Crapload

I just noticed that I haven't posted anything in the past two weeks. Truth is, I've written about 80% of Game in Play; that much has been written since November 2012, but it's a load of crap, so I have to feed it through Will who reads it, edits it heavily, and gives it back to me to fix up.  He's had the John chapter for a week now, which makes me wonder if the chapter was even readable.  

I also have, excitingly, another part of Birthday Present written.  Two parts, actually.  Just finished the third chapter.  I'm not sure if the title is the most appropriate name for it anymore, but I've already made the image, so I'm not renaming it until I have to.  

Furthermore, I'm having fun reworking the second chapter of Vert Glace so that it's more show than tell.  It's challenging to create events that best set up the main character's background.

Will is going to need a mountain of prunes to get through everything. 

Love hurts

B-dog has actually read the whole of Vert Glace now.  He has given me some pretty good critique about the story that I will incorporate into the heavy editing I intend to do.  He pulls no punches, which is  painful in a good sort of way - kinda like waking up the next day after a really good work out.  Thanks, oh surly, grumpy, cackling, golden hearted housemate of mine.

I'm starting to edit, but I'm talking my time still because I want to make sure each chapter is as best as it can be.  Therefore, when I'm not 100% focused, I just do other writing.  Writing about Sasha Suter really helps me flesh out the world.  I find that I'm incorporating elements of that again into Vert Glace and Lordchaser.  Also, going back to the beginning after what must be now 200k words + notes in the same world makes the world building I can do so much better.  The process is invaluable to me.  this time around is the farthest I've gone in terms of writing and editing.  And I don't feel sick of the story at all yet!  That has to be a sign.  I've never felt more like an amateur.

I've been compulsively checking one person's fictionpress page because they mentioned something about possibly posting a new story this week.  Nothing yet, but I'm hopeful.

Welcome to the 21st Century

My friend went on a mandatory field trip out in the sticks today.  Her quote of the day, which she heard as she was getting onto the bus:

"Dad, it's the 21st Century.  I can listen to my iPod and do the herding at the same time."

Classic.

Friendly Competition 4

I did it again with the Boston Baked Beans.  I really want some now.

So there's a list of entries up for the contest.  There's still a chance for another entry to sneak in at the end there...  I've read all of the ones posted and I am sweating.  Competition is fierce, my friends.  I am honoured to be in the presence of such high caliber entries.

One that stands out for me is War and her Quill by Un-Ended Tales Unravel for the way it involves concepts as characters.  Very meta.  Very clever.

I feel very excited about this month's competition.  Competition inspires innovation.  Regardless of what happens this month, looks like I'll have to step up to my A++ game next time I enter.

Friendly Competition 3

I went to type in blogger, and ended up on a page about Boston Baked Beans.  Thanks, Solemn.

I had a particularly brutal evening at work yesterday, so I'm limping along the line for Friday.  I never would have guessed this in high school, but since working alongside physiotherapists, I've learnt that my headaches are actually caused by the muscles in my shoulders and neck becoming really, really tense.  I try and get some exercises in between clients. So awkward when my colleagues walk in on me doing the arching cat.

Today's the day for September Submissions to the Labyrinth Writing Contest.  I haven't accidentally stumbled across anyone's entries as of yet, but I know TanteLiz has an entry called Professionals.  So, right now I'm a bit like a horse with blinkers on, but once Fylofox posts the entrants, I'll be more of  a meerkat on the African plains.

I realized just now that the states is half a day behind here, so I suppose I'll have to wait to Friday to check out the competition.

I'm still finding romance quite a challenging genre, even when I'm relying heavily on all of the cliche stereotypes ("Archetypes!" wails Chris D'Amico, "they're archetypes!").

shielded from real writing progress

I watched the first episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. today and it wasn't bad.  I was waiting for Joss Whedon to bring in a bit character from another of his shows, and he didn't disappoint.  Hello, Shepard Book.

In the writing sphere, I think I just got chided on the Labyrinth forum by Aurelia Knight. Ouch.

In the not so ouchie part of writing, I've been working on the extension to Sasha's story.  At almost 9000 words, I'm beginning to now see a romance light at the end of the I-want-to-focus-on-kickassery tunnel.  It's a very different story to what I'm use to writing, but I suppose that's the point of the exercise. I'm determined to succeed in this.  It's another side project that's taking me from Lordchaser, but I really can't work on that enough at the moment anyway to do it justice.  I need long blocks of time (days long) to really get a good writing groove going.  If I do it in short bursts, then the story tends to be a bit choppy.  I'm hoping that after I move for my new job, I'll have more time for writing.  Ha.  I've heard all that before.  Welcome to the happy land of excuses.

Sasha vs Orion

Still, Orion’s cool never wavered, even when Sasha landed a hard blow on his shoulder.  The fighting was fierce and the staffs moved at blurring speeds.  The only sounds in the room were the clacks of the staffs coming together and the thud of feet against the wooden floor as they fought for ground.  For Sasha, it was a constant uphill battle.  No matter how much she pressed, Orion danced circles of defiance around her, refusing to be cornered.  Even as sweat flew off him as their bodies clashed together, there was no sign of fatigue, no indication of whether the young man was reaching his limit.  Had Sasha not fought him before, she would have believed him invincible by now.  

Bored of writing, did other writing

Last night I realized that I needed to do more world building before I could finish Lordchaser.  So instead of working on the story, I spent some time nutting out timelines, significant events, and background to the world.  It's not my favourite activity, but it's progress.

During the creation of the document, I got sidetracked and started another chapter about the aftermath of Sasha Suter's birthday.  There's now another 2000 words on the story.  I should really be trying to put more romance in it, but all I want to write are fight scenes.  First world problems, I know.

Watching Korra makes me realize that maybe the protagonist in Vert Glace is too mature for her age.  

Still reading

Bought Crown of Midnight today as I alluded to in an earlier post.  Haven't started reading yet.  Interesting hearing about 'Camp Chaol' and 'Team Dorian'.  I'm thinking a lot about how two desirable men in the same context can create popularity.  Even just proximity of not necessarily romantic interests can create this effect.  Definitely something to think about... *strokes imaginary beard*

Excused

There must be a negative correlation between how much I work and how much I write.

Manifesto

Spent about an hour fiddling with the image I wanted to use with the story before posting Manifesto.  Now I can get back to writing Lordchaser.  Yeah, right.

I tried to make the cover somewhat related to that of Birthday Present because even though they're very different stories, both are submissions for Labyrinth.  Note the patterns in the background.  I wonder if people will notice... probably not.  :D  But it makes me happy.

My sister has read the draft of Vert Glace and given me her comments.  I await the comments of one more reader before I will go back through it again.  Then I'll give it to Will.  Then, after he's torn it apart, I'll start querying literary agents.  Then, who knows what will happen?

Drained

I practically crawled up the stairs from the garage this evening when I got home from work.  The rain that served to dampen my already drowned spirits smelt like the colour grey.  And I tried to put my mind to Lordchaser, truely I tried, but it said, "screw you, I've nothing left to give."

So I spent the night reading stories on fictionpress and giving my September entry a comb over.

Will told me that I don't word well.  I write too much with too few words.  I've christened a new notebook.  It is called 'Words I Like From Books I've Read'.

Finished reading Throne of Glass.  Learned a lot.  Like, seriously a lot.  I'm glad I bought it.  I probably won't buy a second copy for keeps, but I will seriously consider the sequel.  My puerile curiosity nods in approval.  

A non romance story

I learnt my lesson last time.

I am not going to midnight rampage post my September entry for the Labyrinth Writing Contest.  

But here are the first two lines:

There are those of you who would look upon my deeds and call me evil. 

Ha!  

August Results

The Labyrinth Writing Contest for August has come to a close.  I think that I got my kicks from crafting a story to the theme and getting to write about some side characters - I really like to write.

Winning was just icing on the cake.

I've been thinking a lot abut popular writing vs good writing.  There were a few decent works in the competition this month.  I mean decent in terms of writing, plot, characters.  I wonder if my piece was just popular because it was a feel good romance story.  To be honest, Birthday Presents isn't really a romance story, but it is marketed as such.  Romance is prolifically popular - you only need to compare the reviews in the Romance section of fictionpress to any other section; or for people who leave their homes, go into a bookshop to confirm this.

If I'm to continue with writing competitions that don't have August in the title, I'll need a project to occupy myself.

So I'm going to do an experiment.  It's doomed to be meaningless from the beginning because there's no way I can control the variables that I need to blah blah blah reliability and validity blah blah.  But whatever.  Let's do this pseudoscience.

Hypothesis: Romance fiction is more popular than other fiction.

To test this, I'll alternate between romance and non romance stories for the competition.  So if I do participate in September, it will be non romance.  The markers will be votes in the competition and favorable reviews received.

Action packed weekend

Today was a day of many things.  I'm up to Chapter 33 of Throne of Glass and I'm still learning a lot about writing.  I'm making a study of female protagonists, as the main character in the books I am seriously working on features a female lead.  Celaena Sardothien is a different breed.  She is simultaneously fun, moody, angry, vulnerable, strong, naive, capable, prideful, doubting... many things.  There are many aspects of the book that make me raise an eyebrow, but that's good too - it highlights my expectations as a reader and my prejudices.  for example, I find it difficult to reconcile the idea of a successful assassin with a trusting and girly nature.  Of course, I'm not at the end of the book yet.  I'm probably going to have to eat my words.

Lordchaser has been a hard slog to write lately, but I made progress.  It's about the third time I've hit a rut with this story, and each time I just apply the tried and true method of turning off my inner editor and writing something.  Thanks nano.

I also spent a good part of this morning reworking the first chapter of Vert Glace to be less of an info dump.  My housemates are awesome.  B-Dog is reading through the whole story and Will read the chapter I revised today.  Will is a bit of a fantasy literary nut, so in terms of editing, he's a goldhole.

I'm thinking of creating a character called Floyd.

And this is not related to writing, unless I force the connection of female protagonist... the first episode of the second season of Legend of Korra has just been released.  It is not disappointing.

It's kinda cloudy outside...

Screw it.  I have a million things to do today but I'm going to spend the rest of the day at home reading, writing and drinking an assortment of different teas.

Reality can hold it's own until tomorrow.

Still reading

Chapter 13 of Throne of Glass. I'm learning a lot.  I know some people will hate me and call this book abuse but one of the things I've been doing when I buy a book is that I go through it with a pen.  I comment and underline all the parts I find interesting.  They're like my textbooks.  I'm not sure how much my writing is improving from this, but I am reflecting more and learning a lot.  Hopefully I'm accomplishing something by all of this.  I do love the books that I buy.  My love is just... different.

Surfing fictionpress today.  Stumbled across this trippy little gem called One by Infected Beliefs.  Main character becomes high as balls, but that's not the brilliant part - it's the descriptions.

I hope I'm not weirding out any governments that are tracking my web usage...

I'm doing research for the Shadechasers story on Fictionpress.  It's not the most popular, but it is fun to write when I'm taking a break from Lordchaser.  Anyway, I looked up dumpsters and got sidetracked google imaging bear cubs that get trapped in rubbish bins because they climb in to eat food.  Then I spent a good amount of time looking at escort services.

In no way was dumpster bear cubs and escort services linked in any way.  No way whatsoever, officer.

Oh god.  I made the mistake of googling 'sexy bear' to get this image.  Pro tip:  NEVER TYPE 'SEXY BEAR' INTO ANY SORT OF ONLINE SEARCH.  NEVER EVER.

Reading

Everyone tells me that I should read if I want to write.  And they're right.  In the past two years, I think the only books I've read are ones that I've already read, or comics which, let's face it, don't really count.

This year, I've been picking up every book that interests me in the young adult section, because that's what I aim to write for.  I haven't - I just can't - bring myself to pick up any of the supernatrual romance books.  I hate drama.  I hate relationship drama.

I did buy this book called Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas for one reason - the marketing sticker on it read 'Hotter than The Hunger Games' and had me laughing out loud when my friend showed it to me. S here's proof that marketing works. Turns out it's by a fictionpress writer.  Who would have thunk it.  Dreams do come true.  I'm up to Chapter 5.

I've spent the morning so far reading through her livejournal starting at the first entry.  I need to get back to writing before this becomes creepy.

I wonder if I should quit my job and just sit at home and write full time.  Ha.  Who am I kidding?  I just interviewed for a job yesterday in an effort to try and replace my current job.  But it's a nice thought...

Comics do it better

Links don't work in fictionpress stories.  Or maybe they do, and I'm just impossibly stupid.

In the Q&A section in Chapter 4 of The Game In Play, I reference social engineering.  I think this is best highlighted here.  

Friendly Competition 2

Submissions for the August Labyrinth competition have closed, and voting is on until the 14th of September.  I let out a sigh of relief because it's out of my hands now.  No more trying to tweak it.

The ones I would flag to read are:

Wish by TanteLiz

Wish is very well written as well.  It features a family woman and an unwanted cat... but with a  pretty sci-fi twist.  It's another POV you don't really see on fictionpress, and captures family life quite adequately.  

Central Park Chaos by T.Rasa

A cute yet action packed story about a raccoon in Central Park.  I think I alluded in my previous post that this story drops a bomb on everything else.  It's probably no secret who I am voting for.  He's updated the story with a picture that's cute to boot.

I hope that after this obsessive detour, I can return to some sort of writing normalcy.  I think the procrastinating fit was somewhat because Lordchaser is at a place where I've written all the things that I really wanted to write in a mediocre way, and I just need to finish it and rework it.  The first book in the series, Vert Glace (working title) is still being passed around among friends for comments.  When some key people get back to me, I can start editing again.  It's already been through the edit once, but it needs all the help it can get before I hand it over to an agent or do an open submission thing.  

Seriously, writing seems to be all about editing.  And it take bloody ages!

Friendly Competition

I understand rationally that jealousy is perhaps not the best emotion to have after reading a competitor's entry to a writing competition, especially when the competition is a trivial thing.  I know that the socially acceptable thing to do is shake hands and say good job.

But reading T.Rasa's Central Park Chaos made me seethe with jealousy.  Why did I not think of an anthropomorphic animal action-adventure set in Central Park featuring two lovable woodland animals beating the shit out of each other!?!?

I am convinced T.Rasa is going to win the Labyrinth contest, and drinks to him if he does.  I don't see other raccoons kicking ass in fiction.

Or do I?

I have some deep soul searching to do after this.

Meeting up with writers in Brisbane

This morning I attended a session with a group of writers in Brisbane.  It was my first attempt at connecting non digitally (though the meet up was organised via internet) with other writers and getting feedback on my work.

I'm not super shy, but I was totally shitting my pants as I made my way to the city.  I thought I would feel super awkward, and sure it was a bit at first, but at least it wasn't this:

All in all, it turned out ok - I didn't die.  The group was small and supportive.  Everyone had their own writing thing and interests.  I enjoyed listening and offering comments.  Next time I intend to take the first chapter of Game in Play there for feedback.  Everyone who attended also got a writing task for homework.  It's been a long time since I've had homework.

To write or not to write

Instead of hovering by the computer this evening, I went for drinks with friends.  Drinks lead to Mexican food, which lead to me accidentally biting my inner cheek for the first time in a long time.

I don't regret a thing.

Maybe tomorrow I will.

A contest

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day doing something that was not increasing the word count of the book I'm currerntly working on.  Lordchaser (working title) is at over 100k now.  It's almost caught up the the number of kilometers I've driven in my car.  Maybe it deserves a rest.

But I digress.

Yesterday I spent some time writing for a contest on a fictionpress forum called Labyrinth.  I was invited to 'check it out' by FyloeFox, the moderator.  When I saw that it was a forum about reviews, I humed and hahed, but then managed to find something cool - Writing Contests!

The August prompt had been extended.  If ever there was ever an equivalent of a call to arms for writing, this was it for me.  So I worked into the wee hours of the morning on a short story.  Less than 3000 words short.  Ouch.  I remember getting marked down in high school English for not keeping to the word count on short story assignments.  Then again, I also got marked because my writing was absolute crap.  I'm still not convinced that I've gotten much better; I just don't get graded anymore.  :)

I woke up this morning to find that I'd posted Birthday Present without reading it through.  I immediately panicked because at 1am in the morning, my mind is usually a frothing sea of crazy.  I quickly updated it this morning with some changes.  Any day when I don't go off on a thousand word tangent on marine wildlife is a good day.

I can't wait to read the submissions from the other contestants.  I want to know what they did with the prompt.  I also have a competitive streak about me.  It's probably going to drive me to participate in September/October as well.

I really should not participate in forums.  It's like a black hole that sucks up time.  But sometimes I just can't resist falling to the welcoming arms of procrastination.

So it begins again...

Rather than clog up the bio page of my fictionpress account, I'll do inane updates here.