Solids and Shadows

Watching the show first has the uncanny effect of getting the character portrayals into my head.

I wish Christians could be more like Muslims, who ban all portrayals of their prophet Muhammad. I keep getting the popular image of Jesus as a tall man with long hair wearing sheets and sandals. I mean, it's quite instinctual, but I wish I saw what my instinct would have me see first.

If the story's good though, these impressions start to fall away and looks matter less.

For example, Wizard's First Rule. They started off as shadowy medieval archetypes - a shadowy cross between Robin Hood portrayals and Lord of the Rings characters holding swords and bows, but then I started to watch the show. Nearly all the mental fog was gone - characters were no longer spirit-like. They now had real faces!

Pretty exciting.

But now, as I move on in the series, they became more gossamer-like among the mental mist. I think the portrayals usually fell apart at facial expressions - the novel characters and actor's portrayal are ultimately different. Some expressions just don't occur in the show, probably because some scenes can't fit in the adapted story-line. And people probably find it hard to scowl nearly as many times as novel characters can!

Ultimately, I guess it is the character's spirit that lives in the reader, whatever they may look like.

The ghost in the body is perhaps what matters in the end. If there was an important lesson I learnt from reading, it is about looking past the costumes, masks and bodies of people and seeing the spirit living in the body.

Total Reading

1. Find a setting similar to the one in the novel. (Which is safe and may not be comfortable.)

The Sword of Truth novel series is set a lot in the woods. I went running around to remote parts of HK just to find quiet away from people to read it. Read it, Live it.


"...Sounds of birds, breezes, and bugs hurt her ears. Trees draped with
streamers of moss, rocks incrusted with lichen and snarled in roots and vines, and patches of damp, dark mist crowded in all around. The overpowering presence of it all terrified her. Breathe...." Extracted from a Sword of Truth novel.

2. Go out there and do the stuff in the novel.

OK, I didn't go all the way.

But getting chased down by a Quad (mounted assassins) at breakneck speed? I can get close to that. Getting on a horse and charging around a tough course of jumps as fast as I could in the best posture I could muster gets pretty close. Riding without a saddle also gives that awesome raw feel.

How about shooting arrows at nasty D'Harans? HKUST's archery ranges lets you do almost the same.

And what about torture by Mord Sith? OK, I can't match that. But spending a day and night programming some tedious assignment and I did rather want the torturous death by Agiel at the hands of a madwoman. Close enough.

3. Eat the food of the novel.

Soup and bread?

Richard came awake with a start. Warm midday light filled the room, and the wonderful, tangy aroma of spice soup filled his lungs.

Unlike the movie theater, popcorn and other junk food simply do not belong in the worlds of fantasy. And you know what? Fictional food often come from awesome recipes. Spice soup is awesome. Ideally, I'd love to try it camping somewhere and cooking it over a campfire, but a modern kitchen does just as well.

4. Play the music of the novel.

What music I'm listening to has a huge impact on what the setting and characters look like in my mind. It's hard to write about music, so you have creative license on this one. Generally though, if the novel you're reading has been made into a movie, then the soundtrack will usually do fine.

One way you know you got a great piece is when you find yourself humming it and then all of a sudden, the novel imagery begins to float in.

5. Read short, savor long.

I read 30 minutes daily, but I do it at my natural pace - as fast as my eyes devour the words, like a computer parsing SVG code.
After reading, I savor the passage for the rest of the day before reading another passage at bedtime. Bedtime reading is awesome, just don't overdo it.

6. Get the sleep you need to immerse.

The image of a teenager propped up against a pillow sneakily reading a Harry Potter book in dim light is a fantasy that people want to believe as true (Wizard's First Rule). A sleepy brain simply does not render the vivid imagery as well, nor does the imagery invoke as much emotion as it should have.

7. Get away from unnatural distractions.

These bring you out of the world of magic and back to reality. Instead, I encourage all to get into the Wardrobe - the portal of your fantasy world. Dive right in, stay in there for a while and go where it takes you.

8. Find yourself in all the characters.

We all have some part common with everyone, even fictional characters.

9. If there's a TV show of it, watch it before the book. 

Why? Because movies/shows of the books look stupid after you read the book.

Seriously. Why do you find people on the internet complaining about movie adaptations of books? Expectations are created from long exposure to the book's characters, story, settings that movies often don't match (can't blame them - everyone imagines them differently).
On the other hand, watching the show first adds vivid imagery to the reading mind, while delivering minor spoilers.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/board/post3117547.html

It wasn't until recently that I actually remembered that the first fantasy novel I actually read in primary school was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. That's almost 10 years ago, but I still remembered it. I don't even remember the exact story anymore - it was kind of a reading assignment back then. We had to hand in book reports every few weeks and I actually enjoyed most of it, though it was always quite a difficult rush to do - My English was not too bad, but also less than my peers, who did reading comprehension exercises religiously. I had trouble remember what I read and I had a small vocabulary - both of which were greatly boosted when I started to do some passionate reading.

Looking back, I'm thankful for the religious reading regimen. It pushed me up to the level where I could actually enjoy novels instead of seeing it as a chore. While I could have done it eventually, the support was invaluable, laying the groundwork for the reading I now look forward to.

FYP lookup

I experienced and learnt many things from the FYP. HOWEVER, I can only see so much for now, so this is what I saw.

- Selection beats training and changes of all kinds, EVERY SINGLE TIME. I accepted a rather unpassionate "salaryman"-like character and we all had to live with it for the rest of the project. Advisors do not have an direct control, there is no peer evaluation, only social solutions are available.

- Indifference today will translate into laziness tomorrow.

In a company, freeriders can be fired. In a group, peer pressure will have to do. If members start to accept freeriding, the team is lost, divided into subteams.

In another context, people must decide what their role in the group is. If you tell indifferent people to do something, there is a big possibility they will not do it well.

Indifferent people are easy to spot. They are opportunists looking for only the reward, without passion for the work they do(or indifferent to it). When you see they don't like to work but love the celebration, you're looking at the definition of a freerider.

- Leading without social leverage is not easy. Leading without similar values nor the above is even harder.

Have both before you decide to go in the lead.