Michael G. Munz

The official website of Seattle sci-fi/fantasy author and geek Michael G. Munz

Archives for 2008

Faster? Well, not yet…

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Another writing update for my as-yet-unnamed 3rd novel (which, again, is an entirely different animal than the first two)…

So far it seems that my attempt at writing this one a lot faster than the previous two is suffering a few setbacks. For the moment I’m choosing to blame this on a busy holiday season and the difficulty in starting a new book (establishing characters, not overdoing exposition, and so forth). I’ve rewritten the second chapter three or four times now, just trying to get it right, and it’s still not to my liking.

On the plus side, I THINK that once I get over this particular hurdle, I’ll have gotten over the initial creative energy hump. Then I can better continue forward with the proper momentum.

I realize I’m being terribly vague about all of this, but oh well. Right now Seattle’s being hit by a rather nasty blizzard (by our standards, anyway), and my brain is iced. Here’s hoping the power holds out…

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

“Pre-production”

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So I’m back to blogging after having taken an even longer break from this place than my previous one. What have I been up to? I’m glad you asked, imaginary person! In my last blog I wrote a bit about coming up with ideas for a third novel; not the follow-up to Legacy of Memory (2014 note: this became A Memory in the Black), but rather an entirely unconnected stand-alone with something of a different tone than what I’ve written for novels before. As I said, working with an entirely blank slate is both freeing and frustrating. As I write this, I’m sitting in a Barnes & Noble café having just finished the step-sheet for what I hope to be a darned amusing book.

In case you’re wondering, the step-sheet is basically a rough outline of the scenes (or at least the general happenings) of the plot and character development. Before I did that, I had to come up with the whole freaking premise of the setting (which wasn’t TOO hard, as it’s actually set in the present day with one liiiiittle difference–and no, I’m not telling what that is yet), at least a general idea of what the major characters are like (I’m fairly sure about most of the details now on those, but they still need the breath of life that only actually writing the book will give, I think), and the whole darned premise of the story. The step-sheet helps me to make sure all the Chekhov’s guns are in place, the exposition is portioned out properly (without being overwhelming), and helps me to see where possible problems are–or at least realize what sort of details I still need to come up with.

This particular novel is going to be…somewhat less serious than my previous ones. I suppose, given the stakes involved, it may be considered “epic,” but it’s my plan to thumb my nose at such things and have little or no respect for my own work. …If that makes sense. Actually, it doesn’t, but oh well. A better way of putting it is that this novel is not going to be taking itself seriously–at least that’s the plan. It won’t be entirely comedy, either. If anyone’s read my short story “Playing With Hubris” or maybe even “Finding Victor,” that would be something akin to the mix of humor that I’m going for. But I suppose I’ll know more once I start the actual writing and find the right voice.

Choosing just HOW to start the book is giving me some trouble, though. I’ve got two different options, and while I think one might be a better hook plot-wise, it doesn’t involve any of the main characters. I need to talk over my ideas with some folks and see what they think, because right now I’m rather torn.

It’s my goal to write this one a LOT faster than the previous two, which will take a bit of discipline on my part. I suppose that’s part of why I’m really taking care to line up all of my ducks at the moment so once the actual writing starts, I know the characters, I know the details of the setting and everyone’s agenda…and I can just shove everyone into the arena and let them do their thing.

…And if anyone gets out of hand, I’ll zap ’em with a lightning bolt.

What I’m Currently (Back to) Writing…

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The 5,000 or so of you out there who read this blog without commenting (and I know you’re out there! Don’t try to deny me my fantasy, you imaginary people!) may have noticed I haven’t written in a little bit. It’s a side-effect of a week-long writing break I’ve been on until, well, today. (Bonus points if you can guess when I started.)

A quick writing update: While I wrote an ending to Legacy of Memory at the end of June, I’ve since been tweaking and rewriting, little by little. This is based both on my own general read-throughs as well as comments from a few people I’ve got reading. (Thanks again to you three, by the way. And Joe? Hurry up with those final chapters!) A couple of weeks ago, having gotten to a place where I didn’t want to tweak any more until I heard back from said readers, I decided to turn my attention toward writing something else.

This wound up presenting a problem as my momentum from trying to finish one book carried over into my trying to start another, and like a rollerblader who speeds down a hill off of smooth cement into mud, my creative feet got tripped up plowing through the thickness of an as yet undreamt-of plot and sent the rest of my creative body hurling head over heels into the writing miasma…or something. Clearly the metaphor’s buckling under it’s own weight here, but you get the idea. So I opted to take a week off, not think about ANYthing related to writing, publishing, or blogging, and just let my brain reboot itself a little.

So I’m back! Now for those of you wondering about what the new book is about, the short answer is I’m not sure. I’ve always said that Legacy of Memory was only the second in a three-book arc, so it would make sense that I’d now be working on the third and final book, right? Ha! Shows what you know. I’m the guy who came up with the battery-powered battery recharger and once folded an 10′ origami crane on the middle of the UW campus at 2am, so if you’re expecting me to make sense all the time, rabbit football doodlewhomp.

While it is possible that the next book I write will be a sequel to A Shadow in the Flames and Legacy of Memory (and I’ve always liked the title Here Be Dragons for that one, but who knows?), I may instead try to publish a single, stand-alone book that will hopefully get me further into the publishing world than I currently am and thus help get more attention to the three-book series. The up-side of writing something completely new is that the utterly blank slate gives me a chance to scratch some creative itches that I haven’t yet been able to explore in novel form. The down-side is that it’s an UTTERLY BLANK SLATE! So for the moment I’m mostly in what Terry Brooks would call the dreaming stage, which essentially involves a lot of walking into things while pondering my creative options (when I’m not in a café doing the same thing only sitting down and caffinated). It’s both fun and frustrating, which I suppose describes a lot of things in life.

I’ve got a few ideas that I’m working on exploring, but no one thing that I’ve decided on. I suppose I could tell you at least one: rabbit football doodlewhomp.

…I’m probably not going to go with that one.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Heroes Premiere Blogging

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As I mentioned a few entries back, I’m trying to decide which Fall show to follow regularly in my blog. Heroes is the second contender. Tonight I’m going to experiment a bit and try some stream of consciousness comments. So here we go, the Heroes 2-hour third season premiere…

Nathan’s dead. But I’m sure he’ll be fine. Yup. He’s fine–and quicker than I expected.

MISHTOH MUGGWLES! Mishtoh Muggwles is the herald of doom! (Okay, I’m sorry, I won’t do that again.)

Sylar’s sacrificing opportunities to grab Claire in order to be creepy for the audience’s benefit. Boo!

There better be a good reason for keeping Hiro’s half of the formula in existence at all if it’s so dangerous. (And for the record, I’d be almost as bad at Hiro’s first quest as he was.)

“Save ourselves. Save the world.” Sounds like their next catch phrase. (Frankly those have bugged me ever since the beginning.)

There’s the damn 10% brain usage myth again. Writers Guild membership should come with a card that states something like “This is just plain wrong. Stating this in anything you write is like stating that Hawaii is adjacent to Kansas. DON’T DO IT.”

Mohinder’s being an idiot. No, wait, he’s being Mohinder-Fly! Someone get Jeff Goldblum, they can double-date and compare scripts.

Well, the world’s blowing up. Again. Come on, folks. Is this all you can come up with? (“Look out, Radioactive Man! The sun is exploding again!”)

Mrs. Petrelli is the Kwisatz Haderach!

A talking space coyote tells Matt to find his soul mate! (Well, not really, but that’s what I was thinking when he started talking to the turtle.)

Linderman’s turned Harvey.

Sylar’s still alive…WHY? (Same question for all of the people held in Level 5, really. The Company has had no problem with putting OTHER heroes down.)

I don’t think I’m going to blog on Heroes too much—at least not weekly. There’s so much stuff going on that I’d just lose track in all the nitpicking. I don’t envy the chaos the writers have created for themselves, though. Two people warping around in time? It’s hard enough to keep things logical and coherent with just one, and Hiro at least knew what he was doing. I think Ain’t It Cool News puts it quite well: “I think we just have to assume at this point that Peter is the stupidest guy ever to graduate nursing school.” With characters that can do so much, they need to be REALLY careful that their plots don’t require constant use of the idiot-ball, and I’m not so sure they’re off to a great start.

I guess we’ll see.

Someone get Mister Muggles a syringe of that formula.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Have a watch: New Knight Rider

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Okay, I am NOT going to do a full blog on this one, but in the interest of keeping people informed, the new Knight Rider series has released its first post-pilot movie episode on Hulu, a week before it actually premieres. If you’re entertained by things that are so bad they’re good, you should check it out.

This show is gleefully terrible. That’s the best way I can think of to describe it. As someone commented on Hulu, “It looks like KITT can now turn into a train and a wreck.”


I’m thinking there’s definitely a reason Val Kilmer, who voices KITT, doesn’t let his name show up in the credits. I honestly hope this show makes it. It’s so awful that it’s hilarious.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Sarah Connor Chronicles: Samson and Delilah

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I’m looking to do an episode-by-episode blog of one of the shows premiering this fall, but I’ve not yet decided which, so I’ll try doing so with each of the premieres and see which feels the best. I’ve never tried to do this sort of thing before. I’ll be learning as I go, so bear with me, if anyone’s actually reading this. For the first, the second season premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. There WILL be unmarked spoilers.

My mental state:
I’ve been borderline on this show since it began, torn between my desire to see the expanded back story (or future-story) that it promises to reveal and my inability to find the actual storytelling or characters compelling a majority of the time.

Thoughts while watching:
The very beginning is reminiscent of the end of the first season finale what with the semi-slo-mo and music. It feels like it’s trying too hard to recreate that, but maybe it’s just me. Then again, I didn’t like it the first time, either. On the other hand, this SHOWS what’s going on instead of having it happen all off-screen for an extended period of time. (I suspect they just couldn’t come up with a reason for Cromartie to kill everyone and throw them into the pool, so they just did it off-screen and got “artistic.”) THIS, however, just goes on too long while showing us everything. “Yes, episode, you’re very smart. Shut up.”

Cameron looks pretty unscorched for just having been in an exploding car. And an exploding house. Perhaps Skynet adds a little asbestos to the human flesh terminator coverings now.

For some reason Cameron needs Sarah to call to John. It’s odd how they keep doing this (happened in T2, too) after showing us that terminators can imitate voices easily enough.

I’m noticing that Cameron continues flip between being be less able and more able to pass for human than the T-800, as she has during the entire series. In her defense, she is a little scrambled right now, I suppose. But then she’s back to being all convincingly emotional when she’s smashed between the trucks. So hmm. I guess it’s dependent on the needs of the script.

John’s cut off his hair, going back to the Samson and Delilah theme. If Cameron’s secret plan is not to kill John but instead to make him emotionally attached to her and weaken him thusly, I shall be very put out.

Post-viewing thoughts:
It was average, with much of it just being an extended chase scene. I have to admit the surprise at the end with the G-1000 (that’s the lead singer of Garbage crossed with the T-1000, though a friend of mine just wanted to call her Dick Jones after this scene) was pretty darned high on the cool factor. Not sure if they’ll ever explain why there’s a second prototype, but I guess the timeline’s been mucked around with so much that it’s not a detail to worry about.

John’s an idiot for putting the chip back in, of course. He’s clearly still having issues from dropping Daddy Terminator in the molten iron in T2. Call me crazy, but giving a gun to a terminator only moments (from her perspective) after she tried to throw a wrench through his head just isn’t the best idea. If being blown up can flip her from good to evil, and being hit by a truck can flip her back, do you REALLY want her walking around with you, John? What if you accidentally bump into her in the hall or sneeze in the wrong direction? All back to evil! I can understand John doing this. It makes sense for his character, but I can’t understand Sarah not trying to stop him.

So…meh. The characters still continue to bug me, being as foolish or intelligent as the writers need at the time. I’ve never cut the writers much slack in this show, and that cynical attitude may be why I can’t seem to get into it very much. It’s possible I’m still stuck on something that’s bugged me for the entire run of the show: the dual question of just what sort of terminator Cameron is (we know she’s “special,” but have been given few details) and, more importantly, why she refuses to say. Her refusal magnifies the mystery, and yet it’s now the beginning of the second season and we’ve gotten no progression on this. You can only string the audience along on a mystery so far before you have to pay it off, at least partially, and they’ve strung us along so far on this one that I’m now thinking that a bit of intrigue that got me to watch before was just some gimmick of audience manipulation that they had no idea what to do with.

“Hmm, how can we make it more mysterious? People love mysterious, look how well Lost is doing!”
“Uhh, how about we have her refuse to give details about herself?”
“Ooh, that’s GREAT! I love it! Why doesn’t she give details?”
“What, are you writing a book? Who cares? It’s cool!”

So I guess we’ll see. Bit of a jumbled mess, this blog, but hey, I’m still getting my recap-legs. I don’t know that I like Sarah Connor Chronicles enough to do this every week, though…

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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Stargate: Atlantis Cancelled, Universe on Its Way…

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Here’s a bit of two-for-one geek-news: The Sci-Fi Channel continues its tradition of cancelling shows that people like. This time on the chopping block, Stargate: Atlantis. At the same time, it’s green lit a third Stargate series, Stargate: Universe, to air in early 2009.

Okay, so I was miffed when they cancelled SG-1, severely irritated when they cancelled Farscape way back when, and continually bothered to find out that the new Battlestar Galactica was still on the air. (It’s going to be gone after this season, fortunately, and I’ll have to rely on possible reruns or episodes on Hulu.com to remind me just why I disliked it so much. At this point I can’t remember specifics, and I suppose I’m not likely to bother re-watching to let myself be reminded. Darn.)

I seem to have lost my train of thought here. Oh! (Yes, revel, revel in the concise blogging style!) My point is that I find I honestly couldn’t care less about Atlantis getting the axe. Sure, I watched some episodes–some were quite good, some not so great–but I never really got deeply into the story or anything. I couldn’t tell you much about the Wraith (aside from my finding them rather dull) or the various characters, few of whom really got me to care. (Okay, so McKay’s always fun, and it was nice to see Jewel Staite working after Firefly, but that’s about it.) My impression, admittedly fragmented, was that the show seemed to be in search of a purpose but often failed to do anything unique or better than what SG-1 had done before it.

And, really, enough with the Replicators, huh?

As for Universe, Sci-Fi describes it as follows:

After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate’s ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.

What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny’s original mission.

Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny, but only for a brief period of time before carrying on with its pre-programmed navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.

“A grand experiment set in motion but never completed.” Hey, good trick. They’ve created a plot device that doesn’t need to ever be explained because it was never finished! 😀 There’s a mystery of the ninth chevron? That’s a new one on me, but maybe I’m just not up on my lore.

As for the rest of it…I guess we’ll see. I’ll give it a shot, but the description isn’t wowing me. Maybe it’s just that I miss the SGC and O’Neill. It sounds somewhat like Star Trek meets Sliders, which is…workable. If they can come up with some engaging characterization, it could be decent, though I’m leery of the statement that Universe will have “a cast that gives it a younger vibe.” Something about that just smells a little too much of executive tampering. Perhaps they took an O’Neill template, made him an experienced twenty-two, gave him some “attitude,” and then Rasta-fied him “by about…ten-percent or so.” [End Simpsons reference.]

So I’m not holding my breath. What with professional wrestling, Ghost Hunters, and constant monster-of-the-week movies penned by monkeys at best (at worst, by the folks who bring us Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Lousy Movie, and Meet the Spartans), Sci-Fi seems, like Atlantis, organizationally confused and in search of a purpose. Or maybe some Replicators.

But that’s another blog.

Speaking of other blogs, click here for the full story in The Hollywood Reporter by James Hibberd.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

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