Monthly Archives: March 2012

Have a mindfuck: Awake

Briefly on TV shows. The last episode of Fringe (4×14) was fine and made the plot move a bit, but it also shot itself in the foot by explaining Observers as a gimmick. I don’t think that mysteries to be effective have to stay unsolved, so it’s not that Observers were overexplained, but it just ended up a dead end not so unlike some explanations in LOST, that also sucked because they lead to nothing. Satisfying mystery “opens up” possibilities and interpretation, explains other stuff and gives it a new spin.

Now there’s a month break for Fringe, but I read about this new TV series, “Awake” (on NBC), that relies on a similar trick: the main protagonist is stuck between two realities and unable to figure out which one is the “dream”. I watched the first episode and it’s GLORIOUS. It plays wonderfully with its possibilities and it’s highly evocative. Way, way better than Fringe or Alcatraz. The latter feeling also like a very shallow gimmick, looking as a bad, plain procedural that moves the mystery plot in the last minute of every episode. It’s like it hits the formula for irritation.

“Awake” starts playing its cards perfectly. It doesn’t indulge in the drama of its premise as I expected, instead has it coming out of the rest. It puts the melodrama aside, and feels more authentic. It is playful with its possibilities, with the two shrinks in the two realities that try to outsmart each other. The show has a metalinguistic level that just tastes delicious, while not overshooting it into parody. The way this first episode struck a balance is already a statement of competency. I really hope the public sticks to it despite its “complexity”, because it deserves going on.

The stakes are put so it can also quickly become a disaster. Many ways that the show can take a wrong turn or lose that balance that make it feel right and plausible, but at least it got my trust solely with the pilot. Hopefully it continues to deliver.

And it’s fitting with the “groove”. I’m reading right now “The Wayward Mind”, that I ordered as soon as Scott Bakker wrote about it. I see in these pages many, many arguments that I dealt with in the past year, many fancy theories and lines of thoughts. Written so clearly so that one sees the “order” in the scheme instead of feeling lost in the myriad of sidetracks. That and Bakker’s own “The Blind Brain Theory of Consciousness” (he sent me the file he was working on) are eye-openers in ways that can’t be dismissed. Dramatic advancements for me. I almost feel like I’m understanding something. Or at least having a lot more tools to work with the problems, instead of staring at them without a clue.

So this show is like a way to relax while soaking in the same semantic level. The two realities becoming possible dreams constructed by the mind and dense with symbolic purposes. Conscious mind versus unconscious, the limits and tricks of perception. Watch this show, it plays well with its themes, manages to keep its consistency, and doesn’t seem to proceed conservatively to artificially continue as a serial with no end in sight (or so I hope).

Why George RR Martin can’t finish his books

I’m not one of those accusing Martin for not being a reader’s bitch and watching football instead of writing, but I do “blame” him for this:

– I am heading up to Toronto in less than two weeks.
– Back home after that, and back at work, but then at month’s end I am off again, this time to the UK
– In between all this, I have, hmmmmm, lemme see, one two three four FIVE projects that I am currently working on

This on top of him taking almost all of the past year off from writing ASoIaF.

Everyone is free of making his own choices, but this speaks loudly about priorities. You just don’t commit to more “projects” if you feel like your big one already takes all you can give and is at serious risk of not being completed.

Martin just isn’t Steven Erikson, or Dan Abnett or Brandon Sanderson, who have demonstrated they can handle and deliver what they commit to. I’m not there to judge what he does and how he does it, nor I’m complaining that he so candidly tells us. The problem is that he seems out of touch with the reality of what he’s doing.

The problem is fitting in your own plans. If you’re aware that finishing a book can take you years you don’t plan a seven book series, or even let slip between the lines that two books won’t be enough to close it. You need to plan realistically around what you can deal with. Ambition requires commitment. If you plan large then you need to commit large as well.

So the issue is not that Martin indulges with distractions or watches football instead of writing all day long. The issue is that his series has not the priority and commitment that it requires in order to be realistically finished.

Recently on the forums there was a discussion about when someone’s talent peaks in writing. There are plenty of exceptions to make a rule, but it’s not unlikely that the older Martin gets the more problems he’ll have dealing with the intricacies and smallest details of his work. The mind can stay sharp, but it’ll likely have problems dealing with the sheer number of small parts involved. It should be in his own interest to stay focused on his work and handle it the best he can while he can do it, but he seems more interested in finding excuses to divert his attention to other things.

Do one thing, and do it well. Do you even TRUST who you’ll be in ten years? Are you sure he’ll do a better job than what you can do now?

Compare to someone giving her best:

Destiny’s Conflict will get finished on schedule.

If I took that long to get a book down, I think I would perish of boredom…the only conceivable delay would not be caused by guilty pleasures, but if financial need reared its ugly head and I had to find a day job. With gas prices and cost of living sending all expenses rocketing up, sales of the books will have to rise to compensate.

Every working author I know is swimming in the same rat race. :)

Well, not Martin’s case, obviously:

me and my assistants and my accountant must find time to prepare my taxes, so I can write the IRS the biggest check that I have written in my life.

For some writers the possibility to commit and focus on one project is a privilege they wish they could have.