Tag: writing

Heroism in the Office

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, IronAge

Modern masculinity walks a real fine line these days, that line becomes even slimmer in an office setting. From the 60s to the early oughts, the easiest way to frame a romantic lead as the protector was simply to have him step in against an aggressor. Bonus points if the aggressor is larger in size or has more “intimidating allies. I’m talking about the biker who slaps a girl’s ass or the drunk frat boy who won’t take no for an answer, our heroine showing visible discomfort before the hero steps in. This scene played well until the late oughts then things changed.

The first thing to change was years of these scenes in the media making it socially clear that the aggressor was already in the wrong and the heroine being able to defend herself either socially with a flat out verbal rejection, use of a taser, or more recently her mary sue like combat training. These scenes didn’t necessarily ruin the romance but often provided an opportunity for the male romantic lead to either see her not as someone who needs to be protected but as an equal capable of being the protector if the situation calls for it. 

These scenes create a new problem, because now how can you show the age old dynamic of protector hero and delicate heroine. A dynamic many still enjoy. You can’t just rehash the tried and true aggressor without calling attention to all men as dangerous, even if there are “good ones”. It also frames women as being incapable of protecting themselves. Congrats you’ve alienated a portion of both sexes being independent women and those men who count themselves among the “not all men”. 

Here’s how Mobius threads the needle. In Episode 2, 28 minutes in, we are given a flight plan. Our romantic lead and main character Ding Qi and his potential romantic partner An Lan share an elevator ride. At first the ride is just the two of them catching her up on Ding Qi’s new position as security for her CEO and hints of intimacy brewing. Their intimacy gets interrupted by a flow of people onto the elevator making the space instantly cramped. Here’s where the protector dynamic starts, Ding Qi grabs two hand rails creating a safe space around An Lan who now occupies the corner of the car. As the elevator starts to move it’s important that we see insecurity and then comfort come over An Lan as she doesn’t have to rub shoulders and jostle with the office crowd because Ding Qi is shielding her. Ding Qi looks back at her and checks on her and they exchange glances letting him know that she is fine. Then after we see her smile a careless passenger steps on the foot of Ding Qi. Now normal social etiquette would have most people just be uncomfortable but that’s not what you’d want from a masculine hero. A modern masculine hero needs to stand up for himself in a socially acceptable way though. Ding Qi’s solution was to politely speak up “You’re on my foot.” loud enough that those in his vicinity could clearly hear him but soft enough that only those in his immediate vicinity would hear and everyone could pretend except the offender could pretend like they didn’t hear anything. This allows everyone to save face in the situation where the person stepping on his foot could move and everyone gets to pretend like nothing happened. However, the offender doesn’t move. This time loud enough for the entire car to hear and with an aggressive tone Ding Qi repeats himself, the man turns around sees the challenge and backs down. 

Ding Qi has successfully shown himself willing to protect the comfort of An Lan and stand up for himself against challenges but to do so in socially acceptable ways.

My key takeaways from this scene are

Use of escalating levels of conflict

Talk < Speak with Authority < Return Aggression < Physical

Protection must be given after consent, either implied or explicit 

An Lan puts herself behind Ding Qi and he pins her in the corner, giving her his back. Then checks on her for continued consent/approval.

None of this works if we as the audience don’t have the proper background music and explicit shots of the actors showing their changes in mood and approval. (great directing).

If written it’s easier to simply narrate the characters thoughts and feelings on the event.

Mobius 

https://www.netflix.com/watch/82096030?trackId=200257858&t=<1680&gt;

The Canteen (quick fic)

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in IronAge

“The usual?” Ricardio the bar tender asked, eying me for either recognition or trying to recall if he remembers what that is. He didn’t turn his back waiting for me to tell him the truth. How this prick knows, I can’t magine. But he earns his tips that’s for sure.

“Stronger, today Ricky.” He nods twice and pours me three fingers of mercury vodka and two shots of mash bitters. Then starts making another.

“It’s in the eyes you know.”

Throwing back the first glass. “What?”

“Whatever you’ve lost this time. It’s more than pride, pride is in the lips. Loss is in the eyes.”

“Sure thing.”

Sliding the next glass under my nose. “You’re not going to find it at the bottom of a bottle. But you know that.”

“Just need some time, Ricky.”

///

Finally a step-up, working security for Krok. His last dog was shot down over getting between him and a junkie. Now I’m that dog, 750 Kroner for covering the weekend deals. Krok has got to be the easiest gig. I mean running was fun and the adrenaline was exciting, but I got a baby girl now and have to be a bit more responsible. All I got to do is be seen, be mean, and throw myself between him and either a pinch or a punch.

The only reason to leave is when the marines are off duty and looking to save some damsels. They come here for a fight, lucky the glow bright. General Rockhard sends his rookie’s here to test them against his brother’s racers. I always liked watching that scuffle. In true fact, I met my baby mama right over by the iHeart box. I tossed one of the racer’s back into the fray, He was being thrown and would have landed on her and her girls night out table. Course being a proper crimesman, I can’t stick around for when the station boys show up at start tazing everyone.

Tonight seems like the port is empty and the deals will be with the regulars.

///

“Because I wanted to play pool?”

Mindy scoffed. “You want to see Gavin on his key-ter?”

“Oh, is he playing here tonight?”

“Honey just don’t throw your panties at him.”

“I’m not going to embarrass you.”

“Just being here is embarrassment enough. How am I to attract the attention of a rich captain? When this is where the bilge crew drinks?”

“You’re dressed to the nine’s look how scared all the men are to talk with you.”

“Ten’s honey, I am a ten of ten even here.”

Getting an air job

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

“I just don’t trust the man.”

“But he’s got that good suit.”

“What’s that got to say about if he is about what he says he’s about?”

“Well, he ain’t no carpet bagger is what I am getting at.”

“That’s what I don’t trust, he talks like he comes from a big city and that good schoolin.”

“He’d have to be educated to be a recruiter for Robertson.”

“Ah, I ain’t buying what he is selling.”

“Would you buy into me though?”

“500 dollars, that’s a big ask.”

“I got half. I just need some pitch to get me over the line.”

“What are you going to eat after your last cent is in that man’s pocket?”

“I’ll find a way to eat.”

“Where are you going to sleep? In the gutters camped out with the Hoovers.”

“Once I’m in the air it won’t matter where my home is. I’ll live hanger to hanger, save on room and board, and I could catch a duck right out the window for feasting.”

“You just don’t understand. You gonna fail, come back here or die in that city’s gutter.”

“If I want it bad enough I can do it.”

“Guess you didn’t want it bad enough, then right?”

“But I do.”

“But if you did you’d have the 500 that man needs. You wouldn’t have spent your dimes and dollars on pulps and picture books. You would have been working not laying in the fields looking at the sky.”

“That ain’t fair.”

“Life never was.”

“I just need your pitch and I’ll pay you back.”

“Look if I just gave you the rest and you bounce out to St. Louis, with no money, no plan, no friends. You’ll be dreaming in the gutter, still a lay about.”

“Fine, then let me rain on your dreams for a change. It must be pretty powerful if you can stomach all those summer days digging ditches and pulling Turnbulls estate free of weeds.”

“You know I break my back so Pa doesn’t break my hide. I dream of getting enough to get away, but rent in the city starts at 25 dollars a month. And wages without learning would cause me to bleed out after half a year. That’s why I got what I got, I got a plan and I’m making it happen.”

“I’ll pay your rent.”

“What?”

“Look you, give me the pitch, use the rest to bleed out and before you do. I will pay all the rent.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You calling me a liar?”

“I didn’t call you a liar.”

“Well, then I must be a truther and truth is, even if I can start to split the rent. You get your nice own apartment. I get hot water and with a few shined shoes or papers out, we’d have hot meals.”

“Sweeten it.”

“Fine, after I’m a full fledged pilot. I’ll pay all the rent for you forever.”

“To sweet.”

“Catch though…”

“Awe course, well?”

“I get to stay with you whenever I’m in the city. Drop of a hat.”

“Fair, now one last condition.”

“If you fail and ain’t a pilot-” “-Can’t fail-” “If you fail and ain’t a pilot. You kill my father and Buster Turnbull.”

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

“You can’t just kidnapped people Pawnse.”

“I didn’t kidnapped no one, no how, good sir.”

“Then why is there a lady bound and gagged to our good chair?”

“What?!”

Bishop reaches his hand to remove the gag, a pair of Pawnse’s under-breeches, from the lady’s mouth.

“Wait!” Bishop’s hand stops shy of the rag. “You need to threaten em first so as not to scream and alert the neighbors?”

Bishop’s colour fades, “What neighbors we are in the middle of Darkwood? Some werewolf going to come and turn us into the town guard. The three day ride from here guard?”

The bound lady mumbles something and the rag gets wet with her spit. Her words were not screams under the rag.

“Don’t speak unless you are spoken to. Understood?” Bishop wagged a finger. She nodded

“Wait shouldn’t we be wearing our hoods? So she can’t pick us out of a line-up.”

“Pawnse just let me get this dam rag out her mouth and we can find out who tied her up with your scaling rope and stuffed her mouth with your breeches?”

“Alright suit yourself, she’s out to get us though, clearly it’s a trap. She was probably drugged and left her so that we’d get pinched for kidnapping. Rook probably set the whole thing up so that he ain’t got to pay for the last job.”

“MUMBLES!”

“See Bishop she is getting impatient, bet she is in on it, probably was told to get the location of the easel out of us?”

“Well if she is trying to get information out of us. I’d say she is doing a dam fine job so far. Hap’s you ought to be the one gagged.”

“Don’t you dare threaten to stuff mine or your breeches in my mouth. That ain’t right.”

“Then why did you do such to her?”

“I didn’t, I swears.”

“Unless you let me untied her and remove this gag, we only have half the story. And all the evidence saying you kidnapped this bit and brought her straight to our kitchen.”

“Look, I know how it looks but I didn’t kidnap no one.”

“MUMBLES”

“Just admit you did and why?”

“I had the thought of kidnapping a seer to help us with the Bezeus problem. But that was just a thought. And maybe some sketches.”

“You can’t just kidnap a seer.”

“Okay I had a really good plan though.”

“MUMBLES – screaming and nodding”

“Wait are you a seer?”

she nods her head.

“Pawnse, you kidnapped a seer?”

“I did not. It was just a thought. Ain’t no thought crime.”

“Did my friend Pawnse napp you miss?”

she meets eyes with Pawnse then shakes her head no slowly

“She is framing me Bishop. This is a set-up, I didn’t even get the chance to kidnap her yet, so I’m an innocent.”

“Alright, miss Seer, I’ll be removing your mouth piece now. I know you know I’d knock a tooth loose if you give an ear splitter.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bishop.” She cleared her throat and spoke nervously at Pawnse “Did I do good?”

Pawnse rolled his eyes, with a harumph, turning his body away to watch the front door. He felt off about this whole thing.

“What is your name?”

“I am Typhany, or just Tiff for short. I am of the third order of Archmedious.”

“How did you end up here in out kitchen?”

“I was going to be kidnapped, by your friend, he was going to be successful but there were going to a few casualties, I’d rather not have on my soul.”

“See I told you it was a good plan.”

“That’s why I decided to give myself up, in exchange for their futures. I kidnapped myself.”

“You can’t kidnap a seer, Ha bet you feel the fool there Bishop.”

Ail-sha the Troll princess

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

Nothing worse than an itch on your nose you can’t scratch… Why is that the focus of my mind? If only I had the wits to focus on my actual problems. Like the ropes digging burns into my wrists or the lose of feeling in my hands as I dangle, a solid meter off the ground, in the bridal tent.

Getting captured was part of my clever plan you see, losing my fingers was not something I foresaw though. I guess they didn’t need to bind my legs since the trolls and half trolls could catch up to a full sprint in less than a stride. With a short swing back and an explosive crunch, throwing my feet above my head. With my shoulders locking my chest above the chin, a good double kick and I had my feet around the tree used as a mid-tent pole.

The trolls had left the bark on, which made it very effect at it’s task releasing my from my current torture. Satisfaction of an itch scratched. I counted it among my blessings that the tree was of sap variety and was still fresh enough to not crumble at my nuzzling. Second blessing was the feeling returning to the tips of my fingers.

“Wat’cha doin’ der?” I couldn’t see who spoke, face full of log. A half-tongue though, clearly not a full troll.

“Just scratching my nose a bit.” I politely retorted. No need for poor manners, I am an honored guest after all.

“Silly grain-boy, I could have gotten that for you.”

“Then do me a spot and get at my right shoulder a bit.”

“Like thissss” Cracked, cold ivory pressed into the back of my shoulder. My guest drew tight circles along my shoulder creases. It burned a little as it chipped off chips of dried dirt and worked it’s uneven points into my muscle.

“Thank you, that’s quite good.”

“Isn’t it customary among you tiny things to repay such an act.”

“Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. That’s generally the deal. So I suppose,”! Six points pierced my right shoulder. All the relief turned white hot. My back cooled by my blood. Dropping back into a swing I pulled out chunks of bark with my knees, chunks of my knees as well.

“Now grain-boy. Bite me!”

There she was the fruit of my labor’s the troll chief’s daughter, Ail-sha. Half-elf, Half-troll. A thing grey beauty. All the strength of a full male Troll, and the grace of an Elf. Eight and Half feet tall she looked me in the eyes.

“I bite you… now you bite me.”

Her thumb and ring finger pinned back my ears. She squeezed the back of my head, Intense pressure built up in my temples as she forcefully buried my mouth into her neck. Thankfully I have sharp canines or she would have crushed my skull before I could draw blood. Dragging my teeth deeper down her neckline opening the bite as far as my bound state would let me.

Feeling her grip on my skull loosen, I hooked my legs around the bottom of her ribs. She wasn’t much wider than the roof post and at least I had tension off of my neck and shoulders.

She cooed as the warm air between us and the heat of her body turned her blood into steam. Under the wisps of my own panting I watched as the wound drew close, I had to take another bite.

Horror Writing.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

H.P. Lovecraft started his writing process by defining the emotion he was going after. Then drafting until he would illicit that feeling his subjects..ERH..um.. readers. But H.P. Was a heavy plotter.

Stephen King started with a concept and built around it until it was horrifying. And if he failed in giving the scene the sense of horror intended he would go to the extremes of gross to make the scene at least uncomfortable giving it a more horrifying weight in the readers memory as they would be unnerved to recall such passages. Mr. King was a pantser and started with a concept and characters then followed them through the plot as needed to write his book.

I think that when telling a horror story whether on film or the page. You should at least keep in mind the types of and stages of horror.

Unknown, Uncanny, Unstoppable

are at least three of the most common.

Unknown

is the easiest to do right because it is the most commonly done wrong. Darkness itself is not scary, it’s when we can see or hear or feel the edges of what lies in the darkness that begins to press the panic button. It’s when a shadow’s fold over themselves in the corner of the room to make the outline of death himself patiently waiting without breathe for your eyes to close here in this world be you are claimed to his. It’s the darkness of space where stars no longer grow but the eyes see a tint of something else blocking the depths from truly being seen. It’s the shifting at the bottom of a lake, past the searcher’s reflection and the clear sky waters that refuse to let the Autumn clouds above take shape as easily as they do in the sky because something is disturbing the water’s hold on them.

When starting with the Unknown each time it appears it must become more defined, otherwise the subject will place their guard between the satisfaction of knowing and the terror of finding out. The most common mistake is going from 10% reveal to 100% reveal before the third act. The audience expects to find out slowly, manage their expectations against the needs of your story.

Examples:

Friday the 13th

IT by Stephan King

Uncanny

is when something is not quite right. I’d venture that in cinematography this is used by accident and because of form rather than by a deliberate attempt to unnerve the audience.

The best examples are often dolls, painting, ghosts because they are so common and illicit uncanny speculation since they are suppose to fit within a box but changing small details between scenes or in scenes makes them uncanny.

Inanimate objects that move when the viewer isn’t viewing them directly create the start of uncanny horror. “Julee, now three, was about to have her baby sister sharing her room. The sweetest and nicest child according to the neighborhood girls who babysat on our monthly night out. We had set up the crib in the space that was formerly her “High” tea area, where she held here tea parties, passively she may have been throwing us signs that she was upset but she was very outspoken and happy. All the dolls and animals that she gathered around her table were now leaning up against as the wall as if in time-out, all except her porcelain kamacha doll her favorite. She would sit on the edge of Julee’s bed watching the other dolls. Julee was nothing but happy when we talked about her sister coming out of my belly and home soon.”

Ghosts are often given descriptions and visages that would make them human but one detail is wrong. “It may have been they open window but the temperature had fallen and the room was now cold enough to start my shivers. Even over a boiling pot of stew I feel a draft when she walks in the room. Except for a floorboard creak her feet never fall hard enough to hit the ground with sound. “AS A Lady should..” god I’ll be hearing that for the rest of my living days.”

You can start on either side of the Uncanny valley but you must slowly move away from your starting position to build a sense of progression. Dolls with dead eyes and human hair must become moving, talking, demons with soft flesh beating under their immobile outer shell. Ghosts can start as whispers and wind and become the outstretched hand clutching at it’s victim with intend to drag them through the looking glass OR Ghosts can start as people who drift further from humanity as the story unfolds, giving up breathe by never moving their chest, staring off into thought for inhuman stretches, translucency, transparency, incorporeal. The longer something remains in the exact definition as it’s starting point the more familiar that thing becomes and fear begins to remove itself.

Unstoppable

is the pretty clear as in being self defined BUT it does not mean indestructible. There must be hope however small that it can be stopped removing that hope creates certainty and certainty is the enemy of horror. If your monster has eaten a grenade explosion and hasn’t even lost a tooth then his immortality is certain.

A cockroach can be crushed and defeated, a thousand is a challenge, a million is a certainty.

A lumbering zombie can be outsmarted, outmaneuvered, or defeated with brawn. You can out run a zombie but you can’t run forever and while you rest your fragile warm body more gather outside waiting for you meet another demand be it food or fresh air.

Death will come for you. The hope is not today or until the end of your earthly works but that is never a guarantee. You have illusion and hope that your choices have some impact on whether he knocks tomorrow or sixty years from now, eat healthy, avoid stress, go to the doctor all of these are well and good but they do not still the reapers hand forever.

I just want to wrap this up with how Friday the 13th uses all three of these to great effect. But when watching a good example its hard to see why it is good. As an artist you’ll learn more/faster from the mistakes you make and the mistakes of others than from works without mistakes.

With love and hopefully better dreams than me,

HngyHngyHppo

Manufacturing Credibility

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

Credibility is defined as the quality of being trusted and believed in.

But it is not the same as being true.

Who is more credible on the subject of writing?

The college professor who has published in scholarly journals

OR

The New York Times best selling author

…

The rational would say that it depends on the advice or the subject. The emotional will indicate that it depends on their proximity and relationship to the subject.

R: The professor specializes in Russian Long form and Eastern European poetry, so as long as that is the realm we are discussing then they are more credible than The NYT bestseller H.K. Rowling but on the subject of YA or scholastic fiction Rowling’s is the more creditable source.

E: I loved the Harry Potter books and they inspired my own journey into writing fan fiction then novels, H.K. Rowling’s is the more creditable source. But my teacher has shown me the finer points of the finer technical points of long form novels even if they were written by some Russian ages ago.

The answer I’ve been trying to find is just how does one manufacture “Credibility”

I know it’s been done before and I’ve seen it done a few different ways.

The first is

“FOAF”

or friend of a friend

the poem “Ozymandias”, Plato’s description of the fall of Atlantis, Star Wars’ opening crawl.

Each use this with great effect to provide a creditable foundation.

It is thought (incorrectly) that because a story is removed by time, space, and even told third hand that it becomes less creditable but there is a blind spot in our psyche’s in the factor of three.

“I met a traveler(1) from an antique land(2).

Who said(3):…”

Ozymandias

In Plato’s Dialogues Plato(1) writes that Socrates(2) called three men to meet him. Socrates(2) asked the men about Atlantis Critias(3,) told them of a story he heard from his grandfather(1A) who heard from the lawgiver Solon(2A) who brought tales from Egypt(3A) about Atlantis.

Plato uses the FOAF technique twice. First to give himself credibility (that this meeting happened and these things were said) then again to give the speaker Critias credibility (that the city/country of Atlantis was indeed a real place).

For the rational this is too far removed to be trusted, but for the emotional with ties/respect for Socrates this is only one use of FOAF and likely creditable.

And of course Star Wars opens with

“A long(1) time ago in a galaxy far(2), far(3) away.”

Each modifier here adds distance and with FOAF gives enough credibility to narrative about to crawl across the screen before the star destroyer appears.

Now of course it’s just a fairy tale nod.

“Once upon a time(1), in a kingdom far(2), far(3) away.”

but with less modifiers the story’s required suspension of disbelief is at jeopardy from over scrutiny of the audience. With more modifiers like Plato’s Dialogues the relevance to the target is called into question and the information can be judged objectively on it’s merits.

“A long(1), long(2), like really long(3) time ago, in a far(4) away place, like further(5) than you’ve ever been before in your life far(6).”

This preface will be ignored and the story will have to stand on it’s own merits

Or

“A while(1) back, a few(2) towns from here.”

This story can be investigated. It’s too recent and too close someone else would need to corroborate that the story is true.

The Second Method of manufacturing creditably is through association. This is target specific and what gives you credibility with one group may make you worth skepticism from another.

Is the Professor from Oxford, Harvard, Yale, the ivy league, Any-town College, or Community College.

Those I’ve met who’ve topped out at a High School diploma provide less credibility the higher up the Academic ladder of Prestige one has climbed. But for those with less than a High School Diploma or more the higher up on Mount Olympus one has climbed and degrees authority from the more credible they are.

Is the best selling author recognized by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Goodreads, or Amazon.

The NYT list is a curated list and lends itself to a higher amount of credibility to those outside the publishing industry. Publishers Weekly list is mostly data driven and objective but there are clear cases of advertisers (cough Disney, big 5) consistently placing high even when there numbers may* not be reflected by Amazon’s sales numbers of the same titles. But Amazon has many different categories and in order to have a best seller author’s may have in the past incorrectly categorized their works and personally bought just a dozen copies to claim the top spot and become a number one best seller. Which is why it ranks lowest in credibility even if the top spot was truly earned for a hard category like Fantasy or Romance, it’s impossible to tell those Amazon bestsellers from Fictional Johnny who listed his fantasy novel under Contemporary Fiction.

-IMPORTANT Aside-

Amazon is currently testing Amazon Author Rank as a replacement for their individual category best selling lists. Which means that going forward if the system will be much harder to game but the damage to their reputation will be persistent. This is a good thing for Amazon’s reputation but a bad thing for upcoming Authors who are now competing in the back pages of for potential readers attention. It means that J.K. Rowling will be the Most Popular Fantasy Author even if she never writes another book in here life. Her work will rank at the top spot for decades to come because if this is how readers are introduced to the fantasy section they may just start from the top and give her eight points over her nearest competitor. Sad times really as independent authors job to get notice just got much harder.

-Aside over-

The last method I’ve found is introduction and vouching.

“Have you met my friend Jane she is a classically trained Pianist.”

Now it doesn’t matter if any of that is true. It doesn’t matter if my and the Target are friends. All that matters is someone has vouched for Jane and her credibility. Even If I am a known liar and Jane looks disheveled and perhaps homeless. What matters is the Jane’s credibility is TWO v. ONE. And the target’s resistance to the group is all that stands in the way of Jane being the an authority of whether Handel’s Messiah can be played with only the left handle.

This is credibility through group authority. Essentially the more people you have one your side the more credible you are. A tactic of politics, Head cheerleaders, and Ceo’s who have more than one assist in entourage. The more people eyes nodding in agreement the higher the credibility of the speaker.

Did you hire a cameraman to follow you around, How about a whole camera crew.

Those are the method’s I’ve learned about Manufacturing Credibility.

TL;DR

I heard it from a friend of a friend that this is true.

As a Harvard professor: “this is true.”

“Meet Jane she’s an authority on the subject and she says that this is true.”

but none of these are in themselves true though they are highly credible.

With love,

HngyHngyHppo

How to Have a Successful Self-Employed Day

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

Simple: You decide before the day whether it’s going to be a success or not

Then

at the end of the day decide whether or not it was successful.

Simple?

-NO

Truth is it is very hard to judge yourself whether the day was successful. Whatever your field, their will be landmines.

I’ll tell you about mine-field then boil down that experience and hopefully it will help you flip your houses, sell your Amway, or make sweet vapor-wave beats like Fwenzy.

I am a writer, publisher, marketer, manager, blogger, husband, nutrition enthusiast, philosopher, game theorist, mechanic and a video game addict.

I can’t do all of these everyday. There is not enough hours and as little as I sleep, my dreams are filled with workflow processes and Javascripting stacks.

But when I have my “Days off” I have to decide what will make a successful day before I go to bed the night before.

Thurs-Fri are my typical “Days off” ergo these are the days I get to pour hours into my company.

I start with a word count goal typically 2k-3k.

Some days I only get 500 words toward my finished work. Those are sad days but they happen. It’s not that I didn’t try on those days. I spent the time at the computer with Word Open, I went to the gym, I wasn’t too full or too hungry. Typically I painted myself into a corner and sense I write from the hip meaning I do very little plotting, I occasionally run into a scenario where the characters have to solve some challenge but it has to be in a believable way.

I can’t have the honest paladin steal a set of keys to free his friend who got locked up for sleeping with the captain’s daughter. I can’t just magic a solution from the barkeep who happened to be an Ex-mage. The lover can’t just turn her objections into affections because the sex scene would really slip in well here, no the characters have to be true to themselves. Because unlike real life fiction has to make sense.

When you work for yourself you decide whether or not your day was a success. But you need to measure not just yesterday but the day before and the day before that. Each day looking back with the knowledge you have now and evaluating exactly how successful that day was.

This Little Blog

has yielded not a single book sale I’m aware of. So is it worth maintaining?

Yes, Blogging helps me write by getting over myself and getting a lot of the junk out of my system. And while most days I get only a single view. Since regularly posting each week starting in March:

I’ve garnered over 20 followers, 12 of which I’m certain are real life robots

I’ve gotten over a thousand unique visitors. Two of my posts regularly appear in google search results.

I’ve even been referenced over on KiwiFarms as a source of red pill authority

-Quite the feather in my Fedora-

{Blatant Sarcasm}

{}About the Fedora{}

Now my current game-plan is no secret, Once I have Three more Novella’s in the Chamber. I’m going to push The Duke and The Dragon Hard as every read should yield my an ROI of $35. Finally writing will be profitable. Hopefully by Jun 2021 It will be my full time gig.

I have been writing for three years. And every single November has been a dead month. That’s three November’s without a single word written. What’s that random #writingcommunity stranger #NaNoWriMo is November where people write a 50k novel in a single month and my novella’s only Average 40k. Well then, FUCK YOU, -straight-en’s choker- I mean clearly my muse is busy helping others that month.

But I’ve looked at the trend and I have to say. I’m taking next November off, regardless. That’s right random citizen author I’ll be on Vacay while you’re cramming at #NaNoWriMo. Because It’s had no measurable negative impact on my writing quality or my works in progress. November is filled with family issue’s events and surprises from the woodwork. Was it a successful month? If I just looked at this past November I would say no, But since I have 2018 and 2017 to look at as well. I have a different view, Was 2019 November a success? Yes, I am quite refreshed and ready to work.

In Three Year’s I’ve written Three Books. In Four I’ll have Written Seven or Ten. If I can make this my full time- gig. I’m looking at clocking Ten a year.

When you are working for yourself, you have to take all the data step back as far as possible from where you are, so you can see both where you are going and where you came from.

Some day’s i do feel like shit because I’m not working “HARD” enough then I remember how much harder I am working now than when I started and I feel a little better. Also I my blogging skills are improving

-except for putting pretty pictures up-

{I don’t care for that level of Aesthetics}

SO has you’re day been successful?

Compared to this time last week?

This time last year?

This time last decade?

If the answer is no

What needs to change?

That is the only other question you need to ask.

With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

Newsstand Pulp, Comic Spinners, Disney+, and why Harry Potter is the last great original IP franchise.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

As a writer of novella’s my competition is every piece of media in existence, not just other books or movies, video games and YouTube as well, and even online click-bait articles from twitter or the FaceBook and fanfic hosted by WattPad. I am selling an hour and a half of entertainment after all.

A market theorist should argue that “With increased competition, the quality of the goods and services provided will increase as well.”

My starving artist friends argue that getting endorsed by an industry titan will provide financial success and legitimacy of their talents. My comic artist friends want contracts with Marvel or DC. My painters want their art on display and endorsed through high art circulations. Writers want a publishing deal with the Big 5. Musicians a record deal.

The current market is not a meritocracy. It looks that way on the surface and as long as people believe it’s operating fairly, my artist friends (you included) will not upset the institutions they seek validation from.

The current market is still an aristocracy but that is about to change.

If you want to skip the three narratives that I have based this theory on then skip ahead to these marks

_—_

Our story starts in the 1920s when newsstands became filled with pulp magazines. Competition was high. It bread Robert E. Howard. Competition was so high in fact that even the greats like the creator of Conan could not support themselves off of writing alone. Even being paid $0.01 a penny a word for a short story or serial part ($20 for 2k/ 4 pages), which is $0.15 in 2019 money (a 2k story would pay $300).

Competition was high on the newsstands, but there was no TV, no internet, no Facebook.

The 30s came around and a new beast started attacking the pulps dominance.

Comics.

By the 40s only a few Titans of pulp were left, comparable to today’s BIG 5 publishers. They would only accept the best the likes of Issac Asimov, but by the 1960s Competition was to high and what even the big magazines could afford to pay was too low to attract talent. The pulp magazine industry died somewhere in the early seventies a quite death.

Forty years is a good run but what happened to pulp magazines is what’s killing Comics.

In the 90s comics were still in every grocery store. A cheap impulse buy was the only barrier to keep up with the adventures of the Amazing Spider-Man. Accessible to everyone. Until one day they weren’t, the comic shops had opened and the speculator market was booming. Image Comics forced innovation from the big 2. This single extra step of going to a comics store prevented “normies” from buying comics, or the brands from attracting new fans. Licensing characters to Saturday morning TV (IMO) is responsible for creating the next generation of fans eager to watch batman/spider-man/MCU films.

Competition, since the 90s, is high but the inconvenience barrier of the comic book stores prevents access to a casual audience. The direct market, comic bookstores, continue to lose customers. Sept 2019’s number 1 comic was Spawn 300 which sold an est 262,599 units while the number 10 sold Harleen issue 1 sold 84,785. For point of reference, keep in mind that Wonder Woman was the reworked in the late 60s because it was selling only around 200,000 copies a month for an average issue. (known as the Mod ERA)

Sales are so low that Disney owned Marvel is considering shutting down the comics book division.

Disney sits at the top of the market place right now. They want to leverage this position to run Disney+ and make that sweet Netflix money. Competition in the streaming service center is now high. Access is also getting harder.

Lets go back to before cable, Disney use to air it’s movies on regular television. Then once cable came along and VHS, Disney switched to a direct to customer model. Selling it’s classic films for limited time to customers who didn’t have cable and locking their films behind the cable pay wall. They turned away 80s children who now didn’t have access to their films. Then in the 90s when they became dependent on those same 80s children to watch their films, no one showed up to the theatre. Disney almost went bankrupt before the Pirates franchise saved them in the early 2000s.

Disney+ will do the same for the Disney corporation, when they depend on the adults and parents of 2030 to show up to the theatre.

Now the short answer as to why Harry Potter will be the last great original IP.

Harry Potter books came out in the 90s. Where was there audience exposed to them? What was there competition?

Scholastic Book Fairs

90s children had little internet, no cell phones, comic books were in comic stores.

Before the movies were released, this series of books was able build a hardcore base over the course of four years then it’s movie releases brought more people into the books. Growing each year as children aged up and were exposed to the books at the book fair and the movies all over television. In 2005 cable became mandatory as the FCC demanded that all TV convert to HD by 2005. Which meant that more people had access to catch the first three Harry Potter films on marathon every other week.

Children today and for the foreseeable future will have unlimited access, to everything. Clint Eastwood’s man with no name trilogy, the death of superman, The entire discography of Prince. Whatever they, or you want, is just a couple of taps away from the palm of your hand. And that’s if they are in the mood to spend or search pirate bay. YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, Wattpad all provide free alternatives to keep you entertained.

_—_

Competition could not be higher.

Access by everyone for everything is high.

Convenience of Access is being limited only by the Titans themselves.

I have a plan, a theory, and a mission. But I can not do this alone.

The Future is not individual artist competing against each other.

The Future is small groups of artists functioning as one for each other.

The larger and more unified the artist group the more effective they will be as individuals.

I’m bringing together seven independent authors whose target audience is men ages 18-25+.

As the Magnificent Seven remarks.

“Men are Cheaper than Rifles.”

Right Now there are two requirements for a seat on this council

          1. You must have at least one professionally edited publish work for sale. (one mistake per 10k words)

          2. You are willing to spent at least 2 hours a week for the promotion and success of the council.

E-mail me at hppofantasywestern@yahoo.com

The first applicant to meet the requirements will be accepted immediately. Then applicants will be approved through an interview process and by a majority vote of the sitting members of the council until all seven positions have been filled. The last approved member of the council will get amazon and goodreads reviews from the sitting six members, As the first order of the council’s business.

Whether first or last you’ll be a winner, if you join a winning team.

I also want to make this clear. I don’t want your money. I want to help you sell books. I want to sell more books. I want to use the skills I have to best serve the other members of the council, in exchange for promotion, legitimacy and audience sharing. If you want these things as well and you’re willing to spend two hours of your time each week trading support for support.

Then let’s work together.

Send these to anyone author you know might be interested.

With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

You can reach me on Twitter at @HppoTweeter

I have a pattern of breaking myself

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized, Vox hierarchy

I just received a text from a fellow trying to leverage the courses his paid for to become a real estate investor. He’s been attempting to break free from the 9-5 life for almost a decade and he asked me a question.

“What I don’t understand, is why don’t we always do the things that are in our best interest, and none of the things that don’t serve us.”

-Future millionaire friend post the year of our lord 2019

The answer is simple… well simply complicated. This is a broad question and their are very specific answers for very specific patterns of behavior or unserving bad habits. Generalizations are not going to help here.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about in the first place.

I first asked this when I was maybe thirteen. I thought at the time I was clever and I could figure it out. I was after all a smart boy, educationally bored and problems like this I could dwell on til I had an answer I deemed suitable.

First I made the question simpler

“Why am I doing things that I don’t 100% want to do because I know aspects of them are bad?”

Things like

Why am I teasing my friend for his failed attempt to draw ghastly? Why don’t I answer all the questions on the quiz? Why don’t I like eating vegetables? Why did I steal that thing? Why do I occasionally drop everything and focus everything on one specific aspect of a task like an annual retentive accountant? Why am I thinking dirty thoughts instead of focusing the math homework?

What I understood then was that each of these things that I was doing was in service to a need that I had but not all my needs as a person. Stealing got me the object of my desire but left me with guilt becuase god says it’s wrong so now I feel bad. Bee tea dubs stealing is wrong unless its inspiration or art or method.

So this is when I broke myself apart to figure out why half of me could be fore something and half could be against it. Or in some cases how twenty percent could take control and do it anyways.

I took the general motivations I as best as I understood them and created a council room within my mind for them to meet and discuss the business of life. I sit as always at the head to my left sits the first chair but all chairs are equal. (This bugs me that even as a child with no knowledge of military seating etiquette. I managed to solve the problem of having a rectangular board room table but distance from the head of the table did not create an implicit rank between the board members. By leaving the chair on my right side empty for guests every member present was equally separated and not therefore equal in voice, votes, and authority though a standard meeting starts from left and ends on the empty or guest chair.)

Well, the first chair sits myself in a leather jacket, long rebellious hair, and a quite curt demeanor. He is in change with aspects of myself that pertain to image, social influence, status, reputation. Basically the Fonz of my brain letting me know how a given course of action will affect me socially. The public relations officer if you will.

Then to his left sits myself rather thinner wearing glasses, a lab coat, a short unkempt but regularly trimmed haircut. His role is to simply tell me the odds of success, cost benefit analysis, and general inquiries needed to raise the quality of data available for future decisions or more accurate predictions. This is the head of my R&D division.

To his left, and at the tail of the table, sits myself bearded in robes with a funny hat and fluctuating religious adornments. Sometimes deacon-like color schemes or wearing a Buddhistic piety cut. His appearance is never static. His role is guide me morally, ethically, and righteously through life as any spiritual advisor would. His arguments come largely from christian teachings but he will incorporate all other available religious teachings as well. Unfortunate Corporations don’t have souls and therefore moral guidance does not have a seat or position within a company’s board room. So there is no corporate equivalent job title but as far as a military command he would literally by the Chaplin.

To his left, now ascending the right hand side of the table. Sits myself in full military regalia, a five star general, military fade cut weekly, the most muscular build of myself, as well as the rudest. He speaks for authority, discipline, and how to concisely achieve victory. The chief of operations or COO would be the corporate equivalent. General Order is about stratagem, resources, and whether or not a course of action is lawful.

To his left is my penis, an unimaginative representation of myself wearing a mushroom capped flesh toned German M35 steel helmet. Yeah I was going through puberty at the time and providing representation to the hormonal screams of my body was and still is important. Otherwise ignoring his thought process leads to unexpected outcomes when shareholders vote over a given course of action. Because he is a strong shareholder within the boardroom of my brain. Suffice it to say his advice will often be “Fuck it!” or “Fuck it hard!” or “Fuck it gently.” or the classic “I don’t give a fuck.”

Then there sits an empty chair and beyond that at the head of the table sits myself, without body.

This helped me discover a few of the reasons why I did things that I shouldn’t be.

Why did I steal that?

Because now you have another item that adds to your social status. It’s what’s cool

It was very likely to succeed. I saw no cause to raise the alarm.

I was out voted. Don’t steal.

While success was likely the consequences of a failed attempt would have been disaster. Don’t do that again without first consulting us.

Nice. Fuck that guy am I right.

Well there you have it a peak behind the framework that I use to deliberate future courses of action when I have time to internally debate whether or not any idea is a good idea or bad one.

Did this solve the ever present problem of long-term self destructive behavior. NO, each behavior must be analyzed and dealt with individuality. There is not blanket cure-all one pill solution to apply.

Much Love,

HngyHngyHppo