The Inheritors – Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog

An Experiment in Writing – Part 8: Worthy Antagonists

Problems worthy of attack, Prove their worth by fighting back. — Probably Piet Hein although some say Paul Erdős

Hello.

Transderivational, translational me that I am, I’ll apply the above quote to today’s topic.

Today’s experiment is about creating antagonists which are full characters, not stereotypes and more than two-dimensional.

And we also do a brief return to Empty Sky.

Enjoy.

Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Pick up a few dozen copies of my books. Share them with friends. Think they suck? Share them with enemies. I swear (a lot!) I won’t mind.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 7: Inciting Incidents

an interesting person in an interesting place doing an interesting thing

I’m reviewing a young writer’s work and, although nicely written, wasn’t engaged by it – at least not as engaged as I want to be to read a complete novel. This is (for me) the #1 reason I reject something as Senior Fiction Editor of Wilderness House – no inciting incident

What is an “inciting incident” and what makes a good one?

I’m reading this because…?

Traditionally, an “inciting incident” is the “why is this happening?” of a story, the one thing which must happen for the rest of the story to happen.

I broaden that out a bit. Inciting incidents answer the reader’s question “I’m reading this because…?” That question is answered with “Have an interesting person in an interesting place doing an interesting thing.” You can have two of the three and still have a good opening. You can have one but it’s got to be incredibly strong for the reader to continue.

Think I’m on to something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

And go buy my books so you can follow along!

A Twelfth of Carrabis (November 2024 Newsletter)

November marks the return of my Brother Orion and his dog’s slow march across the northern night skies. I go out late in the evenings and greet him, ask him to tell me tales of where he traveled and what he’s seen while away. Often he invites me to journey with him and we travel to places humans will not know of until after the sun grows cold.
It is a raw, rainy, autumn day as I pen this. I should write “…as I type this.” and the gray in my hair forbids it. My professional (ie, paid) writing career started with a typewriter, my non-professional with pencil and pen in spiral-bound notebooks (still have them). For a brief period I composed on a remote terminal over a 300baud modem via phone line to my university’s mainframe.
Young people scratch their heads and frown with confusion when I use such words: “Typewriter?” “Remote what?” “300baud?” “What’s a modem?” “What’s a mainframe?” “What’s a phone line?”
I also know my long time editor, Jen “The Editress” Day, will see the colon in the above and wince. I’ve yet to master the proper use of the dash (em and otherwise), the colon, and semi-colon. I understand their use and purpose, and Jen tells me she can tell when I’m crafting because I type so quickly punctuation goes out the window (swiftly accompanied by spelling). Fortunately, after ~20years, she knows the rhythms I invoke with language and punctuation and manages to make me look good.
I recommend her to any who need a top level editor. (PS any errors and tyops you find here are on me, not her)
“A Twelfth of Carrabis” is getting good feedback from readers. Thankee! It means a lot.
Last item before we get down to it; I’m thinking of redoing my website based on some conferences and classes I took this month. Any suggestions? What would you change if it was your website?

November-December 2024 Announcements
Continue reading “A Twelfth of Carrabis (November 2024 Newsletter)”

A Hawk Waits

The patience of The Wild always impresses me.

Especially when waiting for a meal.

I’ve seen creatures from the very small to the very large become quiet, become so still they are whispers against the wind…

then move with a ferocity and tenacity which is terrifying.

One of my proudest (read “most vain”) moments was realizing I could move faster than a wild animal could follow.

Part of which came from realizing what types of motion their eyes were designed to capture, something which goes back to my studies of Jerome Lettvin’s Frog’s Eye Concept, a fascinating discovery probably lost in time (MIT 1959 What the Frog’s Eyes Tells the Frog’s Brain).

Basically, we see what we’re trained to see.

In some ways, this is obvious. A trained surgeon sees disease where untrained people don’t, a trained plumber sees a leak in the making where the untrained see a sweating pipe.

Take this a step further and we learn our training affects our decision making; the brain changes incoming sensory data to fit expectations, likewise, our expectations cause us to only perceive certain data.

Adds a whole new level to Believing is Seeing, doesn’t it?

I make use of Dr. Lettvin’s Frog’s Eye Concept in The Inheritors

The Librarian closed the hatch. She reached over and opened it again. “Bertrand?”
The Librarian’s pale, hairless, babe-like head and pulsing eyes poked up through again. “Yes, Resa?”
“You can see after images, can’t you, when something’s hot enough?”
“Yes, Resa.”
“Can you see anything here?”
“No, Resa.”
“Are you sure? I think…I thought…someone was here, something which produced enough heat to keep me warm in the night.”
“No, Resa. Who do you think it was?”
She hesitated. “I thought it was the Christian Devil.”
“I would not be able to see it, real or not, Resa.”
Resa focused on Bertrand’s eyes, looking to see if the Librarian joked or not. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t be able to see him, real or not?”
“That creature’s origins are from a belief system different than our own. It cannot exist for us because we have no reason for it to exist.”
She nodded. “Yes, of course. You wouldn’t react to him. You have different mythical systems and no meme to contain it. The Frog’s Eye Concept.”
“Dr. Jerome Lettvin. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1959. “What the Frog’s Eye Tells the Frog’s Brain.”

As noted earlier, Believing is Seeing.

Four More Books Accepted into Library of Congress

I am thrilled and honored to have four more of my books selected by the Library of Congress, accepted into General Collections, and assigned Library of Congress Control Numbers: