Story Almost Done--Mind Blown

I have been asking around for early reviews of my short story Bad for Business.  I'm getting excited that's it's almost done and I can sell it soon.  I've never made money from writing before and I'm really anxious to see what I can get.  Even if I only make a little money from it I would still feel good to know that at least one person out there read it and liked it.

I also know that part of that sort of success is to continue writing, develop a series--that sort of thing.  I'm planning another short story with Adrian Shetler and I have a novel somewhere far off in the works that isn't really even into the planning phase just yet.  I think about how small with project was when I started it and now it has blossomed into something big and beautiful but altogether terrifying,  It blows my mind.

What I started as a whim (hey, I could put together a compilation of detective stories and sell that) has become it's own creation--it has reached 20,000 words!  Hopefully it won't get much longer or it will be officially considered a novella, which I guess would be fine anyway.  But right now it's like a quarter of a short novel or a fifth of long one.  It's crazy cool.

Now Serving: Apple Pie with Vanilla Mortal a la Mode

I had an excellent experience revising and editing yesterday, I added even more new scenes and a new flashback (could be a novella when its done).  I'm wondering if I have too many flashbacks, I feel like they are important to the story but I'm wondering if I could cut a couple that don't seem to have anything to say.  I'll wait until the group sees it to decide, that seems to be a strategy that's working.  I'm hoping I can get a few minutes today to revise and copy edit this manuscript but I'm actually chomping at the bit to work more on my urban fantasy novel (working title is Lost Lamb).

The main character is Jaden, a mercenary who deals with the supernatural on a regular basis and hunts monsters professionally.  I feel like there is a lot of magic and spells that get thrown around in urban fantasy as a matter of course, often our heroes in this genre have some hereditary gift or mystical training that grants them powers.  This is all well and good but it occurred to me recently how tremendously hard it would be to live in a world with monsters and demons as an ordinary human with no special powers or advantages.  When the thought came to me I recalled a mantra from some article or book I'd read about writing fiction that gave a simple formula for compelling writing.

"Believable characters in believable settings with unbelievable difficulty."

What could more difficult than living in a hostile world with no help or protection?  I think that qualifies as unbelievable difficulty.  For that reason I decided to make Jaden a plain ol' vanilla mortal just like ma and pa used to make.  That decision gave me a compass for his personality too, he has to be willing to do underhanded and unfair things to get an advantage.  He uses every tool available to him and is often dishonorable or downright vindictive to the creatures of the night.  I'm interested in that.

Stayed Home Sick

Wooh!  We had writer's night last night and it was great.  Loki couldn't quite present his chapter--he didn't have the chance to get it printed out in time but it was okay.  I presented another installment of Bad for Business that was very well received by everyone.  It's a good feeling to read something that I've worked really hard on and see how readers react.  Everybody stayed late hanging out at the house and talking until midnight, drinking beers and eating snickerdoodles.

I always feel so pumped after group and I can't wait get my fingers on the keyboard and write more.  Next week Loki and my brother should be presenting and I'm looking forward to giving them critique, I'm pretty excited to see what they've been writing.

What most people said about my piece was that they wanted to see more of my plucky mechanic sidekick, so in my revision today I'm adding some more to her conversation with my main character, Adrian.  I keep thinking about how rewarding it is to write revealing dialogue that shows how the characters feel about each other without saying it plainly.  I watched Frozen over the weekend and I actually felt the story could have been told a lot better without the musical numbers, they could have instead been replaced by scenes of revealing dialogue and the story could have been more powerful.

I called in sick from work today, I am feeling pretty crappy but I can't help how good writing makes me feel.  My lungs are burning and my head is throbbing but I have that warm feeling that I get when I write good fiction.

I'm a Bacon Leprechaun

This picture took me probably a half hour to make, I admit I got more caught up in the image than really telling the story.  I live with my girlfriend and her teenage daughter and we share food, because well, that's really the best way to do it I suppose.  The teenager's taste tend to run to richer foods--garlic, creme, butter, cheese, bacon.  She knows how to cook and she's pretty good at it.  For this reason though I never get to eat the bacon that I buy for the house.  So, I've started hoarding it.  I've found the best place to hide the bacon is under vegetables, so the bottom of the crisper drawer is my hidden pot of secret bacon.  After I think I've had my share I put it somewhere in the fridge in plain sight and let it disappear.  Admittedly this strategy is also helping me count calories.

Average Things (not writing about them though)

I had a pretty average day today.  It occurs to me that we never write about average things.  Once upon a time there was chumpy, an average guy who never did anything special at all ever.  The End.  Which is an interesting contrast because most of us believe that we're special for some reason or another, and we wonder--is there really a such thing as average?  I'm not sure I believe in it.  Everyone has their story, how they became who they are today.  Sure they aren't always full of life and death struggles or steamy love affairs (though the latter may be a little more common place).  But I suppose that's why we read.  I know that's why I read.

I'm like Bilbo Baggins, I like my average everyday normal life.  But when I read I want to be Legolas, or James Bond to shift the genre.  When we read we're living vicariously through our protagonists, the people we care about enough to learn how they fictionally lived and died.  They become special to us in a way that non-readers cannot understand.  "The movie was better--had all those computer effects!" They bellow at us until they're blue in face.  "Not the same!" We shout back, feeling like we might as well be speaking German to a tub of jello.  They don't get it.

I used to work in the restaurant for a casino in Smith River (I won't mention the name but I'm sure they wouldn't mind the mention).  I hated it there.  I took a novel with me almost everyday and got in serious trouble for it on a regular basis.  But business was slow out there, I often got done with my work quickly and had nothing else to occupy my idle mind.  A coworker of mine came around the corner once while I was nose deep in The Forge in the Forest and was more than a little confused.  "What are you doing?" He asked me, even though the answer was obvious.  "Reading, what's it look like?" I didn't even take my eyes from the text to look at him.  I could tell by the way he twisted his face and scrunched his mouth that I hadn't really answered his question, "Nobody reads books anymore." It was a statement but it sounded more like a question, he continued, "Everybody watch DVDs." Again it sounded like he was asking to make sure that it was what people were doing and that I was a weirdy.  I knew he couldn't understand and in the end I didn't expect him to.  My book was about me and my enjoyment--it wasn't about what he thought.

The Ethics of Work and You

After I wrote my journal yesterday I did a bit more puttering around than I wanted to, mostly looking up names for characters and map information for the area.  I guess I could write it off as legitimate work but I didn't get as many words written as I wanted.  It looks like I won't be getting as much overtime at work this week so hopefully that will give me a few more hours to do some good writing.  I think what holds me back from working as seriously as I could is that I basically get done with my school job and then come right home to do my unpaid computer job.  I feel like I need a rest in between but if I take one then I won't get hardly any writing done.

Today I'm just going to try to bust out some words and then take a little break with food and video games.  I just have to keep my energy going a little longer, hopefully it'll finally pay off when I get something online.

Itchy Typing Fingers

I haven't worked on any writing since Friday and I'm feeling anxious.  I suppose that's a good feeling to have--to want to work on something.  I suppose it's that and that writer's group didn't happen last week, with the combo I just feel backed up creatively.  It's odd.

Today I'll be putting some more working into my urban fantasy novel, having fun seeing where it's going, and I may edit "Bad For Business" a little.  Not sure if I will do the latter, I almost feel like I should wait until the group sees it before I put any more work into it.  I feel like I'll have to rework it again if I double it up like that.  Though there is twinge of a feeling that maybe the group won't meet again and I would never get this piece down.  I guess I've seen so much failure in my writing that I'm expecting it sometimes.

Either way, no failing today.  Getting back to work from my mini-vacation and that's final.