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From time to time I revisit The Bechdel Test, because my fiction tends to feature a lot more men than women. Now I'm not going to go out of my way to make sure my work passes, because I hate tokenism in any form, but it does keep me thinking about women in fantasy.
(I'm pretty certain the latest version of my work-in-progress fails, since there's only one conversation between women and it involves one girl dressed as a boy and another who is fooled by the first's disguise.)
It's often said that it takes ten years to become an overnight success:
"Researchers have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, telegraph operation, painting, piano playing, swimming, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. The key is deliberative practice: not just doing it again and again, but challenging yourself with a task that is just beyond your current ability, trying it, analyzing your performance while and after doing it, and correcting any mistakes. Then repeat. And repeat again."
Peter Norvig, Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
If so, I reckon I'm on year 7 on 10.
If you're at all interested in the iPhone (and even if you're not), you're no doubt aware that yesterday saw the launch of the new iPhone OS (version 4), just ahead of the iPhone 4. For the writers and Dvorak users amongst us, there's some good news and some bad.
To while away a train journey yesterday, I caught up on one of my favourite podcasts, "I Should Be Writing", which just started running again after a hiatus in May. The first new episode was live from Balticon, and unlike the regular show was a tipsy, sweary and totally hilarious session (not the the regular show isn't entertaining, just seldom laugh-out-loud funny). The highlight was a song by John Anealio, based on a quote by Neil Gaiman, which inspired this blog post.
The story's a bit old now by internet standards, but a good story is worth retelling. That's what we do, right?
As writers we're often told "write what you know" - which admittedly is kinda tricky when you're writing SF&F! - but it holds true no matter what genre or medium you work in. When it comes down to facts (and even the most fanciful of stories contains a few), you really have a duty to get them right. And if you don't know the facts, you need to a) do your research and b) get someone more knowledgeable than you to check them.
On Sunday night, Mr L and I watched the latest episode of "The Mentalist" to grace UK TV screens. I have to confess that I love US crime/mystery shows, even though the formula has become so formulaic (feisty female detective, maverick male sidekick, obligatory black boss) as to be embarrassing. Anyway, we knew we were in for a few cringe-worthy moments as soon as it transpired that one of the characters was British...
(Warning - mild spoilers for episode 217 "The Red Box")
About three years ago I was asked to write a chapter about the project I work on for the second edition of a book on bioinformatics software. We had contributed a similar chapter for the first edition, so it was just a matter of rewriting the introduction and updating the technical details, and of course I said yes. My colleague who had written the original chapter said that although there was no advance, I might get some small royalties eventually, albeit probably only enough to buy a round of beer.
Would that it were that much!
Today, in case you hadn't noticed, is the UK launch date of the much-anticipated Apple iPad. Now, I'm a Mac fan and a self-confessed gadget geek, so I've been following developments closely. Over the past decade, and particularly in the last three years, I've been seeking mobile computing nirvana, that perfect device that will make writing a breeze. Yeah, right.
Every time I buy a new toy, I'm disappointed; either the hardware is awkward to use or the software frustratingly limited. I don't want to waste more money on a machine that's not right for me, so this time I'm being cautious. Still, I want to look at the iPad with an open mind, and consider if it is of any use to a writer.