The poll is closed, Sci-Fi wins, and I start writing after midnight tonight (theoretically). I’ll put up the next poll tomorrow, and you’ll all have another week to vote for the next genre.
Thanks for your interest, and stay tuned.
Phy’s “Four for NaNo” begins.
Final Update:
We had a total of 57 votes, and the results are in:
Genre: % / # of votes
Sci-Fi 33 19
Western 16 9
Fantasy 12 7
Chick Lit 11 6
Horror 7 4
Mystery / Suspense 5 3
Adolescent / Young Adult 5 3
Erotica 5 3
18th Century Russian Novels 4 2
Other 2 1
New Games Journalism 0 0
Sci-Fi wins for week 1! I’ll re-roll the poll for week two, taking out Sci-Fi.
Update:
The poll in the Sidebar seems to be working very well. We’ve had 45 votes and two guest selections, a smash success so far. For now, it’s looking like Sci-Fi is the genre du jour for the first week in November. I’m thinking of things along those lines but am flexible – a lot can happen between now and Nov. 1st.
Poll ——–>
The advantage of the poll is that there is no registration, no hoops, just a nice selection of Option buttons. Not only that, you can add your own category if you are so inclined.
Phy
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http://dkamagazine.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=5194#5194
I competed in last year’s NaNoWriMo competition, National Novel Writing Month, and completed the first draft of a 55,000 word pulpy space opera called “The Sky Pirate“. I set a goal of seeing if I could write a novel-length story and make it entertaining, thoughtful, and reasonably coherent. I was startled when it the project came together as a fun and cohesive story, on time, and over the allotted word-count.
I was considering whether to take part in this year’s NaNo competition and it occurred to me that I’ve proven what I set out to prove, and learned what I set out to learn. A picture has been clarifying over the past weeks and has finally come into focus within in the past 24 hours. I was chatting with Bill Snodgrass (Editor at The Sword Review) and Lee S. King (an Editor with me at Dragons Knights, and Angels magazine) last night when the idea suddenly blurted out – if I’d achieved what I was aiming for with the novel-length stuff, what next?
So to cut to the chase, I’m going to attempt to write four finished, theoretically publishable short stories of at least 3000 words in length during the four weeks of November, 2005, one per week, beginning 12:01 am November 1st, and ending at the stroke of midnight November 30th.
But wait, there’s more…
I’m going to take votes from you all on the genre(s) that I will be writing from for two of the stories, and my son will be providing a third (courtesy of a suggestion from my lovely, formerly benevolent wife).
There’s still more…
I was telling this to my sister this afternoon at lunch (hey, Heph) and she cheerily blurted out, “yeah, and you should run a common thread through all of them and tie them all together in the fourth story”.
I used to like her so much – I don’t remember this wicked streak in her. Must be the four kids.
So here we are, a challenge that initially sounded like good, clean fun, and has somehow taken on a life of its own and now is staring at me with big, gnarly fangs and an impoverished glint in its rheumy right eye.
I’m going to set up a poll here for the genre to be employed the first week of November, and then won’t setup the next poll until the first week for the second week, and so on, so I won’t know ahead of time what genre I’ll have to tackle next.
I’m calling these stories “Four for NaNo”. While this isn’t technically a NaNoWriMo-sanctioned event, I feel that this challenge captures the general spirit of the event while being customized for the next facet of my skill set that I need the most work on. Also, enlisting aid from you, the reader, builds in the element of accountability, my very own pointy stick. The possibility for absolute, crushing, humiliating failure of the highest profile is an unintended bonus for some of you – you know who you are. 
The poll is at the DKA forums and the stories will be posted at the end of each week at my writing blog.
So, yeah. Vote early and vote often. And hey, if I’ve ever been remotely kind to you in any way and I don’t happen to currently owe you money, be gentle – this only started out as my idea.
Short review: WOW. Just… WOW.
Longer review: There is a very male word that means something along the lines of “brash, reckless confidence”.
Joss Whedon, writer and director of _Serenity_, has big, brass… confidence.
Perhaps you know the story behind the story. Joss Whedon, script-doctor extraordinaire, manic genius behind Buffy, the Vampire-Slayer (the series, not the film dumbed-down from his vision), shopped around this idea of a horse opera in space — you know, a space opera — where the good guys and the bad guys aren’t just as clear cut as all that. In _Star Wars_, you know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are by the music. In _Serenity_, “good” and “bad” are relative terms, but “manipulation” and “truth” are immutable, and thus is the foundation laid for the smartest, most frenetic sci-fi picture since _Aliens_.
The difference is that this picture is following on its own heels.
Joss wrote and directed a short-lived series named “Firefly,” which got it all right and then was handled all wrong. The two-hour pilot was filmed but not shown until much later, other episodes were shown out of order, three episodes were finished but never aired, and still the series picked up critical mindshare and a diehard audience. The show was a success.
Obviously, Fox canceled it.
However, in a move that showed he believed in his creation and his fans, Whedon got the first season’s episodes put together in the proper order and released as a four-disc set. Then he sat back and waited.
The series started small but the word-of-mouth grew, seemingly exponentially. Before long, word got around the world that there was a series out there with the wit of Joss Whedon, the pluck and humor of a Han Solo, and the kind of dialogue that comes around once in a lifetime.
Mal: You know, they tell ya to never hit a man with a closed fist but it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Zoë: Shepard, isn’t the Bible kind of specific about killing?
Book: Very specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzy around the area of kneecaps.
Simon: I’m trying to put this as delicately as I can. How do I know you won’t kill me in my sleep?
Captain Reynolds: You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once. If I ever kill you you’ll be awake. You’ll be facing me. And you’ll be armed.
And so Joss Whedon got the green light, not to film another season for the small screen, but to film another season for the big one. Taking the core ideas for a second season, Joss wrapped them into one feature film, _Serenity_, which opened today, September 30, 2005.
I mention the date because this film is kind of historic, a space opera that is big, bad, bold, and brash.
Everybody’s different this time around – the primary action takes place a few months after the events of the series. Captain Mal Reynolds, channeling Han Solo without the governing love of a princess Leia, is harder, the mercenary Jayne is more vicious and self-preserving, everyone else is skinnier, and the crew is two members short – Inara, the companion, has been driven off to find love, or perhaps because of it, and Shepherd Book has found a flock where he is able to use the talents he can talk about rather than the ones he can’t. Zoe, the First Mate, is stone in love with her husband, the kookie, vacillating pilot who is only calm when in the thick of the worst action (“I am a leaf on the wind – watch how I soar”). Kaylee, the mechanic, silently pines for Simon, the Doctor, who is still oblivious, and River, his possibly superhuman, possibly deranged sister, is the key to a puzzle larger than the entire galaxy, a weight that no one denies is too cruel to bear, but no one seems inclined to help her with.
This will come back to haunt them. In fact, there are powerful forces hunting her down for what she knows, or might.
Somehow, Joss has managed to keep the loyal Firefly fans happy while introducing his franchise to a whole new audience, a neat trick. That, alone, would be enough for most directors, but it turns out that Whedon’s just warming up. Like most mortal men, he cheerfully assembles his characters, his universe, his franchise, and then he plays in it. We nod and smile.
Then he gleefully dissembles it all, breaking every scriptwriting rule in the process. The bad guys are the good guys, the good guys are the bad guys, and the Reavers…
Well, let’s just say that you never want to mess with the Reavers. Ever.
And yet it is the mystery of the implacable, ferocious Reavers that, taken with Rivers prodigious talents that form a truly compelling third act, ripe with moral implications that cause us to look at ourselves, at our own times, and wonder bout our own motives.
Unlike many lesser films, there are so many things that just cannot be guessed in advance, such is the reckless fervor Whedon has with his story. Nobody and nothing are safe. That kind of freedom is liberating, and terrifying.
Another thing; this movie is funny. Really funny. The thing is that the humor takes place in unguarded moments when you are most terrified, or should be. The humor is so down-to-earth, so authentic, that you can sense the zest and affection that Whedon has for these deeply flawed characters. I dig that.
This movie is very dark and yet is so full of life — and death — that it is positively crackles with ideas and plot twists. At one point, First Mate Zoe says “It’s a fair bet the Alliance is going to know what’s coming.” Mal says “They aren’t going to see /this/ coming”, and he’s right, and it’s the coolest ploy, actually not knowing where Whedon is going next. I reveled in that novelty until Whedon busted me in the mouth, and then broke my heart. By the time the film was over, I felt like /I’d/ been in the war, and I was just in the audience.
This is smart, entertaining science fiction. It is also meant for the grown-up audience, and nothing that you’d want to take your kids to.
I mean it.
The first Star Wars film was fun for the whole family. This, frankly, is not. It is a brawnier, darker, more mature film, and is not for the innocent. There is violence of ideas and situations here that is far, far too strong for younger kids or people who thought Star Wars was “edgy”. You don’t know the half of it. In this universe, Mal Reynolds as Han Solo not only fires first, he fires last, and again just to keep the chambers clean on his weapon. Yes, he is capable of love, but that love compels him into a plan so daring, so foolhardy that… well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.
_Serenity_ is not a perfect picture, but it is jam-packed with ideas, action, moral quandaries, and enough snappy dialogue to keep you laughing while you’re cringing, and hoping while you’re despairing. It is a major achievement and forever challenges those lesser directors who caved into the fans who clamored to bring back Spock (Star Trek III) and Han Solo (Star Wars IV). In this universe, nothing is safe, little is sacred, and we are somehow better for it. If we survive.
The Operative: “I’d like to solve this like civilized men. I’m not threatening you, I’m unarmed…”
Mal: “Good.” Draws pistol and fires…