I posted this as a respose to something on someone else’s LJ, but then realized that it was personal enough that I wanted to replicate it here.
Top 10 reasons why I write “professionally” (whatever that means):
1. I was told to do it by a pervy blue fairy with a New York accent and a penchant for showing up in my shower and distrasting me into forgetting to rinse out my conditioner.
2. Because someday I want to save someone’s life the way Meredith Ann Pierce and Katherine Kurtz saved mine.
3. Because as Alan Moore and Grant Morrison have shown me, it’s one of the most effective ways to do magic in the contemporary world.
4. Because as much as I love Chick-lit, I will not let it become the defining popular literary voice of my generation.
5. Because some of the plots from my dreams are too weird and cool *not* to share.
6. Because I made a deal with a meta-lingual reality hacker, and she’s counting on me to do my part to transform the metaverse.
7. Because I grew up on stories of girls without hands or voices who lived happily ever after because they were obedient and good, and I think that’s bullshit.
8. Because I can’t become a Zapatista, but I can be one of the Army of Dreamers.
9. Because someday I really want to win a prestigious writing award so that I can thank my writing group, Scat Hardcore.
10. Because I can’t not write.
In other news, I just finished a 6k word story set in the Teleidoplex. The working title is “Panopticon in Amber”, although that will probably change. This is my first official Teleidoplex writing (there’s another story called “Intervention” that I wrote after finishing HP Book 7, but that doesn’t count). It is therefore something of a milestone since to this point I’ve just worked on the thematics and world-building.
(goes off to eat granola and contemplate her navel, cause omphaloskepsicism is fun to say!)
Alyc Helms 
That’s really kind of neat. Despite the story, it’s a pretty box. Wierd.
Crazy.
I wish I could read hebrew.
Dude! I’ll trade you Al Moore for the pervy Blue Fairy.
Well, Sam’s not really mine to trade, although I’ll pass the message along. Uh…and without bursting your bubble (because who knows what forms Sam can take), he’s small, blue-ish gray, bulbous, and looks vaguely froglike, with spindly arms.
So, if you were thinking the hot blonde from Pinnochio, that’s probably outside his range.
My muse seems to be into him, though, so maybe he’s got hidden depths.
“So, if you were thinking the hot blonde from Pinnochio, that’s probably outside his range.”
Damn.
First of all, the list was wonderful.
Secondly, I’m not sure I’ve ever run into anyone who randomly threw out Meredith Ann Pierce’s name. You rock.
😉
Heh. My mission in life (or one of them) is to introduce people to the wonder of Pierce’s writing.
Did you know that she’s working right now on a fantasy tetralogy for adults.
I am the squee.
No, I did not know. I will have to keep an eye out.
“Katherine Kurtz ”
w0rd
she is a hero of mine as well.
Woot! Congratulations on escaping the insidious clutches of “no, wait, I need to develop the world a bit more” — it needs doing, certainly, but it can turn into the La Brea Tar Pits without warning.
Kind of like research, actually. <g>
I look forward to reading the story!
Well… I still need to develop the world more, but writing “Intervention” showed me that I can do some development through writing actual stories, even if some of them may never see the light of day.
I’m now realizing that there’s a good deal of just regular research that I need to be doing, starting with some reading on quantum physics for the layperson. Suggestions for good texts welcomed.
I’m going to Jason’s to watch S2 of Who wants to be a superhero? tonight, so I can get CD’s from you if you’ll be around.
Depends on what exactly you mean by Quantum Physics. The field at this point is all over the place. My favourte accessible book (though it’s mainly about String Theory) on the topic is Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe. It gives a good ground in Quantum Mechanics, too.
Of particular interest to you, I think, would be another favourite: (that dips into parascience a bit so it’s not my introductory text) Michael Talbolt’s The Holographic Universe.
And in my world, actually writing it is the most kind of worldbuilding. Unless you’re running D&D.