Friday, October 31, 2003
This one now to top it all. Indo-china competition is nothing new. From a full blown war to differences that span from border issues to space technology, tension certainly isn’t new between the two countries. But unlike the constant tension that underlies every venture with Pakistan, (cricket or hockey or resumption of bus-travel ties) Indians are as a rule, more cautious in their dealings with China with neither side openly hostile. Indeed, in recent times, economic reasons have brought the two countries closer, and a day may yet come when the subcontinent is not a three-way tug-of-war.
But that day is not today. China’s strengths lie in its massive industrial growth in recent years and its huge but cautiously open market that Western investors have started banking on. India has however concenterated its efforts into improving its “information technology” initiatives, and with an advantage in having a massively English-literate population, it is far ahead of China in second tier backends often so much so that some American states had to have new legislation prohibiting outsourcing of jobs. Information technology, however, cannot feed everybody’s mouths and India’s industrial initiatives are far from even being labeled “satisfactory.”
As an Indian, I do have something to add. We have our strengths, but there are always stronger people around. Trying to boss around others (as somebody is doing right now) may not always work. There are a lot of Indians I know who think that we should be the undisputed power in this region of the world. I, for one, do not mind playing second fiddle. To China, to Pakistan, or to any other country which happens to come by. As long as our interests are preserved, false pride should be thrown out the window.
There’s idealism and then there is politics. While I admire many of our foreign policies right now, I do not know how long India will have so an open, considerate government. India does have the power to bully a lot of countries, I just hope it doesn’t do so.
Tags: musings • politics
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Thursday, October 30, 2003
Shuttered eye has to (regretably) close for a while. My camera refuses to work and there’s no other way I can take pictures right now.
I’m so very sad.
Tags: shuttered eye
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Thursday, October 30, 2003
“You love animals, don’t you?”
“If it gets cold enough.”
- Jim Carey, from Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.
Though many people will categorize his humor as vulgar and his acting abilities as overrated, Carey still performs his best (and more) for the Ace Ventura series (which I adore) and his acting in The Truman Show is certainly above par, though admittedly not brilliant. However, he is not my favorite comedian, that honor would go to someone else.
Tags: chaff
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Thursday, October 30, 2003
Today I solved a rather interesting problem: To find (and display) all the combinations that can be formed from a word. Suppose the word entered is “abc,” the output would be “abc acb bac bca cab cba.” A little Combination theory in Mathematics would tell you that if the length of the word is n, the number of combinations that can be formed from that word is n! (i.e, factorial of n.) In the above case, it is 3! or 3x2x1 = 6.
I went about solving the problem in Pascal, and it certainly isn’t the language you want to program in for these kind of tasks. However, today it wasn’t my choice in the matter, so: Pascal it was. An explanation of the solution is given below (not the actual source code):
I used three functions for the task: combinationOf(word, stub), shuffle(word), and strip(position, word). combinationOf displays all the combinations of the word using recursion. shuffle (which shifts the word one position to the right, i.e, changes “abc” to “bca” and “bca” to “cab”) and strip (which strips the alphabet corresponding to the digit i.e, strip(1, “abc”) => “bc”) are helper functions called from combinationOf.
The crux of the code (which may not be valid Pascal) is given below:
function combinationOf(word: string, stub: string) : string;
var i: integer;
var prestub: string;
begin
for i := 1 to length(word) do
prestub := word[i];
begin
if(length(strip(i, word)) = 2) then
begin
write(stub, preStub);
write(shuffle(word));
write(stub, preStub);
write(word);
end;
else
begin
stub := stub + prestub;
combinationOf(shuffle(strip(i, word)), stub);
end;
end;
Tags: development
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
A link to Sig9 Forums won’t do this site any harm. It won’t do you any harm if you go there and register and say some stuff that people want to hear. It won’t do you any harm if you don’t do it too.
Tags: chaff
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
I want something new, honey
just do this once
they are just people, honey
anyways, it’s not like we are…
but love!
for me, just this once…
you will? I love you!
(Smack, kiss, and the usual aftermath)
Isn’t this a bit too often honey?
just a bit too much?
thought it was just for a spell
it’s not like we are…
but love!
what do you mean you like this?
you like this! but I love you!
(Smack, pillow on a broken tv, and the usual aftermath)
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, don’t ask 
Tags: chaff
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
An old friend visited me today. He’s studying in Mumbai, and listening to him brought to mind with a zing things that some people take for granted and things that I in Thiruvananthapuram never see. I don’t love this place, there is nothing here that I like except the people. The only thing good about my college, my home: my city are the people in it. Or at least, some of the people I know. That, and the fact that I sometimes (very rarely) see some things here that goes right into my head with a bang and makes me think like I’ve never thought before. I never used to be a dreamer, but lately there are so many things that I want to do, and it seems that the things that I do are unimportant drams of cheap beer.
Yes, I would really like to move out. And yes, I am trying. The grass is always greener…
Tags: musings
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Well, it seems I’ll still be stuck in a plaster prison, albeit this time around, a different kind of one: synthetic plaster, one that allows me to walk a little bit and that will probably allow me to complete different things that have been lying around everywhere. My big exams of the year are coming up and I’ll probably take a hiatus from all other activities and concentrate on the big S for a while now. I’m still doing a lot of interesting things - from sleeping to writing to reading to watching a sequel to Desperado (the movie sucks btw) to breaking up and getting into another relationship - in all an interesting one week.
For people who are following the writing page, I posted a couple of chapters of my big story, and I’m likely to post a few more if you hold your breath.
Tags: chaff
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Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Tomorrow, I may be freed from this plaster-of-paris cage. We should talk more then.
Right now, I’ll leave you with a link to my favorite P2P app: Shareaza.
Tags: chaff
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Tuesday, October 28, 2003
There are many kinds of novels, narrative ones that go on about telling a story, and some other insidous ones that let you make out what the story is. The latter ones, it seems to me are more of a challenge to write. Being a storyteller is easier because all of us are born with a narrative trait. It is one of the things we need to survive. Thinking in abstract terms to reach an end however is not natural. I’m not talking about being deliberately vague, it’s much more than that. Leaving things out certainly helps the story in some fashion, but things that must be described must be.
One of the best examples of authors who do it the narrative way are fantasy writers - from Tolkein to Jordan, and scifi writers - from Asimov to Clarke. They aren’t in any way “lesser” than authors who do it the other way. Neo-gothic novels (like that of King) that employs noirish elements to bring out the plot, or alliterative language plays of Indian authors like Rushdie or Roy use language in another way altogether. I suppose, in the end, it depends on how you use the language, not how you classify it. It doesn’t matter: I love all people who write.
Tags: chaff
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Monday, October 27, 2003
The beginning of every worry heralds the end of the last. At least, that’s how it is for me. I can’t worry about two or more things at once. Perhaps two, but never three. Right now, it’s a leg, and it’s what to do after that I’m worried about. After that, it could be <insert-anything-here>. At least, I’m not a worrier like my mom, though frankly, she solves half my problems when I can’t 
Status of my leg, it is healing: I still can’t walk without someone helping me but it is okay enough that I can use this sweet invention.
Tags: chaff
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Sunday, October 26, 2003
All the important things in life that you don’t recognize beforehand as important happen in a nanosecond. The bandage on my leg proves it. What it doesn’t prove is that I’m a reckless driver, I go on a scooter to my college rather than take the bus because this way it’s more glamorous (my doctor told me that,) and that I want to die. I’ve always had a pretty much ambivilent attitude towards dying, but I don’t want to be stuck halfway between. Never again. You’re right Gayu, I should listen to you more often.
Tags: chaff
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Saturday, October 25, 2003
Why am I not posting here? Because I had a stupid accident recently. I’ll have more to say about that in the days to come. Till then, aloha and goodbye
Tags: chaff
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Wednesday, October 22, 2003
I’m talking about abortions. Killing fetuses, butchering sentient beings before they are born. And like all things placed before me, I look at the other side too.
I recently saw a documentary on the BBC about how the Pope is hurting rather than helping matters by being so pro-life. The Catholic Church, in case you are not aware bans condoms, abortions (even if they are threatening to the mother,) and does not condone sex education. It advises a policy of restraint and familial advice when confronted with menaces like STDs like AIDS. In fact, the church’s campaign against such necessary means to fight the disease is so blatantly against known fact that I think we’re living in the dark ages.
Being zealously pro-life - banning abortions and condoms, will not solve the real problems we face today. There are some vital questions that we should ask ourselves regarding these issues, whatever side that we are on: The United States has recently banned “late” abortions. How late is late? What if the pregnancy threatens the mother? What if the child is genetically deformed? What if the mother cannot support the child? Or in the case of condoms, why is imparting knowledge about sex thought to promote sex?
I can think of more questions like that, but I’d rather you think.
Tags: musings
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Wednesday, October 22, 2003
…everything nice. Powerpuff Girls - used to be one of my favorite cartoons =) There were many like that: Dexter & Deedee, Johny Bravo, Swat Kats, X-Men, Batman - alive blobs of color that I watched day after day after day. And now, I’ve stopped the flow down to a trickle - I still adore X-Men episodes and I still watch Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup when I can. Some people think I should be ashamed of that. I don’t really care about what some people think unless they can tell me why they think that way. But still, I think I can understand; it’s grownuppiness, and everybody’s so afraid of it.
People grow up damn too fast. Too fast sometimes to realize that things made for children can be things made for people too. I’m bad at explaining these things: nevertheless, don’t grow up until you must, or better; grow up, but don’t.
Tags: musings
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Tuesday, October 21, 2003
And so, just like that, in 8 days since I put the counter up, 500 people have been to this site. I’m sure that is a good thing. Now a guide for people who want to set up a site, this is how I went about it.
-
Bought a domain from Namecheap and some space from Neureal, it is in the order of about $6 per month, and the service is commendable until now.
-
Downloaded Apache, PHP and MySQL and went about learning them so as to be comfortable with Open Source solutions that would help me to install a CMS on my site.
-
Went about finding a CMS, and the best thing that I could find that fit my purpose was B2, and then I found Wordpress which is even better
-
And then, I found the time to post.
Tags: chaff
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Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Poetry daily. Hint: Click the link.
It’s a great idea, and one of the more innovative uses of blogging that I’ve seen in the past. Although, it’s not quite blogging - people seem to use that word for all dynamic content that is updated daily these days. A poem every day is a good idea though, whatever you want to call it by.
Tags: chaff
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Monday, October 20, 2003
Without the moon, I read
Twenty clinging my way like
directions unknown
It’s one epoch to sadness, another
to love
and I wobble in between
like people without vow.
Tags: chaff
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Monday, October 20, 2003
…a lot of Robert Jordan these days, even though I’m not supposed to. I never do what I’m really supposed to do…never. At times, it seems like that’s why I take up odd things like writing or programming, or reading or just being a news junkie. At other times, those things are my life. Anyways, Jordan’s Wheel of Time Compendium is a good read, somehow not nearly as fascinating as other books, but a good read just the same.
I’m thinking of adding a recently read book list to this site. It’ll at least help me remember the stuff I’ve read. Sometimes I think I read a good damn lot. Too much. And then I think it’s way too little to escape the madness around me.
Yes, I’m crazy today. Why do you care?
Tags: chaff
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Saturday, October 18, 2003
Continuing my plug of my favorite band from these parts, don’t forget to watch Rosebowl today at 9:00pm. I’m sure you’ll find them great.
Edit: They are great!
Edit (2): It’s Rubbur band.. =)
Tags: shuttered eye
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Saturday, October 18, 2003
Π. Pi is a transcendental number. To quote: Hyperdictionary:
Definition (Transcendental):
1. [adj] existing outside of or not in accordance with nature; “find transcendental motives for sublunary action”-Aldous Huxley
2. [adj] of or characteristic of a system of philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual about the empirical and material
Synonyms: nonnatural, otherworldly, preternatural, supernatural
What’s so damn special about Pi that Carl Sagan wrote a book about it? What’s so special about it that numerous thinkers all over the round round world first became fascinated by this enigmatic number that is so close to 3, but not quite…? Why not attribute the same importance to other such numbers? Say a sedentary root of 10, or something approaching the same level of magickness - the exponential constant, e?
The answer, quite simply lies in the almost universal appreciation for the circle as a symbol of perfection. Maybe, it’s because that’s the figure the heavens have been crafted on - the sun, the moons, the planets are all circular. Perhaps if we lived in a trapezoidal universe, we would be extolling the virtues of linear trignometry. But, we’re not, and let’s leave that at that. What makes pi special today is insignificant when you compare it to what could make pi special in the future.
Simply said, pi is as universal a constant as we could imagine. Any civilization, in any corner of the universe can (and will, it can be reliably said) calculate the value of pi. It’s almost a mark of intelligence, the basic step that drives sentience towards a quest for perfection. If we are to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence, perhaps a good way would be to transmit the value of pi along with all our history and our message. Similarly, any message that we receive could have references to pi.
The book that I mentioned before explores this a bit further: what if, if we delve into the immense irregularity of the number pi itself, and find a pattern in there? What would that imply? The question is fascinating. The answer, if such a situation comes to be, should be even more beautiful.
Tags: musings
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Friday, October 17, 2003
What do you people think of writing novels? What do you people think it’s like? I used to think it was like reading them - a soft cuddle of a page turner somewhere and the author must’ve rushed through it with hardly a thought, a thriller and his blood might’ve turned to alchohol and spontaneously burned itself. Really, I used to think those things. When I got down to writing a biggie (a novel as many people would call it,) it wasn’t that far ahead in my writing…ahem…career. In fact, the first piece that I wrote was a biggie, a huge enough biggie that I only completed it recently. A big biggie. But, enough about that.
Earlier, I said some holy stuff about writing. All that’s true, but when you twist the ethereal to become a novel, things go a little bit differently: if you’re in shorts you only have to worry about your package. When you’re wearing a suit and a tie, things change: people even look at your shoes. In novels, people tend not to look at your shoes. It isn’t the small things that matter, it’s the numerous small things that add up to a huge big whole. Things like 1) “Have you checked your spelling, bozo?” 2) “Nobody speaks like this in RL ass!” or my personal favorite: 3) “Duh”. Expect responses like that when you play with the big boys. It’s like you’re one of the pepsi blue men drinking a coke. Well, not quite, but let’s ignore that for a sec.
When you think of writing, the purest way to go about it is to write short stories. I can’t explain or justify that but that’s what I think. Don’t ever start with a novel, and please please if you are a good enough writer, never be a one-novel person. Never.
Tags: chaff
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Friday, October 17, 2003
Vysnu! One day, I’ll get closer to Google’s home than that. Maybe a search query of “Vishnu” would lead directly to this page =)
I wish
Tags: chaff
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Thursday, October 16, 2003
I don’t like this website name , but I do like the idea, especially when it’s Spielberg’s Taken that’s playing on TV. I saw the first episode, and it had all the elements of (a wee bit) noirish 60s american drama, the spooky green alienish feeling, the big saucer shaped alien flying discs, the weather ballon, the seduced lady, the abducted wartime hero, an alien who can shapeshift (or something like it) and a big (big big big) plot that makes aliens so great.
In short, I loved it. And come to think of it now, I think I love Star Movies too<g>
Tags: chaff
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Thursday, October 16, 2003
Python is the scripting language to run home to. If you want simplicity, elegance, a good (and some may say, enough) degree of control over your system, use Python to program in. And if you think code-readability is a moot point, go use Perl and don’t read this blog anymore.
Why is Python so good? Let me take the viewpoint of a engineering teacher (a bit unconventional engineering teacher) and try to go on from there:
We all know about Algorithms, Flowcharts and the eventual program right? What I’ll propose today is a layer between the algorithm and the program. People tend to think that algorithms and programs have a one-to-one correspondence (i.e, every statement of the algorithm translates to a statement in the program.) However, any person who has written an algorithm knows that this is bull shit. Abstraction is essential if we want to present something even remotely resembling normal human-speak. The layer between the program and the algorithm, this layer that I’ll term “Monologue” for no pretty reason than that I like that name, is what makes Python so great. A real life elaboration:
c = a;
a = b;
b = c;
and,
a, b = b, c
The first, as many might have guessed is Any Other Language. The second is Python. The advantages, the simplicity, the mode of thought change that enables every Python programmer to go a step faster than Any Other Language programmers should be evident from this very simple example.
Coming back to Vysnu, here is how you write a python function to print the first n fibonacci numbers:
def fib(n): # write Fibonacci series up to n
"""Print a Fibonacci series up to n."""
a, b = 0, 1
while b < n:
print b,
a, b = b, a+b
And so, that concludes the lesson for the day. Go shoot some balls…somewhere.
Tags: development
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Thursday, October 16, 2003
A nod to all music fans from my neighbourhood: watch Rosebowl this Saturday (October the 18th) at 9:00 pm. One of my favorite bands is playing, and you wouldn’t want to miss that. Trust me.
Tags: chaff
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Science and art are different, and any effort to quantify or analyze what we consider as art is futile. I’m sure many people agree with the previous sentence. I’m still thinking about it, but nevertheless, it is a fascinating topic to imagine about whatever the end result might be. However, I’d like to level the playing field: Western Science has always been an interloper: where reason exists, faith does not, where things can be explained, there is no individual bias. It’s not like that (and never has been) for much of Asia, for us it is an easy and sendentary lifestyle switch between a religious moralist (of many beliefs) and a rigorous thinker, often both rolled into one. And that is why, I believe when Science begins to take on artistic avenues, we have an upper hand.
It is inevitable after all. Science is bound to go on quantifying everything, and if a person believes that everything is explainable (as a good scientist ought to do) then it follows that artistic and aesthetic media also demand (and will pursue) an explanation. It’s like saying: “I love you, because my genes are so bloody damn attracted to you.” Or, “I love Mona Lisa because da Vinci’s brushes had a titanium thresh to it and it makes the enigmatic smile glimmer a bit.” It’s like explaining the inexplicable. Something bordering on blasphemy.
And yet, Science has begun to do such things. Stylistics is a branch of Linguistics (which I’m very interested in, incidentally) which tries to define style in rigorous terms - it’s trying to translate “I like this.” into “Why I like this.” Though any measure of success is a long way off (as is other disciplines striving for a similar aim, like Psychiatry) an amazing amount of raw data has indeed been collated. It awaits a future Einstein to find a mathematical pattern in them, and then we’re all set.
When Science does find a law governing our likes and dislikes, does it imply an end to our artistic abilities? Because a law necessarily implies the next step along the process-line: inventions tailored to take advantage of it. Perhaps the next J.K Rowling might be an old 286 lying along in an attic somewhere running a sporting new version of Gentoo Linux that adds in the latest in the 3.0 Linux kernel: Artificial Intelligence.
Or, perhaps not.
For discussions of this sort, and the relevance of technology in our lives today, give Netfuture a whirl.
Tags: musings
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Markup that you define should be self-explanatory. In fact, markup is self explanatory, use it such a manner that you don’t confuse its meaning. A simple example: The <h1> tag denotes a heading of level 1. In most sites, this tag is the name of the site, or in cases where the site has an image header, it’s the prominent byline. At least, it should be. Substituting <div id=”title”>Content</div> for <h1> is perfectly valid markup, but it is semantically much worse off because, the tag <h1>, by its definition stands for a heading. <div> tags, when used are ambigous, and a browser which is not CSS-enabled might not render it to satisfaction. Since the purpose of going to the extent of validating our pages is to make markup accessible to everyone, the latter practice defeats our purpose. Some rules to abide by: Navigation links are lists of links, so use the semantically rich tags <ul> and <li> to wrap your links, don’t use spans or divs (and for your viewer’s sake, don’t use tables.)
There is a distinction between using markup for a purpose, and using markup for stylistic gains. Since the holy grail of web developers (the complete separation of content, markup and presentation) is not at hand yet, it is left to the intelligent web developer to decide where to draw the line. For an example, on this site, the sidebar employs <h3> and <li> to separate links, but those elements have CSS inline rules binded to them. This means that they render quite differently than a normal heading of level 3, or a list element. Arguably, this could cause confusion among the users since this site behaves a little differently than they are used to for such elements. But I think it is a fair tradeoff. People who do have capable CSS-enabled browsers rarely need to delve into the code, but people who don’t have get a neat unordered list. I have my style specifications, my poorer viewers have their content. Everyone is happy.
The moral of the story? Semantic means something which has a meaning. Always assign tags to elements so that the tags tend to describe the properties that you want to relate to that element, and try to avoid generic tags like <div> or <span> wherever possible.
Tags: development
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
I’d like to give a heads up to Sig9: if you haven’t been there already, do so. The site got a major redesign the other day and now it looks more uber cool than ever. Content also has started pouring in, with new forum posts and excellent articles, one of which I’d like to highlight here: PHP Baby Steps by Anoop.
And as usual, if you have anything to say, go talk in the Sig9 forums, or leave a comment here.
Tags: chaff
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Updated the site to use Wordpress. It’s advertised as a better alternative to B2, and it works as such. There were a few upgrade hitches, but everything worked after a few hours of tweaking. What I like most about it though, is the Links Manager. I didn’t like depending on Blogroll that much, though I’ve left the link in (in the sidebar) for people who do use it. The Link Manager available with Wordpress is a first-class utility (it even includes a Link This! javascript link that I can drag to the Firebird toolbar and click on when I visit an interesting site) and I’ll recommend an update to all B2 users out there just for this feature. Aside from that, I popped in the calendar and the feeds, rearranged some links and viola, I like the Vysnu that I created.
Tags: vysnu.com
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Writing. So much for yesterday’s post. I decided to take a break from college today (a break from everything really) and having nothing much else to do, I decided to work on the site. For a change, it’s something that I want to do. A word about the section, Writing is not meant for everyone to digest. If you don’t like it, don’t blame me. And, a word as a disclaimer: You should be open enough, and you should think you’re old enough.
And now, for the question of the day. For me, the distance between obligations and stuff-i-like is something like halfway across the universe. Is it so for everyone? (Hint: Click comments to respond.)
Oh, in case you forgot, go here and start reading.
Tags: chaff
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Monday, October 13, 2003
That’s the title of the piece I wrote immediately after I got the entrance results. It basically consisted of a number: Two Eight Five Zero, followed by endless rhetoric about lots of things that I thought relevant then. I read it again last week and what struck me most about it was it’s poignancy. Believe me when I say I can write well. It’s like reliving the moment.
But I don’t need the writing to do that now. I’ve got one suppli - Graphics - for the S12 exams. It’s breaking my bones into two. Don’t expect me until they’ve healed over.
Tags: chaff
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Sunday, October 12, 2003
And so, just like that, Unchecked Ramblings gets into another munchy avatar. Permit me some nostalgia: UR One was born early in my days of web logging - early in the days of web logging when it hadn’t grown to quite the fad it is now, but then I was four or five years younger. It was all grey and white and with a cover page I believe (and it was all tables,) but it was still the UR that gave birth to Two and Three - swankier, better versions where I learned a bit more about funny things like HTML, Javascript and CSS.
It got a bit funnier in Four and Five since I learnt things like prefixing X to things (XHTML) and lengthening and confusing the expansions of some others (ECMAScript) and of course, my dear sweet PHP, and sweeter CSS2 and swankier tableless layouts which Tresni first introduced me to. Some might say that Four and Five are retarded brothers of their predecessors - they are right in some ways, but I tend to now think that Less is More.
Clean shiny layouts don’t break under stress. Fast Forwarding from Four, UR stagnated for a while, till I found Koal (which is a CMS I’m still developing) and then it got an XML frontend. Of course, Real Life changed many things. I met some new friends, made a new site, a new log, and then I even bought myself a new domain.
Not forgetting lesser cousins, this is Avatar Seven of Unchecked Ramblings, and sadly I’ll let the name slide. Welcome Vysnu into your midst.
What can you expect?
Daily updates for one. I’ve no excuse now and that’ll help me a lot<g> Vysnu is powered by B2 and that makes for damn easy post composition in a very sleek interface. I sort of really like it. Till I can get Koal up and running the way I want to, I’ll hack the B2 code to get things done. Aside from that, some more content. I know I’ve dropped some hints around here that I write a bit. I do, and I’ll post some of my stuff here, soon. Those stories would probably make me still weirder, but what the hell, I’m too happy about this to care.
Tags: vysnu.com
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Saturday, October 11, 2003
Its wonderful. Good writers are like good painters: they are both artists, they work hard at what they do, and they produce things that people like, and both of them leave a lot to Imagination so that the reader (or the viewer) call fill in the gaps in their work.
But what makes writing special is that you don’t have to have “a way with words” to produce good works. Grammar, syntax, style, word-ordering, alliteration, spelling: all this doesn’t have to be accurate for a work to be good. I’ve read many mispelled works on the net that could have
the caliber of professional works once they are polished up. There are so many people who can write, but there are so few people who actually do. Somebody calculated that if you write two hundred words a day (half an A4 side) you can write a novel a year, and that is as much healthy writing as people should tend to do.
Writing is a craft that is a natural progression from reading. If you read a lot, you can write. And if you read a lot lot lot, you can write well. And introspective writing is the best kind. And writing fiction about the places around you is the hardest kind. Writing a good novel also means being sensitive about your reader audience. That in itself is a kind of a contradiction: You write because you want to, but your stories are so because your readers can understand and appreciate it. I struggled with that for quite a while. Most of the stories at Devart are the kind that are vague. People think being deliberately vague is cool: making the reader guess is something you should do. I don’t agree. Using hazy words don’t tend to make your story strong. It just makes you lazy. Details are the spice of life. The more the details the merrier. And tailoring your work to fit the reader is also not a crime. Good writing always means adaptability, though not at the price of a complete U-turn.
Take it from me, writing is a lot more fun than writing about writing. Some links to help you along:
Deviantart Prose |
Deviantart Poetry |
Small Spiral Notebook
Tags: chaff
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Saturday, October 11, 2003
Ione serves me. Well, I might add. Uselessly too, since I’m not running anything on my server right now. It downloads pretty well though - Shareaza attends
to all my P2P needs, and Wackget is a very good download accelerator (based on the Unix wget, which could be the best download manager of all time) serves the
rest of my web download needs. So Ione is a download beast. For now.
Tags: shuttered eye
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