Wirefish

My second job was as a commercial artist. I worked at the municipal library as the staff artist. My job was to move books, and I did. Some of the librarians weren’t certain of my aesthetics at first, but when they started having real problems keeping the display shelves full, they backed off and let me work.

At the time, I was in my first semester of college and I’d started with an art class since I’d oil painted for years. In some respects, it’s miraculous that I was as successful as I was at the library. I’d never had formal art training. I based everything on what I learned from studying Pop artists, like Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Johns, and the like.

When I got stuck, I thought, “What would Warhol do?” and did that.

I had a sense of rightness and confidence that now startles me. I have to remind myself that most people have the same feeling of invincibility at that age.

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I think I need a category called “Whine,” but I’m not caving to that urge.

The Angela Knight class I mentioned focused heavily on the Goal-Motivation-Conflict triad (GMC). I’ve been thinking a lot about that and I’ve gone back to my original notes on Cantata, which actually has a lot of that info in it. I keep losing sight of it, though, because it’s either in computer files or in notebooks (I plot and backstory in longhand).

This led me to my next brilliant observation: I really am visual. Like, duh. Funny how we overlook the obvious.

My to-do list now has “GMC all characters on 1 page” as the next task. Thankfully, I have newsprint.

I’ve taken my buddy MizzAdamz’s suggestion to heart. Get this thing out of my hair, so I can move on. I need to, because I had a character from another story pop into my head this morning. So I made notes, but really. I need to work on my own characters. They’re coalescing stories around them.

My OH keeps encouraging me to write about what I’ve done the last year, since he keeps having to listen to my “I learned this, then that, then that” rambles.

And it turns out my glasses are finally in, after 3 weeks. Will be nice to see again.

Interesting article on Harley Quinn from Batman the Animated Series. I was addicted to the show back when it was being broadcast.

This article does a really nice character analysis around why Harley’s character is so compelling, and why it’s so fragile. I’d never quite thought of the Harley-Joker-Batman as a sort of love triangle, but it makes sense.

I never got into superheroes. I met Linda Carter at a signing in the 70s that, honestly, my mother was apparently more excited about than I was, based on the mutilations 5-yo me inflicted on the photo. I liked the 60s Catwoman a whole lot better, if only for that one episode where she had Robin tied down and licked his neck. (Yum. Ahem. Well, there’s one of the reasons I believe kink can be hardwired.)

An extra bonus is the writer’s bible linked to in the article. I’d guessed there was a style sheet to support a range of writers working on the series/franchise, so it’s nice to see behind the curtain. Fandom lacks that structure, which I’m sure we’re all grateful for. (At times. Other times, it would be nice to have a written collection of tropes so n00bs like me wouldn’t spend days scratching our collective heads over when Snape became Draco’s godfather. And subsequently rewriting and discarding swathes of words because it’s not book-canon. Whatever–it was cathartic wish-fulfillment anyway and needed killin’.)

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Here’s a free 90 minute webinar on neuroscience and MBTI. Dario Nandi has been doing interesting research showing how the brains of folks of different personality types actually respond differently to stimulus.

https://www.fuzemeeting.com/replay_meeting/9225cf28/5954279

Type underpins my characterizations and emerges in deep POV. I have too much fun playing type games.

I’m in a class that’s led by Angela Knight, who was interviewed for this podcast. Well, it’s actually an episode of NPR’s On Point.

It’s about 45 minutes, but pretty interesting to listen to. (And reminds me how far behind I am.)

The Big Business of Bodice Rippers