Prologue: What the Hell?
All right...what the hell is this?
When I was in high school, I created a character named Erik Armstrong. Erik was based on the more rational, self-conscious side of my personality, and the events of his life were loosely based on those of mine and my friends' lives.
The trouble with Erik? A few stories in, his life had deviated significantly enough from mine that I was no longer writing what I know. By the time he entered college...hmmm, did I even write that last part? Eh, it doesn't matter...I really couldn't continue. The trouble was, he was still together with his girlfriend. He was going to college in Pennsylvania, while she was headed to California. I had no idea what the dynamics of a long-distance relationship would be like, and it would out of character for either of them to break it off because of distance. *sigh*
So I sent Erik off to the big wastebasket in the sky, as it were.
The title of this story is "Adventures in Real Life." I think it's pretty self-explanatory, if a little sarcastic. I also write SciFi/Fantasy, (which is a horrible genre name! When I hear the word "fantasy" I associate it with visions of how life would be life if I were in charge of the universe, not about goblins and wizards and knights. Of course, I went for a Victorian era setting instead of the Middle Ages, but my book still has wizards and whatnot, so I guess it's fantasy) but this story is just contemporary fiction, what I call "cool writing." Let's face it, if you tell someone you're a writer and they ask you what you're book is about "This bunch of wizards trying to save the world from a necromancer," is likely to ellicit a few more unwanted chuckles than "It's about a struggling writer in 1987 New York City." (For an interesting experience, try using the word "elf" in a serious conversation.) Just as an FYI, none of my projects (including this one) fit either description used above (sorry if anyone was hoping for a struggling writer in the '80s. If you want a well-written story to that effect, I recommend The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian).
One final note. While proofreading my stories, I notice certain strange grammatical errors where one word is written as another, similar sounding word that is spelled quite differently. For example, I might say "Gun for three days" instead of "Gone for three days." So, if you're reading this and happen to go "...wait, what?" try reading it out loud; it'll probably make more sense. No, I don't know why I do it.
All right, I think that's enough to begin.
Originally posted on December 4th, 2004
When I was in high school, I created a character named Erik Armstrong. Erik was based on the more rational, self-conscious side of my personality, and the events of his life were loosely based on those of mine and my friends' lives.
The trouble with Erik? A few stories in, his life had deviated significantly enough from mine that I was no longer writing what I know. By the time he entered college...hmmm, did I even write that last part? Eh, it doesn't matter...I really couldn't continue. The trouble was, he was still together with his girlfriend. He was going to college in Pennsylvania, while she was headed to California. I had no idea what the dynamics of a long-distance relationship would be like, and it would out of character for either of them to break it off because of distance. *sigh*
So I sent Erik off to the big wastebasket in the sky, as it were.
The title of this story is "Adventures in Real Life." I think it's pretty self-explanatory, if a little sarcastic. I also write SciFi/Fantasy, (which is a horrible genre name! When I hear the word "fantasy" I associate it with visions of how life would be life if I were in charge of the universe, not about goblins and wizards and knights. Of course, I went for a Victorian era setting instead of the Middle Ages, but my book still has wizards and whatnot, so I guess it's fantasy) but this story is just contemporary fiction, what I call "cool writing." Let's face it, if you tell someone you're a writer and they ask you what you're book is about "This bunch of wizards trying to save the world from a necromancer," is likely to ellicit a few more unwanted chuckles than "It's about a struggling writer in 1987 New York City." (For an interesting experience, try using the word "elf" in a serious conversation.) Just as an FYI, none of my projects (including this one) fit either description used above (sorry if anyone was hoping for a struggling writer in the '80s. If you want a well-written story to that effect, I recommend The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian).
One final note. While proofreading my stories, I notice certain strange grammatical errors where one word is written as another, similar sounding word that is spelled quite differently. For example, I might say "Gun for three days" instead of "Gone for three days." So, if you're reading this and happen to go "...wait, what?" try reading it out loud; it'll probably make more sense. No, I don't know why I do it.
All right, I think that's enough to begin.
Originally posted on December 4th, 2004
posted by Andrew Michael at 7:53 PM
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