I don’t know what he would do, but he wouldn’t put a shitty bumper sticker on a BMW.

When does content become yours?

If I write words, they are mine. If I draw a picture, it is mine. Arguably, if I photograph something, that creative act and resultant image is mine. Does scanning something make it yours? At the most basic level scanning and photographing are the same idea – recreating visual information through a physical interface. Of course if I scan a comic book and post it to the internet, claiming it to be mine, this is fraud and piracy. If I were to scan work in the public domain, or some one else’s work that was never copyrighted, or even simply reproduce something that was copyrighted, I would have no ethical claim to any of the content (there may be a legal claim to it, but that’s not really what I’m concerned with here).  And yet everyday I read bloggers complaining that xyz other blogger has stolen their scans or gifs. These are all images that they had no hand in the actual creation of, merely the digital reproduction and distribution. Works that they most likely had no permission or right to re-create in the first place; however the time spent stealing an artists real work justifies their claim to ownership (in their eyes).

Now I am all for common courtesy. If I enjoy a piece of content enough that I am inclined to share it, I will typically put forth some effort in order to credit whomever helped make it possible for me to see it. Courtesy is an awesome concept and if more people embraced it the world would be an awesome place. That said, I’d now like to address all the bloggers that lay claim to the creative process of others:

Get off your high horse, you lazy bastards, and go make your own damn content.

<End Rant Sub-Routine>

“Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts…a lovely bunch of coconuts…”

Oh, ahem, I see you’re back. You’re a faster reader than me. Well, what did you think? I know, I know, this is supposed to be a writing blog and that article appeared to have been about the tech industry, but in reality I think it’s much more about the content world in general. Looking past the particular scandals of any one given software company, and at the bigger picture of the page view beast.

I’ll be honest, I obsess over those nasty little things too. I gave up my webcomic recently and in no small part because I was frustrated and saddened at the fact that our most popular strip ever (by a factor of 10x) was a one off strip that didn’t even feature our main characters. For anyone wanting to make a name or money off of the internet there is a very real pressure to generate page views. Sadly it seems to be the general rule that you generate more page views not with quality content, but just an abundance of it.

When I was in high school I did a great many extra curicular activities, including competitive debate, persuasive speaking, and potry recital. One of my teachers had an analogy he liked to quote before an event, “When speaking, consider each word a dart. Aim each dart and throw it carefully so it hits the mark rather than throwing a fistful of darts all at once.” He had to quote this every time in part because I had a tendency to speak to quickly, but eventually the quote and the idea stuck. You don’t need a hundred darts if you throw the first one right.

I guess my question is: Is there a place in the future of internet media for people who throw one dart at a time?

I’ll let you in on a little secret…I’m pretty sure its that fancy 42 inch LED TV sitting across the room from me now that is to blame. I finished watching all of the Sons of Anarchy and I didn’t even think it was terribly good. It’s most likely time to start enforcing some writing rules again – no TV, surfing, or iPad games until I get a word count in each day. Who else is going to write these sixgun and sorcery epics?

A Tale of Two Lives is now active (live!) on Amazon and available for purchase. Alternatively, if you are an Amazon Prime Member and have a Kindle you can ‘borrow’ the story for free!

Sample Text:

Koonin slipped out from beneath the arm of the sleeping beauty at his side and dressed as rapidly as he could manage and still remain silent. With one last look upon her gentle features he stepped out, closing the door quietly after him. He’d have to hurry if he wanted to make it home on time, his wife would be awake soon. The streets were just coming to life, Koonin noted, as the sounds of cartwheels on cobblestones and straw brooms sweeping at store fronts greeted him. He considered himself something of a night owl but he’d always enjoyed dawn. It was a private time, much of the world still asleep and those that were not were too busy minding their own business to bother nosing into his.
Koonin heard the distinctive clunk of Jeppo’s damaged cart before he saw it. The street vendor’s cart had been in ill repair for as long as Koonin had known him, and Koonin wondered if it wasn’t left so intentionally at this point. Jeppo smiled and waived as Koonin approached.
“The usual my friend?” Jeppo asked, pausing in his uphill struggle with the small wooden food cart. Koonin reached for his purse, which felt a bit light. He pulled at the strings and fingered through the contents.
“Perhaps only the coffee this morning,” Koonin said, his shoulders slumping a bit. Jeppo’s pastries were the finest in the city, but maintaining a wife and a mistress cut just as deeply into his purse as it did his sleep. Koonin rubbed at his eyes and toed the misshapen wheel on the side of the cart as Jeppo prepared his coffee. “Still haven’t gotten this thing fixed?”
“How am I to afford repairs if you only buy the coffee?” Jeppo replied, his lips stretching into a devious grin. “Not all of us are capable of working magic.” Koonin chuckled, accepted the small wooden cup of steaming liquid and swallowed the contents in a single gulp. Koonin winced slightly as the hot liquid burned its way to his stomach and wiped the remnants from his beard with the hem of his robe.
“And for my next trick, I shall make it home in the very nick of time,” Koonin said and this time it was Jeppo who laughed as Koonin began to trot away.

The story revolves around Koonin, a small time mage, and his troubled marriage. Spurred by a dying romance Koonin takes up a second life that he must keep hidden from his wife.  It’s a short story, ~2,600 words (13-14 minutes of entertainment).

An update will be posted when the story goes live on Amazon!

Having downloaded the new iBooks Authoring tool, I really wish that Amazon would offer something of comparable quality. Obviously e-ink Kindles would be unable to take advantage of all the rich media functionality, but even just the easy way you can set page breaks, titles and formatting would be a relief. As it stands KDP primarily offers a script file that does conversion of a book or story you compiled elsewhere. While this ties into Scrivener, my primary writing software, it still requires lots of trial and error before I can achieve the look I want. In contrast, within minutes of downloading the iBooks Author I had put together a very aesthetically pleasing ebook (or iBook rather).

Tools like this really might encourage me to switch and start using iBooks as my self-publishing go to spot rather than Amazon.

In somewhat related news, here is the cover I’ve put together for the little Christmas short story I’m hoping to self-publish in the next couple days.