It is times like these where I wish I was an application developer. I have found a few “acceptable” programs for managing timelines, one even for writers.... and yes, none of them are completely what I want.... I want to be able to create the ultimate timeline program to help organize my story ideas :)
Anyway, some of the good Mac friendly programs I’ve found are:
(1) Aeon Timeline
(2) Timeline 3D
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Author Responsibility
The dictionary defines an 'author' as 'a writer of a book, article, or report' or as 'the originator or creator of something'. On one hand, an author of fictional books is a combination of the two; someone who writes down their own ideas or worlds/situations they have created. On the other hand, they are only authors in the first sense; just a writer of things that exist outside of themselves.
To say that a fictional writer, creator of their worlds and characters, is somehow writing about things outside of and beyond themselves is a controversial idea. It implies that there is something objective about their stories and some standard for them that the author has no control over. It seems counter intuitive to say that the creator isn't the master, yet more often than not that seems to be the case.
An author isn't perfect. They may be unable to represent ideas accurately in their writings even if they understand them correctly. They may get pulled aside by other concerns and influences and bend their ideas to match their current circumstances. For whatever reason, an author can and often does move away from an accurate representation of what they have created, and in doing so, they forfeit their mastery over their creation. And the creation suffers because of it. What is represented by an author no longer matches what should be represented; they become out of sync and create inconsistencies that the readers must sort though.
It is because of this that authors have certain responsibilities to both their creation and to their readers. The chief among these is the responsibility to allow characters to grow and develop naturally, free of outside manipulation. Another way to say this might be "characters are people (um...or beings) too". The risk of having real characters that aren't flat and dull is that they have real personalities, dreams, ambitions, and so on, and they can't be naturally forced to do whatever the author wants them to do. They must be allowed to "live" and should never be forced to do things and have things done to them that aren't in accordance with their person.
The same responsibility can be repeated for situations and events. There are certain types of things that don't belong in a created world, be it an author's version of New York City or a completely new fictional world. Worlds have rules and all situations and events must conform to those rules.
In short, an author is responsible for conforming to the worlds they create. Politics and agendas need stay out. Any kind of messages conveyed should be a natural part of the created world; the best messages always are.
(This is only a short note on this topic. An entire book could be written.)
To say that a fictional writer, creator of their worlds and characters, is somehow writing about things outside of and beyond themselves is a controversial idea. It implies that there is something objective about their stories and some standard for them that the author has no control over. It seems counter intuitive to say that the creator isn't the master, yet more often than not that seems to be the case.
An author isn't perfect. They may be unable to represent ideas accurately in their writings even if they understand them correctly. They may get pulled aside by other concerns and influences and bend their ideas to match their current circumstances. For whatever reason, an author can and often does move away from an accurate representation of what they have created, and in doing so, they forfeit their mastery over their creation. And the creation suffers because of it. What is represented by an author no longer matches what should be represented; they become out of sync and create inconsistencies that the readers must sort though.
It is because of this that authors have certain responsibilities to both their creation and to their readers. The chief among these is the responsibility to allow characters to grow and develop naturally, free of outside manipulation. Another way to say this might be "characters are people (um...or beings) too". The risk of having real characters that aren't flat and dull is that they have real personalities, dreams, ambitions, and so on, and they can't be naturally forced to do whatever the author wants them to do. They must be allowed to "live" and should never be forced to do things and have things done to them that aren't in accordance with their person.
The same responsibility can be repeated for situations and events. There are certain types of things that don't belong in a created world, be it an author's version of New York City or a completely new fictional world. Worlds have rules and all situations and events must conform to those rules.
In short, an author is responsible for conforming to the worlds they create. Politics and agendas need stay out. Any kind of messages conveyed should be a natural part of the created world; the best messages always are.
(This is only a short note on this topic. An entire book could be written.)
New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force
For the longest time I have been a big fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and all of the books talented authors have written, but for the last few years I have been pushed away from all of that by the two newer series: The New Jedi Order series and the Legacy of the Force series.
The only way to describe my feelings toward these series is utter disgust. I hate the universe they created and I hate that it was a done from one of my favorites. And yet if feels so much more complicated than that. The things that disgust me are not simple or cut and dry. They are more complex and confusing than I am use to dealing with, and I don't quite know how to cope. Let me explain...
One of the things that was done that bothers me most is the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. She was killed before her time and it was wrong. This is all well and normal, but then it gets complicated. She wasn't killed off by the author who originally created her, Timothy Zahn, and who put a lot of effort into creating her. He wouldn't have killed her off at that particular point in time and in that particular way. This introduces an element of hope into something I would normally feel helpless rage over, and I don't know what to do with that. He can't change what happened in the story, but I find myself wishing I could get an alternate reality written by him. It will never happen, but I want it to happen. It is almost a feeling of helpless hope. Can I write and ask for him to fix everything?
Were that the only problem with the two series... There is so much more, from the death of Chewie and Anakin Solo, to the "destruction" of Coruscant and what happened to the New Republic, and to what happened to Jacen Solo... I hate it all, and I no longer feel like a member of the Star Wars fan community because of it. Is there a solution? I haven't found one yet.
The only way to describe my feelings toward these series is utter disgust. I hate the universe they created and I hate that it was a done from one of my favorites. And yet if feels so much more complicated than that. The things that disgust me are not simple or cut and dry. They are more complex and confusing than I am use to dealing with, and I don't quite know how to cope. Let me explain...
One of the things that was done that bothers me most is the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. She was killed before her time and it was wrong. This is all well and normal, but then it gets complicated. She wasn't killed off by the author who originally created her, Timothy Zahn, and who put a lot of effort into creating her. He wouldn't have killed her off at that particular point in time and in that particular way. This introduces an element of hope into something I would normally feel helpless rage over, and I don't know what to do with that. He can't change what happened in the story, but I find myself wishing I could get an alternate reality written by him. It will never happen, but I want it to happen. It is almost a feeling of helpless hope. Can I write and ask for him to fix everything?
Were that the only problem with the two series... There is so much more, from the death of Chewie and Anakin Solo, to the "destruction" of Coruscant and what happened to the New Republic, and to what happened to Jacen Solo... I hate it all, and I no longer feel like a member of the Star Wars fan community because of it. Is there a solution? I haven't found one yet.
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