Yes, in a weird turn of events, I was casting about on how to out certain things that are going on in the background of my novel. I was frustrated, and flipping through a book by a certain Chomsky fellow (calm down, John Wendel, hahaha)and I arrived at the perfect character, except he’s a Kurd, and I know only enough to know that a Kurdish terrorist character would perfectly fit the weird turn of events that I’m writing into the background of my novel. He’s the guy I need to open up the third of three big bad things in the story.

But as I say, I don’t know anything about the Kurds, not beyond the little I’ve heard on the news, the little I talked about last week with Kazakhstan Dave, and the little that’s in the Chomsky book. So I’m gonna post some links here to Kurdish news pages and I’m gonna check them every few days. I’ll save the stff I’m writing about the Kurdish guy until last, so perhaps I can be a little better-informed about his motivations, background, and so on. I’ll also ask some really critical-minded people their opinion on it. This is the first time I’m writing about a character from a culture I know absolutely nothing about—not even on an academic level—and it’s quite daunting. I mean, I hate to see when an author cacks this sort of thing up… and yet, to me it seems like a very good fit, especially considering recent developments and the history insofar as I know it. It also sets the ground for a second book set in the same time but n different places, with a totally different perspective on that world I’m constructing now, which, while I’m not crazy about the idea of series, is nonetheless blossoming in my mind. Ah well.

Here comes the Kurds:

Kurdish Life.
Kurdistan Observer.
AKIN (American Kurdish Information Network).

Wow, all that research for what is essentially some background stuff, news reports, and maybe a short clip from trial footage. Hmmmm.

By the way, yes, I am posting (here) everyday, or almost… I’m finding the best way to split up my writing day is to walk either into town, or into the little town in the other direction, and spend some time wandering, eating something other than my own sandwiches, and going online for a little while. Then I go home, around nine or so, write until 1am, go to bed, wake around 9am, write till 2 or 3pm or so, and wander out to start the cycle again. It’s working for now, anyway. But I think tomorrow I shall need a massage, for the back pain I’m developing from writing on a laptop that is actually on my lap…

And now, I’m off to watch some brainless comedy movie and let what I’ve been reading process for a while. Tonight, more writing. By the way, I found it necessary to rewrite some of my older stuff but also mad the story a lot clearer in so doing. I think now I have three major sections, and a handful of shorter minor scenes, plus some little interview-excerpts with the weirdo media star Synthia, left to go. And one of those major scenes is something I’m just re-organizing and editing a little. So that’s pretty good.

Now I REALLY need to get away from the keyboard. My back effing hurts.