I have discovered I have a problem when I write. I always go for the hurt. I have an idea for a series of short stories following this man who works for a very unique company. Basically think Star Trek red shirts, henchmen, cannon fodder, and the extras that always seem to suffer horribly, for hire. Extremely funny, if dark humour, lots of breaking the fourth wall, making fun of cliches, extensive use of the Evil Overlords list, and office politics. Too bad for me, as I keep thinking about it, and developing plots and characters, I keep moving away from the sheer comedy. If I think about it for too long it becomes a soap opera, with morbid drama, angst, murder (more then I planned originally), and other things that just weren't in the original plans. So rather then having a story about a guy trying to survive in insane situations I find myself going to the darker side of my mind. I keep thinking of giving him a morbid past that explains why he took this dangerous job, when I have a funny idea already semi-planned. Instead of being willing to kill to keep himself alive, he is becoming a psychopath. More and more of his friends are dying, which I don't want to do. And my brain wants to give him a love interest that will be going on other missions, which leaves him feeling terrible, and not in a funny way. I know I have a sense of humour, but it's annoying I can't write it down in its pure form. At least not without a lot of editing, and forcing. Ok I'm done ranting now.
Something I have noticed in many books is that characters don't really plan anything. The author will say that they spent time planning, but when you read what the characters are doing you realize they spent five minutes talking and wrote the mission down on the back of a bar napkin. In fantasy novels this is seen most frequently when attacking a castle. The main characters will have two of their numbers dressing up as washer women trying to sneak in, while the thief will slink over the wall and "do something", and the big fighter will either hide in the washing, or pretend to be a fellow guard and kill anyone who gets in his way. For the most important part of the plan, if anyone is seen "ATTACK!" This can be funny. It can even be a little thrilling, but for a reader who expects more then basic level strategy its extremely disappointing. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" dealt with this nicely. So that I don't give anything away I'll be a little vague. When Harry needed to get an item from a heavily guarded building, he and his friends planned for weeks to get in. When they got in they realize something. They screwed up. All of their plans involved entering the building. They didn't have a plan for if they were separated, if they were caught, or if their actions were discovered and security measures were activated. It took a bit of luck for them to get away, and Rowling did an excellent job of showing this without having to rely on deux ex machina. Now you are probably thinking, but showing the characters planning everything is boring. You're right it can be boring, it can also be interesting but that takes effort. So here's the easy solution, don't show all the planning. Have them discussing some of the highlights, make it the equivalent of a traveling montage in a movie. The reader will realize whats going on, and it doesn't have to take up more than a few paragraphs. Now why are plans important? The main reason is most people hate deux ex machina. This means when everyone knows the hero should die, but something improbable happens saving his life, and possibly saving the entire day. i.e. The calvary just happens to be patrolling in that exact area at that exact time. The hero suddenly develops a fantastic new power, saving everyone. In at least one book, the God or his/her angels come down and whisk the heroes to safety. I could keep going for several pages but you get the picture. These are all tired and worn tropes. They can be done well, but it all too often comes out as poor writing. So how do you solve this? You plan the characters plan carefully. This isn't the same as planning the plot of the book. You can still be spontaneous and write on the edge of your seat. But you have to ensure the characters have a valid plan. If they want to kill a big evil character who goes to the same bar every night, and decide they will wait in the ally beside the bar until he comes out and stab him in the back, this is not a good plan. This is the equivalent of saying "There he is! Jump him!" This can work. But you leave the reader wondering what about witnesses, what if he comes out with a friend, what if a gang sees the characters in the dark ally and decide to rob them. So many things are left to chance its ridiculous. So what are some guidelines for planning your characters successful plans. 1) What information do the characters have. The more info they have, the better they can plan. When do the guards walk past a certain door in their rounds? How many people are likely to be inside? Who exactly is inside? All of these are critical to a successful plan. Just getting the information can be an adventure in itself. 2)What experiences do the characters have? A mild mannered accountant who has never even jaywalked is going to look at things differently then the hardened thug. But don't discount a character because they're inexperienced. The thug will have more experience, and know what to watch out for. But the accountant may take more time and effort planning everything out to the letter, so that he can get away without a confrontation. 3) What can possibly go wrong? This is wide open. Figure out what can go wrong with the plan. As the author you should know if Prince of the Realm is having a late night torture party which means the hero's can't climb through the sewers and come up through the dungeon to kidnap the princess in her bedroom. 4)How will the characters escape if something goes wrong? This is very rarely considered. Usually the author leaves it as a wild escape with the heroes fleeing the castle guards and having a few cool stunts. Or the evil person who catches them turns out to be an ally or not so evil after all, or has their own scheme that involves the characters. Again it can work, but it's been done to death. 5) Do the characters have the proper skills. Picking a lock is hard if you don't have experience. So when faced with the locked door that contains the McGuffin, does one of the characters suddenly remember they're past life as a skilled thief? Make sure before everything starts, that all the necessary skills and equipment are available. Write down a list of what their skills and equipment are. It will help. 6) Remember the consequences. If a plan is poorly thought out there will be consequences. If it is properly thought out there will be consequences. If a plan doesn't work or barely works and the characters remain free what happened? Were the characters seen, were they recognized, did they have to kill a lot of people on the way out? All sorts of interesting things can come about from this. They might see their faces on wanted posters if they were only seen. If they are Rebels who were recognized in a bungled plan, they might become a laughing stock. If they killed people they suddenly have new enemies. Use these. If it was successful, they might gain new allies who think the characters are competent enough to help. The enemy might put more of their resources into killing this now dangerous enemy. If it's discovered who stole the MacGuffin all types of new enemies might appear who want it, and know who has it. Again use these. For further help with plans, watch some thrillers and spy movies. I'd recommend "Ronin" right off the bat. It has the planning stage, double crosses, more planning, really bad consequences, and the like. Also "Munich" is a good example of real life missions. Its not as detailed about the plans, but still a good movie. And check out some table top role playing game forums. Every role player has stories of horribly bad plans, well thought out plans that failed because they forgot a flashlight, and beautiful plans that had everyone grinning like idiots as they marched to glory. Good luck
If you stay in China for any length of time, and wander around a bit, you will notice something. There are a hell of a lot of massage parlours, and barbershops that are really massage parlours. Its kind of nuts. I'm used to seeing brothels in cities. But in China, its' almost impossible to miss them if you veer slightly out of the tourist areas. Even in Beijing where they have really cracked down on prostitution, you see a lot of it. I've walked past perfectly legit barbershops and massage clinics during the day without any women propositioning me, only to walk past the same place at night and being offered all kinds of interesting experiences. In Shanghai and Nanjing they don't even bother with hiding what they do during the day. Now I have walked in and asked questions, at one point I was dragged in. But I will state for the record I have never actually used one of these places. You can believe that or not, I don't care. As a writer I wanted to see how they tried to convince people to use there services and things. I understand why these women do it. They've asked for anywhere from 50rmb for a hand job, to 700rmb for sex. Now as a tourist, more specifically a young man on my own, they were trying to get me for as much as they could. But even from natives they would still earn a tidy little sum. Compared to a lot of jobs they could do, they earn potentially as much as higher up office workers. For women with few skills in a very crowded market place prostitution makes sense. So today I was thinking. China could go and get a lot of these women away from prostitution if they allowed strip clubs to operate. Think about it. The women don't have to be skilled, they just have to have average looks. There is less risk of disease, rape, and violence. And they will still make decent money. Now I'm not a fan of strip clubs. But I'd much rather see these women working as dancers, then seeing them run to the doors of their little shops and trying to convince men to screw them. Also China is big on employing as many people as possible, even if it isn't efficient. I've seen workers tearing down an entire block by hand, when some heavy machinery could do the work in a quarter of the time. Now with these brothels most of them are very small, with 1 to 5 ladies, and maybe one male. If they allowed strip clubs, they'd have to have several dancers, a few bouncers, waitresses, and cashiers. A lot more workers involved, so more people are making a living. Unfortunately since China wants to appear proper and chaste, they'll continue employing millions of women in prostitution as long as the police keep getting their bribes. The world really sucks sometimes.
City Name: Lucaret Ruler: Master Lan Whitewall. Power Structure: A Council of Merchants control the city. Anyone with assets in the city equaling 2000 Gold can petition to join the council. Population: 180,000 in the city, 30,000 in the outskirts. Population breakdown: 40% human, 35% Dwarf, 10% Elf, 5% Half Giant, 4% Orc, 2% Goblin, 4% Other Army: 2000 City Guards (Average), 20,000 Militia (very poor), 5000 Mercenaries (average to elite) Focus of knowledge: Technology Important Resources: Mostly Trade, very few taxes, and a genial attitude to most cities, keeps goods flowing into the city as a market place where enemies can buy and sell essential goods from each other without angering anyone. Allies:Crolestere Short Bio of the city Lucaret is a traders paradise. Built centuries ago it is ideally placed along a main river which makes it almost as important as Jaladhi in terms of river traffic. And its smoothly rolling hills allows for easy well maintained roads leading to all other cities in the valley. One hundred and thirty three years ago, the king and ruling council were deposed when they tried to impose stiff taxes on the traders, who they feared had become too powerful. This fear proved correct. After a brutal, and short civil war, the Merchants hired army prevailed. They now operate as the main market for all the valley. If one city needs something from its enemy they almost always use Lucaret as a middle man. For a handsome fee. Even the city of Green Leaf is allowed access to the city. Although they have to pay higher entry fees. Recently they allied with the city of Crolestere. Rumours and reports had arrived saying that several cities were thinking of attacking Lucaret. It was feared that they would not be able to increase their army in time, and its militia is hopelessly under trained. Thus in return for very favourable rates, Crolestere allied with the city providing its large army in support of its ally. Thus Lucaret remains safe, for now.
City Name: Green Leaf Ruler: Rock Tooth Chief Lord Power Structure: Dictatorship amongst a society of warlords. Each Warlord controls a portion of the city or land, and sends gifts to the Chief Lord every five months. Population: 150,000 in the city, 50,000 in the surrounding area. Population breakdown: 60% Goblin, 30% Orc, 10% Human. Army: Approximately 50,000 basic soldiers. If they can all show up on the same day, in the proper area, and on the same side is a different story. Focus of knowledge: Some magic, some technology Important Resources: Lumber, rare and popular spices and swamp plants, exotic hides, bones, and meats. And a flourishing black market. Allies: None Short Bio of the city: When the Orc army was decimated by the Tristen alliance centuries ago, Goblins took over the Orcs former home. They fought amongst each other for several centuries, before a Goblin called Big Feet, was able to form an alliance with several other tribes, and decimated his rivals, then he back stabbed most of his rivals and declared himself Chief Lord of the ruins of Green Leaf. The city has been 'repaired' and expanded along the islands and dry areas of the swamp in the last two centuries of 'peace'. Now it is a sprawling dirty ramshackle city, where Warlords control certain districts and streets with the Chief Lords permission. Despite its appearance, and smell, the city is any freedom lovers dream come true. There are virtually no laws, and if you can get enough money or followers anyone can become a War Lord. It is very difficult for the city to act coherently. But when they do it is very scary. A century ago the nearby city of Lucaret got tired of the cities banditry and attacked Green Leaf. It was a disaster. Virtually the entire city of Green Leaf was burned to the ground. This wouldn't have been so bad, except the Lucaret army was in the city at the time. As they retreated the Green Leaf army raided, ambushed and sniped them the entire time they were in the swamp. Over a quarter of the army was lost, another quarter was wounded, and most of their weapons and supplies had to be abandoned. Green Leaf has been at peace since then.
Tristen Ruler: Lyan the 4th (pronounce Lion) City Name: Tristen Power Structure: Ruled by the Church of the Sun, who's leader is always renamed Lyan Guardian of the People. Population: 90,000 in the city, 80,000 in the countryside. Population breakdown: 70% human, 15% Orc, 5% Elf, 5% Other. Army: 5000 Sun Guards (Elite, mostly Orcs), 10,000 Believers of the Sun (Average troops), 15,000 Followers of the Sun (Militia), 300 Guards of the People (Clerics and wizards) Focus of knowledge:Mostly magic, but they supply the army with modern technology. Important Resources: Farming (Thats why the farmers almost equal the city), and receiving religious tithes. Allies: Oakwood Short Bio of the city: This is the religious heart of the Valley containing the head of the Church of the Sun which is the largest church. It is also in the centre of the valley along a fertile flood plain, which has made it the bread basket of the valley as well. Early in the cities history the valley was attacked by Orc's from the Eastern Swamps. They were defeated by an alliance lead by Tristen. In return for the lives of their children, the Orcs agreed to settle in Tristen working for the Church. After many centuries they form the backbone of the cities army. Until recently the Church and the city had been neutral to all the cities, and only had a small army. This kept it safe, as no city wanted an enemy to control the main church, or get access to the vast grain fields, so all cities held to the neutrality. That changed with the alliance to Oakwood. Worse,Tristen's army is increasing daily as believers flock to its doors seeking to serve the church. In retaliation most cities have cut off tithes to the city. This is hurting Tristen as tithes were it's second largest source of revenue. The Church has begun using its vast resources to make up the difference, but the citizens are seeing more and more of their taxes going to pay the guards while other areas of government shrink. No one quite knows why the newest ruler has changed the cities stance so drastically. It is only adding to the current unrest.
Golden Rock Ruler: Arch Mage Midan Power Structure: Wizard Dictatorship, with leader chosen by Trail by Magic. Population: 50,000 in the city, 40,000 in surrounding area. Population Breakdown: 98% human, 2% Elf (All of which are the Wizard Aristocracy or their relatives) Army: 10,000 militia (average), 200 wizards (Elite), 2000 Mercenary (average) Focus of Knowledge: Magic. Non-magic things are primitive compared to most other cities. Allies: None. Arch Mage Midan frowns on non-magic things and has let all former alliances drop. Golden Rock used to be rich, it used to be powerful, and it used to have effective leadership. No more. Fifty years ago the rich gold veins that made the city rich ended, leaving the city with virtually no industry. The city leaders searched desperately for some way to slow its decent into poverty to no avail. Then they got an unexpected offer. Elven mages tired of their own homes, arrived with gold. They paid the city with several tons of unworked gold in return they took over. They believed they'd be able to create a magical utopia as leaders, and tried to turn the city into a magical paradise. Unfortunately the city still had no resources, and the wizards extravagant spending caused it to spiral further into debt. Finally when the wizards could borrow no more money, they resorted to selling their services. This has allowed the city to stabilize somewhat. But it isn't enough. People are fleeing the city, and it has become known for crime, poverty, disease and waste. Only the shining towers of the Wizards look beautiful in this pathetic excuse for a city. ________ This is the weakest city. So players try for something in between this and Tilf.
A thread for an RPG I'd like to start up, should be appearing shortly in the RPG forum. But I thought I should go and post a lot of the back ground information on something other then the thread. Because that could get really crowded. So I'll be posting a lot of it here. The gist of the game is you control a city of your own creation. There are a dozen cities plus a nomadic option. Whatever cities aren't controlled by a PC I control as NPC's Anyways here is the main city Tilf that only I shall control, and is the cause of all the problems at the beginning of the game. Grand City of Tilf Ruler: Regent Christopher the Fourth Guardian of the High Road. Power Structure: Hereditary Regent, with a weak Council of Merchants who can theoretically veto most of the Regents decisions. Population: 230,000 in the city, 60,000 in the surrounding area. Population breakdown: 56% Dwarves, 40% Human, 4% Others Army: 30,000 general militia (poorly trained), 18,000 City militia (well trained), 10,000 soldiers (professional), 1000 Mercenaries (Elite) Focus of knowledge (magic or technology): Technology, supported by controlling the main trading route with the outside world. Allies: No known ones at this time. The Grand City of Tilf is the most powerful city in the Valley. It has controlled the main pass to the outside world since its creation and uses that fact mercilessly to enforce strict tariffs. Being at the base of the mountains with a river running directly through the city, its defences are formidable. Combined with Dwarf artisans building innumerable supply depots deep in the mountains, and it's understandable most Cities don't want to fight it. Only the fact that several alliances have always managed to outmaneuver the slow moving Tilf forces when they've gone on the warpath keeps them in check. Five months ago Tilf hired a mercenary army with advanced weapons that ventured through the pass. It was only discovered one month ago just how good these new muskets, and cannons were when spies managed to steal several muskets. Tilf has constructed a formidable army, able to out shoot every other army in the region. And the new lighter cannons have increased its speed dramatically. With its rich mineral resources, industrial might, its new weapons, and its size Tilf is more powerful then ever before. It's only remaining weakness is it's general lack of magic users. Only time will tell if that is enough. _________ This is the most powerful city. Any potential players, if your city matches this, its too powerful. This is also the general layout for cities if you choose to create one. I'll post the weakest possible city now for comparison.
I finally got on the plane. Nothing special about it, just an ordinary large jet plane. I was seated next to a friendly guy from Delhi. He was heading back home, only making a transfer in Shanghai. He wanted to chat, like I said he was friendly. But my nerves at that point were shot. So I explained why I was headed over, how I was very nervous, had barely been on a plane before, and let him tell me what he was doing. But after that 5 minutes of conversation, I politely declared my nerves were bad, and stopped talking. He didn't seem insulted, but I still felt bad about cutting off conversation. Unfortunately, I had been telling the truth, I couldn't talk intelligently. There was also a loud rushing sound from the wind outside, or possibly the fans, so I could barely hear anything. My hearing is not the greatest, and the wind was at just the right pitch it deafened me. The most interesting part of the trip was the meal. I had no idea if my ticket included a meal or not. Considering it was a 12 hour trip, a meal would be really nice. So the flight attendants started handing out meals. They were skipping some people and going directly to others. It was fairly easy to guess that you had to have specially ordered a meal to get one. The man beside me called over a stewardess and asked what was going on. She explained that the people who ordered meals with their tickets got theirs first, and if any were left over, we'd get some then. I was starving, but again, nerves, sheer raving terror at my future prospects, and a severe apathy brought on by hunger, kept me from arguing. The man from Delhi, on the other hand, was not exactly apathetic. He started arguing how the ticket didn't give him the option, and it was impossible on a 12 hour flight that we would not be served. He did keep it fairly quiet, and didn't insult the stewardess, so I just sat in my seat and waited. A few minutes later his supper was served. Mine came about 5 minutes later. After that the other 2 meals came promptly to everyone. The worst thing on the plane, other then the constant noise of the wind, was how my fingers went numb. I didn't actually stand up, except once to go to the bathroom. But I did flex my muscles regularly to keep the blood flowing. So I'm going to assume the numbness came from pressure changes. Because my toes felt totally normal, and I'd expect them to go numb long before my fingers. Other then those two experiences, it was basically the same as the Greyhound ride, except less to see. We were constantly in the sunlight, and my side of the plane had the sun shining right in. So except for a few times early on when the shade was up (the ice around Alaska was cool) the cabin only had the overhead lights on for illumination. As we came into Shanghai, we started getting some of the smog directly in the cabin. That was bad. Within 1 minute of smelling it my sinuses were clogged up. Not horribly, but enough to be annoying. We got into Shanghai, I had slept enough that I was able to function, but I wasn't doing great. We had been given a bunch of forms to fill out on the plane, and one of them, the customs questionnaire, mentioned bringing in foreign items. Now I had a very old, sterilized moose tooth with me. It's just an odd little memento I have. I had kind of forgotten that countries don't like animal parts being brought in. So on the one form that mentioned that little detail, I listed it. I didn't want to, but I figured it would be easier to have it right out in the open, then if they decided to search my bags, have them notice it and catch me in a lie. I entered the terminal, handing over all the proper papers. But the customs paper was one of the last. Better yet, we grabbed our luggage, before we had to hand the paper over. As I waited for my luggage, I saw the business man who told me I was crazy earlier in the Vancouver Airport. He was talking to some young business man about my age, who was apparently in China for the first time. I sidled over, and was lucky enough to hear that if you walked through the "Nothing to Declare" area, and handed over your paper, they wouldn't bother checking you out. You could be through in 30 seconds. So I grabbed another customs form, and filled that out, listing everything as "NO". My bag took about 20 minutes to come out, so I had time to look around and make sure no one was being stopped and randomly checked. Yes this might sound paranoid, but totalitarian country, mixed with my recent run of bad luck, made me a little cautious. I grabbed my bag, and saw it was unopened. I had wrapped it up in packing tape and it had a cheap lock on it, so they couldn't really open it without leaving some signs. Grabbing it I walked out through the "Nothing to Declare" area and looked for somewhere to sit. Now I had heard that you can get a wireless connection almost anywhere in the major cities in China. I had also heard that internet cafes and kiosks were common as mud. Mistake number 1 (Mistakes go back to 1, for each part. Otherwise I'll be up to Mistake number 100 before I'm halfway done). I couldn't find a connection, and there were no handy dandy little internet kiosks lying around. So I started wandering the airport looking for a wireless connection, or a little internet kiosk. I also changed my 125 Canadian, into 670 Yuan. Nothing. No kiosk, no signal, no friendly little signs. This might not sound so bad. But I had been planning on going to a hostel in Shanghai. They're really cheap places, for people willing to share rooms, and sleep in dorms. There's less privacy then a hotel, no private tv and the beds are worse, but again they're cheap. And you actually get a lot more then a lot of hotels, but more on that later. Now I should have made up a list of hostels, with the adresses, before I left. But I hadn't thought of that. If I had known when I was going to arrive in Shanghai, I might have even reserved one. Mistake number 2. I hadn't done any of these things. Without the internet I couldn't find out where a hostel was. I had no idea where I could go, I was tired, and I had a very heavy bag. Fortunately a man had come from behind a counter and asked if I needed a hotel. I had politely told him "Probably not" the first time. I went back to find him. I told the man I wanted a cheap hotel, with internet access. He found me one for 450 Yuan. Not a lot in Canadian money, about $64. It sounded a little much, but it had free airport pickup, and it was for only one night. I took it. Mistake number 3. I should have bartered. I could have probably worked it down to 350 without too much effort. I got to the hotel van, and headed downtown. Or so I thought, more on that later. The hotel room wasn't bad, it had a bed, a tv, air conditioning, and bottles of water. Not even the poor drink directly from the tap. And it even had internet connection Mistake number 4. The internet connection required a DSL cable. I had a very nice DSL cable, it came with the laptop. It was and probably still is sitting very nicely on my Dad's large computer desk, where I left it as I rushed to pack. So without the internet, I decided I'd go to sleep and worry about it in the morning.
That morning I went to the airport. I had no idea how far away the airport was, and needed to save money. So I planned to take the airport shuttle bus. Unfortunately it came nowhere near my hotel. Lugging my huge duffle bag (bulging and at least 50 pounds), I hopped onto a crowded bus. It was an uncomfortable trip, people don't appreciate having their legs crushed as my duffle bag kept trying to fall on them. Finally we stopped at the shuttle bus stop. More waiting. The shuttle bus finally came. I must have gotten on near the start, because it was nearly an hour before we got to the airport. After finally arriving at the airport, I proceeded to do what I had heard about on tv, and online. I went to information, and asked where I could wait to hear about missed tickets, and empty seats that just had to be filled. Now everything I had heard said that airlines hate flying with empty seats. It also said that frequently passengers missed their flights, or cancelled at the last minute. If you don't mind a bit of uncertainty, you can pick up these seats for at least 20% off, frequently 50% off. This seemed like a good idea for me, a poor traveler. So I planned accordingly, not dreaming of contacting the airport to make sure they did this. Mistake number one. They don't do this in Canada. At least not in Vancouver. At least not in the airport I was flying out of. I was at the airport waiting to head overseas, with no ticket. Ok, I could deal with this. I had also heard that tickets were sometimes cheaper if you order them right at the airport, because theres no commissions for travel agents. Mistake number 2 Not with Canadian Airlines. Apparently to enter China you need to have a round trip ticket. This would cost more money. The helpful lady did inform me I could head over, then send the second ticket back, and get a refund. That would take at least a month. And all of this at the low, low price of 3500 dollars. RIGHT. I had seen one way tickets to China for $700, online. I was not going to be ripped off. Time to call in reinforcements. I pulled out my laptop ready to find a low cost ticket online for anytime in the next three days. I didn't have to be in China for 2 weeks, so I could be picky, but I didn't really want to spend a week at the airport. Then I would phone my parents, asking them to buy it for me with their credit card. I don't own a credit card, but I could transfer the money to them quickly through online banking. Mistake Number 3. You had to be a member of Telus to use the wireless connection there. I could connect, but without a password, I could do nada, zip, zero. TO THE PAYPHONES! I called home collect, listed off the various problems, stated what I needed done, and said I'd phone back in two hours. It's awesome having good parents. So I waited. I also had lunch, I had kind of forgotten to eat. There are two main eating areas in the airport, I found them eventually, and after a few hours of looking I could even get from one to the other with only 2 wrong turns. The few times I had eaten at an airport before, it had been undercooked and not very tasty pizza. Here I was pleasantly surprised. The food was good, the staff professional, and it was filling. Best of all, if I avoided a few key hours, it wasn't crowded either. Back to the payphones. Called my Mom again, and she had gotten me a ticket with China Air. $775 for the next day, in the afternoon. Only problem, I had to head off to their office in Vancouver to get it. I dropped my luggage off at a lay away station (it was heavy), hopped into a cab, and through the use of a very handy GPS that is apparently now standard in Vancouver cabs, got to the travel agent. Problem, there were two offices, one downstairs, one upstairs. The address I had was no help, it just showed the address, and the outside door number. I looked in the first office on the bottom floor, didn't see anyone. I went up to the second floor, and looked in to see two Chinese ladies there. So I walked in, and explained that I had a ticket waiting for me. They said they had it. So I went in, and answered a bunch of questions. It seemed strange they should have already known the answers, from my Mom. Finally it came to the price. $850 payable by me, did I have a credit card. Mistake number 4 At this point I had a serious problem. No credit card, the ticket was a hundred dollars more expensive thean promised, and my Mom had said she had paid them with her credit card already. I asked if I could borrow the phone. Got my Mom, and told her the problem. She and the travel agent talked. It was discovered by my Mom and I, that I should have gone downstairs instead of up. Great. I went, and found the right agent. Less questions, more paper. But I was told again that I had to pay. But this time I found out that they had only needed my Mom's credit card number to confirm the ticket, not to actually pay for it. After confirming, numerous times, that my Mom wouldn't be charged, I pulled out my bankcard and paid. Huzzah!!!! I had my ticket. Now to get back to the airport. Easier said then done. No cabs. The area had mostly warehouses and small businesses that didn't have much of a walk in clientele. I started walking. I grabbed a pizza at Quizno's, and kept half of it to take to the airport with me for a late night snack. Technically supper since I had had breakfast at about 12. I also asked them to call me a cab, no one there knew the number. So I kept walking. No payphones, and no telephone books anywhere for at least a mile. No cab's either, at least none willing to stop. I finally hopped on a bus. I swear it said "Airport" on it. So I assumed it would drive me to the airport. It went two blocks did a wierd turn, dropping me off at an open air bus terminal, that was a mile and a freeway away from the airport. Apparently I had to get on another bus. I hadn't thought to ask for a transfer. At $3.25 per bus ride, it would have been only slightly more expensive to have gotten a cab at the travel agent. Finally I got back to the airport. I phoned my Mom again to let her know I now had everything, and was already to go. Then I wandered the airport. After exploring I didn't have much to do. I found a comfortable chair and read a book I had picked up the day before. Later I started looking around for a place to sleep. A really comfortable bench I had found to sit on was too slanted and wooden to sleep on comfortably. I wasn't about to sleep on the floor, I didn't have a pillow, my electronics were in the only bag I was currently carrying. So the whole sleeping thing was going to require some work. All the chairs I found were too near noisy crowds, too bright, and too uncomfortable. Finally I found a dark corner that was being partially renovated, but was still open to the public, in the US terminal. The seats were comfortable, and there was only a single armrest on the row of four seats. I put my pack right in front of the armrest, threw my legs over the bag and armrest, put my novel under my head for a pillow and fell asleep. I woke up way too early the next day, but no one had come near my bag. I did have one scary moment, while I tried to find my glasses. They had come off in my sleep. Fortunately they had landed safely on the floor between the chair and the wall. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Until I went to get my ticket at 12. I met a guy who told me that he was going to Shanghai on business and loved the place. He told me a few interesting things. Some I knew, some I didn't. When I told him my plans though, he looked very concerned. Apparently travelling to China without having reservations, with no one waiting for me, and not knowing where I was going is a bad idea. He told me how most cab drivers didn't speak English, and I would end up basically lost and confused. Surprisingly this news did not make me feel better. He wished me good luck, and from the way he said it, he didn't seem to think luck would be nearly enough. I got my ticket, I had to sign a form saying I had enough money to leave China when my visa expired. They didn't care how, so long as I was gone. So my cheap, one way ticket was sufficient, and I didn't need the 3000 dollar monstrosity that Air Canada had led me to believe. I had a few hours before my flight. At that point I was seriously tempted just to leave the airport and run away. I had been on four airplanes in my life. From Thunder Bay to Florida via Toronto, and back again. About 6 hours total. Now I was going on a 12 hour flight over the largest ocean in the world, to a new land, a huge city, with no quickly available support net, and very little money at this point. Oh dear. The shakes came back. I didn't run away though. I patiently walked through security, bought a bottle of water, a magazine, and a notepad. Then I waited with the other passangers at the terminal. There were 6 other white people there. All of them were busy talking amongst themselves, and I couldn't see a way to get involved in any conversations. There were pay internet terminals scattered throughout the airport, I had already used them earlier. So when I saw some in the terminal I went over hoping to calm my nerves. They weren't hooked up yet. Damn. I sat down in a chair, and did what I had done on the bus ride across Canada, I cleared my mind, and basically entered a fugue state. I knew what was happening around me, I could react fairly normally, but my mind was cleared of any thoughts, or boredom. This wasn't meditative, at least not planned meditation. It was simply a case of my mind had so many fears and concerns, it shoved them all away into a corner, and went blank. I would have been worried, but I didn't care at the time. Finally I got to enter the plane.
For anyone who's interested here's the first part of a journal I started writing for my Mom. She's posted it already on a board she and my Dad run, and its been posted on another board for seniors. I have seven entries so far, and will keep writing them as long as interesting things keep happening. Some of the experiences will also be used in a book I am writing about a few people traveling over seas to work in China. Enjoy. ___________________ I got on the Greyhound early in the morning. At that point I realized this was one hell of a leap of faith. The furthest I had ever traveled alone was Florida. And I had Grandparents waiting there to pick me up at the airport. And here I was going across a continent by bus, only to hop on the nearest plane without even having a ticket to head to Shanghai or Beijing, at least a week before the Ministry that had hired me wanted me to actually check in. Since I didn't have a plane ticket, I didn't know when I would be reaching China either, so I didn't have a reservation waiting for me. All I had were my clothes, some electronics, four books about teaching English, one English-Chinese Dictionary, my laptop, and a huge desire to get out and do something. Anything. I started shaking half an hour before the bus came, when I realized it was late. By the time it came I had calmed down somewhat. I think mainly to keep my Mom from worrying so much. It may also have had something to do with the fact that I had worn a groove in the pavement from my pacing. I got onto the bus, and found to my distaste, that it was packed. I had to ask a young woman if I could sit beside her. She was cute, but I had no desire to make conversation, and I hate how close the seats are. Turns out she spoke French and only a tiny bit of English. So at least I didn't have to worry about talking. I don't think I could have come up with five coherent sentences at that point. At the first stop we switched seats, so she could talk with her group. The bus was full of a group of people from Quebec, I'm not sure if they were a class, group, or what, but they were all headed for Northern BC. I was happy, I got to stare mindlessly out the window, and enjoy the cool glass on my arm and head. Not much happened on the bus. I couldn't concentrate on the books I had brought. Through Ontario the only people around me were French speakers, or I was alone. I prefered being alone. I suck with small talk, and my mind was still incorporating the fact that I was walking blindfolded into the unknown. Even better I had put the blindfold into place, and started walking without anyone pushing me. So I'll just say this about most of the bus ride, Northern Ontario is monotonous when you can't step off the road and actually explore. The prairies are flat. All Greyhound depots are huge ripoffs. And when you buy an overpriced notepad, don't leave it on the bus when you transfer. The most interesting part of the bus ride was Calgary and the Rockies. Calgary is booming right now. It's the fastest growing city in Canada, and it has one of the biggest housing crisis in Canada, only one or two other small cities in Alberta are suffering more. So much of the buildings in Calgary are shiny, new skyscrapers, very nice to look at. Even the majority of houses, and small buildings looked new, and well kept. It looked like a city I would like to live in. I was also impressed by all the construction going on. There were a large number of small buildings being worked on. Also in the small portion of the city there were at least 4 or 5 skyscrapers were being built. I also found it interesting how the Science Center was called the "Telus World of Science". I know that lots of places use corporate sponsors. I approve as well of this practice. But every other one I've heard of hasn't had the sponsors name as the main part of the name. "World of Science - sponsered by Telus" I have seen and it wouldn't had surprised me. I guess it comes from being a small town hick. The downside I saw in Calgary, I only saw as we were leaving. Hundreds of trailers surrounded Calgary. There simply aren't enough houses for all the workers, so acres of prime land are crammed with trailers of all kinds. They were so close together, it looked like there was only just enough room to open the door. Nothing else. Going through the Rockies was an experience. I've seen large hills, and even small mountains. I've climbed a number of them (nothing extreme, just going up the road, or along the easy slope), but nothing prepared me for the Rockies. The way the mountains rise up, piercing the clouds and forming a wall that stretches as far as you can see is amazing. As we drove between them, you could look up as much as the window permitted and still not see the top. There was a storm behind us, so clouds surrounded some of the mountains. Sometimes the mountains would be perfectly clear, and you could count the boulders, and then we'd turn a corner, or go into a dip, or climb a hill and clouds would form a blanket of grey that swallowed the light. And the colours. The grey and black of the storm clouds. The pitch black shadows that covered parts of the mountains. Pale blue from the more distant mountains. White glaciers at the mountain peaks. Streams and rivers of dark blue, with brilliant white rapids and waterfalls. Red and brown rock, suddenly turning to dark green forests, in virtually ruler straight lines. And deep valleys lost in the gloom as I looked straight down for over a thousand feet. I wish we had driven through it during the day instead of the early evening and night time. The rest of BC wasn't bad. Mostly trees. I need to visit there when I'm driving and have time to actually look at things. Got to Vancouver, and I was a mess. I hadn't really had a chance to clean up, or change anything other then my shirt, so I didn't look that good. I had finally gotten over my shock at least, so I knew what I had to do. I found a cab and had him drive me to an RBC (Royal Bank of Canada). Unfortunately it was too early and wouldn't open for about 20 minutes. So I walked through this upscale shopping mall looking for a bathroom, as I got dirty looks and pointedly ignored by the well dressed and clean, early morning patrons. Finally found the bathroom which was a single one with a locking door. Spent 10 minutes changing, and cleaning up. Still didn't look great, but I no longer had the whole, recently homeless, greasy bum, look. I had my first real breakfast in two days, a cinnamon bun and apple juice. I had been eating junk food and fruit on the 52 hour bus ride. Then I went back to the bank. I asked about getting an international account, and a few other questions, only to be told that it wasn't necessary and to change it would just be a waste of time. So I had that out of the way at least. Next I had to buy a few things, before I took off for China. And I wanted a chance to shower, and sleep in a proper bed. Thus I did the most intelligent thing I could think of that wouldn't cost me a lot of money in cab fare, which at that point I couldn't really afford. I hopped a bus and kept a look out for cheap hotels or a mall. Through absolute dumb luck I found both. I saw a mall a few streets over from the road I was on, and tried to memorize where I had seen it. Then about 1 minute later, I saw a string of low priced hotels. So I got off and broke numerous traffic laws, because I didn't realize you couldn't cross on certain sides of the street, even though they had traffic lights there. Asking about rooms, I discovered something very important. Low priced hotels in tourist cities, aren't low priced. But I really needed a room, so at the third hotel with the lowest rates, I grabbed a room. After showering, shaving, and letting my arms rest (my duffel bag was bloody well heavy) I was feeling human again. Even better, small children didn't run away when they saw me coming anymore. I went to the mall I had seen. Grabbed a keyboard as my laptops keyboard was acting up. Got some material for sewing inside pockets onto my pants, and velcro to sew onto my pockets to close them. The inside pockets and velcro were meant to stop, or at least slow down pick pockets. I also looked for a power converter, because I had heard that the differences in voltage could cause trouble for some appliances. But the clerk at the shop said that wouldn't be a problem. Instead he sold me a device to make plugging my stuff into the electrical outlets a little bit easier. (All of this will come up again later) At that point I decided to call it a day except where it came to food. I grabbed lunch at an authentic Korean restaurant. The food was super spicy, and what they did the pork should be outlawed. It probably would have helped if they had told me I was suppose to put the bean sprouts into the soup to cool it down. Instead I would eat some of the soup, gasp for breathe as my mouth overheated, eat some bean sprouts and repeat. Not fun. That night, for what I thought would be my final meal in North America, I looked around for the perfect place. Most of the nearby restaurants looked a little overpriced, and nothing really jumped out at me. Then I found it, the perfect place to have my final North American meal. I entered the restaurant and ordered a Big Mac, fries, and coke, large sized. _________ I'll post part 2 tomorrow.
Hello everyone This is the writing part of my blog. I'll be posting two types. One will be about my travels in China, the other will focus on writing. I already have journal entries about my traveling written up, unfortunately I can't find them, so I'll start posting them up later, when I get them e-mailed back to me by my parents. Anyways, on with the writing. I had until recently been posting practice horror stories, for free on the net. Just to see what people thought. Most of these stories focused on zombies, which I had previously believe didn't have a large market. So I thought it didn't really matter. I had sort of planned to just keep posting stories like that online for free, even as I moved into writing professionally. They are easy to write, and it does get my name known to a larger audience. My more professional stories were going to focus on fantasy, sci-fi and travel stories. Those were going to be the ones I tried to sell. However I changed my mind the other day. I was looking through various pay e-zines and magazines, and most of the ones I saw, dealt with horror in one way or another. As I thought about this, I realized something. By putting my zombie stories, which I believe are generally good, online for free on big virtually anonymous boards like Fictionpress.com, I'm throwing money down the drain. So I came to a decision. I'll finish the two novella's I'm currently posting onto Fictionpress, and I'll post any stories I write up for this forums writing contest. But any other work is going to be submitted to at least 6 different magazines before I even consider posting them for free. None of them will get me big money. But this way, I can actually get experience with submitting things, before I try to submit my best selling novel. It will also allow me to get some money, $20 US will feed me very nicely for a week in China, 2 and a half if I scrimp a little. Also if I can tell agents and publishers I have actually published short stories, it will sound better then saying I'm completely unpublished. So thats my big writing change. I'm going to keep writing horror, but I'm selling it from now on. Now if only I can get Microsoft Word to understand English I'll be all set. Cheers