Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

My Inner Child was Dancing

25 Feb 2013 by KRAG

Saturday night we went to “Hops and Props,” a beer-tasting fundraiser at Boeing Field’s Museum of Flight. Let me say now and for the record, if you visit Seattle you and do not go to the Museum of Flight, you’re a fool.

Of course, I’ll also point out that I hadn’t been there in, well, a loooong time, so I’m a bit of a fool myself.

Organized into three major sections and chock-a-block with some of the most beautiful aircraft, from the earliest experimental gliders to the SR-71 Blackbird, this place is a stupendous treat for the young boy that lives inside me. Continue Reading »

Posted in Hi Tech, Seattle | Tagged aviation, Boeing Field, gossamer albatross, Museum of Flight, Seattle, SR-71, things to do in Seattle | 2 Comments »

The View from Here – Contest Update

23 Feb 2013 by KRAG

I finished the rewrite of “Cast in Stone,” today. It’s longer and, in my opinion, much improved. I’m going to give it another read-through before posting it, but I’m pretty happy with it.

As a reminder, I’m giving away the original story, the hand-written rewrite, and now I’m adding the marked-up printout that I created during this rewrite process. To enter this contest, go to the original contest post and leave a comment (full rules after the jump).

Rewrites are always instructive, if you approach it with the right attitude. Problems I thought were insurmountable (albeit 20 years ago) I now find correctable.

The “new character halfway through the story” issue was solved by bringing all three characters into the first scene.
The “too-short scene near the end” issue was fixed by combining it with the following scene.
The “too many POVs” issue I addressed by pulling the entire story up into full omniscient viewpoint.

But why rewrite the whole story, every word of it? Well, my style has changed a lot in 20 years, and I want it to sound like me, now, and not me, then.

Keep your eyes peeled.

Posted in Writing | Tagged blogging, contest, creative writing, handwritten manuscript, novel writing, the view from here, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 3 Comments »

The View from Here – Contest

21 Feb 2013 by KRAG

Tonight, as I was working on the rewrite of “Cast in Stone,” I thought it might be a lark to offer up my handwritten MS to anyone who wants it.

Full disclosure: If no one puts in for it, I’ll pout a wee bit.

And so…

If you want to receive in the post a printout of the original version of “Cast in Stone” (with colorized markup, as posted here on this blog) accompanied by my handwritten rewrite (I’m rewriting the entire story, not just sections, on Rhodia paper with a St Dupont pen using Noodler’s Baystate Blue ink), all you have to do is this: Continue Reading »

Posted in Writing | Tagged blogging, contest, creative writing, handwritten manuscript, novel writing, the view from here, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 12 Comments »

At Blackbird House

21 Feb 2013 by KRAG

I know you’re all anxiously awaiting the “big reveal” on my full rewrite of “Cast in Stone”–he said, his words dripping with sarcasm–but that’s still a couple of days away. Meanwhile, I’m still working on the analysis task I set for myself.

If you’ll recall, as preparation for my next book, I’ve been analyzing the writing of some writers whose style I’d like to emulate. I’ve started with Alice Hoffman’s Blackbird House, a set of vignettes describing centuries of life around a single location. My goal was to understand how she is able, with extremely simple language, to create the feeling of lyricism and the mystical atmosphere that imbue so much of her work.

Let me warn you, though, before you take on a task like this. Just as most sausage-lovers don’t like to see sausage being made, doing a breakdown/ analysis/ desconstruction of a favorite author’s work can take some of the magic out of the reading experience. Suddenly, you’ll see the elements on every page, in every paragraph, and it may take some time before you can stop seeing those elements (if at all).

Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged Alice Hoffman, Blackbird House, books, creative writing, novel writing, novels, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 2 Comments »

Солярис

20 Feb 2013 by KRAG

A few weeks ago, another blogger and I were discussing the topic of “accessibility” in fiction and film, and by way of example of the “inaccessible,” Prospero brought up the 1972 film, Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. I had read the novel (by Stanislaw Lem, 1961) and had seen the Soderbergh/Clooney film (2002), but I’d never seen or even heard of this Soviet-era science-fiction film. So, tappity-tap-click-click, I went over to Blockbuster and found I could put it on my movie queue. It arrived last week, and I watched it over the weekend.

Solaris (1972) received critical acclaim on its debut, and at Cannes it won two prizes and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. Ingmar Bergman had nothing but praise for Tarkovsky’s work, and Salman Rushdie called Solaris “a sci-fi masterpiece.”

Now, I don’t give too much weight to awards (though if Red Sonya had been nominated for the Palme d’Or, I might have stayed for the second half), and if you’re talking about inaccessibility in film and fiction, then you can hardly find better wingmen than Bergman and Rushdie. I’ve also seen several Russian and Soviet films, albeit from previous eras (e.g., Alexander Nevsky, Battleship Potemkin, etc.), so I was prepared for the somewhat lugubrious pace that Russian directors prefer. And lastly, brought to my attention as an example of “inaccessibility,” I knew this wasn’t going to be a action-packed laugh-riot.

Thus prepared, cue the music.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Andrei Tarkovsky, cinema of the Soviet Union, movie reviews, Movies, Palme d'Or, Russian film director, Solaris, Stanislaw Lem, Steven Soderbergh | 2 Comments »

The View from Here – Cast in Stone – 1st Edit

19 Feb 2013 by KRAG

This edit only addresses the items highlighted in the original, and while I feel it is an improved version, there are still other problems–some of those “macro” level problems of the type I mentioned way back when I started this series. Problems like, say what? a new character halfway through a short story? Problems like, it’s just a bit dry and non-descript in places; too bland and banal. Problems like, it’s got a little too much sci-fi gimcrackery around the edges.

I’ll address these issues in a final rewrite, but for now, feel free to read and compare this to the original version.

Posted in Writing | Tagged blogging, creative writing, editing, novel writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | Leave a Comment »

The View from Here – Cast in Stone – Original

19 Feb 2013 by KRAG

Here is the original version of “Cast in Stone,” a trunk story I wrote about 20 years ago (Good lord, has it been that long?) If you missed the history of this piece, go read the Preamble to this edit-fest.

And to remind you of the color codes for each error type:

Telling, not showing
Clunky phrasing/naming names
Exposition
Bad metaphors/similes/adjectives
Wiggle words
Echoes

Posted in Writing | Tagged blogging, creative writing, editing, novel writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 6 Comments »

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Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Words and Works from a Seattle Author

My Inner Child was Dancing

The View from Here – Contest Update

The View from Here – Contest

At Blackbird House

Солярис

The View from Here – Cast in Stone – 1st Edit

The View from Here – Cast in Stone – Original

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