This summer I was a guest instructor at Odyssey (odysseyworkshop), where I focused on the role of sidekicks as part of an overall discussion of characterization. The first half of the lecture was posted as a podcast last month, and they've just made the second half available on their website here.

Podcast #32: In this podcast, the second of two parts, Patricia Bray explains how the sidekick's characteristics can balance those of the protagonist, or contrast with those of the protagonist. She discusses the requirements for a good sidekick, and describes how the sidekick's character arc can complement or contrast with the protagonist's character arc. She explains the difference between a sidekick/protagonist story and a story with multiple protagonists. She also lists some of the very useful purposes a sidekick can serve in a story, such as making your protagonist more believable, providing an embodiment of the protagonist's motivation, and serving as the external conscience of protagonist. She also reviews the various mistakes an author can make in creating a sidekick. Patricia discusses sidekicks in short stories as well as novels, and explains when you might want to use the sidekick's point of view. You can find part 1 of Patricia's discussion of sidekicks in Podcast #31.

In honor of the new project, I've decided to change my name to Ur-Bray.

Yeah, it's time to call it a night. Sigh. Don't want to go to sleep because when I wake up it will be Monday.

We booked a double room at the RedRoof next to the convention center last night. I think the AAA rate was about $85. Sounds expensive for a RedRoof, but I don't doubt that's half the price of the official hotel. All I really need is a bed to sleep in anyway, right?

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

A time-machine. Somehow I missed most of the past summer. I'd like to go back and enjoy it, and if you could arrange it so the weather was seasonal instead of cold & rainy that would be a plus.

Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes, preferably chained to my bed. jpsorrow has promised to deliver, but I fear that he means a ticket to see the movie rather than the actual character.

Book contracts. For myself and all my friends. For those who already have contracts to keep them busy for the next few years, movie deals (with casting approval and action figures) would be lovely stocking stuffers.

And would it be too much to ask that I win the lottery? New York, Mega or PowerBall, I'm not picky. I just want enough cash that I can quit my dayjob, rent a large house somewhere on the Atlantic shore (I'm partial to the Outer Banks) and invite all my writing friends to come join me for a retreat. We'll put suricattus in charge of stocking the wine cellar, ask mizkit to supply fudge, and jpsorrow would be in charge of hiring a houseboy who would pick up after us and look decorative while doing so. Make the jackpot big enough and we'll make the retreat an annual tradition.

So what's on your list?

Star Wars Celebration V: Aug. 12-15, 2010
Orange County Convention Center

http://www.starwarscelebration.com/

Yay.

Anyone want to share a room?

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

We're in the midst of a crash development project, that's being sandwiched in around November close, prep for year-end and everyone's understandable desire to take vacation days before they lose them.

The goal is to build a new subset of the corporate spend database. Last week they created a test database for this project and I've been asked to pull sample data to load into it so we can start the analysis.

- The corporate spend database model has 12 dimensions.
- The test model that they built for me has 18 dimensions. The person who built it is on vacation this week and no one can explain why we have the 6 extra dimensions, or whether or not it is safe to delete them and go back to the regular 12 dimensions.
- The SQL queries that load the corporate spend model create an output file with 42 fields (dimensions). Several of these dimensions are obvious duplicates (three different formats for department numbers, for instance) but no one can explain to me which of the 42 fields are used to load the 12 dimensions in the corporate model and which ones are ignored. The expert on this is too busy to talk to me, and the backups are... you guessed it, on vacation.

And now the project lead is IM'ing me to ask why we haven't been able to load sample data yet.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )