Imagination is everything…
Archive for year 2010
New Tag Cloud
Jan 10th
If you havn’t yet, take the time to scroll down a bit and look at the right column. You’ll notice that I’ve added a nifty new 3D Tag Cloud that’ll allow you to view all posts for whatever tag you click on.
Go ahead, try it out!
NOTE: From what I understand, you need JavaScript enabled and Flash installed for the tag cloud to work.
New Progress Page
Jan 8th
You may have noticed a new page show up on the top menu bar yesterday called Writing Progress, which I’ve created to keep everyone up to date with all my writing projects. I’ve added this page for a couple of reasons:
- I’m a nerd and like charts
- I realize that there are some times when the blog is not updated, and I want to show that, even though there are no new posts, content is being prepared
- I was surfing blogs and found an example of this kind of page on Danie Ford’s blog, and found it pretty nifty
Since I use a methodology when I write, I’ve purposely added more detail to the larger projects, and also decided to use code names to identify them so as to keep some element of mystery 
. So if you’re ever wondering what I’m up to, or when a certain story post is finally going to be available, now all you have to do is check the Progress Page.
Planning Is A Waste Of Time… Or Is It?
Jan 6th
Planning is a waste of time. Seriously. I mean, you can sit there and spend hours planning what you have to do, or you can forget planning and just do it. I mean, if you start doing it now, then you’ll finish faster, right…?
Or wrong?
Working in the IT industry, I find it surprising how some management folks don’t take the time to understand the necessity of planning large IT projects. Instead they feel insecure and threatened by the fact that nothing concrete is being produced and often hound employees on their progress, sometimes even cancelling the planning phase outright. Every time, the outcome is the same: the team ends up with a less than perfect product who’se maintenance costs are now triple what they should have been. Only because someone jumped the gun and wanted to see a product before it was properly thought out.
The same argument can be used when preparing to write a novel or short story. Sure you can just jump in and start writing to your hearts desire, but if you don’t take the time to properly think of what you want to write, you risk running into problems like plot holes and writers block. Then, before you know it, you’ll be running back and forth, editing already written chapters and trying to band-aid your way out of a chaotic storyline that wasn’t well thought out. That’s not to say that some people can’t write a book without planning it first, but in general lack of planning will lead to an inferior plot, and your story runs the risk of turning into a mash up of different and seemingly random ideas.
So why am I blogging about this?
Well, I recently stumbled upon a podcast snipped of a woman named Dorothy Zemach. In this 5 minute audio file, Ms. Zemach explains how her son learned to respect and use Process Writing when preparing a document, something he first thought was a waste of time. The podcast is definitely worth the listen and does a very good job in demonstrating how most of us have the same knee-jerk reaction to planning as the manager in my example above. In the end, however, if you take the time to plan your work, you’ll always be better off.
The podcast can be found here: Podcast Snippet.
NOTE: The blog article relating to the podcast can be found on Patricia Galien’s blog.
Site reOrg
Jan 5th
I just want to give a heads up that Folaji.com will be changing throughout the next couple of weeks. Although the site will remain operational, its contents will be shifted to put a greater emphasis on the story-telling and writing aspect of the site (seeing as how the DnD adventuring seems to be on hiatus).
I will also look at ways to minimize site maintenance by removing unused plugins, and one of the pages I am most certain will be removed is the site Forum. Although it was useful for our discussions regarding DnD, its become too much overhead to keep it up and running (and up to date), especially for something we can do using the blog’s comment feature.
So if you have anything stored in the blog that you do not want to lose, I urge you to copy/paste it now, otherwise it will go the way of the Dodo! I’ll also keep you up to date on any further changes.
J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box
Jan 2nd
“Mystery is the catalyst for imagination.”
- J.J. Abrams
I stumbled upon a pretty interesting YouTube video a few days ago. The video (which I’ve embedded below) is of J.J. Abrams talking to a group of people at TED about what makes a good story. In the end, it all boils down to this small decades-old cardboard box which he never opened. This Mystery Box, J.J. explains, is the manifestation of infinite possibility, hope and potential, and is a very important and all-to-often forgotten element of good story telling.
