Well, so far my month hasn't gone at all the way I'd planned... instead of writing two BrightHub and two eHow articles, I ended up writing one BrightHub and (so far) seven eHows. None of the eHows I wrote were the two I'd originally had in mind. In fact I now have a whole series for eHow I could do, all based on Bloons Tower Defense.
BrightHub, meanwhile, is completely revamping the way they do things, which makes them less attractive to write for (which is why I only wrote one of my assigned articles). I'd signed up so I could write low-view basic science articles and get a $10 advance, rather than put them out on ad-revenue-only where they won't earn anything. But now BrightHub only wants high-view articles, and people who can't do it get axed in April. Which sort of defeats the whole point of writing for them. The environmental science channel editor thinks I can still meet their minimum quota though. So I'll give it the old college try...
They also added me to five more channels, all health related. I guess I should probably write at least one article for each of them. January looks like it's going to be pretty busy, nonfiction-wise.
As for fiction, well, the group that formed up during Nanowrimo is going to start weekly meetings in January, so I'll have ample opportunity to at least think about writing. Rationally, I should finish off Bus and start sending it around, then start working on Amulet I again. At this point I'm thinking I need to just let Aliacorba/Thomas tell me his life story in first person. He hasn't been very cooperative with most of what I want to do with the stories where he's a major character, so, I guess I should just let him do the talking for once.
Rumen, meanwhile, is starting to reassert his presence too. So I'll probably be back to working on stuff with him in it too.
Also, so far no response from Americorps. Of course, neither of the references I listed have returned their comments about me, and I'm hoping that it's not waiting on that. Meanwhile I found another science research assistant job to apply for, this one in Seattle. We'll see if that one pans out any better than any of the rest...
2009/12/23
2009/12/01
Status of Fortress Launne, writing in general, and life
Well, Birthright came to a halt as I ran into problems with not knowing what happened in Triangle and by the end of Amulet I. This seems to be par for the series as a whole, so I'm not surprised. Most of the month was spent on developing Myan (i.e. the various mobster groups beat the crap out of each other) rather than on the actual alleged main plot with the magic treasure box, but I laid down a lot of good groundwork. And also worked out a few things that need to go into Triangle next year.
That will be the last of the big pieces of this series. It's set in the period when the city of Fortress Launne was first getting set up. There were three key players at the time: Nathaniel, Stranahan, and Antoine. Nathaniel needed the city plan to be an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle due to his gigantic binding spell for the demon below, and so he dictated a lot of stuff that Antoine wasn't entirely happy with. That's the main conflict - the fact that Antoine didn't like being told where to put his university, and what he therefore does to one of the Stranahans in response, and the fallout from that (some of which came up in my failed attempt at a Janis novel in 2006, which had lots of stuff about a plague, which means it was the sequel to Triangle). (And, in thinking about this plague, Triangle II would be the actual story whereby Janis goes to fetch Aliacorba from the swamps. Because he's a medicine man with miraculous healing powers you see...).
Anyway. So the stuff that came up in Birthright pointed out another major plotline, which is: how the spirit wolves got started up in the first place. That is, at some point during the time period of Triangle, they received their totem, the Golden Flame. It almost has to have had Nathaniel's involvement, since one of the three points of the spell triangle is their sacred cavern. The totem itself - a sculpture of a phoenix - probably wasn't in Nathaniel's hands originally, and so far I'm thinking it came into Aunlania with the Stranahans. But it would've been Nathaniel (or someone loyal to him) who recognized what it was good for and how to use it.
Meanwhile, what I most want to do next with all this is piece together a coherent version of Amulet I. I have three versions of it so far. The first one can pretty much just be tossed out entirely; it was important to write it because it helped a lot when I wrote the third version, but none of the actual material is useful. So, I have two versions that are going to become fodder for the fourth version. I need to go over them and figure out what I'm doing. The troublesome part, as always, is what happened after the Duchene brothers came to the ruins of the old fort, and how Aliacorba became Tainted, and what he did in response to protect his family line. Every iteration seems to be getting it closer to the way it actually needs to be.
And, sadly, there still aren't any actual amulets in the story. Oh well.
Then there's still the Vengeance storyline that has stalled out since I switched to Fortress Launne for November. At some point Rumen is going to insist that I continue with that.
In other news, I'm probably going to take December off from fiction. There are four articles on my todo list on the nonfiction front, two at BrightHub and two at eHow. I figure one article per week should be reasonable. (There are people who can write four per day, but alas I'm not that fast.) Especially since at some point I'll have to drive back to Indiana and do some social obligation things. I also have to get back to serious hardcore job hunting - putting out apps and things so that they can be ignored and rejected. And finish sorting out all my life detritus - I got a lot done last summer, but there's a lot left to do.
What I'd really prefer to do at this point, aside from sitting around writing full time I mean, is join Americorps. If there's ever going to be a time in my life where I can make that big a commitment to volunteer work, it would be now. I've looked into Peace Corps too, which is also on the table, but I'd prefer to be somewhere with Internet access, and I'd prefer not to be a classroom teacher (which seems to be the vast majority of what they need). The main con of working for Americorps, meanwhile, is ... and this is going to make me sound like a racist... that I don't want to help American white people. I've spent most of my life in places dominated by white conservatives, and really, the concept of helping people that are just going to turn around and shun me for not being a "real American" isn't really doing it for me. (There. I said it. In public. But there it is.)
Then I found an Americorps posting that involves helping Native American elderly. Now that, I can get behind. These are the people who are poorest of the poor in the U.S., the people who live in a third world country within a first world country, and who have been ridiculously wronged (even if it wasn't my particular ancestors that wronged them). Plus, I would still have Internet, still have time to work on writing, and still be within a reasonable distance of my family - which has become a lot more important now that my sister has a daughter that I someday want to be able to afford to see. I applied for it, and it's currently my top choice of things to do next with my life.
My tentative plan from there: if things go well and other opportunities involving helping Native Americans open up, that would be awesome. If not, I'll look into Peace Corps again. If they reject me from Americorps, I'll also look at Peace Corps.
I guess on the whole I'm trying to get out of science for a while. Americorps comes with educational benefits that I could use to set myself up to do something else entirely. Peace Corps has some too, I think, and also some advantages for applying to federal jobs afterward. And maybe by the time all this volunteering work is done, the economy will be good enough for me to actually get a job again in something anyway, science or otherwise.
That will be the last of the big pieces of this series. It's set in the period when the city of Fortress Launne was first getting set up. There were three key players at the time: Nathaniel, Stranahan, and Antoine. Nathaniel needed the city plan to be an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle due to his gigantic binding spell for the demon below, and so he dictated a lot of stuff that Antoine wasn't entirely happy with. That's the main conflict - the fact that Antoine didn't like being told where to put his university, and what he therefore does to one of the Stranahans in response, and the fallout from that (some of which came up in my failed attempt at a Janis novel in 2006, which had lots of stuff about a plague, which means it was the sequel to Triangle). (And, in thinking about this plague, Triangle II would be the actual story whereby Janis goes to fetch Aliacorba from the swamps. Because he's a medicine man with miraculous healing powers you see...).
Anyway. So the stuff that came up in Birthright pointed out another major plotline, which is: how the spirit wolves got started up in the first place. That is, at some point during the time period of Triangle, they received their totem, the Golden Flame. It almost has to have had Nathaniel's involvement, since one of the three points of the spell triangle is their sacred cavern. The totem itself - a sculpture of a phoenix - probably wasn't in Nathaniel's hands originally, and so far I'm thinking it came into Aunlania with the Stranahans. But it would've been Nathaniel (or someone loyal to him) who recognized what it was good for and how to use it.
Meanwhile, what I most want to do next with all this is piece together a coherent version of Amulet I. I have three versions of it so far. The first one can pretty much just be tossed out entirely; it was important to write it because it helped a lot when I wrote the third version, but none of the actual material is useful. So, I have two versions that are going to become fodder for the fourth version. I need to go over them and figure out what I'm doing. The troublesome part, as always, is what happened after the Duchene brothers came to the ruins of the old fort, and how Aliacorba became Tainted, and what he did in response to protect his family line. Every iteration seems to be getting it closer to the way it actually needs to be.
And, sadly, there still aren't any actual amulets in the story. Oh well.
Then there's still the Vengeance storyline that has stalled out since I switched to Fortress Launne for November. At some point Rumen is going to insist that I continue with that.
In other news, I'm probably going to take December off from fiction. There are four articles on my todo list on the nonfiction front, two at BrightHub and two at eHow. I figure one article per week should be reasonable. (There are people who can write four per day, but alas I'm not that fast.) Especially since at some point I'll have to drive back to Indiana and do some social obligation things. I also have to get back to serious hardcore job hunting - putting out apps and things so that they can be ignored and rejected. And finish sorting out all my life detritus - I got a lot done last summer, but there's a lot left to do.
What I'd really prefer to do at this point, aside from sitting around writing full time I mean, is join Americorps. If there's ever going to be a time in my life where I can make that big a commitment to volunteer work, it would be now. I've looked into Peace Corps too, which is also on the table, but I'd prefer to be somewhere with Internet access, and I'd prefer not to be a classroom teacher (which seems to be the vast majority of what they need). The main con of working for Americorps, meanwhile, is ... and this is going to make me sound like a racist... that I don't want to help American white people. I've spent most of my life in places dominated by white conservatives, and really, the concept of helping people that are just going to turn around and shun me for not being a "real American" isn't really doing it for me. (There. I said it. In public. But there it is.)
Then I found an Americorps posting that involves helping Native American elderly. Now that, I can get behind. These are the people who are poorest of the poor in the U.S., the people who live in a third world country within a first world country, and who have been ridiculously wronged (even if it wasn't my particular ancestors that wronged them). Plus, I would still have Internet, still have time to work on writing, and still be within a reasonable distance of my family - which has become a lot more important now that my sister has a daughter that I someday want to be able to afford to see. I applied for it, and it's currently my top choice of things to do next with my life.
My tentative plan from there: if things go well and other opportunities involving helping Native Americans open up, that would be awesome. If not, I'll look into Peace Corps again. If they reject me from Americorps, I'll also look at Peace Corps.
I guess on the whole I'm trying to get out of science for a while. Americorps comes with educational benefits that I could use to set myself up to do something else entirely. Peace Corps has some too, I think, and also some advantages for applying to federal jobs afterward. And maybe by the time all this volunteering work is done, the economy will be good enough for me to actually get a job again in something anyway, science or otherwise.
2009/11/29
Wrote an outline for Birthright
Well, I passed 50k this morning (and then went to bed). Yay another successful Nanowrimo. :)
So, what's my story about, anyway? I made an outline from what I have, from the mobsters standpoint:
So, basically, it's a collection of scenes that are vaguely related to each other and have a chronological order. ;) I could probably write up more details about what the Russians are doing, but it'll be quite a sidetrack from the story about the box (which seems pretty minor as it is). Also, as things stand: the Italians don't have a very satisfying role, and Uncle never did do anything important in a conflict-with-parents way.
I guess I was a lot more interested in developing the city of Myan than in telling the story of Elena's birthright. Probably should fix that...
So, what's my story about, anyway? I made an outline from what I have, from the mobsters standpoint:
- Belgians have taken over some of Italian territory (Belfry District)
- Italians see the box
- Italians steal the dragon from a museum
- Russians set plan in motion to rob a weapons depot in Keywe
- Italians steal the box from the Triad
- Russians blow up Italians (no particular reason), which makes them lose the box and dragon
- Louies street gang, then Black Dragons street gang, sell box back to Triad
- Triad shoots up Leban's diner and ties up his grandmother in response to box theft
- Cuban drug dealer sells dragon back to the Italians
- Italians blow up Triad warehouse in response to Leban's Diner shootup
- Grandmother passes box to Elena
- Arlice passes dragon to Elena (for no good reason; needs work)
- Belgians try to expand into Triad territory, but fail
- Triad blows up 50 Italian restaurants in Belgian-held territory, simultaneously, in response to warehouse blowup and Belgian invasion attempt
- Italians try to kidnap Elena to get back both dragon and box, but fail
- Italians try to steal phoenix from Mindy's house, but fail
- Triad sees phoenix in Mindy's house
- Mindy allows Elena to see the phoenix at her house, but not take it with her
- Italians blow up Triad cargo ship with Russian ordinance theft in it
- All components of box artwork fully assembled at Mindy's house
- (Russians now mad at Italians, Triad likes the Italians better because they'd unwittingly saved them from a headache with the Yakuza)
So, basically, it's a collection of scenes that are vaguely related to each other and have a chronological order. ;) I could probably write up more details about what the Russians are doing, but it'll be quite a sidetrack from the story about the box (which seems pretty minor as it is). Also, as things stand: the Italians don't have a very satisfying role, and Uncle never did do anything important in a conflict-with-parents way.
I guess I was a lot more interested in developing the city of Myan than in telling the story of Elena's birthright. Probably should fix that...
2009/11/25
The time sure has flown ...
Top of Day 25 now, and I have 41,435 words. I might even see things starting to tie together for an ending, somewhere in the near future. It'd be neat if I actually managed to have a The End again by 50k words, the way Temple had in 2004. Back then, my "The End" scene wasn't the last one I wrote, but I wasn't writing them in order. This time around, it probably will happen at the actual last scene that I write.
As usual for this particular story, after I'm done with each scene I have no clue what I'm doing next. At the moment, the mobster storyline has collided with the Elena storyline, which then in turn ran into the Janis/Felicia storyline. The two big things that need to happen next:
a) the Triad must somehow be invited or have cause to visit Mindy's house, whereupon they cross paths with the Italians who are there to rob the place of the phoenix;
b) somehow Janis needs to have cause to visit Mindy's house, so she can talk Mindy into handing it over. Janis is the only character who actually can.
No clue how either of these are going to happen. For the first one, there was just a shootout in the Black Dragon parking lot, which I need to somehow lead into going to Mindy's house. Latter? No idea at all. I'm hoping something presents itself at some point...
Aside from writing the storyline down for Birthright, there's also been a whole lot of references to stuff that happened in Temple and Amulet II, and even some of Amulet I. Eventually I'll have to go back and figure out how to explain it well enough to still have each book be a separate standalone story. But for now, I'm just writing down what the characters actually want to say about things.
As usual for this particular story, after I'm done with each scene I have no clue what I'm doing next. At the moment, the mobster storyline has collided with the Elena storyline, which then in turn ran into the Janis/Felicia storyline. The two big things that need to happen next:
a) the Triad must somehow be invited or have cause to visit Mindy's house, whereupon they cross paths with the Italians who are there to rob the place of the phoenix;
b) somehow Janis needs to have cause to visit Mindy's house, so she can talk Mindy into handing it over. Janis is the only character who actually can.
No clue how either of these are going to happen. For the first one, there was just a shootout in the Black Dragon parking lot, which I need to somehow lead into going to Mindy's house. Latter? No idea at all. I'm hoping something presents itself at some point...
Aside from writing the storyline down for Birthright, there's also been a whole lot of references to stuff that happened in Temple and Amulet II, and even some of Amulet I. Eventually I'll have to go back and figure out how to explain it well enough to still have each book be a separate standalone story. But for now, I'm just writing down what the characters actually want to say about things.
2009/11/13
Friday the 13th
I barely managed to get past 20k last night, because at this point I'm not sure where I'm going. So, a list of possibilities in no particular order:
1. Newspaper articles about the museum break-in, about the warehouse explosion, about the park mugging of an elderly woman
2. The Triad are going to disrupt Lebanese Lunch, then kidnap a Louie on their way back
3. The Belgians could accidentally trespass Josephine's territory to illustrate why nobody ever goes there
4. Where's the Janis/Felicia storyline going anyway?
Think I'll start with #2 and see how many words I can get out of it. The Louies previously got me 5000 words when I was expecting more like 500, so there's some hope. ;)
1. Newspaper articles about the museum break-in, about the warehouse explosion, about the park mugging of an elderly woman
2. The Triad are going to disrupt Lebanese Lunch, then kidnap a Louie on their way back
3. The Belgians could accidentally trespass Josephine's territory to illustrate why nobody ever goes there
4. Where's the Janis/Felicia storyline going anyway?
Think I'll start with #2 and see how many words I can get out of it. The Louies previously got me 5000 words when I was expecting more like 500, so there's some hope. ;)
2009/11/08
Top of Day 8
Wrote another very long scene for the Janis/Felicia storyline. It was a tour through the Culture Center, and they went past three places that are going to be relevant later in the story - the Hall of Trees exhibit, where Felicia saw the pearl part of the box sculpture; a legends and myths exhibit where Janis talked about the Legend of Aliacorba (but Felicia didn't make the connection to Thomas); and the spirit wolves exhibit, where Felicia got her first glimpse into some of the consequences of her actions in Temple and also talked about the Golden Flame (that is, the phoenix part of the box sculpture).
I'm not sure where I'm going next with this, but those were awesome to write. I got to explain tons of stuff out of my backstory notes in an organized way, through Janis. ;) Which will be helpful later when I go back to figure out how to rewrite all my previous Fortress Launne material. I incorporated some of the changes I have in mind for Temple already. And while working out the timeline for the rise and fall of the spirit wolves, I figured out when they came across the Golden Flame in the first place - during Triangle (Nano 2010 maybe?). How they came to have it, no clue yet, but now I know when.
Next? Well, I have vague ideas about going into the details of what exactly Janis lost, and also introducing Felicia's main motive (revenge against another high-ranking Tainted mage). That could be a problem, because I'm still not sure what Janis lost.
The basic idea: It was something Aliacorba set up after his own tainting. It was something that could only be broken by Aliacorba himself. It was broken by Thomas at the end of Temple because the only way to save Janis's life was to destroy who she was.
From Janis's view, she can describe what she was like before and after, at least to Felicia. That might be good enough to continue the story. At some point I'll need to figure out the details, though.
Then the other part, how to introduce Felicia's revenge motive, well, so far I'm not sure what would cause her to mention it.
Meanwhile, back at the mobster plotline, the Louies street gang are about to recover the dragon and the box from the smoldering remains of a warehouse that got burned down with the Italians in it. I'm planning to work on this part at tomorrow's write-in, since it shouldn't require a huge amount of angsty emotional involvement. Should be fairly humorous, if anything. The dragon, which has never done anything magical before (at least not in Aunlania) is going to activate. What's it do? Well, I haven't worked out all of the details yet, but it'll be an offensive weapon. I'm kind of imagining it as a phantasm.
I'm not sure where I'm going next with this, but those were awesome to write. I got to explain tons of stuff out of my backstory notes in an organized way, through Janis. ;) Which will be helpful later when I go back to figure out how to rewrite all my previous Fortress Launne material. I incorporated some of the changes I have in mind for Temple already. And while working out the timeline for the rise and fall of the spirit wolves, I figured out when they came across the Golden Flame in the first place - during Triangle (Nano 2010 maybe?). How they came to have it, no clue yet, but now I know when.
Next? Well, I have vague ideas about going into the details of what exactly Janis lost, and also introducing Felicia's main motive (revenge against another high-ranking Tainted mage). That could be a problem, because I'm still not sure what Janis lost.
The basic idea: It was something Aliacorba set up after his own tainting. It was something that could only be broken by Aliacorba himself. It was broken by Thomas at the end of Temple because the only way to save Janis's life was to destroy who she was.
From Janis's view, she can describe what she was like before and after, at least to Felicia. That might be good enough to continue the story. At some point I'll need to figure out the details, though.
Then the other part, how to introduce Felicia's revenge motive, well, so far I'm not sure what would cause her to mention it.
Meanwhile, back at the mobster plotline, the Louies street gang are about to recover the dragon and the box from the smoldering remains of a warehouse that got burned down with the Italians in it. I'm planning to work on this part at tomorrow's write-in, since it shouldn't require a huge amount of angsty emotional involvement. Should be fairly humorous, if anything. The dragon, which has never done anything magical before (at least not in Aunlania) is going to activate. What's it do? Well, I haven't worked out all of the details yet, but it'll be an offensive weapon. I'm kind of imagining it as a phantasm.
2009/11/05
Day 5
I'm almost exactly on target at 8343 words.
I'm two scenes into the Janis/Felicia plotline. Got them introduced and set up. They've taken the first step toward getting to know each other. Of course, that was pretty much the entire extent of what I'd prepared, so now I don't know what to do next. Thus, back to the mobsters.
Funny story about that. I had 8238 at the end of the second Janis/Felicia scene. Then I realized I only needed 100 more words to be right on target for a standard nano (8335). With 20 minutes to go before midnight, I flipped back to the mobsters storyline. The next scene was a midlevel boss meeting up with the Godfather. I decided they were playing cards. Then I decided they should be playing mah jong.
About 80 words into describing their mah jong game, I suddenly realized that these were the Italians, not the Triad. o.O Well, it was too late to start over at that point, so now, umm, my Italian mafia is learning how to play mah jong. >.> But I got in the 100 words I needed. :D
I'm two scenes into the Janis/Felicia plotline. Got them introduced and set up. They've taken the first step toward getting to know each other. Of course, that was pretty much the entire extent of what I'd prepared, so now I don't know what to do next. Thus, back to the mobsters.
Funny story about that. I had 8238 at the end of the second Janis/Felicia scene. Then I realized I only needed 100 more words to be right on target for a standard nano (8335). With 20 minutes to go before midnight, I flipped back to the mobsters storyline. The next scene was a midlevel boss meeting up with the Godfather. I decided they were playing cards. Then I decided they should be playing mah jong.
About 80 words into describing their mah jong game, I suddenly realized that these were the Italians, not the Triad. o.O Well, it was too late to start over at that point, so now, umm, my Italian mafia is learning how to play mah jong. >.> But I got in the 100 words I needed. :D
2009/11/03
Two scenes done so far
It's the top of Day 3, and I have 3131 words. The first two scenes of Birthright are done, and now I'm trying to figure out how to start the third. The Italian mob gets introduced in it.
(Why is there an Italian mob in my fantasy world, you ask? Well, because that's who they're quasi-based on and I haven't gotten around to filing off the serial numbers yet...)
Umm, anyway. So far I've introduced the opening conflict where the loyalist Triad guy is upset that his daughter won't be inheriting the family heirloom that he thinks should rightfully be hers. Instead, his parents are looking for someone outside the Triad to inherit it, because they don't want it to beome permanently Triad property.
Then in Scene Two there was a small bit of magic in which the mother summons the actual heir - a girl she's never met, who was a product of a one-night stand by her other son who was basically a drunken irresponsible slut while he was alive. Err. Anyway, so lots of infodumpy stuff came out when she explained about the box to the girl.
Scene Three, since the conversation in Scene Two happened in a public place, the Italians noticed the box too. And they want it.
That's what I have so far. At some point when I stall out on the main plotline, I'll switch over to the other plotline about Janis and Felicia.
Meanwhile, I've tracked down a number of former Hobgoblinites via the Nanowrimo site. :) I haven't gotten around to actually contacting most of them, other than ShebaJones and Ellsea, but hopefully they'll be happy to hear from me. The ones I've found are now in a spiffy new blogroll. *points left*
I'm also apparently the de facto leader of the local Nanowrimo group. We had our first meet-n-greet on Sunday. Two other people showed up, and we even managed to find each other. :) Based on how things are going in the forum so far, it's looking like this'll be the first year that the local group enjoys some success. In past years, what generally happened was that I'd go somewhere and be by myself. >.>
Meanwhile, my main bloggy group, the UCF, has a small contingent too. Tonight I converted one of them to using Jer's Novel Writer, and also shared my barebones basic version of Excel progress tracking. It's pretty much not intended for a large viewing audience at all, but at least it isn't filled with formulae pointing every which way. She liked it, so yay. :)
The SFFMuse chat has come to life again too. Lots of word counting, snippet sharing, and writerly conversations about what we're working on. We've picked up a few people from the #nanowrimo main chat as well (conveniently on the same server as SFFMuse's chat), though it remains to be seen whether they stick around.
So far there aren't many other RPoLians doing Nanowrimo this year, as far as I know. Though I keep trying to convince people. ;) The month is still young.
Tomorrow (defined as "after I sleep") I have a bunch of non-writing things to take care of - bills, some job apps (one of which I heard about today and is due Thursday o.O), a bit of housework. Hopefully I'll get it done quickly so I can get back to writing. I'd like to have 6k words by midnight.
(Why is there an Italian mob in my fantasy world, you ask? Well, because that's who they're quasi-based on and I haven't gotten around to filing off the serial numbers yet...)
Umm, anyway. So far I've introduced the opening conflict where the loyalist Triad guy is upset that his daughter won't be inheriting the family heirloom that he thinks should rightfully be hers. Instead, his parents are looking for someone outside the Triad to inherit it, because they don't want it to beome permanently Triad property.
Then in Scene Two there was a small bit of magic in which the mother summons the actual heir - a girl she's never met, who was a product of a one-night stand by her other son who was basically a drunken irresponsible slut while he was alive. Err. Anyway, so lots of infodumpy stuff came out when she explained about the box to the girl.
Scene Three, since the conversation in Scene Two happened in a public place, the Italians noticed the box too. And they want it.
That's what I have so far. At some point when I stall out on the main plotline, I'll switch over to the other plotline about Janis and Felicia.
Meanwhile, I've tracked down a number of former Hobgoblinites via the Nanowrimo site. :) I haven't gotten around to actually contacting most of them, other than ShebaJones and Ellsea, but hopefully they'll be happy to hear from me. The ones I've found are now in a spiffy new blogroll. *points left*
I'm also apparently the de facto leader of the local Nanowrimo group. We had our first meet-n-greet on Sunday. Two other people showed up, and we even managed to find each other. :) Based on how things are going in the forum so far, it's looking like this'll be the first year that the local group enjoys some success. In past years, what generally happened was that I'd go somewhere and be by myself. >.>
Meanwhile, my main bloggy group, the UCF, has a small contingent too. Tonight I converted one of them to using Jer's Novel Writer, and also shared my barebones basic version of Excel progress tracking. It's pretty much not intended for a large viewing audience at all, but at least it isn't filled with formulae pointing every which way. She liked it, so yay. :)
The SFFMuse chat has come to life again too. Lots of word counting, snippet sharing, and writerly conversations about what we're working on. We've picked up a few people from the #nanowrimo main chat as well (conveniently on the same server as SFFMuse's chat), though it remains to be seen whether they stick around.
So far there aren't many other RPoLians doing Nanowrimo this year, as far as I know. Though I keep trying to convince people. ;) The month is still young.
Tomorrow (defined as "after I sleep") I have a bunch of non-writing things to take care of - bills, some job apps (one of which I heard about today and is due Thursday o.O), a bit of housework. Hopefully I'll get it done quickly so I can get back to writing. I'd like to have 6k words by midnight.
2009/10/31
Nanowrimo 2009
Once more unto the breach...
I've prepared notes to finally get around to writing Birthright this year. I've detailed out the treasure box that everybody wants. I've detailed out all the opposing mobster factions that want it and why. I've even come up with most of what I need to get a good start on the Felicia/Janis secondary plotline.
What I don't have at all, so far, is anything whatsoever about the originally-intended protagonist. o.O
She's supposed to be a 12 year old girl, living in poverty with a single parent and a half-brother who is getting sucked into a life of crime. But everything about the plot so far is stuff that happens to her because of the box; she has no motives of her own. I don't have a good feel for what she's like, or what her purpose is in the story, other than as a plot device. This does not bode well for the original story I had in mind, I think...
On the other hand, I'm not sure what story I originally had in mind, either (if there ever was one).
On the good news front: it is possible to get back into Hobgoblin.net - by signing up anew. Whatever is keeping out the established membership, it doesn't block new members, so I signed up with a different name to be able to reach the members-only portions of my past blog posts. Those have now been copy/pasted over, leaving just one completely-private post that I still can't reach. No Birthright notes were in them, however.
On the bad news front: no luck on the job. The interview went well enough, but they went with someone else. So I'm back to idling while I continue sending out apps and collecting rejections. At least this means more writing time. Some of it will be spent building up my list of science articles at BrightHub - the pay isn't great, and the pageviews seem to be lower than eHow, but it'll be good to have a variety of writing samples that I can show off for better-paying gigs later. Also, they're pretty fun to write due to actually being about stuff I'm interested in, which is definitely a plus.
On a somewhat neutral front: this year I'm test-driving Scrivener as my writing software. It has rave reviews, it's in active development, and there's a Nanowrimo-specific trial going on, so I'm hoping it'll be useful. On the other hand, I really liked Jer's Novel Writer, which I'd been using since 2005. Jer is busy with other things in life at the moment though, and not paying much attention to JNW. I suspect what will likely happen is I use Scrivener to organize my notes, and Jer's to do all of the actual writing. But we'll see, depending on how much I like Scrivener's full-screen mode.
Anyway. Last day before the writing starts. I'm going to sleep some, relax some, maybe get a pizza, and probably start at midnight. Should be fun. :)
I've prepared notes to finally get around to writing Birthright this year. I've detailed out the treasure box that everybody wants. I've detailed out all the opposing mobster factions that want it and why. I've even come up with most of what I need to get a good start on the Felicia/Janis secondary plotline.
What I don't have at all, so far, is anything whatsoever about the originally-intended protagonist. o.O
She's supposed to be a 12 year old girl, living in poverty with a single parent and a half-brother who is getting sucked into a life of crime. But everything about the plot so far is stuff that happens to her because of the box; she has no motives of her own. I don't have a good feel for what she's like, or what her purpose is in the story, other than as a plot device. This does not bode well for the original story I had in mind, I think...
On the other hand, I'm not sure what story I originally had in mind, either (if there ever was one).
On the good news front: it is possible to get back into Hobgoblin.net - by signing up anew. Whatever is keeping out the established membership, it doesn't block new members, so I signed up with a different name to be able to reach the members-only portions of my past blog posts. Those have now been copy/pasted over, leaving just one completely-private post that I still can't reach. No Birthright notes were in them, however.
On the bad news front: no luck on the job. The interview went well enough, but they went with someone else. So I'm back to idling while I continue sending out apps and collecting rejections. At least this means more writing time. Some of it will be spent building up my list of science articles at BrightHub - the pay isn't great, and the pageviews seem to be lower than eHow, but it'll be good to have a variety of writing samples that I can show off for better-paying gigs later. Also, they're pretty fun to write due to actually being about stuff I'm interested in, which is definitely a plus.
On a somewhat neutral front: this year I'm test-driving Scrivener as my writing software. It has rave reviews, it's in active development, and there's a Nanowrimo-specific trial going on, so I'm hoping it'll be useful. On the other hand, I really liked Jer's Novel Writer, which I'd been using since 2005. Jer is busy with other things in life at the moment though, and not paying much attention to JNW. I suspect what will likely happen is I use Scrivener to organize my notes, and Jer's to do all of the actual writing. But we'll see, depending on how much I like Scrivener's full-screen mode.
Anyway. Last day before the writing starts. I'm going to sleep some, relax some, maybe get a pizza, and probably start at midnight. Should be fun. :)
2009/10/17
Dragonfly revisited
Back at the beginning of the year, I vowed to actually finish something and submit it for publication somewhere. Then it somehow got to be October while I wasn't looking. o.O So I picked the shortest of my WIPs, Dragonfly. It's a piece of literary fiction based on a series of dreams I had back in February of 2005. I wrote most of it back then, then revised it in the summer of 2006, then got a crit pointing out that it needed more work before it was a coherent story, which stalled me back out again for a good long while while I tried to figure out what I was really trying to say with it.
I finally finished it on the 15th. Most of it what it needed was already there from when I was spinning my wheels, I just needed to smooth it out and add a few extra lines here and there to make it complete. And now it is. :) My current plan is to submit it to Glimmer Train. That was the place I was going to submit it in 2006 too, so it makes sense to start there. They have a Short Story Award for New Writers contest that opens in November. If that doesn't turn out to be a good fit, I found a bunch of other places on Duotrope to try.
I don't normally read or write literary fiction at all, so this will probably be my only foray in that direction.
Next up on the list of things to finish: Bus. We'll see if that happens, which depends quite a lot on how next week's job interview turns out. The job would be for January to mid-May, and if I get it, I'm going to need to do a lot of packing and moving. One option would be to leave most of my stuff here (they provide housing), then come back in May to move out officially when the lease ends in June. More financially sound but also more logistically complicated would be to break lease and move 95% of my stuff into a storage place in Indiana, stay with my mother before the job, then find somewhere to live after (preferably by lining up the next job). Either way, I should pack up as much as possible (that is, pack up at a faster rate than what I'm currently doing).
Of course, if I don't get the job, then I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, and I'll look at Bus. It's second shortest, weighing in at around 25k words, and there's only a chapter or two more to write.
I finally finished it on the 15th. Most of it what it needed was already there from when I was spinning my wheels, I just needed to smooth it out and add a few extra lines here and there to make it complete. And now it is. :) My current plan is to submit it to Glimmer Train. That was the place I was going to submit it in 2006 too, so it makes sense to start there. They have a Short Story Award for New Writers contest that opens in November. If that doesn't turn out to be a good fit, I found a bunch of other places on Duotrope to try.
I don't normally read or write literary fiction at all, so this will probably be my only foray in that direction.
Next up on the list of things to finish: Bus. We'll see if that happens, which depends quite a lot on how next week's job interview turns out. The job would be for January to mid-May, and if I get it, I'm going to need to do a lot of packing and moving. One option would be to leave most of my stuff here (they provide housing), then come back in May to move out officially when the lease ends in June. More financially sound but also more logistically complicated would be to break lease and move 95% of my stuff into a storage place in Indiana, stay with my mother before the job, then find somewhere to live after (preferably by lining up the next job). Either way, I should pack up as much as possible (that is, pack up at a faster rate than what I'm currently doing).
Of course, if I don't get the job, then I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, and I'll look at Bus. It's second shortest, weighing in at around 25k words, and there's only a chapter or two more to write.
2009/09/29
Thoughts about Amulet I
Now that i've just reread all the trials and tribulations involved in writing three drafts of Amulet I, I've had some more ideas about how to proceed.
1. It might actually be possible to adapt the original D2 amulet story to the beginning of Edward. That is, instead of having the war be Lucien's, maybe Edward brought it on himself - by sending a friend to buy magical amulets from someplace that he couldn't go himself (such as the druidic peoples), then refusing to give a particular amulet as a gift. Friend becomes mad, sabotages him elsewhere (for example at a ball where he was trying to attract the attention of a lady), they have a fallling out that leads to him becoming kidnapped and etc.
2. It's probably possible to use all of the good parts of both 2nd and 3rd drafts, if I revise the starting premise for Part II yet again.
The Duchenes arrive and set up in the old abandoned fort. First few scenes show them settling in and getting the basic history of the place from the locals already there. Edward is seriously ill, and their main goal is to find a way to make him well. The locals talk about the native shamans. They go actively seek out the native folk because they're desperate.
That would have the native folk come visit the fort, which would use the parts from Draft 2. Then, later on, they're still going to have to go to the Hall of Trees, so there will be scenes in the villages too (Draft 3).
Possibly Moraina has a larger role in all this, since she's most likely to be able to relate to the natives, given her background (descended from the druids of the old land).
3. In Draft 3, there was a part where Edward basically gets hurt irreparably. This was caused by the native folk not understanding his condition. Well, I'd like to ditch that. Instead, there are missionaries that periodically go into the forests to try to convert the natives (or convince them to abandon their lands, or spy on them). They generally are never seen again. Well, one group of missionaries stop to try and "help" Edward - only it backfires.
So with that in mind, I'll do a Draft #4. But not for Nanowrimo. It'll be more of a massive revise rather than new.
1. It might actually be possible to adapt the original D2 amulet story to the beginning of Edward. That is, instead of having the war be Lucien's, maybe Edward brought it on himself - by sending a friend to buy magical amulets from someplace that he couldn't go himself (such as the druidic peoples), then refusing to give a particular amulet as a gift. Friend becomes mad, sabotages him elsewhere (for example at a ball where he was trying to attract the attention of a lady), they have a fallling out that leads to him becoming kidnapped and etc.
2. It's probably possible to use all of the good parts of both 2nd and 3rd drafts, if I revise the starting premise for Part II yet again.
The Duchenes arrive and set up in the old abandoned fort. First few scenes show them settling in and getting the basic history of the place from the locals already there. Edward is seriously ill, and their main goal is to find a way to make him well. The locals talk about the native shamans. They go actively seek out the native folk because they're desperate.
That would have the native folk come visit the fort, which would use the parts from Draft 2. Then, later on, they're still going to have to go to the Hall of Trees, so there will be scenes in the villages too (Draft 3).
Possibly Moraina has a larger role in all this, since she's most likely to be able to relate to the natives, given her background (descended from the druids of the old land).
3. In Draft 3, there was a part where Edward basically gets hurt irreparably. This was caused by the native folk not understanding his condition. Well, I'd like to ditch that. Instead, there are missionaries that periodically go into the forests to try to convert the natives (or convince them to abandon their lands, or spy on them). They generally are never seen again. Well, one group of missionaries stop to try and "help" Edward - only it backfires.
So with that in mind, I'll do a Draft #4. But not for Nanowrimo. It'll be more of a massive revise rather than new.
Retrospective
I guess all good things do eventually come to an end. Having just hand-migrated this entire blog off of Hobgoblin, which required me to reread every single post I ever wrote, I'm now reacquainted with all that there is to miss.
I liked the random inspirational quotes. Those had the habit of showing me exactly the one I most needed to see, when I most needed to see it. It had that effect on everyone, I think. We commented on them in our blogs all the time.
I liked that there was a blog feature. I liked that the blog feature was a group feature with other people's blogs. We had a great community back in 2005 because of those.
I liked that I could see at a glance of the front page, which blogs and forums had new posts and comments. It made it easy to keep up with what everyone was doing.
I liked a lot of little things about the place. Posting about my writing here on Blogger just isn't the same.
I liked the random inspirational quotes. Those had the habit of showing me exactly the one I most needed to see, when I most needed to see it. It had that effect on everyone, I think. We commented on them in our blogs all the time.
I liked that there was a blog feature. I liked that the blog feature was a group feature with other people's blogs. We had a great community back in 2005 because of those.
I liked that I could see at a glance of the front page, which blogs and forums had new posts and comments. It made it easy to keep up with what everyone was doing.
I liked a lot of little things about the place. Posting about my writing here on Blogger just isn't the same.
2009/09/24
grrr. arrrgh. *hobgoblin withdrawal* o.O [posted at SFFMuse]
Site is still down, and I'm beginning to think I should move my blog to somewhere else. I still can't access the parts I'd locked out of public view. With Nanowrimo looming, this vexes me mightily. In public, I allude to stuff I planned out for the story I have in mind to write, Birthright in the Fortress Launne series, but I can't check whether I wrote any detailed notes.
And, once again, instead of being able to write a blog post there, I'll just write it over here.
I've settled fairly comfortably into the laid-off life at this point. So far the plan is to finish all the paperwork-sorting that I've been doing for the past three months, get stuff I'm not using packed up or freecycled or goodwilled, and prepare as much for a move as I can while still living here without any idea when the move will be. Unemployment money lasts until February. After that, I have enough savings for a few more months. If I still don't have a job by the time my lease ends here, I'll likely be moving back in with my mother in Indiana.
Meanwhile, I apply for jobs and collect rejections, get in some weekly exercise in the form of cheap yoga classes, and try to put together the database for Robert's art. I'd like to dive into a ton of writing once the paper sorting is taken care of, now that I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. Aside from fiction, I've signed up to write articles for BrightHub. It's a science and technology site, and I definitely know lots about science, at least. They pay $10 per article plus ad revenue while also taking nearly all publication rights. Not a great deal, but it'll let me see how well I'm suited to freelance writing in the first place and whether I want to pursue it with something of more reasonable pay. And, on the other hand, financially speaking it's a step up from writing for Wikipedia where there's no pay and no rights, and sort of comparable to eHow where there's only ad revenue but more rights retained... Anyway, I've submitted my first article to them - about alternation of generations in plants. I'll link to it if they accept it and put it up. If they don't accept it, I'll probably put it up as a Google Knol and sign up for Adsense. That seems like a good backup plan for any rejects, so that I still might get some ad revenue out of my efforts.
Hmm. I should probably plan in time for fiction too. There's lots of stuff on the backburners that I could try to finish up. I need to find any notes about Birthright outside of Hobgoblin, at least; the plan is to go ahead and do Nanowrimo this year, though that's subject to change on no notice. Guess we'll see what happens in the next month...
And, once again, instead of being able to write a blog post there, I'll just write it over here.
I've settled fairly comfortably into the laid-off life at this point. So far the plan is to finish all the paperwork-sorting that I've been doing for the past three months, get stuff I'm not using packed up or freecycled or goodwilled, and prepare as much for a move as I can while still living here without any idea when the move will be. Unemployment money lasts until February. After that, I have enough savings for a few more months. If I still don't have a job by the time my lease ends here, I'll likely be moving back in with my mother in Indiana.
Meanwhile, I apply for jobs and collect rejections, get in some weekly exercise in the form of cheap yoga classes, and try to put together the database for Robert's art. I'd like to dive into a ton of writing once the paper sorting is taken care of, now that I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. Aside from fiction, I've signed up to write articles for BrightHub. It's a science and technology site, and I definitely know lots about science, at least. They pay $10 per article plus ad revenue while also taking nearly all publication rights. Not a great deal, but it'll let me see how well I'm suited to freelance writing in the first place and whether I want to pursue it with something of more reasonable pay. And, on the other hand, financially speaking it's a step up from writing for Wikipedia where there's no pay and no rights, and sort of comparable to eHow where there's only ad revenue but more rights retained... Anyway, I've submitted my first article to them - about alternation of generations in plants. I'll link to it if they accept it and put it up. If they don't accept it, I'll probably put it up as a Google Knol and sign up for Adsense. That seems like a good backup plan for any rejects, so that I still might get some ad revenue out of my efforts.
Hmm. I should probably plan in time for fiction too. There's lots of stuff on the backburners that I could try to finish up. I need to find any notes about Birthright outside of Hobgoblin, at least; the plan is to go ahead and do Nanowrimo this year, though that's subject to change on no notice. Guess we'll see what happens in the next month...
2009/09/08
Hobgoblin is down T.T [posted at SFFMuse]
Arrrrrgh.
Well, it's not down down... in that it's still visible if you're not logged in - but logging in is fuxxored. Sadly, some of my writing notes over there are marked "member's only" so I can't see them while not logged in. T.T
I'm referring to http://www.hobgoblin.net if that wasn't clear.
Err, anyway, so the reason I mention this just now (even though it's been like that for at least a month) is because I wanted to write a blog update. I'll just put it here instead.
We just had 3-Day Novel this past weekend, as happens every Labor Day weekend. This year my goal was just to make some forward progress on already-started WIPs. I wrote about 1200 words toward Vengeance, which is my vampire story inspired by an Anita Blake game on RPoL. It's been in progress since 2007 and is about 7k words long at this point. I'm in the middle of chapter 5. The jailbreak team has assembled in the park and are going over their plans to get into the warehouse where they think the damsel in distress is located. I'm a bit stalled on how to actually finish up that scene. Once that's done, though, it's on to chapter 6 - where they go to enact their plan and walk straight into an trap. Bwahaha...
Of course, after that point my notes are kind of fuzzy. They'll be trapped in the warehouse they tried to break into. If all goes according to my plan, they'll figure out how to get free just in time for Aaron's arrival - and they'll still be too late to put a stop to at least the first part of the binding ritual that'll ensue. At this point, I have no clue how to get from the point of entrapment to the point of Aaron's arrival. The damsel actually isn't in the warehouse they're in, so they'll have to track her down in the complex too.
And that's where I'm at on that at the moment.
Meanwhile, I haven't the foggiest idea what I'll be doing for Nanowrimo this year. If I go with tradition, it'll be something in the Fortress Launne series again, but I don't have anything prepared. On the other hand, I could take a stab at Tragedy of the Hand a second time. Hmmm.
Well, it's not down down... in that it's still visible if you're not logged in - but logging in is fuxxored. Sadly, some of my writing notes over there are marked "member's only" so I can't see them while not logged in. T.T
I'm referring to http://www.hobgoblin.net if that wasn't clear.
Err, anyway, so the reason I mention this just now (even though it's been like that for at least a month) is because I wanted to write a blog update. I'll just put it here instead.
We just had 3-Day Novel this past weekend, as happens every Labor Day weekend. This year my goal was just to make some forward progress on already-started WIPs. I wrote about 1200 words toward Vengeance, which is my vampire story inspired by an Anita Blake game on RPoL. It's been in progress since 2007 and is about 7k words long at this point. I'm in the middle of chapter 5. The jailbreak team has assembled in the park and are going over their plans to get into the warehouse where they think the damsel in distress is located. I'm a bit stalled on how to actually finish up that scene. Once that's done, though, it's on to chapter 6 - where they go to enact their plan and walk straight into an trap. Bwahaha...
Of course, after that point my notes are kind of fuzzy. They'll be trapped in the warehouse they tried to break into. If all goes according to my plan, they'll figure out how to get free just in time for Aaron's arrival - and they'll still be too late to put a stop to at least the first part of the binding ritual that'll ensue. At this point, I have no clue how to get from the point of entrapment to the point of Aaron's arrival. The damsel actually isn't in the warehouse they're in, so they'll have to track her down in the complex too.
And that's where I'm at on that at the moment.
Meanwhile, I haven't the foggiest idea what I'll be doing for Nanowrimo this year. If I go with tradition, it'll be something in the Fortress Launne series again, but I don't have anything prepared. On the other hand, I could take a stab at Tragedy of the Hand a second time. Hmmm.
2009/07/31
The Sad State of My Life
Been a while since I've been by here. Been busy. Sent a PM to Jeanene about the spam - hopefully she gets an email when she gets one of those..
The biggest thing going on with me at the moment: I'm being laid off at the end of August.
That means I'm trying to find another job and prepare for a move at the same time - because in my field (basic science research), there aren't huge numbers of them in any one place. Before I pack, though, I'm trying to get rid of as much crap as possible. I'm a hopeless packrat and there's nearly two decades' worth to go through, one individual piece of paper at a time.
I'm also looking into tech jobs instead of just marine science. To that end, I'm trying to get up a demo site of my leet skillz. So far it's just barebones basic, but most of the actual content is there. The biggest piece still to come is a SQL database I'm making of Robert's art. I've made two SQL databases for work, but they aren't viewable by the general public, so I asked Robert if I could do one of his art. He said yes, and (nearly) voila...
So, all in all: no fictional writing to speak of. I've even stopped roleplaying (though my games have been dead for quite a while now). No time. If I find a job, I'll need to be able to move quickly to it. If I don't find a job, I'll have all the time in the world to sit around sorting (at least until I run out of savings). Either way, I'm pressed for time.
[members-only cut]
Meanwhile, to entertain whoever is still here, a poem-like thing I found from 22 Aug 1991:
(moved to my Livejournal to retain original privacy)
The biggest thing going on with me at the moment: I'm being laid off at the end of August.
That means I'm trying to find another job and prepare for a move at the same time - because in my field (basic science research), there aren't huge numbers of them in any one place. Before I pack, though, I'm trying to get rid of as much crap as possible. I'm a hopeless packrat and there's nearly two decades' worth to go through, one individual piece of paper at a time.
I'm also looking into tech jobs instead of just marine science. To that end, I'm trying to get up a demo site of my leet skillz. So far it's just barebones basic, but most of the actual content is there. The biggest piece still to come is a SQL database I'm making of Robert's art. I've made two SQL databases for work, but they aren't viewable by the general public, so I asked Robert if I could do one of his art. He said yes, and (nearly) voila...
So, all in all: no fictional writing to speak of. I've even stopped roleplaying (though my games have been dead for quite a while now). No time. If I find a job, I'll need to be able to move quickly to it. If I don't find a job, I'll have all the time in the world to sit around sorting (at least until I run out of savings). Either way, I'm pressed for time.
[members-only cut]
Meanwhile, to entertain whoever is still here, a poem-like thing I found from 22 Aug 1991:
(moved to my Livejournal to retain original privacy)
2009/04/27
More Progress on Vengeance
Due in large part to an internet outage, I wrote 900 words toward Chapter 5 over the weekend. Craig and Rumen got together and compared notes, and now they're heading into a park where Rumen wants to eat something (someone >.>) before they head over to the warehouse to break in and rescue the damsel in distress. This part isn't directly related to the main plot, as I've laid it out thus far at any rate - but it's the intro to the real story I want to tell. Craig is going to recognize something about the way Rumen feeds, which reminds him of what happened to his family back when he was 4.
Then, I've also pretty much decided that in Chapter 6 when they go to unkidnap Alice, they're actually going to walk into an ambush. The Bad Guy is smarter than them. ;) So then they'll end up trapped in a locked warehouse, and have to figure out how to break out of that and still get Alice before Aaron's meeting.
I've also decided that the proposed partnership can only come to fruition between a necromancer and vampire with a series of three lengthy rituals. So there will be plenty of time for something to interrupt (i.e. Our Heroes) before the full binding completes. Furthermore, the lengthy rituals in question were originally created by Alec - the necromancer servant that Rumen lost 200 years ago to hunters that happened to be Craig's relatives.
I'm pretty excited about where this'll go, once I get the details fixed up in Chapter 5. At the moment I'm editting the part I've already written so that I can put it in front of my alpha reader. Once that's done, I'll figure out the exact details of what happens in the park.
Then, I've also pretty much decided that in Chapter 6 when they go to unkidnap Alice, they're actually going to walk into an ambush. The Bad Guy is smarter than them. ;) So then they'll end up trapped in a locked warehouse, and have to figure out how to break out of that and still get Alice before Aaron's meeting.
I've also decided that the proposed partnership can only come to fruition between a necromancer and vampire with a series of three lengthy rituals. So there will be plenty of time for something to interrupt (i.e. Our Heroes) before the full binding completes. Furthermore, the lengthy rituals in question were originally created by Alec - the necromancer servant that Rumen lost 200 years ago to hunters that happened to be Craig's relatives.
I'm pretty excited about where this'll go, once I get the details fixed up in Chapter 5. At the moment I'm editting the part I've already written so that I can put it in front of my alpha reader. Once that's done, I'll figure out the exact details of what happens in the park.
2009/03/29
Yet another generic progress update title
Finished Chapter 4 of Vengeance. Aaron didn't much like the ransom letter, and Craig offered to help him get Alice back.
So far, the plan for Chapter 5 is to start out with Craig coming back from scouting out the warehouse where Alice is, and cross paths with Rumen, who is on his way to feed. They compare notes and decide that they need to get Alice back before Aaron gets there - and without telling Aaron that that's what they're going to do. Basically, it would be bad for Hernando if Aaron actually gets to the meeting and gets stuck in an agreement with the bad guy before Hernando has a chance to get an agreement with Aaron (which, of course, the bad guy knows, which is why he wants to get it set up as fast as possible, before anyone else can react).
Then, Chapter 6 will have both of them plus some of Rumen's minions breaking into the warehouse to get Alice. When Aaron arrives, they'll be waiting to hand her over to him.
That's the plan, anyway. I'll be rather surprised if it actually works out that way. ;) So far, the whole thing is about 5k words.
Meanwhile, my thoughts are turning toward Myan again. I worked out the political setup of the city (which is largely based on the interaction dynamics of Zynga's game, Mafia Wars, which I play on Facebook T.T). I'm leaning in the direction of starting over from the beginning, write up the serial killer plotline as I outlined here earlier (now that I have an actual protagonist, which I didn't have when I wrote it the first time). On the other hand, there's something to be said about continuing where I left off and actually reaching an ending before tinkering with any of it.
So far, the plan for Chapter 5 is to start out with Craig coming back from scouting out the warehouse where Alice is, and cross paths with Rumen, who is on his way to feed. They compare notes and decide that they need to get Alice back before Aaron gets there - and without telling Aaron that that's what they're going to do. Basically, it would be bad for Hernando if Aaron actually gets to the meeting and gets stuck in an agreement with the bad guy before Hernando has a chance to get an agreement with Aaron (which, of course, the bad guy knows, which is why he wants to get it set up as fast as possible, before anyone else can react).
Then, Chapter 6 will have both of them plus some of Rumen's minions breaking into the warehouse to get Alice. When Aaron arrives, they'll be waiting to hand her over to him.
That's the plan, anyway. I'll be rather surprised if it actually works out that way. ;) So far, the whole thing is about 5k words.
Meanwhile, my thoughts are turning toward Myan again. I worked out the political setup of the city (which is largely based on the interaction dynamics of Zynga's game, Mafia Wars, which I play on Facebook T.T). I'm leaning in the direction of starting over from the beginning, write up the serial killer plotline as I outlined here earlier (now that I have an actual protagonist, which I didn't have when I wrote it the first time). On the other hand, there's something to be said about continuing where I left off and actually reaching an ending before tinkering with any of it.
2009/03/10
General Progress Update
Well, the UCF writeathon turned out to be anticlimactic. Plenty of people signed up but nobody did much. I guess everyone was busy with work or school. I wanted to get in 30k words but ended up with just short of 3k. It turns out that I don't do so well when I have to work full-time at the same time. But I managed half a chapter of Bus (Labor Day Novel 2005), 1740 words toward Edward (though I still didn't make it to the ritual, I have all the precursor setup in place now), and 192 words toward Vengeance Returns.
Then I continued with the chapter of Vengeance Returns after the month ended, and it's now 1139 words long. This is chapter 4, where Craig meets Aaron for the first time, and I'm at the part where Aaron receives the ransom letter about his not-girlfriend who got kidnapped last night. I wrote the letter he's getting (which brings the wordcount total to 1312), and he's at the point of reading it now.
On the whole, it looks like I'm going to stick with a strategy of fitting in bits and pieces of writing whenever I have time. I've basically stopped blogging, writing for ehow, and roleplaying. Now it's a matter of not getting sucked into too many Facebook games....
Then I continued with the chapter of Vengeance Returns after the month ended, and it's now 1139 words long. This is chapter 4, where Craig meets Aaron for the first time, and I'm at the part where Aaron receives the ransom letter about his not-girlfriend who got kidnapped last night. I wrote the letter he's getting (which brings the wordcount total to 1312), and he's at the point of reading it now.
On the whole, it looks like I'm going to stick with a strategy of fitting in bits and pieces of writing whenever I have time. I've basically stopped blogging, writing for ehow, and roleplaying. Now it's a matter of not getting sucked into too many Facebook games....
2009/01/17
A Post!
Been a while since I've checked in.
I stopped working on Myan basically after I finished writing the previous blog post. Ironically it's probably the one that I have the best clue about how to finish - but my mind has wandered off to other projects.
At the moment I'm back on Nanowrimo 2007 - Edward. Some brainstorming rose up over Christmas break, and then I reread what I already had, and now I'm trying to figure out how best to use the brainstorm ideas. Basically, the ritual I'd written before - plus the scene immediately before it - are getting crossed out. They'll be useful for prose fodder later, but I'm paring back to the point where Charles realizes that Edward is dead, and moving forward from there.
So, what's next? James needs to get Charles back together again, and then they need to go talk to Negituka and Aliacorba about designing a ritual. Those scenes will cannibalize the first draft discussion I already have. Then I write the updated version of the ritual. If all goes according to plan, I'll know how to proceed after it's over, too.
Another online community I'm in, called the UCF (stands for any number of things depending on who you ask and when you ask it, but "Us Cool Folks" is a good stand-in), has plans for a February writing marathon similar to Nanowrimo. That's when I'll probably doing the bulk of the above-mentioned writing.
All in all, I'm feeling better about writing as a whole these days. In the Fortress Launne series, there are now: Edward (2007), Amulet II (2005), Temple (2004), and Myan (2008). (In 2006 I wrote stuff, but nothing coherent, apparently. o.O) The worldbuilding around all of these is starting to fall into place. There's a lot of work to do, but at the moment it doesn't feel overwhelming. I think I can I think I can. :)
The Rumen stories are on the backburner at the moment. I worked out a bit of backstory for one of the other protags in The Hand over Christmas break too, but it's staying in rumination mode for the duration.
I stopped working on Myan basically after I finished writing the previous blog post. Ironically it's probably the one that I have the best clue about how to finish - but my mind has wandered off to other projects.
At the moment I'm back on Nanowrimo 2007 - Edward. Some brainstorming rose up over Christmas break, and then I reread what I already had, and now I'm trying to figure out how best to use the brainstorm ideas. Basically, the ritual I'd written before - plus the scene immediately before it - are getting crossed out. They'll be useful for prose fodder later, but I'm paring back to the point where Charles realizes that Edward is dead, and moving forward from there.
So, what's next? James needs to get Charles back together again, and then they need to go talk to Negituka and Aliacorba about designing a ritual. Those scenes will cannibalize the first draft discussion I already have. Then I write the updated version of the ritual. If all goes according to plan, I'll know how to proceed after it's over, too.
Another online community I'm in, called the UCF (stands for any number of things depending on who you ask and when you ask it, but "Us Cool Folks" is a good stand-in), has plans for a February writing marathon similar to Nanowrimo. That's when I'll probably doing the bulk of the above-mentioned writing.
All in all, I'm feeling better about writing as a whole these days. In the Fortress Launne series, there are now: Edward (2007), Amulet II (2005), Temple (2004), and Myan (2008). (In 2006 I wrote stuff, but nothing coherent, apparently. o.O) The worldbuilding around all of these is starting to fall into place. There's a lot of work to do, but at the moment it doesn't feel overwhelming. I think I can I think I can. :)
The Rumen stories are on the backburner at the moment. I worked out a bit of backstory for one of the other protags in The Hand over Christmas break too, but it's staying in rumination mode for the duration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
