Author: Allegra

So early!  I’ve got 320 words in already and I can tell I’m going to have another good day.  Everything that seemed so stale and asinine a week ago looks interesting & funny again.

I was putting together a list in the shower the other day of all the authors I want people to be reminded of when they read the novels.  I have no desire to talk about the originality of the novels.  They aren’t original. I haven’t read a book with the same basic premise but I refuse to believe one wasn’t written in the 50’s or earlier, since it’s so simple and easy.  That wasn’t where I was going.  I wanted to write novels about family, obligation, how to overcome abuse, how culture changes over time and people fight about how to ‘do culture right’ when it’s all getting to be a hopeless hodgepodge now, at least in the English speaking world, how our family structures make us and break us, about the fall of nation states, how pregnancy changes you, about how feminism plays out in real life, about how political alliances are formed, what would happen to the city manager of a city aliens came out in, how speaking a different language changes how you think and what you think is important, about love of child and love of parent and how alien contact is now part of the global narrative and how we can’t keep destroying our planet.

Some of these things are decor and some are integral to the narrative, but I am also hitting at the whole notion of plot very hard, because there isn’t much of one, and the longer I write the less worried I am about that. I want to write snappy dialogue between compelling characters, and I don’t care if I walk, ride or parachute to that place & what baling-wire I hold it together with.  I don’t criticize plotlessness in other writers (although I appreciate a good plot when I see it) and now I’m okay with not being able to plot for shit, because it isn’t my strength, and most of the people beta reading the drafts don’t even care about it. They just want to know what happens next.

Dorothy Dunnett OBVIOUSLY.  I don’t have her scale, precision, sweep and painterly eye, but I decided to have AN IMMENSE CAST OF CHARACTERS mostly so I could have a scalable shared universe, and also because the massive number of babies allows me to play with contemporary mores regarding pregnancy and parenting.

Zenna Henderson for having a specifically religious worldview in the story, but I’m busting up the religiosity into little chunks that are set like terrazzo chips into the narrative and then polished down so they won’t be offensive to atheists.  Also for the novels being like Venn diagram sequences of stories bound together by a premise rather than a plot – occasionally the identical event will be recounted by two different people, partly to emphasize how alien the aliens are, and sometimes to reveal that somebody is being a bad bad character and an unreliable narrator.

Eric Frank Russell because even though the events are serious I make a serious effort to be funny.  Yesterday when I was re-reading a chapter with a mind to tighten and clarify it, I ran across a line I’d forgotten writing and burst out laughing.  That’s the reaction I want in others.  Around the next bend is something lovely, something disgusting, something funny, something weird, something meltingly sad, something armwavingly science-y, something sweet, something kind, something that makes you go WHAT? Why?

Jerzy Kosinski for the violence and creepiness of some sections, cause it’s not all funny, no, not by a long shot.  Laelaps’ episode and Raven’s assault and the death of George’s mother are all sequences I wrote intending to make the reader crumple up.  If you ever read the Raven chapter in Sweep off those Waves, please remember I cried while writing every word until the moment Michel shows up. I think it says something about the space Michel holds in my head that I just couldn’t cry while he was around; he makes me feel absurdly cheerful, as if any fool thing could happen next.  Even when he’s scary he’s still funny. I just re-read his scene with Brendan on the beach and my single favourite line from the 150K words so far is in that scene.  I mentioned it to Sandra and she burst out laughing….

The writings of other sf fans about sf and all manner of other things, as mostly I’ve seen on facebook (I recently quit facebook) and Livejournal (I’m still there but rarely post.)  They have a really engaged, hilarious and memorably literate way of talking about the things they love, and honest to God sometimes they DO talk as if Diablo Cody, Joss Whedon, Lauren Faust, Harlan Ellison, Dorothy Dunnett and Patrick O’Brian were collaborating on a script in real time, and anybody who’s sat in the consuite at damned near any sf convention aimed at adults knows ‘zackly what I’m talkin’ ’bout.  I ain’t hiding my big words behind the door because THAT ISN’T WHO I AM WRITING FOR. I am writing for hyper-intelligent people with their loving arms ’round pop culture, who want to be challenged and entertained, who want to see themselves reflected in the intelligence and sexuality and choices of the characters.

Harlan Ellison I’ve already mentioned.  For being big and brassy and opinionated and loud and unapologetic and sometimes quite deliberately contemptuous and rude.  For this, my friends, is not a subtle tale I tell.

John Brunner, specifically Stand on Zanzibar.  I’ve grabbed onto sections of that novel in terms of structure (the whole “Reddit AMA” section, and the initial interview with Farah.)

James H. Schmitz, specifically the Witches of Karres.  There’s something about the tone of that novel that is all around wonderful, and I aim in that direction when writing about George interacting with Pharos.

I am sure there are other writers as well, but I’d be remiss in not mentioning at the last Ms. Elif Åžafak.  Tammy gave me her “The Forty Rules of Love” and upon finishing this amazing novel, which addresses many of the issues I think are important in fiction, I realized I could write a novel without a straight narrative line or timeline and multiple heroes and heroines, that’s when I started writing in earnest.  Now I have this novel and the final novel in the trilogy to finish, and after that I’m gonna keep writing, since I think I’ve figured out how. Maybe.

Yay, I’m writing at something like my normal speed again.  I have to stop applying for jobs because when I don’t get them I can’t think straight.

I’ll be off to the beach which is actually Paul’s deck soon.

The sunset was glorious, symphony in pink and blue. We walked along the Quay, Paul and I, and I commiserated with him on his bobo (he had a nightmare recently and thrashed his way into an injury) and we talked of many things.

I am writing again!  I lost 600 words because I did something stupid, recovered 300 from my most recent back up and then wrote some more for a net gain of 422 words.  I think I will be energetic enough to buckle down and get it done for the end of September… we’ll see.

September 10 Longmire season 4 comes back, YAY.  It’s a really fun show.

The next door neighbours are selling their house.  On one hand I’m glad to be losing the miserable hellhound who leaves his motorcycle idling with choking clouds of crap at zany hours, but the next neighbour could be worse, and these ones have been fine.  Also, they were our neighbours when we lived in this house before, so I’ve known the older guy for almost 20 years.  I’ll never forget the time he gave  me fu qua and I had no idea how to cook it. Bitter melon really is bitter.

Jeff has had enough of the macaroni, so I get to finish it myself.

I’m very fond of the printed word, and I’m a hermit, so many of these ideas for truth and reconciliation will appear to be aimed toward the scholars, and people who go from one year’s end to the next never knowingly interacting with anyone who’s First Nations.  Given a choice between doing nothing and looking stupid and elitist, I’ll take my lumps.
I’ve varied terminology between all of Indian, indigenous, First Nations, First Peoples and aboriginal but my personal preference is First Nations, because the words assert the simple truth.  They were in Canada – on Turtle Island – long before settlers arrived, and they are nations because they had distinct languages, territories and modes of self-governance and international exchange before settlers arrived.  The time has long passed for any settler to be allowed to consider the “Injuns” who were here when their ancestors arrived to have been an amorphous blob of ignorant savages, indistinguishable and extinguishable in equal measure. That they had no cannons doesn’t undo their nationhood.

The material comfort of my ancestors was increased by their losses, but nothing is my ‘fault’ except the racism I’ve embodied myself, in my own person, and the credence I have given to stories I grew up on about First Nations history and people that they themselves did not give me. Human beings capable of the effort owe themselves the clarity that examination of their own biases can bring them.  It may not be possible to eradicate the thought, and not all of us are that strong.  To eliminate bias from one’s behaviour and speech is the true goal, and to hold oneself to the necessity for not passing bias on to those of tender years should be an automatic corollary of that goal. With the elimination of bias comes the responsibility to force successive Canadian governments to honour the treaties they’ve signed and to move forward with deliberate speed on resolving outstanding issues. It is my belief that a radical overhaul of everything to do with treaties between the government of Canada and the First Nations is required.

1.    Read the 94 recommendations.
2.    A few days later, read the 94 recommendations again, more slowly this time.
3.    Which of these recommendations can you action in your own life?
4.    In your church?
5.    At your workplace?
6.    At home?
7.    In your purchasing habits?
8.    In your speech?
9.    In how you respond to news and entertainment reporting on and depicting the actions and speech of natives?
10.    In encouraging yourself to see the ways native narratives are removed from the joint narrative of settler Canadians.
11.    Think about whether you’re prepared to call yourself a settler. If you aren’t prepared to call yourself that, think about how you would verbally distinguish yourself from those who are actively hostile and racist toward the First Nations.
12.    Do you know where the nearest Friendship Centre is?  Locate it if you don’t.
13.    Do you know what languages the First Nations in your area speak, including any First Nations neighbours who aren’t from around here?
14.    Indigenous people across the planet are spending time with each other and sharing stories, medicine and strategy to address the many issues they have in common. These meetings are formal and informal, recorded and private.  What do you know about these meetings and what questions would you have for participants?  Having formulated some questions research what indigenous people have said about these meetings.
15.    If you have internet access, research and follow at least one First Nations activist on social media, although you will have a tough time keeping it to one.
16.    Visit your local library and borrow and read books by First Nations authors which can be fiction, poetry, memoir, non-fiction, academic.
17.    Research and donate money to a First Nations cause.
18.    Read the Indian Act.  There are also glosses and line by line interpretations of the Act which can add dramatically to understanding it.
19.    If you have access, watch a youtube video. Google “youtube testimony residential schools”.
20.    Go to a powwow.  Dance, as you are able.
21.    Purchase and display art by aboriginal artists.
22.    Examine your speech for racist terms and expunge them.
23.    For this next exercise, bannock, with its wondrous golden appeal and dubious nutrition, doesn’t count, nor does salmon, which is too easy. Research, cook and eat a local First Nations traditional dish.
24.    Listen to music devised and performed by First Nations artists.
25.    See the MMIW display.
26.    Learn about Haudenosaunee beadwork.
27.    Spend your vacation in accommodations owned and operated under indigenous management.
28.    Read the story of the Beothuk.
29.    Learn how to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you in a local First Nations language.
30.    Support First Nations people by attending demonstrations and making your voice heard.
31.    Learn the traditional territorial boundaries of First Nations people.
32.    Read about the laws, traditions and spiritual beliefs of First Nations people in your area.
33.    If you have school aged children, ensure that they have access to age appropriate materials about the residential schools over the course of their own schooling.
34.    http://www.thetattooedprof.com/archives/407
35.    http://theracecardproject.com/
36.    When native activists request settlers to assist in lobbying the government, protest in person or via your local elected representatives.

There’s a Korean family sauna in Coquitlam that is totally awesome. Mike took me there. Hal and Cassidy and Carny and Ashley joined us. $15 bucks buys a level of comfort and cleanliness one must experience to appreciate.  I can hardly wait to take my other friends. The salt room is going to be my new best friend. Then Mike took me for a beer at Roo’s and we admired the steampunk ceiling fans and he dropped me off a couple of minutes ago.

THE FLOORS ARE ALL HEATED in the spa.  It’s like, o m g.

Only bad thing is the spa is sex segregated.  But you really can’t have everything.

We had dinner over at Hal and Cassidy’s.  I ate heritage tomatoes, deep fried okra, grits and cheese and some kind of green leafy vegetable cooked with vinegar.

Feel very good, and sleepy!

It was hard like hell.  I’m glad I didn’t go walking with Paul or I wouldn’t have written anything.  It was hard to say no. Generally unless I’m puking sick if Paul calls me to go walking I go.

Jeff and I are enjoying bingewatching The West Wing.  We’re into the second season already. We try to do our work in the morning and watch in the afternoon.

Time for me to get to work.