What I really do for a living
My good friend R.K. MacPherson tagged me in the Work in Progress Challenge. I will have my revenge in time. The idea is to answer the questions below, then pass the misery...er, privilege of responding along to three other writers.
I have a couple of works in progress, including The Little Book of Plot & Storyline for Writers, but the questions are designed for a fiction WIP.
1. What is the title of your Work In Progress?
Right now I'm calling it The Books of Eden.
2. Where did the idea for the WIP come from?
Traveling societies, royal progresses, reading A Pattern Language and lots and lots of Joseph Campbell.
3. What genre would your WIP fall under?
YA (-ish) Science Fiction.
4. Which actors would you choose to play characters in a movie rendition?
Molly Quinn, Tilda Swinton, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Adrien Brody all feature prominently.
5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?
Following a global geological disaster, a planetary AI takes humanity under its protective wing.
6. Is your WIP published or represented?
Neither.
7. How long did it take you to write?
I'll let you know when I finish it.
8. What other WIP’s in your genre would you compare it to?
Never gave it a thought. Someone else will have to tell me after I publish it.
9. Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?
Joseph Campbell, Christopher Alexander, et al, (see "idea," above) and all the writers who have helped make Young Adult the most exciting category in fiction.
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest about this WIP.
"Once in the world that was, there was a story about a wonderful place at the center of the world where a tree grew and a serpent and a woman waited for those who would come and take the gifts they offered, for the garden was within us, and the serpent was wisdom, and the woman was life. And the garden was our childhood, and the wisdom was the wisdom to grow into authenticity, and the life was the realized life, where we know that we are all things, and also that which created all things.
Then the people who told this story were conquered by others who revered neither serpents nor women—people who worshiped and feared and placated a creator who was not them, but a fearful Other, and the story changed. In the conqueror’s story the Other created life, and the garden, and a man. Later he created a woman for the man. And the serpent was not knowledge, but evil. And the woman was not life, but death. And the man and the woman were driven from the sight of their creator, and leaving the garden was not a natural movement of life, but a terrible punishment. They were cursed to live in the agony of separateness, and the snake was cursed to bite them.
No-one tells this story now."
11. Finally: Tag three other Authors and ask them to complete the above interview.
Okay, Joseph Paul Haines, Patricia MacEwen, and Amy Sisson, you're up at bat.
I have a couple of works in progress, including The Little Book of Plot & Storyline for Writers, but the questions are designed for a fiction WIP.
1. What is the title of your Work In Progress?
Right now I'm calling it The Books of Eden.
2. Where did the idea for the WIP come from?
Traveling societies, royal progresses, reading A Pattern Language and lots and lots of Joseph Campbell.
3. What genre would your WIP fall under?
YA (-ish) Science Fiction.
4. Which actors would you choose to play characters in a movie rendition?
Molly Quinn, Tilda Swinton, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Adrien Brody all feature prominently.
5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?
Following a global geological disaster, a planetary AI takes humanity under its protective wing.
6. Is your WIP published or represented?
Neither.
7. How long did it take you to write?
I'll let you know when I finish it.
8. What other WIP’s in your genre would you compare it to?
Never gave it a thought. Someone else will have to tell me after I publish it.
9. Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?
Joseph Campbell, Christopher Alexander, et al, (see "idea," above) and all the writers who have helped make Young Adult the most exciting category in fiction.
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest about this WIP.
"Once in the world that was, there was a story about a wonderful place at the center of the world where a tree grew and a serpent and a woman waited for those who would come and take the gifts they offered, for the garden was within us, and the serpent was wisdom, and the woman was life. And the garden was our childhood, and the wisdom was the wisdom to grow into authenticity, and the life was the realized life, where we know that we are all things, and also that which created all things.
Then the people who told this story were conquered by others who revered neither serpents nor women—people who worshiped and feared and placated a creator who was not them, but a fearful Other, and the story changed. In the conqueror’s story the Other created life, and the garden, and a man. Later he created a woman for the man. And the serpent was not knowledge, but evil. And the woman was not life, but death. And the man and the woman were driven from the sight of their creator, and leaving the garden was not a natural movement of life, but a terrible punishment. They were cursed to live in the agony of separateness, and the snake was cursed to bite them.
No-one tells this story now."
11. Finally: Tag three other Authors and ask them to complete the above interview.
Okay, Joseph Paul Haines, Patricia MacEwen, and Amy Sisson, you're up at bat.
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