White china.

[reddragdiva]

• The Britannia Hotel, Nottingham are not just crap, they're credit card fraudsters. Do feel free to propagate the link.

• Do not go to see The Science Of Sleep. Tell other people why they shouldn't go to see it either. (At least politicians aren't that stupid. Er.)

• Perhaps if we start telling crap programmers that "undefined behaviour" includes "may choose to remove your balls", they'll behave? (No actual balls removed at that link, worse luck.) (courtesy jdev)

• Scariest goddamn writer's guidelines ever. (courtesy sola cija)

I was talking about this with hirez on Saturday over too much beer. He's just off to a science fiction writer's workshop where he gets a chance to guzzle the holy pee of the Nielsen-Haydens and Doctorow and such, assuming he can fight his way to the holy pee first.

Anyway. I know damn well ideas are bloody everywhere. Since I got a digital camera that doesn't suck, I've started seeing photos that must be taken everywhere I go. I've become sensitised to pics that are good ideas. Smoke and Mirrors by Gaiman, half the bloody stories are about writing and getting and using ideas. So the question is not "where do you get your ideas?" but "how do you recognise ideas?"

I'm still working on that one for Uncyclopedia. I usually work by juxtaposition. Someone will say something or two words will fall together in my head. "Linux Pride" — you just need to think those two words together and the article pretty much writes itself. John says he was surprised to realise that he writes stories with the same bits of his brain that write code. This means I should learn to write code like I write Wikipedia or Uncyclopedia articles.

Recognising ideas is like seeing the Ballardian nature of too many things. What software is analogous to Vermillion Sands? (qmail is, of course, Chronopolis.)

How do I spot a photo? How do I recognise when a juxtaposition is article material? Anyone else? What do you do to pin yours (photos, stories, pictures, dollies, songs, fart modulations) down into usable form?

Comments

[tnh.livejournal.com]

Holy pee? You must have gotten us confused with another workshop. We're in the dinosaurs and sodomy (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/006945.html) faction.

[reddragdiva]

Oh, I dunno, your vintage probably has greater magickal healing powers than you realise. Only for other people, of course.

Dinosaurs and sodomy? sclerotic_rings will be in there like a shot! And I bet you ski-fi folk thought you were rid of Paul T. Riddell ...

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Oh. Bloody. Hell.

[reddragdiva]

Did you know that everyone really does know everyone, even if they don't think they do?

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Yes. I should stop being surprised by it though.

Mind, I shall fetch you a sharp blow upon the nose should people go "Oh, you're piss-bloke's mate..." next week.

[reddragdiva]

Hopefully they'll only say it.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I think the TSA prohibition about transporting liquids on aircraft is still in effect. Thankfully.

[reddragdiva]

And your assignment is to write some ski-fi.

[tnh.livejournal.com]

You can't rely on anyone in the science fiction community going away forever, unless they die.

[reddragdiva]

Paul lives in Texas, which is roughly morally equivalent.

[reddragdiva]

And this pic happens to be kiraboo being told "Now pose ... do not laugh ... pounding ... dinosaur ... so-do-meee ..."

[hirez.livejournal.com]

It helps that I cheerfully admit that I try to have as little to do with consensus reality as possible.

Remember the furore over the artist chappie who exhibited a pile of bricks? The dull and uninteresting would go "It's just a pile of bricks. I could have done that." But you didn't, which is one of the points.

One of the other points is that if that pile of bricks was an interesting art object, then so can any other assemblage of building materials, if looked at with the right eyes and mind. Up to and including Tyntesfield house or that splendid viaduct in France.

A good story comes from taking an odd idea and running with it. Like Izzard but different. I know I'm on to something when people start looking at me strangely and backing away because I've broken the pub-rule about only extracting a couple of jokes from a stupid comment. The best ideas just piss off under their own steam, all you can do is run to catch up and hope to be able to take notes at the jog.

And talking to the like-minded, obviously. Avoid those who say "But that's stupid" or "I don't understand it"

[reddragdiva]

I agree with every word here.

"pub-rule about only extracting a couple of jokes from a stupid comment."

Oh, I do that all the time - taking a stupid comment and turning it into a routine on the spot is an art. My brand probably works better because I put in dick jokes and poo jokes.

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

As far as photography goes: it's a sense one hones after walking around with a camera for a while; an alert which goes off when looking at a scene, or at the light falling in a certain way, which it wasn't 10 minutes ago and won't be 10 minutes hence, almost like a tingling. There's a reason why Peter Parker was a photographer, you know.

(That's for the aesthetic sort of photography: light and shadows, reflections, interesting angles on architecture, and such. A lot of photography is more prosaic and utilitarian in its origins, being triggered by seeing something of note (like an amusing sign/ironic juxtaposition/piece of stencil art/whatever). Though even then, the sense helps with the composition. Having a camera that fits in a pocket is good; despite my A620's quality being greatly inferior to a good DSLR's (or even my old PowerShot G2's), resulting in heartbreakingly poor reproduction of, say, the last rays of a sunset reflected in a puddle, I have taken some of my best photos with it by sheer virtue of having it in my pocket at all times.

I haven't done much serious writing for years, though occasionally am inspired by recent events to wax Swiftean in my blog (http://dev.null.org/blog/) (which is mostly links-with-commentary). A recent example relates to US "goth" high-school shootings and "Islamic" terrorism (http://dev.null.org/blog/archive.cgi/2006/09/17#0008_gothophob).

[reddragdiva]

"having it in my pocket at all times."

I have carried cameras with me everywhere for years, but it's only with the Ixus 50 I've really started seeing photos everywhere. Because I know I have half a chance of capturing them. (The Casio Exilims are smaller, but (until recent models) completely shit cameras.)

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

I think my next camera will be a PowerShot G7. It's about the same size as my A620, but has image stabilisation (i.e., gyroscopes in the lens, allowing you to make exposures several stops longer than otherwise), and being in the G series, I'm hoping that they've managed to give it better dynamic range than the more humble A series. The only thing it lacks that the older Gs and my A620 have is a screen that folds out.

[reddragdiva]

Dynamic range will be down to the sensor. Canon uses the same sensors and pretty much the same operating system from Ixus up to dSLR; the difference is the physical box.

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

My G2 got better dynamic range from its sensor than my A620 does, which is probably due to size. This doesn't bode well for the G7, though it does include a new 10-megapixel sensor and the DIGIC III image processor (not used before), which coupled with the fact that they've seen fit to make it the flagship of their G range, leads me to hope that they've managed to improve the sensor over the A series. Though I'd want to read reviews and play with one before shelling out any cash, of course.

[reddragdiva]

Oh duh, of course the physical box affects dynamic range - a G-series will have a bigger light bucket on the front and an aperture that goes down smaller.

Really, the sensors are the same up and down the range. This is this season's 6MP sensor, this is this season's 7.1MP sensor, this is this season's 10MP sensor ... this has been the case since they switched from CYGM to RGBG, way back in the 2MP days. (The original Digital Ixus used a CYGM sensor, all other 2MP Ixuses used an RGBG sensor.)

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

The science of sleep is the first LJ sponsored community spam thing. That's as good a reason as any not to go see it.. (See http://community.livejournal.com/no_lj_ads/38290.html for more)

Why do I never get threats of ball crushing in the bug reports I see - maybe I need to get involved in bsd ;)

If women really were THAT controlled by our hormones we'd be useless. ffs.

How do I spot a photo? I just see it and it interests me. I see it as a frame, without me being there, divorced from its surroundings. It can be the shapes and colours, or the political/social content. Something just catches me and makes me think of contradictions, or insight, or hidden spaces.

This only applies to photos as photos - not snapshots. Photos are different - they are of themselves, not of reality. A snapshot is to show what someone/thing looks like. A photo for Wikipedia is deliberately of what something looks like from its normal angle. A photo for me (an art photo?) is the opposite - it's what things do actually look like but in a way that you don't notice.

[reddragdiva]

Yes, but what happens before and while you're spotting it?

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I'm not really aware of anything else - my mind wanders.

I also only see them when I'm in a certain mental state.

I really don't know any more about it than that..

[sola.livejournal.com]

heh. I'm flattered, but weren't me that came upon or spread such a horror.

[reddragdiva]

I'm sure it was your journal I spotted it on. I'm sure the actual propagator will say something.

[tetsab]

Yer mystery propagator is cija.

Another a four-letter long a.g. gal with a terminal alpha.

[reddragdiva]

Uh, d'oh! Fixed and apologies to both!

My tuppence

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Practise. Practise getting something down regardless of how you feel; make creation a habit, not a chore or a special project. Your brain and spirit (whatever that is) will get the message and creativity will go up.

Don't neglect physical, repetitive action. Walking (without being unduly stressed about getting somewhere on time - so walking to and from the station only counts if you make a habit of being early rather than late!) and dancing and cleaning are all wonderful. It's a sort of dead time - you're doing something, but your brain can wander and make what associations it will.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I used to say to my programming class (quote may not be exact): "Undefined behaviour means just that... it could do anything a computer can do... it could delete all your files, it could buy things on amazon. If you are really lucky it will crash right there. If you are unlucky, it will carry on running... for now."

[vatine]

Nasal demons. They're a good moral story. (in short "undefined behaviour makes demons fly out of your nose"). Possibly googlable.

[steer.livejournal.com]

*Grin* I limited it to "anything a computer can do" because actually I've never worked with a computer which has nasal demon functionality.

[reddragdiva]

These idjits, they'd think "nasal demons? Way k3wl!!" I figure if we threaten their balls, they might pay attention.

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm going to see the movie anyway. Hope my comment doesn't result in my getting flamed to death.

[reddragdiva]

I BET YOU FEED NESTLES TO THIRD WORLD BABIES TOO!!!!!

[narnee.livejournal.com]

Scariest goddamn writer's guidelines ever.

Give me time. I'm sure I can find worse.

What do you do to pin yours (photos, stories, pictures, dollies, songs, fart modulations) down into usable form?

I don't know; it just happens. There's either a click or a flow. Sometimes if it's writing and it's complicated or long (like actual books), I make notes or outlines.

Also, the world is much too small. I don't know the Nielsen-Haydens, but I have been friends with one of their friends and employees for about a decade.

[reddragdiva]

They came to my attention with the piece on what rejection slips mean. Hirez looks forward to rating the sort of rejection slips that include something he can work with.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

It's the A.G. thing "We will take your crudities as praise and make t-shirts with them"

[hirez.livejournal.com]

... Or a nice salad.

[FX: Rimshot]

[hirez.livejournal.com]

'Flow'. Yes. Hack-mode or 'in the zone'.

[reddragdiva]

So one trick is how to get there. Ewt's suggestion of "practice and your brain will help" is a good one.

[narnee.livejournal.com]

'In the zone' is the term I like to use but aidan_skinner makes fun of my residual Americanness every time I do so. Since he's the one I did my mock interview with for a freelance position, and it's probably useful for me to sound a little more British, I'm trying to get out of the habit.

It's good that another writer uses it, though. Perhaps I should throw care to the wind and be happy with the phrase.

[reddragdiva]

Talking like yourself is likely to be easier than talking like not yourself.

[narnee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but consciously changing my sentence structure and turns of phrase until they become an unconscious habit has probably been a substantial part of my assimilation into British culture.

Four weeks divided by 52 equals...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Surely they should publish 13 times a year, not 12?