Nicholas Christakis: The Hidden Influence of Social Networks

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This is fascinating:

It’s 18 minutes long, but like a lot of TED Talks, it’s interesting as all hell. The speaker turned his experience working in hospice care to study how common human conditions spread through social networks. Not only does he talk about emotions like happiness and anger (and how those feelings seem to have a life beyond the individual expression of them) but obesity as well.

One thing I wish he’d addressed (and I’m almost tempted to write him a letter to ask him about it) was whether there was a biological component to the spread of traits through social networks. Some recent studies showed that obesity has bacterial/viral components to it, and his work suggests that there’s a way to study the way it spreads from person to person.

And what if there are certain bacterial “cocktails” that promote happiness or dissatisfaction? Those might spread by human contact, too, couldn’t they?

In any event, I’m going to use his description of human social networks in The Buried King. It’s perfect for a scene where non-humans discuss the irritating incomprehensibility of human beings.

Internet! How did I ever get by without you!

Long walks = writing

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After several rather cluttered days, I’m taking this morning for The Buried King. First, a long walk to work out some plotty knotty goodness. Then, coffee and my laptop. We’ll see if I’m finally ready to tackle chapter one.

Via MightyGodKing

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This is crazy fun.

Facebook users, that’s embedded video. Click through to see it. Sorry you can’t watch it at work, Gary.

Randomness for 5/10

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1) Holy cow, but this is amazing. And here’s some poster art.

2) Miranda and monologuing.

3) Creating the sociopaths of the future.

4) A teeny murder weapon. Weirdly, I was going to show this to my son, but he’d already seen it. My little boy is growing up.

5) A personal remembrance of Frank Frazetta, in two tweets.

And now it’s on Publishers Weekly

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The PW blog Genreville just posted that reader-created book trailer. Awesome.

They’re also asking for favorite book trailers. If you have one, post a link; if you want to see some, check out the comments. I certainly will later on, for trailer research.

Joke trailer better than real one

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Well, I assume it will be better.

I received an email an hour ago letting me know that someone had created an animated trailer for my two books. The emailer didn’t realize that the first comment on that thread was from me (although judging by the f/u email, they did immediately after they hit SEND). Still, it’s pretty damn funny.

Also, I’ve been seeing links to it here and there, some by people I know and some by strangers–there’s something weirdly hypnotic about disco dancers with book heads, I guess. Something weirdly hilarious, too.

Would the trailer I’m planning to make convince as many people to link to it? I don’t know, man. I don’t know.

In honor of the day

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Happy Mother’s Day.

Do the Write Thing for Nashville Auction

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Three writers are running a benefit auction to help the flood victims in Nashville on this blog. I offered two signed copies of Child of Fire but haven’t heard back from them yet.

And who can blame them? What are two mmpb originals from a new author compared to some of the other auction prizes being offered? Full manuscript critiques! Partial manuscript critiques! Query critiques! Thirty-minute phone discussions of the industry! All with top agents, editors, and authors. One of the latest offerings is from a bestselling author willing to fly to any US city and buy lunch with the winning bidder and her friends.

I’m sure they’ll get around to me eventually. Right now they’re dealing with the big stuff.

And I encourage everyone to head over there and check it out. It’s for a great cause and there are real treasures to be had.

It’s amazing!

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I mention that I want to make a book trailer, and a reader made one for me!

The folks at Random House are going to be so excited!

Five Things for a Friday

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1. After weeks of trying to figure out how to fit exercise into my schedule (“What do I give up?” and “When would I have the energy?” being the most important considerations) I suddenly realized that I could squeeze a long walk into my schedule after I finish my shift at my day job, but before I come home. This week I’ve been walking the bus route toward home for 30-40 minutes, and it’s working well. Soon I’ll bump that up to an hour. It means giving up some reading time at the bus stop, but it’s worth it.

2. My feet and leg pain is back. See number one above. I haven’t told my wife about it because it freaks her out, but it’ll soon be obvious because…

3. Our Mothers Day jaunt will be a trip to the park. Lots of walking. Lots of greenery. She loves long walks outside and considers them an essential part of her spiritual self-care. Unfortunately, our son only ventures outdoors after an hour of whining and misery. But we’re doing it, for her. I expect to be in a lot of pain, and to be stuck in the middle.

4. Also this weekend, a very good, very old friend will be in a nearby town. Will he be able to visit? Will I be able to go visit him? No clue.

5. I’m pretty much committed to making a book trailer for book three. Nothing much is going to happen to it at least until the fall, after Game of Cages (aka book 2) comes out. No rush. I will, however, be watching a ton of trailers in the meantime to see what I like and don’t like.

Surprising 6th item: The pre-writing for The Buried King is at the absolute worst part–I have all the characters set and what they want. I know how they’re going to try to get what they want. What I don’t have is a clear idea of how all the conflicts are going to play out.

Truthfully, I don’t need to know this exactly, but I have to have enough information to be sure that the protagonist is going to have conflict with each of the antagonists, and I need to know that each conflict is going to be different. I’m not there yet, which means I’m ready to start writing chapter one but I’m also not ready. Frustrating.

There was supposed to be a surprising seventh thing, too, but I can’t remember what.