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 The FSFS Newsletter is written by FSFS members covering everything Fantasy and Sci-Fi |
| December 2015 The "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" welcomes you to  Welcome to the December issue of the FSFS Newsletter. Written by members of the "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" for everyone on Writing.Com. Be sure to check out the Challenge for a chance to win an exclusive FSFS Merit badge! Boy, have we got a bumper issue for you this month! Contents 1. Month Summary 2. Pomodoro Technique for Writers 3. A funny true story about Nano 4. NaNoWriMo CRASH 5. Pessimism Vs. Optimism - Writer Thoughts 6. A Christmas without food 7. Sex, Sci-Fi, and Rock Opera: An Analysis of the Rocky Horror Show 8. Book Review: Industrial Revolution 9. Book Review: A Christmas Carol 10. Things to Do! 11. Newsletter Challenges  November was NaNo month for many writers. 50K in 30 days? That is a tough ask. Of course, many writers in the FSFS and on WdC successfully completed the challenge. Let us know in the comments if you participated in NaNo this year and if you have any interesting experiences to share.  When I am at home on my computer all manner of distractions keep me from writing. It one of the hazards of having a home based studio instead of going to an office to work. While I enjoy the freedom of working from home, I am also distracted by the various temptations being self-employed brings. My main distraction is social media and reading blogs and forums. I enjoy accumulating odd facts and information, it does help me with my writing, but there comes a point when it is too much of a good thing. Temptation hurts word count. My initial training as a writer comes from Nanowrimo. There I learned of techniques to help gain focus as I write. One of my favorites is the “word sprint” where a group of writers get together, set a certain amount of time to write, and then the group focuses on the task until the timer goes off. At then end, we all compare word count. Take a short break and then repeat the process. To simulate a “word sprint” here at home, I use what is known as the Pomodoro Technique. This technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1990s and is a simple concept. Write down a task, work on the task for 25 minutes without interruption, and then take a five-minute break afterward to reward yourself. What I like about this technique is that I gain a log of tasks that I’ve done during the day and it allows me to see a visual progress at a glance. The term Pomodoro comes from the Italian word Pomodori which means tomatoes. The basic steps to using the Pomodoro Technique are: Decide on the task to be done. Write it down. Set the Pomodoro (timer) to 25 minutes Work on the task until the timer rings. Record that you completed the task with an X. Take a short five minute break. (Time to check facebook!) Repeat the process with a new task. Every four pomodori, take a longer break of fifteen to thirty minutes. [Editor Note] You can visit https://pomodorotechnique.com for more information and an interactive timer. ** Image ID #2067419 Unavailable ** Wow, look at all the writers writing their hearts out twenty-five have on nano and they are still going strong. I really understand just how hard it is to work on a book. This year I vowed I was going to Win Nano! During my journey I had to jump these hurdles. Day one: Umm when do we start writing? Oh, yea, today lets get going. Wrote the new chapter 1 Day two: I just squeaked by with 2,300 words before midnight Yea. Oh crap its before midnight in my area but I'm over two hours on the east coast. Late again. Wrote chapter 2 Day three: I have to redo my starting. All that work down the tubes. Wait a minute lets not get so depressed so quickly. If I write the stories of two of the biggest badest Empire warships I can use them as individual chapters and tease the reader with monster ships the size of a large moon and its carrier ship the size of a large planet. It even has its own atmosphere. What if it was populated with its crew on the surface. I like this new idea, but how do I tie it all in with the real story. Day four: Finished both stories and turned in the word count. Ah ha, what if I start the third chapter with them all as a whole solar system with the Biggest ships the Dreadnoughts having ten of them parked in an orbit around a sun called Klark. And it is a trap to lure the enemy feeding waves in to attack the teaming surfaces of the ten Dreadnoughts full of eatable life. Their orders were to sleep in status until attacked by the enemy. How about we crash our main character on the third planet called Klarkston. Now I have the third chapter done. Day five: Added the few extra words needed to carry over from chapter three into the new renumbered chapter four. Day six: Added Chapter five and chapter six to the growing novel. Day seven: Added Chapter seven and eight to the novel Day eight: Felt like crap I only wrote half of Chapter 9 and gave up started playing Diablo 3 to calm my mind. Decided since it was close to the weekend I needed a break watched movies and earned 12 more para levels on my D3 witch doctor. Day nine: I am still playing games. Got bored with D3 went back and finished Chapter nine. Forgot to save it and lost all that work went back to playing D3. Day ten: Remembered the plot and dialog for chapter nine rewrote it one more time saved it three different places this time. Day eleven: started writing Chapter ten. Finally got it's action sequences written out. Then I continued to change it because I had eight paragraphs as one sentence. Yes, I know it is a rough draft, but still I can do better than that. Finished it added two hints at things to come and left it to play D3 some more. Day twelve: I felt like I was brand new, knocked out chapter eleven, chapter twelve. I started on Chapter 13. Since it was passed midnight I left it to count as day thirteen. Day thirteen: Still feeling great I whipped out chapters 13, chapter 14, and chapter 15. I got so carried away I wrote chapter 15 as 5,345 words. Went back in and split it in half. After doing this I made the split and put in the cut out half as chapter 17. Day fourteen: Renumbered chapters from fourteen up to 18. Created blank pages to fill in the number spots with chapter titles. Next I rewrote 13 to add a new chapter 14. Then I added in all the others in the sequence I needed. Day fifteen: Still bummed out I got so carried a way on the story line, I played D3 all day. Finally finished the new chapter 14. Day sixteen: Edited chapter 15, and 16 for the new direction I was taking the story. Played D3 and made Para level 425 on my witch doctor. Day seventeen: Muse smacked me for playing D3 and made me write out chapter 17, added in the split chapter as chapter 19 Day eighteen: Spent all day at the Va hospital and then went out to a movie with wife before she got mad at me for being fanatical on writing for Nano. Day nineteen: I did all the word counts for all my chapters with the title page and table of contents. Found I had done 52,568 words. After I had loaded in my word counts the Nano site wanted me to verify. Dang, no D3 today. I started creating one file with all my individual chapters. Disaster struck word didn't save my chapter 14 at all. I got so bummed out I started rewriting it. I forgot to save the single file with all my work. Then windows 8.1 crashed. I had just saved half of my new chapter 14. Screw it I'll fix 8.1 later. I rebooted into the windows 7 of my dual boot computer. Opened word and got the half finished chapter 14. I stayed up past midnight finishing it. Day twenty: Now that I'm fresh I started to reload a new single file with all the chapters in it. I found that I did have it saved on the second drive it was that windows crashed it stopped seeing all the other hard drives, I use in the system. I opened it up cut and pasted the missing chapter 14. I then promptly saved it again. Now I went in and copied all my text and pasted it into the verify your text box and won nano on day 20. I still have to fix my windows 8.1 but who cares I fought adversity, viruses, bad saves, and over came my D3 habit. To produce a readable but horribly written 52,666 words in twenty days. I hope none of you have this much trouble in your writing. I think I would have rather have scrivener crash on me. Then windows 8.1 because I know it saves all my writing in a single file and if I copy that file after I shut it down for the day onto a different hard drive I will always have a readable file to use when I re-install the program. I may be old, and forget things, but I learned the hard way you always back up your files. I have three copies of all 19 chapters of my current Nano project. It was sad to see three copies of an empty file. But I'm now past that and I have a new one done and replaced the empty one. Next I plan to shoot for 100,000 words now and finish this book this month. I just wanted to share the humor and obstacles I had to over come to win Nano this year. Last year I spent week three in the Va hospital and then three more weeks with a pick line and antibiotics going in every eight hours. I was so doped up if you would of asked me what nano was I would have asked you to tell me what it is, then promptly forget what you said. I only managed to write 45,000 word on that novel. I couldn't even play D3 either. My point with that game, besides being funny is when I start getting a writers block it works as a distraction and lets my mind relax and tell me what it is having an issue with. Since it is so repetitive it will bore me. Then I know what I need to do when I start in the next day. Also take a break with your family. You would be surprised at all the ideas your muse flows into your writing when you do. Besides being out in public it allows us to observe the people around us and get more character ideas. I am so glad I don't allow technology to put a crimp in my writing style like it has in the past. I hope you enjoyed my rough draft of writing Nano for 2015. The events in this story are true, but do to memory issues I might not have them in the correct order of happening. They in no way depict any member of this site other than me Gungunwarrior the author. "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor Invalid Photo #1042997 You hope it doesn’t happen. You’re writing along and yep, there’s smoke and where there’s smoke there’s fire. Suddenly you’re staring at a computer screen, or an empty piece of paper, wondering what comes next. You were sure the story was all planned out, October NaNo Prep went great (or nearly so), you had all the pieces in place and now your brick wall is staring you down. Yes, everyone, it’s me. Somewhere along the line I realized I was writing the wrong story. I currently have several short stories which I hope to somehow convert into novels and I thought NaNo would be perfect to try my hand at doing so with one particularly lovely little fantasy. I have found a few hiccups along the way however, perhaps some of you may relate to them. 1. October NaNo Prep: While this is a wonderful tool for many writers I found it incredibly restrictive. Every time I needed to think of one particular thing, ten more would pop into my brain and I’d have to scramble to put them in order somewhere. Not even halfway through, I found I just couldn’t complete the prep items. My mind was too far out of kilter thinking of other items in my story. a. My Answer? I began looking for books which would help me route my mind towards a single goal. There are plenty out there for us NaNo writers, using several different methods. Isn’t it nice to know that other writers realize we don’t all think, or write, the same way? 2. Prepped Wrong Story: Yes, this is a big problem. Though I could solve the first one easily enough, and I had started NaNo off fairly well, with the fantasy story I’d chosen, somehow I couldn’t get too far out of the starting gate. I knew where I wanted to start and even where I wanted to finish, the middle was becoming a different story. 3. My First NaNo: NaNo was an entirely different concept for me. I hadn’t considered the idea of writing consecutively stumping my creative mind. I have a bad habit of thinking in chunks. One part of the story here, another there, another over there, and then somehow it all gets put together into one whole. Plus, I now realized, instead of working with a new story, I should have kept working with the story I was most familiar with my first time out. A story I’ve been working on since I was a kid and creating all sort of characters for. I guess what I’m saying is for all of us who’ve stumbled this year, it’s ok. Sometimes learning experience is a good place to start. We need to realize what works best for us before we can do our best and sometimes that requires a little failure on our part. But we’ll dust ourselves off and look at what we can do better with either the prep or the actual writing and next year do it again. Why? I think because there’s a little bit of crazy in all of us. "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor  So, I’m just back from Philcon, where Wen Spencer was the guest of honor. I moderated the Changing Face of Space Opera, and was a panelist of such topics of Getting Them While They are Young, and Representing Reconciling Faith and Fantasy. I also did a ready of my short story that appears in the new Sime~Gen anthology (which was good practice for reading that story again this weekend at Chessiecon). I had hoped months ago to have a booth in the Dealer’s Room, but my invitation to do so came very last minute, so I decided I would give away copies of Highmage’s Plight first editions, which I could then autograph for the reading and autograph sessions I was doing. I took ten copies with me as giveaways for that purpose and came back the ten copies lighter. Hopefully, I’ll get some follow-up sales online. One of the Dealer’s Room book sellers told me they would be happy to carry my books for the cons I’m at, which generally is two cons I see them where I have not had a table. That offer was very nice and likely a result of them seeing me a cons now for several years. In terms of networking, I was on a panel with an author who has been planning to do an anthology for several years and kept telling me to check his website for when submissions would be open. I’ve been doing so for about two years now and have, what I think at least, is the perfect story for it. During the panel intro, the author announced he has received some great stories for the anthology, so I whispered to him, “Are you still taking submissions?” He was and told me his contract was for two volumes. So, I sent him that story I’ve been wanting to as soon as I got home last night. The other bit of networking was, I saw the editor of a magazine I’d submitted to awhile back, but had never heard back from. I took her aside and just asked her if they had completed their acceptances since I did not receive an email following up on my submission. Her immediate response, “Did you submit that first day?” I told her yes. She apologized and said her service provider had glitzed and deleted all the early submissions. She told me to resubmit and she would give me a “Yes or no” within twenty-four hours. She was terribly apologetic. So, I forwarded my original submission to the private editorial email address she told me to send it to. At each session I was on, I stood up my books in front of my place. That helped promote them, but it also helped me promote the cover artists, who do them for me. One of my review copies could several authors and editors eyes and I gave them my card, letting them know I’d be happy to forward the artists contact information. Help others get business is just as important to me as my building my brand or selling my books. This is a business and networking is important on a lot of levels. Of the sessions I attended, one was on “Pessimism versus Optimism” in Sci Fi. Reason I bring this up is not just because sci fi stories can offer pessimistic or optimistic views of the future, or vacillate between those points of view, but because I could have told myself that going to Philcon was something I should skip this year since I’ve another con the following week, an event where I have a table in the Dealer’s Room. Last year, I had a scheduling conflict, but the two previous years I went specifically trying to build up my author presence. I knew before going to Philcon who was going to be there, such as the editor whose magazine I had submitted to, which would offer me an opportunity to ask the question I did rather than send an email in a few more weeks or simply assume a rejection at some point. The same thing when it came to dealing with the fact that having a table in the Dealer’s Room was just an invitation too late for me. Now in the future, I’ll let the book seller take my books on consignment for that con and likely another, maybe others if I can’t get a table at a con that I typically have been. All because I have to be optimistic, if I’m to deal with all the challenges every author faces in building their fan base. There are times when authors feel otherwise (I've heard my colleagues laments). I took rejections hard for too long a time. Now, it’s so what? I’ve just got to keep plugging away, thinking about what I might do to keep moving forward. Then again, writing the next story, rewriting and rewriting, going through editing process, and getting the story published is its own reward… even if sometimes it feels like it is taking forever. Then you hold your book in your hands or somehow tells you how much they liked it and it’s all worth it. "Pessimism Vs. Optimism - Writer Thoughts" by Highmage - D.H. Aire  A Christmas Without Food by dr2believe  We finally had a meal today, it’s been three days or more, our daddy takes us everywhere, except the grocery store. Beer and smokes is all I need, we often hear him say, a little food for us to eat, is all I ask and pray. Little Jim and baby Bob, have no milk or bread, but our cupboard’s full of smelly beer, for Mom and Uncle Fred. I ask you Jesus from my heart, to send some food and cheer, and not another box of rum, or stinky smelly beer. We try and go to school each day, for us it’s quite a deal, because we know that most of all, we’ll have our only meal. The kids at school are mean to us, and call us nasty names, they say we’re trash and other things, and ban us from their games. Sister Sue is very sick, they say that she may die, I hear her stomach growl at night, and I really want to cry. I was bad the other day, while walking through the store, I stole a can of pork and beans, and ran right through the door. For sister Sue I told myself, to help and make her heal, to save her life and make her right, I would beg or steal. Christmas is near and all we have, is another empty plate, Our parents tell us that’s too bad, they call it rotten fate. In my prayers to God each night, I ask for food or money, or to take us up to heaven, to the land of milk and honey. "A Christmas Without Food" by Oldwarrior   As a child growing up in the 1970’s, I would sneak up after midnight to watch movies. Science Fiction and Horror b-movies were always available to entertain, and entice me with buxom damsels and creepy monsters. America at the time was in the middle of a sexual revolution, though as a young lad watching re-runs from the 50’s and 60’s, I was fairly oblivious to it. As a teen in the early 1980’s, my perspective had naturally changed with my age. I went to a midnight movie with my friends one Saturday, as was common in my crowd. This time, however, we decided to chance seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The movie came complete with a live cast standing in down front and acting out the scenes, as well as and a crowd of moviegoers talking back to the screen. It was all very weird, lewd, and kind of creepy. I was most intrigued. Since then I have seen the movie a half dozen times or so, as well as the play. In today’s society, it is easy for new viewers to miss many of the b-movie references that litter the dialogue, as well as the overt impact that the blatant sexuality—and homosexuality—had on its original audience. Rocky Horror is a tribute to all those old late night movies I snuck up to watch, but it is more; It’s a metaphor for the sexual awakening of America and all the societal fears that embodied those changes, as emulated from the soul of its creator. Rocky wasn’t my first introduction to the rock-opera genre. My older sister was in love with Jesus Christ Superstar. I remember when the film production was aired on television in the mid-seventies. My pious mother was definitely not as enthused about it as my sister was. Still, she let us lay out on the floor of our living room to view it. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in contrast, would never have escaped her censorship. Its challenge of accepted sexual values was thrust into your face without regard or excuse. When the character Frank N Furter sings “Sweet Transvestite,” he does so with all the bawdy sizzle of Mae West, daring you to gawk at the spectacle and like it. In the roaring twenties, America was cutting loose of its moral strings when it came to sex. Film had barely come into existence when it was already being challenged by sexual promiscuousness and nudity. In 1930 the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hay’s Code) caused this to all but come to a complete halt. This code, which censored anything tawdry or suggestive of such, and was the norm well into the 1960’s. The sexual awakening of 60’s and 70’s once again saw America’s social norm changing. Scott Miller writes in his book, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals, “And what was even more frightening to certain people—the idea of normal wasn’t just changing, it was falling apart entirely in some parts of the culture (Miller).” The Rocky Horror Show’s story is about two characters, Brad and Janet, who exemplify the idealized 1950’s notion of clean-cut, American youth. They dress conservatively and act with all the proper social graces. In the song, “Dammit Janet,” Brad proposes marriage to Janet. In doing so he points out how they first met each other in science class, and Janet chimes in that Brad had already met her parents. All of it very prudent and honorable. They were intended to represent the wholesome qualities that were perpetuated in the 1950’s and 1960’s by such shows as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver. The late 1960’s into the 1970’s note a distinct change in those values. Multiculturalism was introduced, along with feminism, Black Power, and Gay Rights. Conservatism was struggling to keep the sexual revolution from gaining its hold on the young. In the blog History of Human Sexuality in Western Culture, the authors write that the sexual revolution, “marked a time that involved the rejection of typical gender roles. It was a social movement that challenged what individuals had previously seen as sexual norms. Acceptance for intercourse outside of monogamous, heterosexual, marriages increased which gave individuals more freedom as well as a feeling of being less deviant (Pastor).” In the musical The Rocky Horror Show, as well as its film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, we see these two cultures clash and are able to witness the effects of that battle through Brad and Janet. They are thrust into a culture of free love and anything goes. Frank N Furter tells us in the song, “Don't Dream It - Be It,” “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure. Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh. Erotic nightmares beyond any measure, and sensual daydreams to treasure forever. Can't you just see it?” Journalist Ken Sanes writes in his article, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Emergence of Recreational Evil, “At the time, the counterculture of anti-materialism, free love and recreational drugs was just turning into the new culture of simulated fantasy and cynical sexuality that we live in today. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was an expression of the new culture and an announcement of its arrival, although, interestingly, it was also a critique of the culture's excesses (Sanes).” Their encounter with the pansexual Frank N Furter left both Brad and Janet changed, but not in the same way. At the story’s conclusion, Brad and Janet sing a song entitled Super Heroes, where Brad states, “I've done a lot, God knows I've tried, to find the truth, I've even lied, but all I know, is down inside, I'm… bleeding.” Brad’s loss of innocence had an ill effect on him, leaving him hurt and regretful. This perhaps shows him to be the weakest of the pair. In contrast, Janet sings, “And super heroes, come to feast, to taste the flesh, not yet deceased, and all I know, is still the beast, is… feeding.” Janet was changed by her experience as well, and we can see that she is still trying to come to terms with it. Unlike Brad, she is not wounded by it but intrigued and perhaps eager to explore more of her sexuality. In the article, Inside Rocky Horror, Scott Miller writes, “He [Brad] is lost in this world, the same world in which Janet is finally finding her way. Just as real American women did during and after World War II, Janet has discovered there’s more to life than being a housewife, and she can never again go back to the way things were before (Miller).” Ken Sanes takes it even farther in his article by calling Frank N Furter her, “spirit guide (Sanes).” As I mentioned earlier, Rocky Horror pays homage to classic b-movies, especially horror and science fiction. The show melds these two genres together and stirs in its sexual commentary. The song “Science Fiction Double Feature,” which is sung at the beginning of the show, gives us a list of all the films that lent to the show’s inspiration. The song mentions some of my childhood favorites such as: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Flash Gordon, The Invisible Man, King Kong, Forbidden Planet, and It Came From Outer Space; with hints an many more. The Frank N Furter character is an offshoot of these types of stories, but with a sexual twist. Likened to a vampire in drag, Frank tries to create his own sexual monster, Frankenstein style, and is found out to actually be an alien from the Planet Transsexual, in the Galaxy Transylvania. Richard O’Brien, who created the show, loved these old movies and wanted to use them to convey his message. O’Brian identifies himself as transgendered, and as such put a lot of himself in the show, and its characters. He was making a statement about himself and his own sexuality, and the struggle to have the civic freedom to express himself. The gender-bending monster of the story, however heinous, is also a misunderstood person. Frank simply could not fit in with society and still be his/herself. Frank-the “sweet transvestite,” is an alien in the story, just as O’Brian felt himself an alien among the rest of humanity. In an interview by Mark Sainsbury, O’Brien states that the world is misogynistic and sees woman as week and stupid. He says about misogyny, “It demeans our mothers, it demeans our sisters and wives and daughters. I really don’t understand why the only sentient species on our planet, maybe the only sentient species in our entire universe, possibly, sees fifty percent of the sentient species as less viable than the other fifty percent. I really don’t understand it (O’Brien).” The Rocky Horror Show has so many aspects to it, it’s easy to see why people have such different take-aways after viewing it. The mash-up of cult movies, combined with in-your-face sex, is a lot to soak up, especially the first time you witness it. The over the top erotic nature and the spectacle of a chainsaw-wielding, cross-dressing, vampire, tends to overload the senses. Anytime there is marked change in accepted social normality, there will always be a segment of the populace that will witness it in fear. Many people, especially the ones that viewed Ozzie and Harriet as the ideal, were afraid of outlandishness of Frank N Furter, and what he might represent. However, if you take a closer look, you will also see the underlying fears, and pain of its creator. The end of the play and movie shows us the death of Frank by his own people’s hand. This shows us that O’Brien was also afraid of the newly found sexual openness. Having to live in the closet denies oneself of the ability to live freely and fully, yet there is a parcel of security within the closet. I’m glad to have been able to experience Rocky, and I am very glad to be able to pass on a greater understanding of it with my children. As long as people are fearful of change, and as long as people feel out of place in the world, The Rocky Horror Show will remain relevant. "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor (includes citation list) Book Review: Industrial Revolution by P Anderson by chord0  Poul Anderson was a prolific science fiction writer; but while most of his writing concentrates on historical speculation, the novel ‘Industrial Revolution’ describes interplanetary exploration and industrialization of Jupiter and its asteroids. The novel relates the conflicts and struggles of three main characters: Warburton, Blades and a woman named Ellen. They build generators, rockets and other machinery to develop and transport energy from Jupiter’s asteroids. Mining is just the beginning: “farming, passenger and cargo liners, machinery and civilization in general is in the making”, according to Blades. As in his other novel ‘Tales of the Flying Mountains’, here pioneers also bring life and technology to barren asteroids. Later, another common theme in Anderson’s theories is explored: the answer to overpopulation on Earth is space exploration and conquest. In the same conversation, a denial of private enterprise leads to a dictatorial government in the USA, a theme also found in the novel ‘Shield’. The base is destroyed to setup an 20th century type of American colonialism, “as a market for manufactured goods, but not to let them develop a domestic industry.” A cold war and explosions with Earth ensues in which the energy supplying colony in Jupiter wins, after that, Ellen comes back and becomes Mrs. Blades.  Book Name: A Christmas Carol Author: Charles Dickens First Published: 1843 Charles Dickens was thought of as the “literary colossus” of the Victorian age. He was an English writer and social critic who penned some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters and stories. During his lifetime, his work enjoyed great popularity and fame and today his genius is recognized by critics and scholars everywhere. Dickens began life by being forced to leave school to work in a factory pasting labels on pots of boot blacking for six shillings a week after his father was thrown into debtors’ prison. Soon after, his mother and younger siblings followed his father into the prison and young Charles was sent to live with an old woman that he later immortalized in one of his novels. Eventually, an inheritance was gained by his family and his father was able to be released from prison. The family all moved in with their friend Elizabeth Roylance and slowly regained a more normal life for themselves. However, his mother insisted that Charles continue to work in the factory. The boy was livid and it is thought that his views that men must be the master of their family and women keep their place in the household sphere was originated by this event. Dickens did gain a formal education of sorts, but most of his learning came by his own initiative. As Dickens grew to adulthood, he found work as a clerk at the law office of Ellis and Blackmore. He taught himself shorthand in his spare time and soon after left the attorneys to become a freelance journalist. One of his relatives was also a reporter at Doctors’ Commons and offered to share his box so that Dickens could report on the legal proceedings there. Dickens remained for a period of four years. This hard knocks education was later incorporated into his novels such as Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son and Bleak House, where the vivid portrayal of the bureaucracy of the English legal system did much to enlighten the general public of his time. Dickens worked as a political reporter for many years until he landed the editors position at Bentley’s Miscellany where he wrote a serial known as the Pickwick Papers. During his time as editor, he also wrote his first novel, Oliver Twist, as a serial. He also wrote and oversaw four plays during this time period. Gradually, his success as a novelist began to grow and when he left Bentley’s Miscellany, he earned his income via his novels, all written in serial format for various publications and later converted into novel form, lectures and other philanthropic endeavors. He met and married Catherine Hogarth and they had ten children together. Dickens edited a weekly journal for twenty years, wrote fifteen novels, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. He lectured and campaigned for children’s rights, their education, and other social reforms. He died at the age of 58 of a stroke and is buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abby in London, England. 'I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.' -- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, is considered one of the most influential stories ever written. It remains as popular in present day as it did in Victorian times. The well-known classic tale has a simple plot about how a man becomes mean spirited over time due to age and lack of human interaction. He is Ebenezer Scrooge, who has lost the joy of living and cares only for earning the cold hard dollar. Enter three ghosts, one of the past, one of the present, and one of the future. Ebenezer travels through time and space, to alternate realities and revisits key points in his life. In the end, the man that views Christmas as “bah humbug” is redeemed via positive choices in his life. Charles Dickens weaves a tale that was unique to his time. During the rise of industrialization in England, the old traditions of agricultural society were on the wane. A Christmas Carol helped to rescue the holiday and set a guideline to the modern world of what the spirit of this holiday should mean. There are wonderful contrasts built into the story of hot/cold, company/loneliness, wealth/poverty, or heaven/hell, and throughout the novel are detailed descriptions of Christmas and what it means to those that celebrate it. Since he was writing during Victorian times when the concepts of Christianity were well known and understood by the general population, he did not spend much time in explaining quotations from the bible or talk about how Jesus was a part of Christmas. English Victorians would have understood these concepts without being reminded and so he allows religion to become more of a backdrop of his tale. I sometimes wonder if this is what makes this tale more power ful to us today in this more secular time when Christian ideas are not as prevalent in our public society. The ghostly visitors that change Ebenezer’s life forever are not particularly Christian in nature. They simply offer him information that allows him to understand what he has done and what the consequences of those choices are. The ghost of Christmas past is youthful and spring like. Christmas Present is a happy spirit that simply wishes to spread joy. Christmas Yet To Be is a somber spirit, perhaps hinting at the bitter end that awaits Ebenezer if he does not see the error of his ways. One of the main Christian tenants is that a sinner may be redeemed if he honestly repents. The ghosts allow Ebenezer to make that choice for himself. ### Like many people of my generation, I saw the movie first and then later live plays of this classic work before I read the actual novel. Through the various media, this tale has woven into our culture and has defined what we consider the spirit of Christmas to be. I understand that many people like to read this novel either to themselves or share it out loud with their families during the holiday season. I believe that it is a tradition that I will join in the future. This classic novel is one of the very first that was transcribed from the bound paper version into ebook form. A Christmas Carol is available for free download at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46 The original illustrations by John Leech are included in the download.
The Christmas (Winter special) round of Three Prompts is now open! Get your festive stories in for a chance to win a physical merit badge and physical 50K awardicon!
FSFS-only forum. Discuss and share poetry in this dedicated forum. Poetry Workshop available.
The FSFS Review Board is open! All WdC members can view the list on the group homepage, "Fantasy and Science Fiction Society" . FSFS Members can view the list from the homepage, Review Board page and the Hub. To post on the board you need to review at least one other item on the list.
If you are not already a member and are interested in fantasy and science fiction writing, please read through the group homepage and apply using the application form. The only pre-requisite is that you have a fantasy or science fiction item in your portfolio. If you want to advertise in the FSFS Newsletter please contact me, Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC   .Newsletter Challenge  Each month I set a Newsletter Challenge. This challenge is open to the whole of writing.com, so you don't have to be an FSFS member to enter. Invalid Merit Badge #201075 In "November 2015" I asked you to rate the Three Prompts entries. I am pleased to announce the winner (chosen by a random number generator) of the FSFS Merit Badge is.... ~Minja~  This month's challenge open to all of WdC is: Share your favourite Christmas memory in the comments below. Thank you to all the members who submitted articles to the Newsletter. If you submitted an article that wasn't included, don't be offended. I can only fit so much in the Newsletter. Please submit it again when I send the call out for articles. Please comment on this Newsletter if you enjoyed it, or if you have any suggestions for future editions. |
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