This is your brain on memes

I am an internet citizen. Memes are out there. I see them and chuckle along with everyone else. The funny thing is that everything has become fodder for my mind these days. Why should memes be any different.

There has been one floating around for a while now and it stuck with me for a long time, because it relates to writing rules. It also relates to different ways of doing the same thing. If you're one of my regulars, you know I've been at this point before. I'm on the verge of an epiphany, but I haven't quite nailed it down. Sometimes I get clarity by writing about it.

If you stuck with me this long, I'll just jump right to it. This is the one that set me off:

I saw this a month or two ago and never gave it much thought. Last night we went to Guardians of the Galaxy II and it came screaming back into my mind. It actually took me a while to find the meme I wanted. Things on the internet don't have much of a shelf life.

Let's get the movie review out of the way, for those who expect such things… Awesome! I loved it, and so did the rest of my family. I'm sure there are hundreds of reviews in blogland, and this isn't the main purpose of my post.

This whole meme is just an extension of the DC vs Marvel thing that's gone on for generations. You know, Ford vs Chevy, Coke vs Pepsi, etc. I want to enjoy the contrast between the DC and Marvel films. The fact is, I enjoy them both. I can't wait to see the Wonder Woman movie.

This is a whole bunch like my reading habits. I bounce around in genres, and I like the tone of the stories to change from book to book. Truth is, I write this way too.

There were some lighthearted moments in Panama. The Playground had some dark moments. Practical Geology, in my last Experimental Notebook, was very dark. My first Notebook had one called The Soup Ladle of Destiny… lighthearted.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are older than the films, but it took the films to bring me to this point. Who the hell writes this stuff??? It's just batshit crazy. It's also brilliant.

Film has tools that an author doesn't have access to. I would love to have my hero walking in slow motion to a dramatic soundtrack. I'd love to use a sight gag, like when Rocket Raccoon was playing with his land mines. (Just see the film already.) As a writer, I have access to a lot of tools too. I'll just have to go about it a different way.

Last night it occurred to me. When I worry about how a story might be received, I might be holding myself back. Our world is so politically correct, so stressed about fitting within an ordained image, that it can influence our fiction.

Then it occurred to me that another internet meme could help me here:

If I put a governor on my words, I could be preventing myself from writing something brilliant. I even had this conversation with a prominent crime author last year. We discussed what a woman can write that a man cannot. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm working on it. Woman writes a grisly rape and murder scene, she's a woman and it's a serious concern. Man writes the same scene and he's a sick pervert.

She says there is no difference. I still worry about it, and I'll probably never get rid of my filter completely, but it's a great goal.

From now on, I think I'm going to daydream at the finished outline phase. I'm going to assess the insanity and darkness meters. What would a twenty percent adjustment do to the story. What if a dark story were twenty percent darker? What if a lighthearted tale were to go into insane territory? I may not write them that way, but by asking the question, I may be leveling up to a degree.

Help me out here. What do you guys think? Honey Badger might be onto something. The blog world has been kind of quiet, let's get some interaction going.

Giant Girl is on Lisa Burton Radio

 

Don’t touch that dial! You’ve found Lisa Burton Radio. Now broadcasting to alternate dimensions, and all across the known universe at one point twenty-one jigawatts of power. I’m your host, Lisa Burton, the robot girl.

We have a very special guest today, Veronica Kane, also known as Giant Girl. Welcome to the show Ronni.

“Hello Lisa! Thanks for having me on the show. I don’t usually get interviewed except by insurance claims adjustors, so this is a treat for me.”

“I love Giant Girl Adventures comics, and am excited for our listeners to meet you. You’re a very interesting super-being in that you’re not overly successful. What can you tell us about that?”

“Suuuure, we can start with that. I gave the folks at Giant Comics rights to publish stories based on my adventures years ago, but I’ll never see a dime of it because of all the lawsuits for property damage and such that I’m always stuck with. Basically when your power-set involves getting very big and you do a commensurate amount of damage, it makes you less than popular. Let’s put it this way, I caught a guy’s car that flew off a skyway in Dallas last week, and he’s suing me for the damage to his car that I caused in catching it before it and him became a pancake.

“There’s gratitude for ya, right? That’s my life in a nutshell. But what are you gonna do? People love to sue.”

“Well, I don’t know what people expect. When you grow to a thousand feet tall, there’s bound to be damage. How upset would they be if you just walked away from a bad guy and let them get destroyed?”

“Well, I have tried that… I mean no, I can’t in good conscience just walk away. Heck, most of the time trouble won’t let me walk away. Or talk sense to it or convince it to go somewhere a little more private. I mean, I try to make violence my absolute last resort, but some people are just determined to play king of the hill. It’s just that I’m the hill…”

“Our listeners might not know this, but you can also make yourself really small. Maybe that’s a good way to hide from lawyers and judgments.”

“Eh, good for dodging process servers but the law always gets ya. Yes, I can actually shrink myself and other things I touch, just like my growth power. That’s how my outfit is always so nicely tailored- a little shrink here, a little grow there and presto! It’s just that getting super-small in a fight isn’t very sexy so the press seldom pays attention to that unless they are blaming me for running away.

“Um, present company excluded. Obviously.”

“I’m known for being into fashion. I have to say I love your style. The red dress, the coat of many pockets. I’m a little sad about the hat. It was so iconic. Is there any hope you’ll get it back some day?”

“Yeah… that hat. I loved that thing- it was the very best part of my outfit. But you wear a big red hat and they are gonna call you Carmen Sandiego no matter what else you wear… though all red and black was probably not the best choice to avoid that comparison, honestly.”

“I always thought Carmen SanDiego was awesome. I wouldn’t let her bother you. Truth be told, you wear it better.”

“Aw, you are very sweet! That was part of the problem, I wanted to be the Lady In Red, and the rubber boots and gloves really do make handy insulators. Giants go through a LOT of power-lines, trust me, and those shocks hurt. So the modern outfit is form and function- I’m so glad you like it!”

“Ronni, we have someone waiting on the line to talk to you. Welcome to the show, Kumiko Kanzaki, also known as Badonkasaurus.”

“Thanks for having me, please pardon me- it is difficult using this tiny phone with fifteen foot claws.”

“Now Kumiko, you and Ronni had one of the most iconic Kaiju battles ever. You even destroyed Tokyo in the classic fashion. Do you still feel hostility toward Ronni?”

“Yes. While it is not Giant Girl’s fault that I am trapped as a 75 meter tall green scaly monster with an enormous posterior, we are opposing forces, yin and yang. It is theorized that I was born of the earth to be a check to her power, and I admit I am always eager to battle her once more!”

“Greeeeeat. You know, I still get blamed for that battle in Tokyo? I begged her to not fight with me and talk about it but noooo…”

“I had just been transformed into a kaiju, destroying my workplace in the process! I was traumatized. And you called me Badonkasaurus!”

“You always complain about that name. Personally I think it suits you, so there. That day you transformed you were mad at the world and I was the biggest thing in your line of sight. If not for me you would have leveled all of Tokyo that day. Then I wonder how much the Japanese people would love you, hm?”

“Please. You wanted that fight, Giant Girl! Otherwise you could have shrunk me down to normal size and no one would have gotten hurt!”

“Are you kidding me?!? That was the first thing I tried. I have no idea how or why but my powers don’t work on you.”

“… wait, really?”

“Are you kidding me with this? What kind of lunatic would brawl through Tokyo at 250 feet tall if they didn’t have to? You think I like rumbling around, knocking down buildings and terrorizing people like a giant monster movie?”

“Now ladies, we’re all ladies here. Except I’m a robot, and Kumiko is a giant lizard thing with a protruding posterior. No, on second thought, we’re definitely all ladies here. So please don’t fight.

“Now Ronni, you said your powers don’t work on Kumiko. Does this make facing her again more dangerous?”

“That depends on if we’re in a populated area. Pound for pound she’s got me in muscle as well as appendages with that tail of hers. But she’s 250 feet tall, and I can get a lot bigger than that. On the other hand I’ll bet she’s been working on that nuclear breath of hers, so who knows?”

“You call me fat then pick on my breath too?!? Wait… you mean my energy exhalation expression. You are not calling me fat either, you are trying to compliment me in your rude American way, aren’t you?”

“You always think I’m attacking you Kumiko, especially when I’m not. Look, you want me to come out to Kaiju Island and brawl with you I’ll do it, if nothing else to give you some variety from fighting with the rest of the Great Kaiju out there.”

“Hoo boy. Kumiko, didn’t you make a boyfriend on the one day you left Kaiju Island? Tell us about him. He seemed to be pretty stricken with you.”

“Shigeru… well, he is very nice, but he is not my… I mean, he is the president of my fan club, but I am sure he would not be interested in… I mean… er, that is…”

“Maybe you should invite him out to see you Kumiko. Heck, I can even bring him with me if you like…”

“Ladies, we have to sew this up. Ronni, thank you for being on the show, and Kumiko, I wish you well. Maybe you should call that boy after we get off the air.”

***

Giant Girl Adventures is written by Sabrina Pandora, she leave us with this comment: Big shout out to my artist Koen Luyten, my creative partner in crime who puts up with my crazy demands and works like a dog to make sure every issue is more amazing than the last.

Note: Koen provided us with this awesome pinup.

Follow Giant Girl Adventures at the following locations.

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Was Grandma right?

I write science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal stories. In my mind, they’re related, but are a bit different.

I write my novels, this blog, the occasional micro fiction, and am probably going to attempt a few short stories.

The blog covers a pretty broad spectrum of topics. Cooking, foraging, writing, reading, plus the writing cabin stories under the Muse category.

When I read, I like online articles, comic books, your blogs, and more. Novels I read are pretty broad based. I read the kind of stories I write, but I love a good detective story, courtroom drama, historical fiction, horror, westerns, biographies, and more.

So am I becoming a jack of all trades, and master of none? I am more than the blogger and writer you see here, but I share. Thus the stories about sourdough, gathering morels, growing peaches, going out with my wife.

I don’t think that makes me so different, but what about my writing? Am I covering too many bases? I understand I don’t have to change a thing, but would I be more successful if I focused more? What if I focused on novels, and blogging about novels?

Just kidding! I’m going to keep doing what I enjoy. One thing I refuse to let go of is my personal enjoyment of this. Chances of getting rich here are slim at best. Chances of having a good time are excellent. I’m having a great time.

My grandmother used to say I bounced around like a fart in a skillet. Maybe she was right, but I’m enjoying myself.

The River Pixies

The Snake River God is plaguing me. I had big plans to go sturgeon fishing today, but they died last night.

Old What’s Her Face* called me on my way from work. The sprinkler system needs to be turned on, and right now!

I told her I would turn everything on when I got home and asked her to record the season finale of Shield for me. I changed into something suitable for spider webs, mud, and slugs and dove right in.

Our community system must have been turned off. There was no water at all. I suppose the River God sent his pixies to interfere with my fishing trip. I promised to work on it today, and my fishing adventure crumbled to dust. I swear I heard giggling over the sound of frogs when I went to bed last night.

Good news, the system is watering our yard right now. I’m sure there will be the inevitable dead sprinkler head, but I’m making progress. (And plotting my revenge on the River God.)

Aanndd – here I am online like I planned to escape from. Might as well update my blog.

In other good news, I got as high as number 36 on the Amazon list last night. Woo Hoo! This is the top 100 free science fiction books.

Wild Concept is free for a few more days. I always thought this story would resonate with the comic book crowd. Marvel has conquered television and the movies, and the timing feels right. I even got a comic book artist to make my cover. I’d like to break through to the comic crowd. If you know any fans or casual readers of comics, please tell them about my free promotion. Maybe together we can crack the top ten.

I hate self promotion, but here it is: I’m asking you to tell people about my give away.

Some very generous people have promised reviews. I hope they like it, and I earned good reviews. One reader already let me know she’s finished about a third of the book and is enjoying it.

Panama is also available on Amazon. My give away might have stomped its release, but I’m looking at things from a long term perspective. Those who like Wild Concept might give Panama a chance too. No robots, no frogs (inside joke for those who read Wild Concept), just a fun romp through the paranormal side of life. Deadly snakes, bugs, torrential downpour, witchcraft, revolution, explosions, demons: what’s not to like? Fun for the whole family, right?

Since last night imploded, I got to watch Shield. Director Colson has a nice ring to it. I hope this will influence the movies as well. He and May had some awesome scenes last night. May is always amazing, but Colson has fewer and bigger moments. Can’t wait for what they have planned in the Fall.

* Not my wife’s actual name.