Topic: What am I writing?
Started by: clehrich
Started on: 2/4/2005
Board: Push Editorial Board
On 2/4/2005 at 6:52pm, clehrich wrote:
What am I writing?
In the new Sticky, Jonathan wrote: - Chris Lehrich, New and Exciting Stuff (Maybe)Eh?
- Jonathan Walton, Chris Lehrich, Rich Forest, etc., Editorial Chores and Pleasures
Here's my guess, but I have no idea.
I'm guessing that the second thing here is saying that I'm co-editing at some level, not that I'm co-writing an essay on editing. Yes, I do have a sense of humor, but I want to be sure I'm correctly parsing that one.
The first, I have no idea. New and Exciting Stuff as a topic sounds to me sort of like Out of the Box. Me? I don't get scads of new games all the time, you know that. So I assume you mean something else. But what? I'm happy to write something, but I have to have at least a vague idea of what you're looking for or I can't even start thinking.
Help!
On 2/5/2005 at 3:03am, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
You wrote: The only thing is the "remarks on why I think theory is interesting" piece, which I could write up pretty quickly. And it wasn't clear to me that you wanted this for the issue, at least from me.
Sorry if I was being vague. "New and Exciting Stuff" was meant to be a very generic "whatever Chris decides to write about" title, referring to your offer to write something, but our current indecision about what that should be.
Here's a thought. You could write your "why I think theory is interesting" piece, and then we could come up with a list of the "best" resources (online and otherwise) in this new and developing pan-Forge world of progressive theory. And then you could use that as an excuse to introduce the whole Handbook project concept and the need for a review of all the theory that's come down the pipe in the last 5-10 years or so.
That sound interesting? Something else?
On 2/5/2005 at 4:24am, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Jonathan Walton wrote: Here's a thought. You could write your "why I think theory is interesting" piece, and then we could come up with a list of the "best" resources (online and otherwise) in this new and developing pan-Forge world of progressive theory. And then you could use that as an excuse to introduce the whole Handbook project concept and the need for a review of all the theory that's come down the pipe in the last 5-10 years or so.Eeek!
What's the rough deadline on this mother? About how many words (or how many double-spaced, 1" margins pages?
I can do it, but god knows it's going to be very idiosyncratic and personal.
I do not think I can do the part where I talk about what's new and happening in the pan-Forge world of progressive theory, assuming by that you mean things like 20x20 Room and various blogs and whatnot. I don't websurf enough, and actually I don't like the web very much. I know, heresy.
What I can do, and think would be interesting, is a piece discussing what sorts of non-gaming theory and whatnot might be interesting and valuable to bring into the gaming theory scene. I could discuss the dangers of doing this, how to do it responsibly, how not to fall into all sorts of "they said it over in a REAL discipline, so it must be true" traps, and so forth.
Basically this would be a sketch of some interesting areas for further reading, with suggestions about what sorts of directions that might lead us into, without a whole lot of conclusions about what we'll ultimately get out of it. Combined, of course, with my pitch for why theory is interesting in the first place, and some sort of statement about what I think theory really is (and isn't), and some comments on how to do theory well and responsibly (i.e. how not to fall into all those horrible "let's talk jargon because that makes us clever" traps you find littering the academic landscape).
That sound interesting?
On 2/5/2005 at 4:53am, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Totally. Make it so.
Um, deadlines... I'm still pondering those. I think it'd be really nice to have all more or less "finished" drafts in over the next couple of weeks, have a week to make any final revisions, have a week or two to nitpick over the texts in Editorial fashion, do layout, and plan to get the thing out sometime end-of-March.
Is that too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? I know that _I_ can probably do that, assuming that Shreyas finds time to get back to me about the wuxia stuff. That sound reasonable, or are we needing to pace this a bit more slowly?
On 2/5/2005 at 4:55am, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Um, couple of weeks? How long is this supposed to be? Shorter being harder, you see.
On 2/5/2005 at 9:31am, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Chris -- do you have that long essay about fantasy cultures you were writing? If we're throwing things out we'd like to see published, that's high on *my* list, at least.
yrs--
--Ben
On 2/5/2005 at 9:52am, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Ben Lehman wrote: Chris -- do you have that long essay about fantasy cultures you were writing? If we're throwing things out we'd like to see published, that's high on *my* list, at least.Huh. That's a thought.
Jonathan, in case you didn't happen to follow that thread, basically the question posed was, "How do you design a fantasy setting that isn't Eurocentric?" And I scribbled frantically, and came up with a big ugly thing that needs massive editing and reworking. Lots of theory implicitly, but not a lot directly.
This strikes me as more doable for this issue of PUSH, if you want it soon. What do you think?
I still need a length, though.
On 2/5/2005 at 10:42am, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
That sounds fine too.
As far as length goes, why don't we try to max out around 10-15p. We don't want overkill. (It's gonna take some real work to squeeze the wuxia piece down to that size, but maybe I can talk you guys into letting me and Shreyas have a few more, since we're combining efforts. Actually, nevermind: I'm the chief editor! Bwa ha ha!)
On 2/14/2005 at 8:00am, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
So here's where I stand. I will finally get some sort of break from grading madness around Feb. 24, and will have about a week to work. Then I should be able to have most of the next week after that free, i.e. until about March 7, during which time I also have to do a lot of grading and trying desperately to finish a chapter draft, but should be able also to do some polishing and finishing up. So I'd expect to be posting a very solid draft about March 7.
Now I need to know, this is serious, what you mean by 10-15 pages.
Let's assume 1" margins, 12-point type, and all that. Now do you mean single or double spaced? Obviously that makes an enormous difference to the total size of the article. Basically what you can do in that space if double-spaced is what would take about 20 minutes to read aloud; that's about the size of your basic conference paper, which is usually mostly a sketch rather than a full argument. Single-spaced, you have about 1.75 times that much space, and can get into detail.
This makes an enormous difference for planning, because it tells me roughly what sort of level of detail and compression I need to be working with. If I write in a relatively chatty vein, that takes more space than if I do it in my more comfortable density. I intend to shoot for a middle ground, but this is a very short article if it's double-spaced.
On 2/14/2005 at 5:39pm, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
See, I guess I wasn't stressing the length thing too much. I tend to write 10pt, single-spaced myself. So if we go with 12pt, single-spaced, I'd say that as long as you're clocking in under 25 or 30 pages, you're cool.
Just don't make your writing bloated. Say what you want to say and clarify/qualify it as necessary, but be concise and not redundant. If you fill up 30 pages with good stuff, I'll be thrilled! If it's overburdened with fat, we'll just have to trim it down later, so you're wasting both our time.
Is that clear enough?
On 2/14/2005 at 5:48pm, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
That's clear. Thanks, Jonathan.
Don't worry about bloating too much. If it happens, it's going to be whole sections that need to be cut, not general-purpose fat. My main worry is that it's going to be too lean, not the other way around. Actually, it's kind of funny: my reviewer for my current book essentially chided me for writing too lean---in a purely analytical, theoretical academic work!
Chris
On 2/21/2005 at 8:53am, clehrich wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Hi gang,
As you will soon see posted publicly, I'm suddenly faced by some really difficult choices. Quite unexpectedly, I have professional commitments that have to take precedence over everything else, including PUSH and the Forge. I also have a baby on the way, making the deadlines even more urgent.
Jonathan, yes, I'm bailing. Fortunately, John Kim has a nice piece already well on the way, so I don't think this is going to throw PUSH #1 out of whack.
I feel really badly about this, I want you to know. I have never in my career simply bailed out on a commitment like this, and don't intent to make it a habit. But I just cannot do this at this time. I want to, but can't.
As I'll be announcing shortly, I expect to resurface in September. You can contact me by email, and I've set up the little button so you can do this. But I won't be checking PMs or anything else on the Forge. It's just a matter of realizing where, unfortunately, my priorities have to lie.
When I resurface, I expect to have a book in hand, and will be well clear to honor my future commitments. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
I'll be around a couple of days while I wind things down. But I'm afraid this isn't negotiable.
Sorry, all. It's nothing against PUSH, or the Forge. Just something I have to do, and right now.
Chris
On 2/21/2005 at 12:52pm, Rich Forest wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Chris,
Don't worry about it :-) Seriously! Professional commitments and family are way important. You know this of course -- and so do we. You don't have to feel like you're bailing out on anyone. There are plenty of people working on PUSH to keep it moving forward.
Go forth and get that book done.
Rich
On 2/21/2005 at 1:56pm, Jonathan Walton wrote:
RE: What am I writing?
Rich already said it very nicely, and I already told Chris in private email, but I thought I should renumerate:
I (and PUSH as an ideological entity, whatever that means) totally support his need to finish his book and further the overpopulation of the word. He just better be back for Volume 2 or the repo man's gonna come knocking (what is the sound of one hand snapping?)
Best wishes, Chris! See ya when you come up for air!