NaNo 2021 - Wrapping Up

NaNoWriMo ended November 30th.  I meant to update during the month, but I got into the flow of writing.  I managed to get Lost in Translation out during this time as well, with a post every weekend.  How did I feel afterwards?

First, at the end, I had a complete story, the first in a while.  Typically, I either have a serial, thus no planned ending, or I have a story that has reached the word count but not an end.  Not this year; the story, On Thin IC, wrapped up around 50 000 words.  It needs editing, of course, and there may be more details added in to break up the dialogue, but it is a complete story.  With days to go, I also got a start on a second story, The Courier, letting me get a start on a story idea I've been playing with for a while.

Next, I didn't feel drained.  I had completed a marathon with creative energy to spare.  I credit writing Lost in Translation weekly (or close to it) for allowing me to get words out and be able to recharge again for the next day.  Daily word counts were fairly steady; I didn't have any days over 5000 words, but I could sustain over 1667 words per day for multiple days in a row.  This came in handy when I fell behind in the early days.  The first Saturday of Noivember, I was a clinic to get me to get my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, and that left me out of sorts for the rest of the afternoon.  Perseverance is something I picked up during NaNo, so getting back up to speed and ahead wasn't a problem.

Helping was not having to commute.  Taking the bus is exhausting in Ottawa.  The system is unreliable; buses do not shot up when scheduled and can go missing completely, and this isn't taking into account the lemon of an LRT Ottawa has.  Working from home means the commute is fast with the only traffic being Jewel wanting her morning treats.  With zero mental energy being used by the commute and having the commute time available to relax after work before diving into writing, getting into the writing flow wasn't a problem.

Did I have an idea of what I was doing?  About the same as previous years, meaning I had characters, a general plot, and a direction with no planned ending.  This time, though, I could see when the story wanted to wrap up.  What helped was an antagonist who wasn't willing to be shoved aside early in the narrative.  Too bad I wasn't expecting him; he could have used a name.  But without this nameless blood mage, I wouldn't have had a more personal ending.  The characters are available for a sequel if I want, but their first story is done.

NaNo 2021 was fun, and getting my sixteenth win felt great.  Give it a try!

Jewel is waiting.

NaNoWriMo 2021 – End of Week 1

NaNo has begun and I am now in the early chapters of a story that I have no idea where it's going. Som business as usual here. The first week went well, except for a snag on Day 4, where I messed up my own tracking spreadsheet. I wound up thinking I was a on target instead of being a day behind, both in terms of writing and in terms of the days on the spreadsheet. Saturday was spent running a crucial errand, so that cost me some time as well. However, I managed to fight back to where I should be on Sunday.

The early scenes I had in mind are now written. That's both good and bad. It's good because over 11k words were written for them. It's bad because now I have no idea where I'm going. I have vague idea for scenes, but scenes are no substitute for plot. (Hollywood, are you listening?) Fortunately, the characters are solidifying enough that any one of them could produce a plot line on their own. It's handy when characters do that.

The original concept was to jump focus to the different characters. However, locking the point of view to Skater means that I have to work out what the others are doing, at least generally. I don't need to write a chapter that won't be published about Hudson's quest for to watch the Habs in a city on the opposite side of the continent. He's just going to complain about it bitterly when he next joins the action.

Coming up, well, laundry needs to be done which will eat at the time I have after work. But if that is out of the way Monday and I can get a couple hundred words Tuesday and Friday before gaming, I should be in a position to strike forward next weekend. I've done it before, I can do it again.

Happy November 1st!

It's that time of year again.  NaNoWriMo has begun!  Back in September, I listed a number of possibilities.  In order to start writing, I had to actually choose one.  The winner is...

On Thin IC

with The Courier waiting in the wings in case I run out of story.

Now, you might be wondering where On Thin IC is on the list.  It's the untitled Shadowrun story, now with a title.  Progress can be followed on my NaNo profile.

Jewel will be keeping me honest and making sure I take writing breaks.
Treats don't serve themselves after all.

Brace Yourself!

November is coming!

Yep, NaNoWriMo is just over two months away.  I should at least start figuring out what I want to write.  I have a few possibilities right now, but nothing certain.  I'd create a poll, but I'm not likely to stick to the results.  Maybe if there's a request and it's not binding.  Let me know.

I do have a few possibilities already.  I'll present them in no particular order, with the parts I have figured out and the parts that I need to fill in before November.

Shadows of Tukayyid A BattleTech story, most likely done as a series of novels and novellas.  I've been in the mood for giant stompy mecha action thanks to reviewing Pacific Rim: The Black.  BattleTech is based on giant stompy mecha shooting and stomping each other.  The story will happen after the Clan Invasion is stopped after the Battle of Tukayyid and features two veterans of the fight.  The first is former ComStar Adept Joanna Kirk, pilot of a Black Knight, and Rebecca, a former Clan Ghost Bear freeborn MechWarrior, as they join a Free Worlds League mercenary unit that is looking to expand with pilots with experience fighting the Clans.  The first mission is forming in my head, and other missions are starting to come together.  I need to figure out other pilots in the lance and the mercenary company, though they are supporting cast.

The Courier  Initially conceived as a gender-flipped version of The Transporter, because why not, it's starting to get inspirations from Gunpowder Milkshake.  Maybe not the sisterhood of assassins based in a library, but the creation of connections between family who haven't really spoken to each other.  The main characters are Courtney, the courier, and her niece, Amy, who lives with her aunt after the death of her parents a few years prior.  The base plot is worked out, as is the rough map of where they're going.  The story should be a novel and could lead into a series if wanted.

Streetwise Valkyries I've mentioned the Valkyries before.  There's two possibilities to go with.  One is working on a few stories in the same vein as Subject 13 and I do have a few plots in mind for that.  The other potential is a crossover with Subject 13, turning Nasty into the Spider-Man or the Wolverine of the setting.  I have ideas for the crossover, so time will tell here.

Untitled Shadowrun story  I have a character idea for Shadowrun that dates back to the first edition, an elven decker who lost her parents during the Night of Rage and was subsequently taken into safety in the Ork Underground.  I've updated the character with each edition, but I never rebooted her.  Instead, I've aged her with the setting.  A recent edition, fifth, I think, had me realize that her career arc and mine were similar.  Ignoring that Skater's career has been mostly illegal and mine has been strictly legal, we've both gone through a number of major tech changes during our careers.  This gives me the hook I needed for an idea I've been playing with, and I do have the rest of the team worked out.  The first story might be novel length; follow ups could be serialized.

This isn't all the ideas, just the most prominent.  There's always a chance that a different story pops up and demands my attention, like The Elf's Prisoner had.  However, chances are good one of these will be chosen.

Mandatory cat photo (model is Jewel, photo by author)

Friday, Lost in Translation continues at Psycho Drive-In.

Saturday, Lost in Translation can be found at The Seventh Sanctum.

Writing Inspirations from a Non-Writer

A couple of friends have already gone through who and what has influenced them in their writing.  Serdar Yagulalp and Steve Savage have listed what has influenced and inspired their work.  I'm going to add my two cents, which in Canadian, means nothing because we don't have pennies.

I've probably mentioned that I'm not a natural writer.  Everything linked in the side bar to the right and over at Lost in Translation isn't a mirage, but my approach might give writing teachers fits.  So, keeping with the format Serdar and Steve have, here goes!

Tabletop RPGs

• Characters are more than just numbers on a page.  Most games include advice on how to create and play a character.  Games with specific settings give information that could influence a character.  Likewise, characters in a novel are more than just a description or a stereotype.  Archetypes are useful as a starting point to build on, not an end goal.
• Characters live in their settings.  Seems obvious, but a character in a fantasy world where magic is wondrous will have a different take on their life from a character who lives on board a starship.  They may share outlooks, but they'll have different approaches to problem solving.

High School Geography

• Geographic features don't pop out of nowhere.  This goes towards worldbuilding and why I could build a setting on the fly a few years ago.  It becomes easier to work out what the climate and vegetation is like once I know where the mountains are.
• Cities aren't always designed.  Grade 10 Urban Geography has stuck with me.  Cities exist for a reason.  The older the city, the less likely there is to be a grid-pattern.  Streets are twisty.  A planned settlement has straight streets, except for suburbs.  This also goes towards worldbuilding, so if I need a village, town, or city, I can get the basics down quickly then fill out details like neighbourhoods and entertainment centres.
• Water is life.  Back to worldbuilding again.  Settlements need water, for drinking, for growing food, for shipping and receiving products.  Water is also important while writing.  Getting up from the keyboard to get a drink of water does two things, it gives me a break and it keeps me hydrated.

Anime, Manga, and Comics

• Drama drives the story.  I lumped the three together because they each provided different examples.  The series I enjoy tend not to be gimmicky but instead have inter-character conflict and awkward moments.  I can see the influence Marmalade Boy has on my works.

Lost in Translation

• You can learn from mistakes; they don't have to be your own.  You might be wondering why I have something I'm writing is in the list.  Lost in Translation let me analyze works I'd normally not take a deeper look into.  Figuring out what when wrong means working out the mechanics of storytelling, what works, and what doesn't.  The earnest failures are the best to analyze; the different between talent and skill counts.
• It doesn't hurt to try a work in a different medium.  Even if the result doesn't work, figuring out how what I'm working on can translate helps.  My writing approach tends to start from a visual, so already I have to translate the pictures and animation into words.  Why not work out what something would look like going the other way?  There's insight to be had.

The above list is probably not comprehensive.  I'm sure there are little things here and there that I've missed that are obvious to other.  But, these are the majors I can think of.  If you want to do something similar, drop a line with Steve Savage.  He wants to gather all these sorts of posts into one spot.

Friday, Lost in Translation continues at Psycho Drive-In.

Saturday, Lost in Translation can be found at The Seventh Sanctum.

Starfighter Thoughts

I had a thought strike me, when then expanded for a possible setting detail, involving the use of starfighters in science fiction.  Starfighters tend to fill in the role of air superiority fighter planes in the real world, but the ranges involved in space are far greater than on a planet.  Even now, ranges in dogfight or in naval battles are beyond visual, sometimes beyond the horizon.  Radar can provide targeting for missiles, and the use of cannons on a jet fighter is getting rarer.

In space, barring a large body to hide behind such as a moon, radar contact will be made long before visual contact.  Missiles and other weapons will cross the distance faster than any starfighter, leaving launched pilots either verifying hits or wondering if there's a home to return to.  The only reason to launch starfighters is to provide a screen against the opposition's starfighter screen.

At shorter ranges, where there are bodies like a moon blocking sensors, starfighters become a bit more useful.  Bodies that block sensors also block direct fire weapons like lasers and rail guns, and missiles need a target lock before homing.  Starfighters can get in the way of a proper lock depending on the abilties of the gunner and sensor operator of the opposition, and they can make strafing runs in the hopes of taking out weapons and sensors.  Countering the smaller, more maneuverable ships require smaller, more maneuverable ships, so starfighter vs starfighter again happens.

Part of the problem, at least in film and television, is that screen space is the limitation.  Long range attacks, the hundreds and thousands of kilometres between ships, doesn't look impressive on screen.  When that long a range is involved, the focus is on the crew on board the ship, not on what's happening outside.  A good example is the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror", which was, essentially, a naval battle between a cruiser and a submarine in space.  The episode never showed the Enterprise and the Bird-of-Prey on screen at the same time.

Why have starfighters when starfighters are almost superfluous?  In fiction, drama and conflict.  The focus comes down to something more personal, with the audience ideally on the side of the protagonist fighter pilots.  The next question is, who are these pilots.

This is where the spark happened.  I connected starfighter pilots to feudal knights, the cavalry that charged forward while the raised rabble looked on nervously before being sent into the breach.  The knightly charge would hit the opposition knightly charge first, then as units sorted themselves out, the survivors would look for another noble unit to go after, charge towards the enemy's troops with the goal of getting to the support wagons for looting, or go after the Poor, Bloody Infantry.

Now to translate this into a SF setting.  Societies are going to need a feudal background, even if they have gone democratic at some point.  The knights that used to make up the cavalry become starfighter pilots, much like cavalry in our world became aerial fighters in World War I when trench warfare turned out to be deadly for horse-mounted troops.  In democracies, starfighter pilots will have the cachet that fighter pilots have today.  In a future feudal system, lower ranking nobles will go into the starfighter program, but higher levels, like the offspring of counts and dukes, will get into the command line of the space navy.  Survival is more important and the potential prestige of commanding a warship is greater than the immediate prestige of being a starfighter pilot.

Now that I have this setting tidbit, what will I do with it?  No idea.  While I can incorporate some of the ideas into Mecha Academy, and thus Rhiannon is very unusual being in the infantry, but the concept deserves a greater look on its own.  However, getting the idea worked out in words does help.

Friday, Lost in Translation continues at Psycho Drive-In.

Saturday, Lost in Translation can be found at The Seventh Sanctum.

Brace Yourself - NaNo Is Coming

It's been some time.  Somehow, March has become September.  Summer existed and it was hot but, well, time has ceased to have meaning.  Autumn is coming, when trees become colourful and stop having sex.  With autumn comes November, and with November comes NaNoWriMo.

I have no idea what I'm writing.

That's not new for me.  I usually have a few ideas on the go that I could just pick up and run with.  This summer, though, the creativity is just out of reach.  No worries, I can make this work.  I do have a few ideas, though.

Sneak Peeks

Serials are still on hold, though Greg Taylor is starting a new Epsilon Project soon, with plot voting open.  I didn't get a chance to do anymore painting this past week, either, so the elf and the marilith are still waiting to be finished.  However, I do have a few stories in the works, so why not a sneak peek of what's in the pipes.  Just an interesting scene or two, to entice.  This will get long, so everything continues after the break.

Digital Magic - Wrap Up

Last chapter ended suddenly.  That's where I finished Digital Magic at the end of November 2007.  I did not feel that great about the story for many, many reasons.  However, it needs to be wrapped up for closure.

Jackie and Donna have been tossed into fighting each other and trying to keep the raw magic from ripping apart the local space-time continuum.  Ripping the fabric of reality is a major occupational safety and health violation, especially if no one has the permits to do so.  It's a battle of metaphors; can Jackie's computer programming metaphor build up the magic she needs to repair things before Donna's aria builds to a climax?  Jackie has the advantage; she can set a spell off to continue without having to tweak it on the fly.  The drawback is that if she gets something wrong, reality bluescreens.

Of course, Jackie wins this battle of wills and magic, finishing with smacking Donna around with magic for a victory lap.  With the threat over, Lance reappears having rescued himeself from Donna's dungeon.  Self-rescuing damsels are more interesting, though, so Lance's escape remains offscreen.  Donna is dealt with, placed into exile.  Jackie and Lance get their happily ever after, or at least their happily ever after for now, and officially become a couple.  Weather returns to normal in Ottawa, whatever normal is.  Trish gets off Jackie's back about getting a boyfriend.

I cannot write a romance, not as an A-plot.  I got too interested in how magic works to the point where Jackie's relationships never developed.  Lance was more mentor than love interest and Steve was too slick bordering on sleazy for her to consider him for anything more than a one night stand.  Trish was the better romantic lead.  Lesson here - romance isn't my forte.

However, I do have romances building in other stories.  Nasty finally admitted to herself and to Eric how she feels about him in Crossover.  Laura and Mackenzie are a couple in Unruly, though the development of their relationship needs work.  Brenna and Officer Matt came out of nowhere in The Soul Blade and almost derailed the ending.  But the focus of those series is something else beyond the romances.  The romances are subplots, not the main plot, and I'm more comfortable with that approach.

I doubt I will get back to Digital Magic.  What I may do is mine the story for the good parts, like the eyes following on the walls and in mirrors to freak out a main character.  It's a good horror bit, adding spookiness.  I may pull Jacinda out of her video game for a new story and just handwave away how Jackie learned magic.  Odd weather as fallout from major magic is always something to have on hand.

Thank you for putting up with Digital Magic.  The blog will go into a low posting mode for a few weeks while I try to figure out the next serial.  There should be some more gaming posts to make up for the lack of story, and I have some fanfics I can pull out and dusty off if need be.

Digital Magic - Commentary n+1

Jackie rescues herself, in Digital Magic chapter n+1.

Brute force versus artistry is a battle of the ages.  Does brute force win due to its simplicity?  Or does artistry and complexity gain the upper hand in knowing how to redirect brute force away?  Jackie and Donna are coming up to the battle between youth and old age, raw power versus experience, and desperation versus focus.

Jackie is doing what she can to escape.  Natural thing to do, really.  First, try to get through to Steve's better side, something he drowned in a bathtub as a teenager.  Donna traded hers for power.  Jackie is a battery pack to her, something to drain dry and toss away, one of a number of young adults that Donna has destroyed.

The Virgin Ploy goes back to the idea of various cultures' ideas of what is best to sacrifice.  Virginity is seen by some as akin to purity.  Erzsébet Báthory went to extremes, bathing in virgin blood, but it's a theme that repeats in myth and legend.  So why not try to use it?  Jackie has already been established to have had sex before, and there may or may not be a sex scene with Lance and/or Steve in the missing part between Chapter 17 and Chapter n.  Donna doesn't care, though.  She wants power, pure, impure, whatever.

Donna's metaphor is music.  She could be a singer, though she prefers opera and classical over anything popular.  If she realized that, today, money is power, she'd find a way to have multiple singing careers.  Jackie is trying to apply brute force, knowing she can't match Donna for skill.  Music can be disrupted.  A long, loud, low note can be effective, thus the tuba.  If this was written after the FIFA World Cup of 2010, Jackie might have gone with the vuvuzela instead.  Angry bees are always disruptive.

Jackie's metaphor allows her to set off one spell and let it run autonomously.  Donna still has to conduct.  The difference lets Jackie ignore the evil sorceress long enough after hitting her.  With the flow of magic disrupted, it becomes a race between the two women to get their metaphors to come out ahead of the others'.

Tomorrow, summarizing Digital Magic.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, RWBY, the manga anthology.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week to get ahead on potential reviews.

Digital Magic - Chapter n+1

Chapter n+1

"Moonrise is in ten minutes."

"Magic isn't beholden to the man-made concept of time.  Even those muscle-bound fools can feel the power building."

"Just pointing it out."

Donna rose up on my left.  "Steve, I have done this many times over the centuries.  I am well aware of the schedule, more aware than you'll ever be."  She patted my shoulder.  "Even this one with no training at all can feel what's building."  The best I can respond is to give her a whithering glare.  She's right, though.  The hair on my arms are standing on end and there's something in the air, like touching it and getting the smell of cinnamon.

"What would you like me to do, Donna?" Steve asks.  I can hear a tone of lustful want in his voice.

Digital Magic - Commentary n

Jackie in distress, in Digital Magic chapter n.

I discussed the gap before, but I should go deeper into the reasons.  The chapter was written in the final days of NaNo 2007, my second year doing NaNo.  What would now normally be a push to leave myself in a good spot to return to was then a desperate push to reach the 50k word goal.  I didn't know how to get to the ending and wound up getting advice from a fellow NaNo-er to just jump the gap.  So I did.  The change gave me that one last burst to reach goal.

Jackie's been kidnapped by Steve and is in the clutches of Donna.  Donna, despite not having appeared in person at all, though her eyes did show up earlier, had a background with motivation.  It's not a deep background, but it worked for what I needed.  Donna is an evil woman who uses the magical potential of younger women, like Jackie, to stay young and gain power.  She's been doing this for centuries, starting in Italy.  Her real name isn't Donna; she took that from a former title, Donna.  It's one way to hide her history while still feeling superior.  Jackie means nothing to Donna beyond being a battery to drain and toss away.

Keeping with the idea of magic has to be worked through metaphor, Donna's is music.  She must sing her spells.  The more complicated the spell, the more difficult the spell.  However, she's had the time to truly learn to sing.  If she wasn't so far into being an evil person, she could easily make a living in popular music.  She has the range needed to sing opera, which is probably how she learned to cast spells.

Jackie gets the required begging out of the way.  Always happens.  And the villain always denies.  It's a cliché, but that's the level of thought I was capable of at the time.  And Donna was fun to write at the time.  This sets up Jackie's rescue next chapter.  The stakes have been raised.

Tomorrow, Jackie fights back!!
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Orville.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, RWBY, the manga anthology.

Digital Magic - Chapter n

Chapter n

[Author's note: Please see last week's note on why there is a gap.]

The first thing that I'm aware of is a throbbing headache, the type that makes me wish I had gone out for a night in the Market.  One where keeping my eyes closed doesn't help it, but opening them will make the headache worse.  Beyond the pain, though, I can tell I'm on a bare concrete floor, like I'm in someone's basement.  I really should look to see where I am.

Two things occur to me when I try to look.  One, I was right about not wanting to open my eyes; and, two, I wish this was just someone's basement.  The taste of whoever owns this place runs to medieval dungeon chic.  The chains on the wall just add to the dank décor.  I push myself up so I'm sitting.  The pounding in my head gets a groan from me before it starts easing to just the tom-toms instead of the full drum set.  There's no furniture, just a bare light bulb, the floor and four bare walls.  The only way out is through a windowless wooden door.

Digital Magic - Commentary 17

A chat with Lance, in Digital Magic chapter 17.

And the commentary has caught up!  Or the main story has a lag.  Doesn't matter.  The two are synchronized again.  Celebrate!

I needed Jackie and Lance to talk.  I wasn't in the mood by the time I reached this chapter to have a full dialogue with characters moving and doing things so I don't have to keep writing "Jackie said" or "Lance said".  I also established the instant messaging earlier, so an online chat made things easier.  This was written near the end of November 2007, so I was drawing deep from the well.  I couldn't figure things out so I went with the easy option.

NaNoWriMo is a beast to do, especially when starting out.  Digital Magic was my second NaNo project and in a genre I don't normally read let alone write.  I managed to get to 50 000 words, but I was pushing it in the final days.  I had to stop and figure out where I was going.  I've done that in later projects such as The Devil You Know, where I needed to step back to gain perspective.  Digital Magic, though, wound up having enough problems that there wasn't any way for me to get to where I wanted.

The gap between Chapter 17 and the chapter coming tomorrow is the result of me giving up on a linear plot and having no idea on how to get to the ending I finally had in mind.  I worked out a general idea of what happened, barring the romances that just weren't coming together.  No details, just what I needed to get to where I wanted to be.  Then I jumped to there.

Tomorrow, Jackie in trouble!
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, "Galactic Battles". a fan-made four setting crossover.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Orville.

Digital Magic - Interregnum

Interregnum

There is a gap between Chapter 17 and what will be coming next.  What follows is the infill that I need to do.

If you've been reading the commentaries, I've mentioned a few times that the romance aspect of the romance novel that Digital Magic/ was trying to be wasn't quite working.  By Chapter 17, I had worked out who was behind the magical weirdness and figured out the plot.  A little late, and this plot should've been the B-plot despite me setting things in motion from almost the beginning.  I dumped dealing with the romance because it was getting bogged down into Jackie not taking hints and caring more about magic than romance.

I figured out what I needed for the end.  I had the main villain, her motivation, her goals all worked out.  Donna, the villain, went the evil sorceress route, wanting power and longevity.  What good is ultimate power if you can still die?  Jackie is perfect for her plans to stay alive and gain power.  Donna wants to drain the magic and youth from Jackie.

Steve was never the brains of the operation.  He's working for Donna and is not a nice person.  He asks Jackie out, then kidnaps her on Donna's orders.  Lance is out of action during this.  He gets to be the dude in distress here.  When the action picks up next week, Jackie has been kidnapped and is unaware of her surroundings.  She is aware of Steve's double dealings with her.

Digital Magic - Commentary 16

Trish knows Jackie too well, in Digital Magic chapter 16.

Just a reminder that the commentary will be a week behind for a few weeks.  Eventually, there will be a catch up, but not right away.

Trish wants Jackie to be happy, like a good friend would.  Trish has also seen Jackie's lack of love life.  Trish has an active dating life and is happy with it.  Naturally, she sees the best way for Jackie to be happy is for her to find someone.  And Jackie is happy after seeing Lance.  Trish makes the obvious conclusion.  I just wish that the story had gone that way.  But Trish is acting as the gauge on who Jackie should end with at the end of the story.

The threat of Trish becoming Columbo is a dire one.  Columbo's method of investigation is to find the key clue, then hound the murderer until they break.  The murderers didn't have Columbo living with them.  Trish is going to find out the truth or break Jackie in the interrogation.  Knowing this, Jackie crumbled.  And Trish gets to smack her with reality.

Strange weather isn't odd for Ottawa.  The city gets weather extremes, often over the course of two or three days.  Imagine a day where the high is -30° Celcius and the low is -40°, then the next day, the temperature goes up 20-30 degrees, stays around or even just above freezing for a day or three, then plunges back down to -30°.  That was Winter 2018-2019.  I have seen rain clouds completely miss parts of the city.  Weather trackers mention the Ottawa "rain shield".  One year, the grass was greener a few days before Christmas than in June.  I have been in a low-hanging cloud bank pretending to be fog on the Queensway that would stay on the highway, even if there were exits to lower roads.  Those lower roads were clear.  Oh, and three tornadoes hitting populated areas that weren't trailer parks last year have to count for something.  So making the weather strange for Ottawa meant trying to work out what would be odd.

It's late fall in Digital Magic, so temperatures jumping around isn't that odd.  A weather system getting stopped at city limits is, especially when city limits follow township lines and not geographic features in the west end.  Weather cares not for man-made limits and should just blow through, barring the above-mentioned rain shield.  Here, though, there's a block.

Lightning during a snowstorm does happen.  Ottawa gets thundersnow during winters, but they're always the actinic blue of regular lightning, not the rainbow of colours Trish and Jackie saw.

The blackout Jackie mentions is the 2003 blackout that saw Ontario and several northeastern states lose power.  Quebec, since it runs on its own power system that needs transformers to interact with the rest of the continent's power grid, wasn't affected.  Prior to that one, there was Ice Storm 1998 that caused blackouts by the sheer mass of ice on power lines.  In 2003, I had just left work to go meet with an investment broker of sorts and was sitting with her at a Tim Horton's when everything went off.  The sun was still out as it was the start of rush hour, so that wasn't a problem.  I saw the crowds building, so decided to wait to let them die down a bit.  I even went to the counter to get another drink and fortunately, I had cash.  Everyone was going home.  When I left, I saw downtown had no power.  I get home, still no power, and I lived on the 20th floor at the time.  That was a hike.  Had to stop twice to catch my breath.  Got home, no power, no water pressure, and once the sun set, not much to do except go to bed in the dark with the cats.  Fun.

Tomorrow, a quick discussion on the story's direction.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, hiatus week.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, a fan-made four setting crossover.

Digital Magic - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

[Author's note: The formatting really should remind readers of some sort of instant messaging system.  A blog might not be the best way to do this.]

Jacinda_9: Lance, are you there?
Lance179: Hi, Jackie.  Be right with you.
Lance179: Sorry about that.  What's up?
Jacinda_9: You saw the storm last night?
* Lance179 nods.
Lance179: How bad was it in your neighbourhood?
Jacinda_9: Lots of snow and hail and wind.  It was kinda pretty, though, with all the colours.
Jacinda_9: What was it?
Lance179: Colours, huh?  That was a mage storm.  The weather is so hosed around here because of some sort of magic that it had to reset somehow.
Jacinda_9: And that's what the mage storm did, try to fix the weather to what passes as normal here?
Lance179: Something like that.  The ley lines are still bright, though.
Jacinda_9: You've probably thought of this, but if they're like a river, can't you trace the flow downstream?
Jacinda_9: Geez, that sounds so basic that just suggesting it makes me feel dumb.
Lance179: Don't beat yourself up.  Yes, we tried.  We wound up in a loop after going all around town.
Jacinda_9: *phew*  Hey, when you went around town, did you actually leave Ottawa at all or were you always within city limits?
Lance179: I don't think we did, but I can't be sure.  Why?
Jacinda_9: The weather's been contained in the city.  I'm wondering if there is a connection.
Lance179: There is.
Jacinda_9: . . .
Jacinda_9: You can't leave it there like that, Lance.
Lance179: You won't be able to help, Jackie.
Jacinda_9: Why not?
Lance179: It's too dangerous.
Jacinda_9: That doesn't answer my question.
Lance179: ...
Lance179: Okay, then you're still learning.  You're not ready to deal with this.
Jacinda_9: Lance, I think I'd know if I'm ready or not.
Lance179: You're still thinking about what you're doing when you cast a spell.  You've picked up on what to do faster than I've seen anyone else, but you don't have the practice.
Jacinda_9: ...
Lance179: Jackie, I don't want to get you hurt.
Jacinda_9: Then hurry on the teaching.  You might need me.
Lance179: Patience, Jackie.  This isn't like learning mathematics.
Jacinda_9: I don't know.  I had to do multiplication drills.  This seems similar to me.  Practice practice practice until I get carpal tunnel.
Lance179: I promise you won't get carpal tunnel, Jackie.
Jacinda_9: Good.
Lance179: And when you're needed, I won't hesitate to call you in.  You're learning quickly.  I just don't want to get you in over your head.
Jacinda_9: It's frustrating, you know?  I feel like I should be able to help.
Lance179: And you will, when you've gotten used to being a magician.  You've just discovered your abilities.  Wait until you've discovered what you can do.  You'll be amazed at your potential.
Jacinda_9: *sigh*  Alright

Are we still on for tomorrow?
Lance179: Sure.  Want me to pick you up or would you prefer to meet me at the Bridgehead downtown again?
Jacinda_9: The coffee shop sounds good.  I'll see you there when I'm done class.
Lance179: Great! :D

Digital Magic - Commentary 15

More lessons with Lance, in Digital Magic chapter 15.

Just a reminder that the commentary will be a week behind for a few weeks.  Eventually, there will be a catch up, but not right away.

Another session with Jackie and Lance.  There's no chemistry here.  Jackie is more about learning magic than learning about Lance.  Lance is almost in the role of expendable mentor, which would really cut a romance short.  But as a couple?  They're not quite at that point, and after fifteen chapters in a story that's trying to be a romance, there should be strong hints, like Public Displays of Affection,.or at least pet names.  But they're not there.  Jackie's more interested in figuring out magic and Lance is working on recruiting new wizards.

I was starting to figure out that maybe romance is not something I was comfortable writing, at least as the A-plot.  Later works introduce a romantic subplot, which I found easier.  The characters had other reasons to be in the story and things bloomed naturally.  Here, I'm trying to force a romance and I'm rebelling against myself.  The original lessons from Digital Magic was "don't even try a romance," which then becamse, "introduce potentials, but don't force anything."  I let my characters make the decisions.

Billiard balls are used in physics classes to teach momentum and angular direction.  Being as close to perfectly spherical as possible and meant to maximize energy transfer in a game of billiards, the balls have a uniform mass.  For teaching magic, using billiard balls removes the same variables as their use in physics classes does.  The game is also familiar to Jackie, so she can figure things out on her own if needed.  Visually, flinging billiard balls around is an amusing sight,

Discussing the weird weather, in Digital Magic Chapter 17.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, RWBY, the manga.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week.

Digital Magic - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Trish is waiting for me when I get step inside the apartment.  "Why didn't you call?"

"I didn't think I was going to be this late.  Besides, you could have called me.  I had my cell."

"I did call."

I fish my cell phone out of my backpack.  The phone shows that I missed seven calls tonight.  "I never-  Sorry, Trish, I didn't have my pack in with me."

"You better have a reason for making me worry, especially after last week with you freaking out over every bump in the night."

I hesitate to point out Trish's exaggerations.  It wouldn't help her mood.  "I was studying, sort of."

"Sort of?"  Trish puts her hands on her hips the way our teachers did when they scolded us.  "How do you sort of study?"  Her expression lightens.  "Who is he?"

Digital Magic - Commentary 14

Family and fallout, in Digital Magic chapter 14.

Just a reminder that the commentary will be a week behind for a few weeks.  Eventually, there will be a catch up, but not right away.

What's this?  Jackie can catch the train in Ottawa?  What gives?  Well, at the time of writing, the O-Train, now Line 2, was a massive improvement in public transit to Carleton University.  The fact it was an improvement says it all.  Carleton tended to get service cut over and over until it was impossible to get on campus.  The O-Train provided reliable access.  Line 2 is not the trouble-plagued Line 1.  Line 2 runs.  Line 1 is in its fourth week not running with a "full" complement of trains.  "Full" meaning 13 double-trains, not the 15 that's needed but still not available.  Right now, it's easier to get to Carleton by light rail than to the University of Ottawa.

The question of what to do with a renegade wizard has come up.  It's not an easy answer.  If it was, Lance wouldn't be as interesting to me writing him.  What can be done with a renegade who is capable of making making physics sit up, roll over, and play dead?  Locking the wizard away just delays the problem for as long as the renegade decides to stay in jail.  Termination is excessive, but Lance's Circle keeps it on hand for the more extreme problems.

Lance confirms that the time hiccup was the fallout from a massive spell.  When one manipulates energy beyond the ken of humanity, something will break.  At least Jackie didn't have a full Groundhog Day event.  But there is something bigger happening and it is connected to the eyes watching Jackie.

The rules of magic needed to be set down, as much for me as for potential readers.  Ley lines are useful; they allow for the flow of magical energy.  Where ley lines cross, magical energy pools, perfect for someone to use as a source.  If a pool is in an area that gets negative emotions over, such as a jail, the magical energy gets tainted.  It works the other way, too; positive emotions clease the magic.  The Nicholas Street Gaol was not a pleasant place.  On the flip side, a holy site known for miracles that has a magical pool is going to be pure, and unable to be used to harm someone.  Magic has a flavour.

Jackie's approach to spellcasting is similar to her approach to computer programming.  There are good ways to program and bad ways.  Spaghetti code is to be avoided.  Memory should be released.  Jackie is trying to set up everything the spell needs before she casts it.  She's actually compiling the spell so she doesn't have to watch over the spell as it runs.  She could go with an interpreted approach, but she'd have to direct the magic while the spell runs.  The advantage of the latter, though, is that she can adjust the spell on the fly.  There's advantages and drawbacks of both in spellcasting in the setting.

Objects having their own magical resonance was an idea I had while writing the chapter.  Oranges having a natural sine wave was spur of the moment.  I had no plans involving this factoid yet.  I just thought it'd be neat.

Trish tries to get through to Jackie, in Digital Magic Chapter 16.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Simpsons Movie.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, RWBY, the manga.