Workblog for the week: More censorship, plots.

Okay. So. That whole censorship fiasco? Ongoing. And maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

You can read more about it from Mark Coker, Smashwords’ CEO, here -> http://www.smashwords.com/press/release/30 <- however, two points out of that I take particular note of.

Firstly, the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Bookseller’s Foundation For Free Expression have penned an open letter of their own, and it’s good reading –> http://www.scribd.com/doc/83549049/NCAC-ABFFE-Letter-To-PayPal-eBay-re-Ebook-Refusal-2012

Secondly, while I haven’t heard or read anything to indicate this is going to work, the overall trend seems to be that people are taking this little issue seriously. And that’s great. Freedom of expression is something worth preserving, even if it’s over issues and on themes we don’t agree with.

On the work front, my week’s been fairly low-ebb, though I am coming to the conclusion that plots and plotting are not what we think they are. While, I think, we want to look at plotting in books like plotting a crime — something thought out ahead of time — the reality may well be that plotting’s more related to that other potential verb, making a graph. More importantly, making a plot out of data that already exists. Figuring out a plot among tangled events called story, after the fact.

If so, my incredibly sharp and jagged paranoia lately over whether or not I know how to plot anything at all seems a little unfounded.

But maybe I’m just telling myself silly things to cheer myself up.

A few more rejections this week. But I’m slowly figuring out other stories to sell, and hopefully going to get my hooks back into the novel project soon.

By foozzzball

Malcolm Cross, otherwise known as 'foozzzball', lives in London and enjoys the personal space and privacy that the city is known for. When not misdirecting tourists to nonexistant landmarks and lurking at bus stops, Malcolm enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy with a furry twist.

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