Posted on
by

In my technothriller, A.I. Apocalypse, I wrote about a teenage computer hacker who writes an evolutionary computer virus. Among other things, the virus hunts for bits of useful computer functions in existing legitimate applications, such as a library for copying files, sending data, or encrypting data.

This morning I read about the Frankenstein Virus, which is a real-world virus that does the same thing:

Having infected a computer, it searches the bits and bytes of common software such as Internet Explorer and Notepad for snippets of code called gadgets – short instructions that perform a particular kind of small task. 

Previous research has shown that it is theoretically possible, given enough gadgets, to construct any computer program. Mohan and Hamlen set out to show that Frankenstein could build working malware code by having it create two simple algorithms purely from gadgets. “The two test algorithms we chose are simpler than full malware, but they are representative of the sort of core logic that real malware uses to unpack itself,” says Hamlen. “We consider this a strong indication that this could be scaled up to full malware.” 

Frankenstein follows pre-written blueprints that specify certain tasks – such as copying pieces of data – and swaps in gadgets capable of performing those tasks. Such swaps repeat each time Frankenstein infects a new computer, but with different gadgets, meaning that the malware always looks different to antivirus software, even if its ultimate effects are the same.

This is a huge leap forward in virus writing, because it makes it substantially more difficult to detect such self-creating viruses:

Existing malware already attempts to randomly mutate its code to some extent, but antivirus software can still recognise them as something nasty. 

Frankenstein is different because all of its code, including the blueprints and gadget-finder, can adapt to look like parts of regular software, making it harder to detect. 

Read the full story here.

Posted on
by

This is an article I wrote five years ago about finding the time to blog. It’s holding up pretty well as it ages. For authors trying to build their platform or anyone else who needs to blog to achieve personal or professional goals, this will be helpful. — Will

Seven Ways to Find the Time to Blog

After a friend recently posted about trying to find the time to blog, I got to thinking: How do I find the time to blog? 


After some thinking, I came up with a few principles. In some ways, I’m the worst person to give advice, because my frequency of posting is terrible compared to any decent blogger. On the other hand, I’m the father of 3 children under the age of four (now 9) and I work full time, so if I can find the time to post, then anyone can.

First, make sure that you know why you’re blogging. If you don’t know, the issue may not be a lack of time, but a lack of clarity or motivation. Rebecca Blood’s articles and references on blogging and book, The Weblog Handbook, are useful if you are just finding your voice. Once you know why you’re blogging, the following tips may help you find the time to actually get those blog posts going.

  1. Repurpose: If you are an information worker of any kind or a student, you’re probably already doing research, generating reports, analyzing information. If you can find a way to take your initial work and repurpose it for use in two places, then you can generate content for your blog with only a little additional work. Be aware that depending on your employment contract, work policy, and employment laws, there could be all sorts of issues about who owns your work, the confidentiality of your work, and a slew of other issues. On the other hand, judging from recent Wired magazine articles, many companies are now opening up and encouraging transparency in all its forms, including blogging. Research this ahead of time so that you’re doing the correct legal and ethical thing.
    2012/8/7: I’m still doing this. If I ever find myself posting a writing tip to a closed newsgroup, I usually use the original post as fodder for a blog post. 
  2. Substitute: You probably already bookmark websites, send emails about interesting articles or thoughts to friends and you may even write the occasional letter or holiday newsletter to family and friends. All of these are material that could be published on your blog. When you publish your bookmarks on your blog, not only do you benefit, but so do your readers. Blog instead of bookmarking, blog instead of emailing, blog instead of writing a letter, blog instead of publishing.
    2012/8/7: Most importantly, blog instead of Facebook: Facebook is a walled garden that can’t be accessed publicly. And many ideas that could become fully formed blog posts never get beyond a short rant if they’re shared in Facebook. 
  3. Get creative: Take the creativity advice of Gifford Pinchot III, and always keep index cards or a quarto on you. The time when you have a creative idea to post is most likely not when you are in front of a computer. So grab that handy pen and paper, outline your post, and it’ll be quick and easy to post when you next sit in front of a computer.
    2012/8/7: These days, I like to use Wunderlist to keep track of what I’m going to blog.
  4. Scratch an itch: My own blog originated from my desire to keep track of books that I had read. As I borrowed more books to read (instead of buying), I found it difficult to keep track of books and authors I liked. That make it difficult to decide what books to read next. I could have simply kept a log on my computer, but it’s much more fun to share with everyone. Now using my blog helps me do something I already wanted to do, and that’s true even if no one ever reads it. The epilogue to MIT’s open source book has an interesting discussion of the open source principle applied to writing:
    “While every writer will tell you they write for themselves, this is more a statement of principle than an actual description of process—a piece of writing, whether a textbook or a novel, needs an audience to succeed. A programmer who claims to writes code for him or herself, on the other hand, is often telling the literal truth: “This tool is for me to use. Additional users are nice, but not necessary.”

    If you can manage to write and simultaneously create value for yourself through your writing, then you have a double motivation to write.

  5. Eliminate barriers: If posting on your blog requires you to jump over a dozen hurdles, you won’t do it. Eliminate barriers, and you’ll find that even five minutes can be enough to start an interesting post. Use simple blog software with a WYSIWYG editor so you aren’t spending time messing with HTML. Keep a browser window open to your blog editor at all times, so it is always easy to get to. Start a post, even if you won’t have time to finish it now, and keep the edit window open. You’ll come back to it later when you do have time.
  6. Have modest expectations: I’m sure I could have made this a “top ten” list, but seven items came easily, and still fulfilled the purpose of the post.
  7. Set a goal: E set the goal of posting at least once a week, and while she may have missed one week somewhere in there, for the last two months, her blog has had plenty of fresh, interesting articles. Way to go!

Update (4/12/2007): Here are several other resources about finding or making the time to blog:

Update (November 2011): I’ve been blogging less, but I’ve also written three science fiction novels, so the principles here work for things other than just blogging. 

Posted on
by

Creating Blockbusters
by Gene Del Vecchio
Wow! This was a great talk. (Cue a dozen more exclamation points.) It was so great that I bought his book ten minutes into the talk. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to give a pitch, and I wasn’t able to capture even a quarter of the data Gene shared, but this should give you the flavor of the talk. Buy the book. 
  • Has done 30 years of consumer research
  • Does pilot episode research
  • 3 research studies just on Pirates of the Caribean
  • Research like “What does an audience want the protagonist to overcome?”
  • Most entertainment fails
    • most books don’t make back their advance
    • most tv shows/movies bomb
    • 5% of the movies make 90% of the profits
    • audiences tell us why stories disappoint
      • 59% say the story was boring
      • 50% say it was just stupid
      • 39% say it was not funny enough
      • 32% say not enough action
      • 23% say the characters were not relatable or aspiring
  • The analysis
    • decades of blockbusters
  • biggest movie franchises
    • harry potter, batman, pirates of Caribbean, star wars, james bond, shrek, lord of the rings, spider-man, transformers, jurassic park
  • blockbusters connect with the kid in all of use
    • one approach: take a child-like idea and make it edgy enough for adults, too.
  • The Gremlins: first PG-13 movie. Spielberg lobbied for it. Wanted to make a child-like movie that was edgy enough for adults.
  • The 11 Principles
    • 1: satisfy deep emotional needs
    • 2: align with ontemporary culture and trends
    • 3: create relatable, aspiring, memorable characters
    • 4: generate compelling story ideas
    • 5: add broad audience appeal
    • 6: build in elements that make it a franchise
    • 7: fix common execution problems
    • 8: create marketable artistry
    • 9: apply the ever-cool formula
    • 10: use research to optimize decisions
    • 11: launch an idea quest
  • Lucas made 4x the money on merchandise than he ever made on movies
  • “Marketing is ingrained in what you are writing”. It doesn’t come later.
  • satisfy deep emotional needs
    • chart with Maslov’s hierarchy of needs: physical needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization
    • slide showed chart:
      • jurassic park: survival
      • princess bride: love and belonging
      • esteem: breakfast club
      • self-actualization: bad news bears
      • best of the best: do all of them
        • avatar
        • star wars
    • Audience opinion
      • highest four things audience wanted to see:
        • survive life and death: 53%
        • be brave: 49%
        • fulfill full potential: 45%
        • find love w/ family/friends: 45%
        • stop evil: 43%
        • get respect: 39%
    • Character transformation
      • emotional
        • unconfident to confident
        • shy to bold
        • cowardice to bravery
        • selfish to selfless
        • unloved to loved
      • physical
      • Audience
        • weak to strong: 53%
        • helpess to survivor: 44%
        • loser to winner
        • coward to brave
        • no love to love
        • boring to exiting
        • no friends to some
    • Fears for protagonist to face:
      • death: 36%
      • personal injury: 35%
      • war: 30%
      • kidnapping: 30%
      • losing friends: 29%
      • being alone: 29%
      • kid’s biggest fear: public humiliation. even more than death!
  • Align with contemporary culture/trends
    • Successes
      • Monopoly was invented during the great depression wen people needed the get-rich fantasy
      • Barbie was introduced when little girl’s career fantasies were about to explode
      • Harry Potter released with interest in magic and fantasy growing
    • Trends
      • Technology/VR
      • total immersion
      • social networking
      • the great recision
      • natural disaster
      • environmental sensitivity
    • Pop culture
      • environmental
      • culture
  • Character archetypes
    • hero type
      • ultimate hero: superman
      • hero in training: luke skywalker, harry potter
      • everyday heros: soldiers, police
      • bombling heroes: maxwell smart, austin powers
    • nemeses
      • ultimate evil: darth vader, voldemort, sharks
      • bumbling evil: dr. evil from austin powers
      • bully: biff from back to the future
      • non-human: storms, disease, fire
    • …
  • characters in conflict
    • hero vs. nemesis
    • good/innocent vs. bad/unscrupulous
    • conformist vs revel
    • responsible vs. irresponsible
    • moral compass vs. morally challenged
    • striver vs. detrctor
  • iconic characters
    • warrior
    • king
  • audience:
    • spy/secret agent: 40% (#1 for kids)
    • vampire/werewolf: 35%
    • wizard, witch: 35%
    • adventureer/treasure hunter: 34%
    • mom/dad/kid: 34% (#2 for kids, #1 for women)
    • warrior/solder: 32%
    • mythics gods
    • scientist and inventor
    • bride/groom, boy/girlfriend: 24% (#2 for women)
  • creating compelling story
    • lots of different types of conflicts:
      • man vs. man
      • man vs. society
      • man vs. supernatural
      • man vs. machines/technology
      • man vs. nature
      • man vs. self
    • the best stories have ALL of these
  • morals
    • is there a deeper truth? a moral of the story? some virtue?
    • the best movies have these:
      • the wizard of oz: we all have what we need inside us
      • …
  • broad audience appeal

Posted on
by
George Mendeluk
What a Director Looks for in a Screenplay
#wwc12
  • Books
    • Must: The Writer’s Journey. Mythic Structure… by Christopher Vogler.
    • Lagos Egri
    • Writing the Script: Sid Fields
  • Director-Writer-Producer
    • self-taught
  • A screenplay isn’t a piece of literature. It’s a framework or a skeleton that’s supposed to evoke. Movies are a collaborative effort. A director fills in the spaces between the words.
  • Actions tells us whether a person is a hero or not, not their words.
  • A screenplay tells us theme and architecture.
  • Directors learn to feel for the structure under the skin.
  • Subtext is one of a directors most valuable tools (not the words).
  • Screenplays must suggest to and titillate a director, more than tell exactly what it should look like. 
  • (A pitch should tell this theme and premise.)
  • Theme might not emerge in the first draft of a script, but it should later.
  • A clearcut premise almost always rolls right into the synopsis by itself.
  • The protagonist will fuel the plot.
  • A well defined, compelling character will attract strong talent, which will help line up a distributor.
  • Characters can be more compelling to the people you pitch to than plot. There’s only so many plots, and they’ve all be done before. But a well defined character is compelling. 
  • Link to the basic plots in literature (1 plot, 3 plots, 7 plots, 20 plots, 36 plots):
  • Joseph Campbell: The Hero’s Journey
  • The character defines the plot, not the other way around.
  • Structure
    • Act 1: 30 screenplay pages
      • Ordinary World
      • Call to adventure
      • Refusal
      • Mentor
      • First Threshold
    • Act 2: 60 pages
      • Tests, Allies, Enemies
      • Approach to Inmost Cave
      • Supreme Ordeal
      • Reward (Seizing the Sword)
      • The Road Back
    • Act 3: 30 pages
      • Resurrection
      • Return with the Elixir
Act 1: Hero’s Decision to Act
Act 2: The Action
Act 3: Consequences of the Action

Posted on
by

#wwc12

Literary Agents Panel
moderated by Betsy Amster
Panelists
1. Bernadette Baker-Baughman /YA, Middle Grade, graphic novels; 
2. Rita Rosenkranz/Nonfiction
3. Robyn Russell /Fiction & Nonfiction;
4. Susan Finesman /Bookto-Film; 
  • What makes a great cover letter?
    • Susie: 
      • “It’s refreshing to get a nice letter on a nice piece of paper.”
      • “I see that you like X, and I have written X.” Address someone personally.
    • Rita: Concision and clarity. It doesn’t feel generic. It feels particular. It’s a window on a world.
  • What flaws are you willing to overlook and why?
    • Bernadette: Sloppy editing, mistakes as a matter of technicality, should all be fixed. It doesn’t leave a good first impression.
    • Rita: 
      • If I ask for a proposal and don’t get it, I wonder what’s up. If you query, you should be ready to execute the proposal.
      • If the authors platform doesn’t match their book, then they’re the wrong author.
    • Robyn: I can overlook a scene not being strong enough or a character needs to be tweaked. But I can’t overlook someone who queries me and their novel is not complete. You can only read for the first time once.
    • Susan: Agree: don’t query until finished.
  • To what extent do you work on material (editing, etc.)
    • Bernadette: If I read something I love, I send it to two other readers. We compile a report of what’s working and not working. 5 to 10 pages of detail. Then have a conversation with the author on how much editing is need. If its a lot, then we suggest they work with a private editor.
    • Robyn: Sometimes we suggest they go with an outside editor, but more usually we’ll work with the author. Sometimes we’ll go through 3 or 4 drafts with them.
    • Susan: When it comes to non-fiction and crafting a proposal, I work very closely with them. Fiction is on a case by case basis. Do I know what’s wrong and can I help them fix it?
  • What do you tell an author whose platform isn’t quite right, or isn’t quite large enough?
    • Susie: You have to work the social media racecourse. You have to know how to reach people and connect with them.
    • Robyn: It’s critical to have a web presence. Review books and push them on your blog.
    • Rita: Publishers want proof, not promises. The author has to continue the promotional activities after the three month campaign. Sometimes the smaller publishers are willing to work with someone who is still developing their platform. 
    • Bernadette: You have an opportunity to craft your personna and to bring that out into the world. There’s an easy way to get that following by building connections with other authors. 
  • What do you think makes for a long writing career? 
    • Rita: 
      • Listening to thriller writers, they say they have pressure to publish at least a book a year.
      • Authors who are willing to listen to feedback, to plot a course over time.
    • Robyn: A willingness to evolve. One author when from memoir to non fiction to YA to memoir.
    • Susie: Writing to sell. Looking for commercially viable books. You have to keep working. Don’t be wed to one particular style. Because the world moves on.
  • Are there warning signs or pet peeves? Things that make you say this author isn’t for me.
    • Bernadette: Authors who think that once they have an agent, things are going to get easier. The work of building their career is just starting.
    • Rita: We’re dealing with skeletal staffs in publishing today, and so there’s more that can do wrong. Authors who come with trust and use my time well, they get my respect. There are authors whose talent is not up to their ambition. They’re expecting greatness, but all I can give them is goodness. When there’s tension based on expectations, that’s awkward.
    • Robyn: An impatient author who keeps asking when we’ll read their stuff…our reading time is on our evenings and weekends. 

Posted on
by
Some assorted news:
1) Avogadro Corp hit #2 on the technothriller list, and A.I. Apocalypse hit #5:
Both books catapulted to the top of the technothrillers category this week.
Thank you to everyone who bought a copy, posted reviews, or told friends! 
2) If you’ve been waiting to get A.I. Apocalypse via Smashwords for your iPad, Nook, or other device, it’s available now.
3) If you haven’t seen them, check out this week’s collection of robot videos from IEEE Spectrum. There’s some amazing ones in there, including this one showing their dragonfly drone from the 1970s:

Posted on
by

Writing for Middle Grades and Young Adult
Duane Wilkins
Ted Butler
Anna Sheehan
Alma Alexander
Gibbitt Rhys-Jones
  • What are YA reading now?
    • Everything
    • Don’t go where the market is now, because the market moves
    • Plenty of fantasy
    • Not much science fiction
      • Duane: Not much science fiction is being written for those ages
    • Hunger Games
      • movie driving book sales
    • Dystopia wave: 50 in the pipeline
      • some are great, but many are just OK
  • Is Dystopia overused?
  • The adult author side-step
  • One reason YA has often been the best of the scifi field is because they won’t put up with crap. They don’t want a 500 page introduction.
  • A YA reader don’t have filters: they will either love it or hate it, but they won’t just tell you “it’s nice”.
  • How do you write for YA?
    • Alma
      • I just write a book, and the reader will find their own level.
      • Any good YA book can be read by anyone from 10 to 99.
      • But you do have to censor yourself a little bit: no sexually explicit scenes
    • Wordcount: 
      • middle grades: 40k to 75k
      • ya: 75k words
      • adult: 100k to 120k
    • Ted:
      • 16 year old age is best protagonist age
      • nancy drew: is 19 for all of the books
    • Duane: 
      • need to keep the momentum up
    • volunteered from audience: protagonist should be about 2 years older than the audience you are shooting for
    • Gibbitt:
      • the adults in the novel shouldn’t solve problems
      • the protagonist has to solve their problem
    • Anna:
      • but don’t make the adults be incompetent.
  • Q: Prose style: Do we need to use simpler language or metaphor?
    • Anna: can use any word, so long as the supporting text helps define it
  • Q: Should YA deal with big issues: bullying, existantial angst, etc?
    • Alma: there’s no reason to write a downer of a book, nor should you pick an issue and write a book around it. write your plot, and the issues will come up, and they should be addressed.
    • Duane: Rob Thomas, wrote YA books, and really got the voice right.
  • Q: Is romance too prevalent in the YA market?
    • Duane: It can’t be romance for the sake of romance. It has to be written with a real plot.
  • In a school situation, if one kid reads a book, everyone will read it. And if one kid likes it, the other kids feel pressure to like it too.
  • Q: How do you go about getting YA published?
    • With difficulty.
  • Q: Have you written anything into YA that was controversial, that got pushback from editor or publisher?
    • Anna: Yes. And I went with a different publisher so I could keep the creepier ending I wanted. You have to pick your battles.
  • Agents are invaluable. They will help with battles with the editor.

Posted on
by

Scum and Villainy
David Brin
Corry L. Lee
Pierce Ludke
Shoshanna
Robin Hobb
  • Favorite Villains
    • David: Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Pattern: you can give the villain a speech, and he can be fascinating and rationalizing. You can’t give the hero a speech, because it’s alienating.
    • Corry: Dr. Horrible. Sympathetic villain. He wants something.
    • Pierce: Dracula. The Joker. 
    • Shoshanna: Villain as central character. Richard the 3rd. Frankenstein’s Monster.
      • Richard the 3rd: He’s likable and charismatic, but he’s horrible.
    • Robin: Moriarity. Snape. Snape is more interesting than Dumbledore. And sympathetic.
      • Villains are victims of their circumstances.
  • The villain is never the villain in their own story.
  • Tolkien: the elves could be seen as the villains. The victors get to write the propaganda. Soroman could just be viewed as an industrialist who wanted to raise up the proletariat. 
  • Brin: The ability of villains to rationalize. As a writer, you can make the rationalizations almost tempting to reader and to the hero. 
  • Corry; The ends justify the means archetype. As a reader, we can believe that.
  • The villain has less rules guiding their behavior, compared to the hero.
    • We as readers also have rules that govern our behavior, and we like to experience freedom by living vicariously through the villain, who experiences more freedom.
  • Robin: 
    • The Heros, Joe Abercrombie. You see two sides of a two day war. By the end you don’t know who you are going to root for, and no matter which way it goes, it is going to be tragic.
    • Prince of Thorns: does unspeakable things to win, but you come to see his point of view.
  • Book by Anne Pratchette about terrorists who lock japanese businessman in a room, and by the end you are rooting for the terrorists.
  • calling the paid protectors (e.g. 911)
    • the hero doesn’t think to call them
    • the hero calls them but they don’t come
    • they come but they are incompetent
    • they come and their competent, but they are in cahoots with the villain
      • or the villain has framed you
    • and it scales with the threat: in the movie independence day, the entire united states citizens, the u.s. military and police force are all good and all competent, because the threat is so large.
    • the villainy is on a sliding scale, along with the competency of the paid protectors.
      • the villain can ensure the protectors don’t show up.
  • all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • flowers for algernon: there isn’t a villain. it’s the circumstances. fate is the villain.
  • yellow wallpaper