N.R. Brown - Feast at Famine's Table

Improv for writers!

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:31:37 +0000

So about 12 weeks ago (along with all the other HUGE changes in my life: joining Weight Watchers, getting a trainer again, going Vegetarian) I decided to start taking an Improv class. It is a great class, and a wonderful outlet for all those strange and unruly emotions hiding beneath the surface of us “regular” human beings.
But as I began working with Improv, I began seeing it as more than just a chance to perform (I am a performer by nature and by genetics, having had a long line of carnies/magician/actors/storytellers in my family line)…I began to see this is a chance to expand my writing as well.
Improv is all about NOT thinking. It is about getting into the moment and finding the funny in the experience…and I think writing should be too.
We, as authors, think too much about subtext and character motivation. Perhaps that old woman ate that fly because she was hungry, not because of an eating disorder. Perhaps that young man put the cat down the well because he’s an ass, instead of taking a stand against the moralistic society he has been thrust into. Perhaps, people do things just because…
My wife has a HORRIBLE habit of asking me what I think. It is her default. When in a discussion, if she is not getting the answer she wants she will say, “Any thoughts?” Sometimes I just don’t have any, sometimes I just don’t care. Or sometimes it is so convoluted I don’t want to try to tease it apart.
And guess what, our characters are just like us. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to them, and it isn’t worth figuring out…or sometimes there is so much to it, that to bring it out would just cause more confusion and tension than it is worth.
So cut them a break, cut us all a break…leave some mystery, un-plumb (what is a plumb anyway????) those depths, get shallow. If it is worth knowing, you’ll figure out a way to show us.
So, the challenge this week…
A) Don’t think, just write.
B) Find out what a “plumb” is. (Edit: Found it!)

A Little Taste: Revisited

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:32:29 +0000

(This is all because my wife does not believe me…and because I added pictures to this post.)

Check out the my favorite 7 Veggie Cous Cous:

http://nrbrown.com/2011/05/08/a-little-taste-weekend-cous-cous/

Signing Up for Some Geek Pride, Thank You…

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:22:20 +0000

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately…just a slurry of issues roaming around in my head that I want to address, but I think the first one is going to be this big brew-ha-ha about “I’m the One That’s Cool”. In case you don’t know, it’s a song put out by “The Guild”…which is a cute little web series that is aimed at those of us who are still geeks.

Or, rock out to it here: http://youtu.be/jFhgupR565Q

Well, the story to the song is something like this: You were cool in high school, but I’m still just me and guess what…now geek is cool, so I am cool and you aren’t.

To which some people have responded with really negative remarks (here) and less negative remarks (here).

BUT I think these people are missing the point…well, a couple of points.

#1: There is a little insight into the song at the very end of the video, and it is so quick I wonder if people even realize what it is really saying. Let me explain: after the music ends, we see all the “cool kids” gathered around a TV playing this song on Guitar Hero. And one of them says, sort of in awe, “That song is awesome!”

To me, this is something very poignant…something so insightful and amazing that I’m proud to claim that song as my personal geek anthem. The person who made this video is recognizing that everyone out there feels inferior to someone else–feels like they need to live up to someone else. In short EVERYONE feels like a geek to someone else. EVERYONE!

Geekdom isn’t the sacred vessel of the boy with glasses and a pocket protector…or the fat girl playing MMORPG’s…or the comic book collector with acne that keeps his comics in acid free containers. Geekdom belongs to us all. Everyone out there thinks they are a little bit of a geek sometimes…everyone has that one thing that they are almost ashamed to admit. (MMORPG’s for me!) We aren’t alone, hell, even our President is getting his geek on.

And because of that, everyone has access to this song…it is an anthem for anyone that has ever been embarrassed about something they love. Speaking of love…

#2: Geek pride is a form of geek armor (+5 to parry, baby). Exposing things, things you love and are protective of is tough…why? Because people aren’t always nice about those things and when they are attacked you feel attacked.

Case in point…I am BIG into DubStep. Love it! (Shout out to my personal favorite Excision!) I like the heavy industrial shit that sounds (according to the web) like Transformers having sex. I shared DubStep with my wife and she hated it, she often tells me how it has no melody. She KNEW it was special to me, since it was the first music in 5 years that I have taken a real interest in, but she was more concerned with making her opinion known than caring about my feelings. It (and she even admitted this part) invalidated my feelings about and responses to DubStep. Oh but then it gets worse, I went to a gathering of friends and I played them a song by Skrillex (something I thought was a little less hard, and a little more accessible). Not only did each and every one of them hate it, but more than one of them made fun of me. Here I was sharing something that I cared so deeply about, and these people – MY FRIENDS, MIND YOU—had no desire to do anything but deride it.

Now replace those friends with a group of people that have no personal stake in what the person “in the spotlight” feels. What sort of massacre are you inviting? Well, if you don’t have some sort of armor (aka geek pride), you’re asking for a slaughter. If you have nothing between you and them you’re going to find yourself carrying your heart home in a basket. Hell, I was with friends and I cried a little on the way home. Yeah, not even +5 to parry can stop some of the attacks…

Even worse, what if you replace those friends with people that are not nice at all (for whatever reason)…what if you replace those friends with people looking for a reason to tear you down? Which leads me to my final point…

#3: This song isn’t about Geeks being better than everyone else…it is a banner against bullying, a tale of caution for those in high school now that are playing the part of the jock or prom queen. Watch out, or those that you belittle and torture will turn on you and bite you. It may take a while, but a teased dog may eventually attack, and are you sure you want to be the hand taunting it at the time?

Seriously, if you think about the lyrics, this is a highlight reel of all the things geeks have had to suffer through growing up. Welcome to class, here let me take your soft little geek heart and stomp on it…and while I’m at it, I’ll stomp your face too. It happens, it is out there, and it is something that the media has really latched onto lately. (And why wouldn’t they, when kids are throwing themselves off bridges , and shooting themselves , and hanging themselves EVERY DAMN DAY because of it!?!?!?!)

And if you want to be a bully again and take away this song from every kid out there that looks at it and sees a glimmer of hope, an outlet of anger and pain…well you go right ahead, channel that high school asshole you surely were and play those mind games again.

Me, for one, I’m going to distribute this son of a bitch everywhere I can. I’m going to tell all of my little geeky friend with little geeky children to rock this shit full volume and scream BITE ME at you and all the other naysayers.

Now, I’m the one that’s cool, and I’m proud of it. MMORPG, FTW!

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Some thoughts on weight loss and writing…

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:17:01 +0000

They suck and rock. I loathe working to lose weight and I loathe writing, BUT I love having done them! It is that double edged sword…the more you do it the easier it seems to come. Practice makes perfect in all parts of life, it seems.

They are selfish. You have to cloister yourself away, and unless you have friends and loved ones that are participating in the same activity (ie: going to the gym, training for a marathon, trying to swim a mile, writing a novel) you aren’t going to be spending time with them. EVEN if you are doing the same activity, there isn’t a lot of breath or mental energy left over for idle chicchat while you are sweating your butt off (either over the page or over the treadmill).

They are full of pitfalls. Brownies, new story ideas, going out to eat with friends, revising…everywhere we look something or someone is trying to sabatogue us! Not intentionally, mind you, they are humans and interested in their own welfare and if that means they are going to ask you to make brownies or skip out on your writing time for sex to make themselves happy…well, you are collateral damage. Sorry.

They ain’t easy. I can name 20 things right now that are easier than both losing weight and writing: watching tv, sleeping, eating, reading, playing games, shopping, stargazing, sitting by a fire, driving, watching a movie, talking to a friend, planning a vacation, cooking, going to a convention, laughing, reading email, posting on facebook, trolling the web, taking pictures, and vacuuming the cat. I can name very few things that are harder.

So, I guess in the end my advice to you is to practice until it does not suck. Take time for yourself, but make time for others. Skirt the edges of the pitfalls and fall in one every once in a while (it is fun), just don’t make a habit of it.

And finally, remember that nothing easy ever made you feel as proud as losing 20lbs or finishing that story.

-Renee (22.6lbs lighter, 19 1/2 inches smaller, and the next Trading Season installment done)

Maverick’s is at it again…

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:02:35 +0000

This is why I am convinced the Kraken sleeps beneath the water here:
Massive Surf and Moving Making Leads to Mayhem at Mavericks!

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