Erueka Finale

All good thing come to an end, and so it is with the SYFY series Eureka. The final show had all the elements that made the show a must watch for me every week. Some out of control piece of technology was about to destroy the town and as usual Jack had to throw himself (literally) into his job to prevent the disaster. Along the way Fargo figures out how to save the town and get his girl back. Matt Frewer along with other made cameos, and a lot of loose ends were wrapped up.

While I think SYFY made a mistake canceling the show the cast did a wonderful job of making us feel good about the end and yet life goes on, we just won’t be there to see it. I understand the cancellation of shows, is a financial decision, but to drop a show and leave the characters hanging (Alien Nation, The Finder) to name a few is uncalled for, finish it up and walk away. They did it with Monk, In Plain Sight, The Closer, Burn Notice, Etc.

I’m not talking about closure, just end the show on a high note and life goes on, it always does. That my take anyway.

Couple of Sound Bytes

To reword and old adage from Vietnam for my government. "Spending money you don’t have to achieve prosperity is like newlyweds copulating to achieve virginity."

Like to thank anonymous on the internet for this one - Profanity: a feeble minds attempt to express itsself forcibly

Dialogue Tags vs Descriptive Beats

In any good ‘how to write fiction’ book you’ll find at least one chapter if not two on the use and formatting of dialogue. Since dialogue can reveal a writer’s strengths or weaknesses, crafting good dialogue can be difficult. There are many pitfalls that writers can stumble into with dialogue.

There are skills you can develop to strengthen your dialogue. I would like to offer some insights into dialogue tags, descriptive beats in place of tags, and how to punctuate them. While these mechanics aren’t actually dialogue, they do draw attention to it and can influence how your readers will read a character’s dialogue and draw a reader into your story.

Definition.
Dialogue tag: A manner of speaking. Comes before or after dialogue.

Eg:
she said.
he shouted.

I find there are two common mistakes or misconception we all have with the use dialogue tags.

First: Being afraid to use said or asked.
Second: Believing said or asked becomes repetitive.

As a result, many writers have their characters constantly, stating, shouting, mumbling, murmuring, whispering, responding, commenting or commanding. When we feel the need to explain how a characters says something, then his or her dialogue isn’t strong enough. At the other end of the spectrum, if your dialogue is strong enough, then your tag only repeats to the reader what your character has just shown them.

There is a time and place for non said or asked dialogue tags. The excessive use of these tags is considered weak writing.

I've asked and heard the question asked, "Doesn’t the use of ‘said’ or ‘asked’ become repetitive and boring?"

The short answer is: No. As writers we are attuned to words. We pay attention to them. But if you’re doing you job right, the average reader is engrossed in the story and connected to the characters. A reader's eyes tends to pass over ‘said’ or ‘asked.’ If these tags stand out, it usually means your narrative isn’t being woven sufficiently into the dialogue.
Another mistake is over using the said or asked tags when there are only two characters in the scene. An occasional tag should be used in a long scene of dialogue to help the reader keep track of who is speaking. In scenes with more then two characters a combination of dialogue tags and descriptive beats will keep the story moving and the reader engrossed.
In his book ‘The Sixteenth Man" Thomas B. Sawyer’s entire manuscript is written without a single dialogue tag. Rather, Tom effectively uses descriptive beats for two person dialogue and for scenes with multiple character

Definition.
Descriptive beat: A sentence before, after, or breaking up dialogue that describes a character’s response or action.
Eg:
Janet finished brushing her hair. "I’m ready for my close up."

Len held out a steaming mug."Coffee, Mark?"
These examples are very basic. You can effectively eliminate all or most dialogue tags by weaving descriptive beats into your dialogue. However, any writer must be cautious about the use of descriptive beats. You need to pick quality descriptions, ones that reveal a character’s personality, motivation or adds to the setting and feel of the story. Having a characters make too many meaningful glances, or smiles, or nods will make your descriptions feel repetitive and unoriginal.

Another area easy to fix, that will strengthen your writing is punctuation.
Dialogue tag: "Hand me that book," he asked. (Comma inside the quotation marks)
Descriptive Beat: He pointed to the tome. "Hand me that book." (Period inside the quotations)
It’s as simple as paying attention to what you’re writing. Ask yourself this question. Is this a way of speaking? If yes, then punctuate with a comma. If no, use a period.
A final note, there are always gray areas. Groaned for example, is it a way of speaking or a noise made?
"Oh no," he groaned.
"Oh no." He groaned.
This is where you, the writer, has ultimate control of your story, by determining the best way to use the rules of the craft to tell your tale.

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Send comments or questions to richard@mesatyree.com

Watch Your Language

One of the jobs I had in my younger days was doing mobile home maintenance for  Palm Harbor Homes. On a trip down to Yuma Arizona, I was traveling with Bill. The entire way to Yuma he pontificated on the deterioration of the English by our young people.

Never mind that English is one of the most fluid adaptive languages. How many words have been added to our vocabulary since the dawn of computers, (CPU, Motherboard, Daughterboard, RAM, NIC, USB, firewire, DVD/DVDRW, email, etc.) Science Fiction Books and movies have added to the growing lexicon.

Keep Your Writing, Your Records in Order

Due to some additional pages in the record we discovered we moved several scenes around in Second Genesis today. This is turning out to be an intense process due to some problem in the past that jumbled the records. We have found pages out of order and this has caused delays, due to confusion as to what event came when. Second Genesis has had the most problem as these records are the earliest we have.

A word of caution. Date everything you write especially journal entries. You never know when you might have to refer to them.

Rewrite

Making good progress on both The Adam Eradication rewrite and Second Genesis. The latter is where the whole MacKenna Sage begins. A tale that shows the long term effects of the lust of power and where it could ultimately lead any civilization.

Back To Our Story

Richard and I continue to read through the journal translations. Richard has laid out five book to tell the complete Saga. The journals are more complete then we first considered and cover the MacKenna and Santiago history for more than two thousand years. As we discovered the depth of the records Richard made the decision to re-edited The Adam Eradication. Instead of the first book in the series it is now the middle of the story. The MacKenna Saga starts on the Home World and spreads out to cover a very long span of history. The story is filled with plenty of greed, murder, and treachery, but also has heroic deeds, close calls, and self sacrifice. It is the story of those willing to face death, and forfeit their lives to maintain a free and open society.

Domain Name Ownership

My friend Artur has been battling a problem for a client. I though I might share a word of warning for any who read this and are considering purchasing a domain name. It doesn’t matter if it’s for personal of business use, purchase the name yourself. Do this before you contact anyone about creating a website. DO NOT allow a web developer or a webmaster to tell you they will "take care of that for you."

You could wind up not owning your own domain name. This is what Arthur's  client just went through.

Many times when a webmaster or some big hosting company setups a site for a customer they register themselves as the owner of the domain name. Should you try and part ways some where down the road you could find yourself in a bind trying to regain control of your own domain name.

Registering a domain name is a simple process. There a several sites you can use, Register.com is one, Richard use godaddy.com. Near the top of the of the Godaddy landing page you’ll see a rectangle with the words,

"Search For A New Domain."

Type in the name you’ve chosen and click go. The site will tell you if the domain name is available or not and offer options if the one you what is not available. If it is available follow the instruction and purchase the domain yourself. Once you’ve completed that process you can buy web hosting from godaddy or somewhere else. Either way the hosting service will help you get your website up and running or you can hire a web designer.

Whatever you do, do not sign away control of your domain name. Set up your hosting and give you web designer the logon name, password and web address. That is all they need to publish their designs and changes to your web. They don’t need access to your Godaddy or Registry.com account. When they’re done you change the password, that way you maintain control of your name and website and save a lot of headaches.

A Word About Journals

Ever wonder why some people keep meticulous journals of their lives. Have you wondered who would care. While most lives never venture into the realms of danger or adventure, records of our lives are of interest to our families. What you will come to learn is just how important journals and diaries can be to future generations. If not for the detailed family journals we would never have been able to bring you these stories.

Kalen

Alter Your Thinking

All the Science Fiction books you read growing up, you assumed came from the author's imaginations, didn't you? Your belief that it was all made up was set in stone. You were as sure of that as you are of the sun rising.
What’s going to change you mind?
Time is short, so I’ll just tell you over the next weeks and months I’llbe sharing some family history from long ago and far away that just may alter your thinking about what is Science FICTION