Writing about dangerous ideas
One of the talks that I attended at this year’s Brisbane Writer’s Festival was on ‘dangerous ideas’. It brought up some interesting points, and is a topic that I find fascinating. It’s like a shiny, smooth rock that you turn over in your hands and get the urge to launch through someone’s window.
The first question that comes up is: what is a dangerous idea? What kinds of things are dangerous to write about?
Let’s put aside for the moment the effect of location and what that means for a writer’s ‘safety’. There are many parts of the world where the wrong (right!) type of writing will land you in prison, or worse. The BWF always remembers these writers with an empty chair on the stage at each event, representing all those writers who can’t join us because their writing has caused them to be unavailable. I love this tradition in the festival and applaud their desire to keep these suppressed writers in our minds. However, it’s not quite what this post is about, so I’m going to leave it there.
In the Western world, what is considered dangerous to write about? What raises people’s ire, shakes fingers, or is simply viewed as risque? Should we write about these things? Should we restrain ourselves? All interesting questions, and none of the answers are simple.
The danger of silence
One of the most striking comments from the talk was made by Rachel DeWoskin. (This is badly paraphrased from memory, but this is the gist of what she said.) She said that when it comes to taboo topics - like underage sex, or abuse, or teenage desire, or cannibalism - the most dangerous idea was to not talk about it. The notion of shutting these things away and never looking at them is a terrible one for her, and I agree. Talking about dangerous things is less dangerous than not talking about them.
This reminds me of a conversation I once had with a Jehovah’s Witness on my doorstep. The woman opened the conversation by saying how sad it was that things were so terrible for children these days. How we couldn’t let them play outside on their own, how we had to protect them from the many dangers that surround them now. Wasn’t it awful how things had declined over the years and that things were getting so much worse?
I thought about it for a moment, then I said: No. She looked a bit shocked, so I explained.
It is terrible that there are dangers out there for children and the world is a frightening place. But I don’t think it is getting worse. The difference between the past and the present is that we are talking about it more now. We know about all those many things that might hurt a child, such as abuse, paedophilia, or bullying. It’s not new; we are simply starting to understand the size of a problem that was always there.
Yes, it looks awful, but better to look at it than pretend it isn’t happening. Better to be aware and protect our children. Better to be able to fight it. Awareness is the first step in being able to stop it, not a symptom of a decline into an abyss.
(The woman went away after that. This is something of a pattern with me and people who strike up conversations on my doorstep.)
Part of the purpose of any type of art is to reveal the truth. To examine, to provoke, to ask questions. To make people think about something, even if it’s an uncomfortable topic. Pretending that teenagers don’t have a sex drive might make some people more comfortable, but how does that help a teenager learn how to deal with it, or how to protect themselves from the issues that it brings? How does that help us improve anything?
Sensitivity
So, bringing these issues out into the open is a good thing. That said, when you talk about taboo subjects, how do you avoid sliding into voyeurism, cheap sensationalism, or pornography?
The panel agreed that this was largely a matter of taste (the panel being: Rachel, Tim Richards and Cory Taylor). For some, the mere mention of a subject is pornographic, while the bar is much higher for other readers. As writers (or artists of any type), you cannot guarantee that you’re not going to offend someone.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try to avoid offense. Treating the subject matter with respect, sensitivity, and empathy is the best perspective to start from.
Do your research in the area you’re discussing, and talk to the people that you’re writing about. Rachel’s book Big Girl Small is about a girl with a form of Dwarfism, and she consulted hundreds of Little People (I believe that is the correct term) to make sure she got it right. Cory made a short film about a Down Syndrome teenager and spoke with many families with Down Syndrome members about their experiences; afterwards, they thanked her for getting it right.
I think these are good rules of thumb, no matter what subject you’re writing about (taboo or otherwise). Coming from a place of empathy is especially important when you’re dealing with a sensitive topic, though. Again, awareness is key.
Morality
Sadly, the talk didn’t get into the moral side of the issues for writers. This is a part of this topic that I find interesting. While the panel agreed that art should bring taboo topics out into the open, should ask questions, I believe that writing does more than that and cannot avoid morality entirely. The way that taboos are presented makes a difference, and that’s where the moral issue comes into play.
If you have ever had to write a questionnaire, you will know that there are many ways to phrase the same question. The wording that you choose influences the answers you’re likely to get. Someone skilled in this can present a survey and get exactly the results that they’re looking for. As writers, we should be aware of this, especially when handling a sensitive topic. Wording, presentation, and perception matter.
So is there a moral imperitive for writers? Should they only present things in an ethical manner?
I find those questions hard to answer. My instinct is to say: no. Writers do not have to be driven by high moral rules in order to write about taboo subjects. We do not have to present every murderer as a blackhearted demon or a mentally unstable drooler, or every rapist as a violent underachiever.
But writers should be aware that their presentation will colour how a reader views that subject. Is presenting a sympathetic paedophile the ‘right’ thing to do? Is, perhaps, the horror that such a thing presents to a reader the point of such a presentation? Is it possible for a piece of art to excuse it?
What about murder? Look at the Dexter series (books or TV) and how a serial killer becomes the hero, even while he’s exercising his serial killing desires. Look at (the dreaded) Twilight and how it presents a violent stalker and a passive, weak girl, as if they are an ideal for others to live up to.
I find some of these presentations insidious and repulsive. To me, they present a talking-point as something to object to – and this, too, can be the point of an artistic presentation. Prompting talk (sometimes of any kind, even negative) can be a worthy purpose. Sadly, with the more popular examples, too few look at the details and take the surface on faith. Too few question it. The writing slides under their skin and they don’t look any further.
Morality is like taste; it varies between readers and you’ll never satisfy everyone. So should you seek to satisfy anyone?
Like I said, I find these questions hard to answer. Personally, I try to stay true to my own morals and go from there. I suppose that that’s all you can ask of an artist. That, and be conscious of what you’re presenting and how it might be read. That is something that I suspect gets lost much of the time.
Awareness. Sensitivity. Empathy. With these three things, I don’t think that you can go wrong when dealing with controversial topics. But keep dealing with them, because we are the world’s window to the truth, whatever flavour we choose to suck on.
Weekend of writing and awesomeness
It’s been a hell of a weekend, and though it’s Tuesday, it has only just finished for me. Why, you ask? Well, let me explain…
On Friday, my Creative Writing Group met. I decided to do a session on first lines, and took along a list of first lines from novels across a range of genres and periods (many thanks to my friend who helped me to compile the list). Then we discussed them blindly (that is, without knowing what book or author they were from), to see what we thought of them as first lines on their own merits alone.
It was an interesting exercise and prompted a lot of talk. Curiously enough, even though someone didn’t like the first line, they would usually read on to find out the answer to the (annoying) question that was posed. It turns out that grabbing your reader doesn’t have to mean grabbing them in a good way. Boring first lines came out the worst of all, and I think that’s a good rule of thumb: never bore your reader.
After the meeting, there was dinner and bookish chats with my writing-friends. Always good to do that!
Saturday was the day of my RedFest talk, which I have squeeped and babbled about recently. It was my first appearance at an event like that; I’ve done plenty of talks and so on for my CWG, but this was different! And, for the record, I hate public speaking. I’m getting better at it (slowly), but I still got horribly nervous.
Big thanks to my friends for supporting me at the RedFest (you know who you are): helping me set up and giving me tea and sitting through the talk to bulk out the numbers. I didn’t get many attendees (probably about ten in total), but that was fine by me. I hadn’t expected a lot of people to come to the talk; it’s a local fair, and I guessed that most of the people who were seriously interested in writing would be at the Brisbane Writer’s Festival. Why do all of these things have to coincide?
I had some good questions from the audience and managed to cover all the material I had written out for publishing online. Overall, I was happy with how it went, and learned some things to use for next time (should there be one!).
After we had escaped the clutches of the RedFest, I got all dolled up with some friends and headed out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Had a great time: too much food, cocktails, and ice cream; and much talking and silliness.
Sunday was an early start – we had to be on a train by 8:15 – which was awesome after the night before. Luckily, I was without a hangover (I hadn’t drunk anywhere near enough for one of those, despite pouring Baileys on my ice cream). I was heading to the Brisbane Writer’s Festival, determined to get in at least some of the events before the whole thing was over.
I managed to get to three talks in total, none of which were exactly what I was expecting. They were on the digital revolution in writing, writing about taboo or ‘dangerous’ ideas, and literary vs popular fiction. I was left largely disgruntled with how the talks turned out (apart from the middle one). I plan to write up blog posts about each of them, so I won’t go into detail here – more soon!
In the middle of all of that, I snuck up to the Queensland Writer’s Centre and collared a couple of the lovely, helpful staff. Some more of our NaNoWriMo plans have been sorted out, and the QWC will be supporting us again this year. I’m currently working with them to arrange a write-out in November: writing out on a lawn by the riverside, in shade and sunshine.
I also took part in a writing race at the QWC, captained by the lovely Trent Jamieson. An hour of writing intensively, in a scarily quiet room! I went in with not a clue about what this week’s Starwalker post should be, managed to write almost 2,000 words (!!!), and won the race! Excellent.
I’m still not sure what this week’s Starwalker post will be, but I have a pile of material to massage into something coherent. Whether it will make the post easier or harder to construct has yet to be ascertained.
After such a packed weekend, I took a day’s holiday from work to recover (yesterday). A sleep in, a lazy day on the couch with games and DVDs, and nothing pressing to do was just what the CFS ordered. Then my folks took me out for beautiful slow-cooked steaks (another birthday dinner), and we stuffed ourselves with way too much food.
I’m back at work now and definitely feeling brighter for the break. It’s been crazy but so worth it! Some of the stuff that was talked about over the weekend is ticking at my brain, and once this weeks Starwalker is sorted out, I’ll be turning my attention to capturing those thoughts into posts and sticking them up here. Don’t hold your breath; it might take a while.
Thanks to everyone who made this weekend awesome. Best birthday I’ve had in a long time. Here’s to surviving another year, and to lots more to come!
RedFest talk confirmed
After some back and forth with the organisers of the Redland Spring Festival following my initial squeeing post, I am a confirmed part of the festival program. Terrifying!
I now have my own Writer’s Corner, and a slot to do a talk (4-5:30, 10th Sept). The subject is ‘online publishing’. Now all I have to do is figure out what I’m talking about (it’s a very broad topic!) and try not to get too nervous. I’ve started getting some notes together, from a session I did with my writing group and some more recent material I’ve come across.
Fingers crossed, it should all come together nicely. Less than two weeks to go. Wish me luck (and that people turn up to join in)!
NaNoWriMo plans in motion
This weekend has been busy with a very good friend and fellow NaNoWriMo ML (Municipal Liaison). In between hanging out, watching movies, shopping, and getting nails done, we’ve managed to get some more of our prep done for this year’s NaNo craziness.
We are trying to shake things up a little bit this year. While most of the things we’re organising are following the tried-and-true patterns of the last couple of years, it’d be no fun if we didn’t try to do something a bit different.
Every year, we give out lanyards or hipsters to our writers (or Wrimos), full of useful info, cheat sheets, and hints and tips. We’re redoing the pack this time around, with a bunch of new stuff in there for Wrimos to enjoy.
We’re also doing something a little different for our Kick-Off Party this year. We don’t have Halloween to play with, so instead, we’re doing a scavenger hunt through the parklands where we’re holding the KOP. I’ve never done a scavenger hunt before, but it seems like fun so why not, right? Right.
Yesterday, my co-ML and I went on a scouting mission to the park, armed with maps and pens and a camera. Some wandering around, a pile of photos and some scribblings on a map later, we had the start of a plan for the hunt.
Today, we went through the photos and tried to remember where everything was (and how to get between it all). We now have several sets of semi-cryptic clues (it would be no fun if everyone had the same route to run down) and a setup that should work.
All we need to do now is test out the clue-sets to make sure that they do, in fact, work the way they should, and sort out prizes for the winning team.
It’s all coming together! We have our write-is all booked for the whole of November (at the central cafe we always use, who let us plug in and stay all day), and the party bags for the KOP are all ready to assemble.
I have no idea what I’ll be writing for this year’s NaNo, but the ML stuff is coming along nicely. Can’t wait to get into it all! In the meantime, I should probably start writing this week’s Starwalker post. Onwards!
Starwalker’s 100th post!
This week, Starwalker reached post number 100!
Wow. On the one hand, that’s a startling amount of posts to have up. On the other, it’s taken over a year and a half to get this far.
In 2009, it took my a year to write all three books of the Apocalypse Blog, using over 340,000 words. It was hard work and a hell of a ride, but the best fun. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I don’t think I’ll ever attempt that again, either.
In February 2010, I started Starwalker. Now, over 18 months later, I’m over 170,000 words and moving into the final section of the second book. It’s a big change of pace, but one that I definitely needed.
I’ve gone from 7 posts per week to 1, and from 3 books per year to 1. That’s not a bad ratio, I think.
Let’s have some fun stats (because spreadsheets are a great way to procrastinate when the creativity bug isn’t biting). I’ve also been pondering names for the books – they’re below, so tell me what you think!
Starwalker Book 1: Identity (complete)
- Total wordcount: 99,734
- Total posts: 64
- Average wordcount per post: 1,558
Starwalker Book 2: Ownership (in progress)
- Total wordcount: 73,447
- Total posts: 36
- Average wordcount per post: 2,040
In a continuation of my usual pattern, the posts are getting longer as I go on. I’m okay with this! It’s hard to keep the post length down sometimes, but that’s much easier to manage since I abandoned the real-time posting (I can spend three weeks writing a single event if I want, and just have the log posts run on from each other).
This is the kind of milestone that is a good time to take stock. See how far I’ve come and how much story I’ve got still to tell. I’m proud of the body of work I’ve built up already, and I’m looking forward to exploring the plot I have yet to spin into words.
I’ve lived with this story for a couple of years now and it still excites me. At this point, that’s a relief as well as a pleasure! I can’t wait to share the end of book 2, and the third book is snapping at my heels, eager to jump out. There are so many changes coming, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the characters shape up (or fall down, because I’m cruel).
And that’s just the main Starwalker run I have planned out. Don’t get me started on the spin-offs that are taking shape in the dark corners of my brain.
Starwalker isn’t easy to write. It’s challenging and sometimes a struggle to get down, but it’s worth it. Sometimes I grin at the characters; sometimes they make me want to cry. I love all of them, and I adore the readers that have joined me on this journey.
Every writer says that they have the best readers (and they mean it!), and so do I. They’re wonderful to have supporting me, and they’re a big part of why I write. Thank you!
So here’s to 100 posts in, and to the next 100 to come. I hope you’ll all join me and enjoy the ride!
Starwalker’s drones
I’ve been thinking a lot about the characters of the drones in Starwalker lately. They’ve been developing quietly (and sometimes not so quietly), and are the best fun to write. They’re a part of the story that has a habit of surprising me.
The first thing to note is that they were not part of my original plan for the story. I have a pinboard at home covered in notecards – for characters, plot points, major entities, etc – and they’re not on it. It’s been a while since I updated it, but their absence is a sign of how their role has always been a question for me.
They were added to the story as one of those things it makes sense for a futuristic starship to have, like engines and hull plating and artificial gravity. The drones to do the jobs on board that people don’t want to do, can’t or shouldn’t do because it’s dangerous for a squishy human, or are simply unable to do. They had to be of different sizes, to fulfil different roles:
- Tiny ones for crawling around ducts and pipes, getting into those hard-to-reach places (Bit and Byte)
- Big to do the heavy lifting and external work (Wide Load and Big Ass)
- Mid-sized for general maintenance and eclectic duties, from repairs to cleaning; from tidying up personal quarters to preparing and fetching food; and, more recently, emergency medical care (Waldo and Casper).
Because it would be silly to have only one of each (everyone loves a failsafe/failover), the Starwalker has two of each kind as standard. So, six drones in total. Easy, right?
Except it would be no fun if it was that simple. The drones are an extension of the ship’s AI; a part of how a ship runs and maintains itself. And because the Starwalker‘s AI is a little bit broken/special/tweaked, it makes sense that her mobile units would also be different from the norm.
Plus, I have a great fondness for characters like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. I had no wish to recreate him (this is one of the reasons why the drones don’t speak – others below), but he’s one of the inspirations for the metal boys in my story. Another is Wall-E.
So, I have drones and a kooky AI linked to them. An AI that has a human subconscious mind (that, to start with, she didn’t know about), wonky processing, and emotions. The drones are symptoms of her real mental situation, an externalisation of her subconscious.
They’re linked into her automatic processes but they are autonomous; they have enough programming to fulfil their duties without the AI holding their hand and making every calculation and decision for them. They’re not quite full AIs themselves, though. At their core, they are much simpler beasts.
They’re also the closest thing that the ship has to ‘hands’ and a physical body that can interact with the crew. However, I decided long ago that I didn’t want to give her a ‘robot body’. So having them not be her actual hands worked better for what I was aiming for: she doesn’t do things with her drones; she asks them to do things for her. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one.
Over the year and a half I’ve been writing this story (wow, that long?), I’ve developed the drones and their role. Starry, the personality that’s growing out of the AI/human meld, is changing and they’re changing with her. They are still agents of her subconscious; her personality spills over into them, and they become expressions of facets of her. Waldo tries to look after Elliott, while Casper is more like her mischievous side. Byte threw himself at a bomb in a doomed attempt to protect the crew, and Bit is angrily upset over his missing brother (the parallel with Danika and her missing brother is not something I had planned, but let’s pretend I did, because it works out awesomely).
The two heavy drones are probably the least distinct so far; they always come as a pair. They’re the solid backbone of the drone lineup; the big brothers who grab your collar and lift you back onto your feet. They’ll still quietly do what drones shouldn’t really do, though, like paint the name that Starry wants on her hull but is too afraid to consciously order them to put there. They’re still developing, and I’m still shaking down their role on the ship, not to mention how they fit into Starry’s muddle of self-expression.
Lately, the boys have become more independent. Starry’s going through a trying time (and something of a crisis of confidence) and they’re showing the cracks in her mental composure. She isn’t controlling them as much as she was and their actions are becoming more extreme examples of what’s going on under her hood. When she gets herself back on a more healthy psychological footing, I’m not sure how much they’ll calm down – they’ll probably fall into line a bit, but I’m not sure if they’ll go back all the way to where they used to be. The issues she’s dealing with right now will plague her for a while, and so will the effects they’re having on her drones.
Being expressions of Starry’s subconscious mind, I thought it was better not to give them voices. If they spoke, they would be more conscious, distinct entities, and lose a measure of the abstraction they currently have. Starry speaks for them, if necessary, and is responsible for translating their moods and actions into words (like the conscious mind! Get it?). Even with her datalinks, she doesn’t always fully understand what they’re up to, partially because she doesn’t look too closely into their systems and mostly because she tends to accept whatever the drone chooses to tell her. She hasn’t had a reason to delve any deeper… yet.
So, instead, they are more inclined to use body language with the crew. The drones’ actions emote enough for them to communicate, and I find it’s fun to have them express themselves in physical ways. I toyed with some kind of data readout/text display on them, but it hasn’t been necessary, so it hasn’t appeared yet.
Overall, they’re one of those nice surprises that stories can throw at you. The challenge of giving a ship ways to express herself is leading me into all sorts of interesting places, especially given the restrictions I’ve put on myself. These characters grew naturally out of the story and I love it when that stuff happens.
I adore my little drone boys; they’re great fun to write and handy tools for me to use. They’re going to be around for a while yet!
Starwalker breaks 2,000!
I went to check my web stats today, and had a lovely surprise (which was very welcome after the last couple of days!). In June, Starwalker had over 2,000 different visitors! How awesome is that?
The daily visit rate is hovering around the 200 mark, which is also pretty good (though not as good as it used to be).
Best of all, I visited Top Web Fiction, and found that Starwalker is currently sitting at the top of the science fiction category! Wow. (And number 5 overall.) That is humbling, considering the wealth of wonderful webfiction out there. Thanks to everyone who voted! You are awesome.
A nice end to my day. :)
Hacked: mine now
After much worrying, struggling with code and ftp, and much support from friends, the Starwalker site is now fully back under control. Phew!
I’m currently backing everything up, upgrading my various WordPress installations, and looking into further security measures that I can put in place. I don’t need to go through this again, thanks!
I’ve had a pounding headeache all day that seems to be defying painkillers, so it looks like I might not get to this week’s Starwalker post today. It’s all written, but I need to spend some mental energy on editing it before it goes up, and I’m not sure I have any left right now! If not tonight, I’ll get it up tomorrow.
I’m still getting a few errors cropping up on the Starwalker site, but they all seem to be fairly minor. I’ll clean them up when I can.
So far, the upgrades are all going smoothly. Let’s hope the rest of this process stays that way!
Thanks to everyone who has helped me through this. I’ve had so many offers of help, advice, and support. You’re all wonderful! Thank you!
Hacked: update
After much wrangling with servers and ftp last night, Starwalker is up and running, at least on the surface. It’s not completely healed, however.
The WordPress user database was trashed, and I can’t log in to the back end right now. It’s going to take some more work before I can actually get control of the site again.
The best part is, I can’t even comment on my own blog to tell anyone what’s going on. I always did put comments up when I was logged in and comments are locked unless I approve the commenter. The login is gone and I can’t approve my own comment, so I can’t update anything on there. Security ftw!
So I’m going to be heading home early today to try to sort it all out, and get the damned thing up and running again. In the meantime, I’m going to keep ploughing on at work and hope that the hackers don’t wake up and undo everything I fixed last night.
Wish me luck and coffee!
Hacked
To say that I have not had the best day today would be an understatement. After a frustrating and stressful start to my day at work, heavily laced with exhaustion and not-quite-strong-enough coffee, I got a message from one of my lovely Starwalker readers. I also got one from another reader when I got home.
Now, let me be clear. I love to get messages from my readers. It makes me a happy little writer… usually. When they are telling me that my website has been hacked, however, that is less fun.
I went to the Stawalker site feeling slightly ill and it was downhill from there. It was definitely hacked, showing a splashpage definitely nothing to do with me. I won’t say who did it or give you one of their sick little ‘look at all the sites we’ve defaced! Aren’t we cool!’ links, because the little fuckers shouldn’t have any more publicity than they’ve already had from me.
It’s not funny and it’s not clever. It’s malicious, it serves no purpose except to fuck up my day, and I hope they’re happy with themselves. Or go die in a fire; one of those.
The worst part was that I couldn’t do anything about it while I was at work. I couldn’t get into the back end of the WordPress installation at all (it didn’t exist, just their damned splashscreen) and the rest I can only access at home. There was no way for me to know how bad the damage was – had they completely wiped out the WordPress installation? Screwed over the database? Hacked a year and half’s worth of work to pieces, or just pasted on an annoying front end?
I had to wait until I could get home to investigate, and today was one of those days where I couldn’t leave early. So I was stressed out all afternoon, not knowing just how much of it is wrecked.
I got home to good and bad news. The WordPress installation was still there, just majorly hacked and disabled. I’m currently going through the painful process of re-uploading all the files to resurrect it properly. All the config is intact, and, blessedly, the database is fine. Everything seems to be there; I just have to dig it out. It’s painstaking but coming along.
The type of damage done doesn’t seem to be a WordPress hack, but a hack on the ftp account to my server. Which is worrying, considering that I haven’t used it in weeks, and don’t store those details in any browser histories. My web hosts seem sure that the leak came from my side but I am dubious; it sounds like ass-covering to me.
Grah. So now I’m spending my evening fighting with ftp to get the site up and running again. I’m partway there; with luck, I’ll get it finished in the next hour or so. Then I’ll be backing everything up (I don’t do this enough, I know, I know).
I’ll be doing some more security upgrades over the next little while. Fingers crossed, this shit won’t happen again. I certainly don’t need another day like today. I don’t think anyone does!
For my readers: thank you for your patience. I will hopefully get this week’s post up tomorrow night.
Hackers: I have nothing to say to you. Begone.
