Inspiration Part 9 - Snow

Welcome back!

Winter had a slow start this year, but has finally arrived and is making up for lost time. Since our (green) Holidays, we have had a few heavy storms which have brought us back to the seasons regular, snow covered standards. The accumulation started off slowly, giving our surroundings a nice, peaceful air… and then this happened.

BAM! Snow.

           This month’s inspiration post will focus on “the white stuff”. The idea for this blog entry came to me after watching countless Christmas themed movies over the holidays. Being able to describe snow in its various incarnations can be a very useful storytelling tool, depending on the application you are working with. It can add ambiance to a romantic scene, such as a couple walking through a park during a gentle snowfall. It can be a plot tool, like a blizzard trapping characters in a cabin. Or it can be an obstacle, like an avalanche chasing the protagonist down a mountain.

For those of you who are not Canadian or do not live in areas which get snow, here is a quick list of items you might want to research further. Keep in mind I am glossing over these terms, and there is much more information to find for those interested in learning more.

Types of snow

• Snowflake: Single ice crystal with multiple facets.
• Polycrystals: Snowflakes composed of multiple ice crystals.
• Graupel: Single ice crystal which has become rounded and. Normally 2 to 5 millimeters.
• Hail: Solid ice precipitation, usually in rounded clumps of 5 mm or higher.
• Sleet: The result of freezing rain, manifested in transparent ice spheres.

Types of snowfall

• Blizzard: Violent storm, accompanied by strong winds, subfreezing temperatures and a decent amount of snowfall.  
• Drifting snow: Storm caused by strong winds blowing the snow that is already on the ground.
• Flurry: Precipitation that lasts for a short period, with little snowfall.
• Snow squall: Brief storm, accompanied by strong winds, poor visibility and snowfall.
• Snowstorm: Normal levels of wind and temperatures, but accompanied by a large amount of snowfall.

Types of accumulation

• Cornice: Overhanging accumulation of ice and wind-blown snow
• Crust: Hard layer of ice covering a softer layer of snow.
• Ripples: Formation of waves on a snowy surface caused by winds.
• Sastrugi: Irregular snow formation caused by winds. Often fragile in nature.
• Barchan: Horseshoe-shaped snowdrift.

           Now that we have established that snow is much more complicated than it sounds, we can move on to the photography portion of today’s post.

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

©Wendy Papenburg 2016

That is all for this month's Inspiration post. I hope you enjoyed it and managed to  learn something in the process. In closing, I would like to thank Wendy Papenburg for generously supplying the pictures, it is truly appreciated.

Until next time.

Cheers

            Patrick Osborne.

Current Projects Part 13

Welcome back!

Recently, I’ve had the impression of constantly falling behind in my projects. Every time I manage to get some work done on one front, I seem to be falling behind somewhere else. This feeling hit me after realising this project started exactly a year ago. As I look back, I see the progress that was made, and wonder if more could have been achieved. So far, I have written 28 articles about writing, 16 updates on my progress, 12 book reviews, 10 writing exercises, 9 inspirational posts, 5 interviews and 2 short stories. All of this in between my family/personal life, working on my own book, my job as a copyright specialist and my duties as a writer at Missing Worlds Media.

Unfortunately, without anything or anyone to compare myself to, there is no real way for me to know if my progress should be considered normal or not. So 2015 will be my benchmark for 2016, with hopes of surpassing it.

    February has arrived and the weather here is still way below freezing. Staying inside to hide from the cold is a great excuse to snuggle up on the couch with a loved one. This seems appropriate, since St-Valentine's day is just around the corner. In honor of the holiday, I decided to try and have all posts this month have a theme relating to love or relationships.

Love enduring the passing of time.

    To start, I chose a special romance novel for this month’s book review. I have to admit, a love story is completely different from anything I have previously read. I am so used to horror, fantasy and sci-fi, that I was afraid a story focusing on romance would bore me. To make things easier on myself, I managed to find a book that mixed romance with some science fiction elements. The end result was a tear-jerker that had even a hardcore geek like me burning through the pages. I was so hooked, I even went to watch the movie (though the movie was nowhere near as good as the book). Needless to say, as a first venture into romance I was thoroughly pleased and look forward to sharing what I learned.

    To further the Valentine day theme, this month’s research into writing will be about romance in storytelling. I think I will have a lot on the subject, mainly because I rarely read books in this genre. At this time I feel my abilities are not up to par to attempting to write a love story, so any information I can get would be useful.

    My tasks at Missing Worlds Media took a different turn this month. As we are progressing with the creation of content for missions and storylines, we started working on elements called Plot Tokens. The purpose of these tokens, is to mark the players with certain information, such as decisions they have made or clues they have found, which will later affect their progress in the game.

For example, a player is faced with a decision between gathering information (option A), or arming himself (option B). The player progresses through the story until he reaches a room with a safe protected by an armed guard. Now, if the player chose option A, the Plot Token will tell the game that the player possesses the combination to the safe, but will have to risk fighting the guard unarmed. If he chose option B, the player will be able to overpower the guard easily, but the game will keep the safe closed, as the player will not have the token associated to the safe’s combination.

All of this may sound incredibly technical (and it is), but as the person who wrote the storyline, it is easier for me to identify the elements needed for the Technical department to write the appropriate code. In the end, this exercise made me appreciate the work done by the Tech Team even more.

As for progress with my own work, I began submitting some of my content for a first pass at editing. The material reviewed was still in the very early stages, and was mostly looked at for corrections involving vocabulary, syntax or grammar. A little feedback was given during the process, which was really insightful and helped me make modifications to certain characters. The questions she asked also made me realise I needed more content for certain scenes, so two new background characters were created. I am also near completion of another character chart for one of my main protagonists.

Happy St-Valentine's day!

    That is all I have to report for this month. Thank you all for dropping by and keeping up with my progress. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my lovely wife Linda, for taking the time to review my material and give me her feedback.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne

BOOTCAMP LESSON 10: Overcoming Obstacles.

Welcome to January’s writing game!

            After explaining the importance of failure within a story line, I thought it would be a good idea to practice what we learned. The goal of today’s game will be to have a character find a solution to a difficult scenario, while failing their first attempt.

Lesson 10: Overcoming Obstacles

Previously, I explained how Conflict is the interaction between two opposing forces. In a storyline, we see this phenomenon when the protagonist is confronted by a conflicting force or an antagonist, which hinders the progress between them and their goal.

Obstacles suggests the protagonists may not succeed in achieving these actions, thus adding uncertainty and tension to the storyline. The risk of failure can also be beneficial to the protagonist and the antagonist, by adding to their personal growth or credibility.

The goal of this writing exercise will be to take the four offered scenarios and find ways for the characters to overcome the respective obstacles. However, before succeeding at their task, you must have them fail their first attempt, before successfully achieving their objective.

So here are today's guidelines!

1. Below are three scenarios to work with.
2. Following each scenario, you will find five criteria;
1. Confrontation: Moment of interaction with the conflict.
2. Failure: Failed attempt at reaching the goal.
3. Recovery: Retreat/distance from the conflict.
4. Contemplation: Understand why they failed.
5. Planning: Change of strategy but at a higher cost.
3. Write a short description of how the character will go through each step of the failure process.

Scenario 1:

Dark alley.

“It’s nighttime, and Lindsay is running down a dark alley at a frantic pace. Lindsay is desperately trying to stay ahead of whoever is pursuing her. In her haste, she fails to notice a street vendor who is putting away his merchandise, running right past him. The old vendor looks at the woman questioningly, before being knocked down by a tall dark stranger. The brute kept running without even slowing, too intent on catching up to his next victim.”

The situation here is Lindsay is being pursued by mysterious assailant. Her goal would be to escape safely. How would Lindsay deal with the situation:

1. Confrontation:
2. Failure:
3. Recovery:
4. Contemplation:
5. Planning:

Scenario 2:

Cafe.

“John is sitting at a table in a coffee shop, working on a school assignment on his laptop. He actually hates the food in this establishment, his only reason for eating here is to flirt with the waitress he has had an eye on for several weeks. Just as John is working up the courage to ask the beautiful blond for her number, Evan arrives. This handsome young man is John’s lab assistant at school, and proceeds to take a seat at the table next to him. Evan immediately gets the waitress's attention and starts flirting her.”

The situation here is John is attempting to approach the cute waitress. His goal would be to ask her out on a date before Evan does. How would John deal with the situation:

1. Confrontation:
2. Failure:
3. Recovery:
4. Contemplation:
5. Planning:

Scenario 3:

Retirement home.

   

“At a local retirement home, Larry is enjoying a cup of green tea in the communal area before returning to his room. While doing his crossword puzzle, Larry overhears one of the orderlies mention budget cuts and how it will affect the recreational activities for the residents, one in particular being bingo night. A huge fan of bingo, Larry refuses to accept this situation, and plans on dealing with it in anyway possible.”

The situation here is Larry is protesting the decisions taken by the retirement home administration staff. His goal would be to stop the cancellation of bingo night. How would Larry deal with the situation:

1. Confrontation:
2. Failure:
3. Recovery:
4. Contemplation:
5. Planning:

For those who aren’t afraid to share their entries, feel free to submit your entries as a reply to this post. Remember, this is a game, so no posting bad comments about other people's entries. If some simply want to share in private, send me a message via twitter @OzmosisCoH.

Now go! Create! And most importantly, have fun!

Until Next time!

Patrick Osborne

By the Book: Republic Commando: Hard Contact.

Welcome back!

Like a large portion of the world's population, I am guilty of being swept up in the latest Star Wars craze. The movie brought back a lot of fond memories for me, so out of nostalgia I decided to do the January book review on a novel inspired by this popular franchise.

Though not a hardcore fan of the franchise, I’ve enjoyed Star Wars ever since being exposed to it at a young age. My parents had recorded Episode IV when the french version originally aired on television back in the early 80’s. I remember watching that recording repeatedly until I knew it by heart (to this day, I still remember what commercials had been recorded when it aired). I also remember the first time my family rented Star Wars Episode V on VHS, and when we returned it, rented Episode VI. Needless to say my parents saw I was hooked and got me a bunch of Star Wars toys the following Christmas, including the Millennium Falcon! There are a lot of childhood memories attached to this franchise.

The story focuses on a newly assembled squad of clone commandos. Each soldier are the sole surviving member of their previous unit, now placed together to form a new group. This situation helps emphasize the theme of individuality, as the story explores how each clone deals with the loss of their previous unit (the closest thing they have to family), and how they find their place in this new unit. Their first mission together is to go to a planet named Qiilura in order to rescue a missing Jedi knight and his padawan. The planet is also where a group of Mercenaries are hired to protect a scientist and his work on a nano-virus meant to target clones. The story sees the squad locate the Jedi before tackling their mission against the merciless Ghez Hokan and  his forces.

Back of the book:

“As the Clone Wars rage, victory or defeat lies in the hands of elite squads that take on the toughest assignments in the galaxy—stone-cold soldiers who go where no one else would, to do what no one else could…

On a mission to sabotage a nanovirus research facility on a Separatist-held planet, four clone troopers operate under the very noses of their enemies. The commandos are outnumbered and outgunned, deep behind enemy lines with no backup—and working with strangers instead of trusted teammates. Matters don't improve when Darman, the squad's demolitions expert, gets cut off from the others during planetfall. Even Darman's apparent good luck in meeting a Jedi Padawan vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience.

For the isolated clone commandos and stranded Jedi, a long, dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists , and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery … and death. It's a virtual suicide mission for anyone—anyone except Republic Commandos.”

What I learned

• Background knowledge: When writing a story based on someone else's franchise, especially something as well known as Star Wars, it is important to do your research in order to avoid any mistakes. Karen Traviss has proven to be very knowledgable about the Star Wars universe, and was faithful to the content. However, this story was written with the hardcore connoisseurs of the franchise in mind, not the everyday fan. I say this because the story gives minimal descriptions to places, people or species, assuming the reader is already familiar with them. Thankfully, elements or characters invented by the author are fleshed out, giving the inexperienced fan a better idea of what is going on. Being only a casual fan, this had me looking up the Star Wars wiki on more than one occasion to figure out what they were talking about.
• Individuality: A theme that stood out in this story is individuality. Ii displays an army of clones that originate from the same biological donor, look identical and are all trained the same way. However, despite all these similarities, the main characters have grown into individuals, each with different character traits and opinions. I found the author's approach to highlight this fact quite interesting.
• The sense of family: Having been in the army cadets when I was younger, I know the feeling of camaraderie one gets when working on a team with others. The story does a great job of showing how important a sense of family can be and how it can find itself even within manufactured lifeforms. This aspect added a nice sensitivity to an otherwise action filled story.

Karen Traviss is a science fiction author who has written content for novels, short stories, comics, and videogames. For those interested in learning more about the author, Karen Traviss, please check out her websites here:

http://www.karentraviss.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Traviss

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Karen_Traviss

In closing, I would like to thank my step-son Shawn for lending me this book. I would also like to thank my wife, family and followers for all the encouragement and support you keep giving me during my journey.

Until next time!

Cheers,

Patrick Osborne