Renni Browne in 1980 is the oldest established editorial service.  Every serious writer needs a strong grasp on style that matches content, plot and character arcs, content that needs to be cut because it slogs along and disengages readers, and an eye for revision. This TED takes  promising new writers along with best selling authors and nudges them toward successful production of their craft.

TED prices are competitive and you’ll find them on the recommended list, under Editorial Department, the, of the publishing industry’s watch-dog, Predators & Editors.

No matter what your writing genre or what your vehicle for communication happens to be, if you let these two TEDs into your writing world, you’ll think of them as your two newest best friends.


Posted in Scheme Stalker | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Perception Video Quizes

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

Dr. Daniel  Simons and his assistant Christophe Chabris , in the1990’s, created a sixty-second perception test that required people to watch a video.  This little brain-test quiz is now world famous.  Even though this video and his subsequent ones are copyrighted, Dr. Simons permits them to be included in blogs and for personal viewing.

I think this information is important for those of us who write. So enjoy a few minutes learning about how you perceive the world. If you’ve seen the first one, then what about the second one? Let me know what you think? (Scroll to bottom for comments.)

YouTube – selective attention test.

YouTube – The Monkey Business Illusion.

To learn more about his exciting quest for information on perception, please buy his book.  See this site supports authors. 🙂

Posted in Stress test | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Talk–The Time

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

The Talk–The Time

“Very well,” says I, “let us go to the Ferry.”

“Yes, it’s red,” she said resignedly.  “Now you see why I can’t be

perfectly happy.  Nobody could who has red hair.  I don’t mind the other things so much–“

 “My dear Holmes,” said I, “this is too much–“

Can you guess who wrote these lines or these stories?

You’ve noticed that these attributes shout dated, and we are talking old here. But then how old is old?  Is fifteen years ago old? In 1996 car jacked seemed a common enough term, but now everyone says, jacked.  And even years before 9/11 airlines pretty much eradicated our jokes about “Hi, Jack.”

Some of our most popular nursery rhymes date back to ancient societies and hold charm for generations long after their meanings are lost. Bill Bryson (Made In America, 1995) in his unique wit and style mentions that “eenie, meenie, minie, mo” were ways for people to quantify thing that predated the Roman’s occupation of Brittan.  He delights us with the image that maybe children contemporary with Stonehenge amused themselves with these counting words.

“Little things, in short, are worth looking at. ” Bryson goes on to caution us to, “–understand the social context in which words were formed–to appreciate the richness and vitality off the words that make up our speech.”

So what about these words:  peeps, presh, ping?

These will be familiar to you if you are engulfed in electronic social connections. Isn’t it great to access information about everyone and everything we care about?  All the while our families, our jobs, or our pets nudge us to attend to them but we think, ” Wait, just a sec. Just have to check this next message. And there’s that one last email–and someone just sent me a photo.”

The immediate and complex connections we enjoy with the world on our computers and phones will force some major shifts in our language, I’m sure of this.  I think we’re in store for even greater expansion of our informational world making our world and the language we use to describe our world even more unique.  Haven’t you noticed that it’s becoming difficult to tell what’s real and what isn’t? Think photo shop and the newest interactive video games. However, I personally hope that peeps never totally replaces people.

(First quote: Robert L. Stephenson, Kidnapped. Second quote: L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. Third quote: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Homes.)

Posted in Scheme Stalker | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Frog Leap Test

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Char of inkydancestudios

Second Graders in China have no problem solving this problem.

Illustration from Navajo/English children’s book by C. Dietz

Frog Leap Test

The solution isn’t so obvious to those of us with older minds.

Posted in Stress test | Tagged , , | 3 Comments