February 28, 2006
mad season
The mad season has taken my workplace, those twilight months where GDC and E3 occur and days stretch into nights and I wind up going home around midnight and climbing into bed an hour later.
I don't want to hold off on PttD, but I suspect I may have to because the short story set in TheComicSeriesThatRefusesToBeNamed and Firebird are still in progress. (And four characters instantly scream, "NO! YOU PROMISED!" -- back! back to the cerebellum, you bastards!)
Also, last year I wrote Firebird in fits and spurts, and I know it affected the time to finish for the work. Part of that, though, was feeling my way through the world. It's the last time I'll ever write a book without knowing the world first.
Posted by sdshaver at 12:07 PM
February 26, 2006
...or not
I appear to have tuckered myself out. But I did write a few synopsis paragraphs, and I did talk to the collaborator about stuff and things.
This week I have to do two pitch letters for two different projects. I think I'll go to bed early tonight.
Posted by sdshaver at 10:09 PM
it's that time....
I'm being dragged off by a synopsis sometime tonight.
D'ya suppose sandpaper can buff out the furrows my nails'll leave in the floorboards?
Posted by sdshaver at 12:28 PM
February 22, 2006
Sensitive
Some people have a sensitivity to light, or harsh chemicals. I have a sensitivity to words.
Take, for instance, this sentence I just wrote elsewhere:
- "The big problem with all these tests is that I always feel compelled to fix their bad HTML."
Perfectly acceptable. Most people would glide right over it. But the moment I read it, it started to nag at me. Bad sentence, it hissed. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. I ignored the nag for a while -- it's a blog post, not high art -- but the nagging came back.
It was the double-iteration of "all", you see. I didn't want to repeat myself (in this case) and so when my eyes hit the "all" sound twice in such a limited period of time, it tripped the mental word-alarm until I went and fixed it. The fix? Swap "all" with "any of". Voila.
Just one of the many fine-tuned insanities I have managed to beat into my soul over the last fifteen years.
Other things that drive me nuts are appearances of the word "almost". If I find myself writing "almost", it's probably because I'm being lazy. If it's almost sunrise, then isn't it really pre-dawn or false dawn? If it's almost blue then what is it? Light blue? Dark blue? Purple-blue? "Almost" is a crutch. It's one of my weak words that I sweep for when I do a final manuscript check.
Lately I've been on a "who" and "whom" usage kick. Everytime I see "whom" used in a sentence, I do the mental grammatical math to see if it's being used correctly. I actually found an incorrect usage in a published work recently. I'm so proud.
Course, I've got nothing on the word sensitivity of, say, Tolkien, who had the grave misfortune of being a linguist. That bad Ph.D. mofo knew to replace "tomatoes" with "pickles" in the second edition of The Hobbit because "tomato" was too "recent" a "word" for his "hobbits". That there's some serious word obsession. That's hardcore.
This is, incidentally, the reason some fantasy authors replace certain words with others. Not understanding that has led to many fantasy wannabes (including a younger me) to come up with all sorts of ridiculous renamings in their early works...but that's another matter.
While I do not believe all readers have a psychotic fixation for when a writer uses "tobacco" as opposed to "pipeweed", I do believe strongly in the coherent whole and the sub-level impact of a cohesive work.
Or, in short? I'm nuts. But it's all for you, the reader. Enjoy.
Posted by sdshaver at 01:13 PM
Thumbnails
Two more pages of thumbnails with dialog. Finding my stride in this. It'd be nice if I could thumbnail and watch the Daily Show but I suspect that won't be the case.
I'm still stressing over the first three chapters of, well, everything. I think I'm going to be crazy and start the next book in the middle.
Posted by sdshaver at 10:52 AM
February 20, 2006
pitch perfect
I'm writing the brief synopsis of Poison as if it were a pitch. What a brilliant idea! Somebody kill me.
I wrote a separate pitch for the as-yet-to-be-named comics project, and might I add that while I have no problem coming up with characters and story, NAMING and ENCAPSULATING all that in a concise, catchy way? Not my thing. Not. My. Thing.
I've decided to establish themes for all future projects. Themes for Poison will be words and power. Themes for the unnamed project will be "normal" and -- shit, I dunno, sexy guys in cowboy gear. I kind of like that theme. Oh, wait, I remember now -- personification of myth. That's a theme. Right?
Anyway, all this is John Scalzi and Dee's fault. John Scalzi because the bastard does fantastic 10-words-or-less summaries of his books (and I strongly suspect he's writing the cover flaps, though I could be wrong -- whoever's doing it, they've managed to hook me for Old Man's War and I don't even LIKE sci-fi). And Dee because she sent me a page on how to write pitches.
Ugh. Guh. Ngh. I'm off.
Posted by sdshaver at 11:16 PM
February 19, 2006
ponderification
One suggestion from an astue first reader has caused me to bang my head into the keyboard (figuratively) for the past 24 hours. It's one of those changes that is a damn good one but would require so much reworking it makes my head spin. In fact, I'm not sure I can do it -- because the resulting book would be a different book
So the question becomes: Would it then be a better book? It would definitely open up new avenues and it would condense some things, but the amount of work it would take would effectively make it a very different novel.
Argh.
This is a point of consistency between the two books that I probably need to be aware of and work on: I tend to write too many characters. Inevitably, there're one or two who could be combined without much loss. Except in the fact that I'd have to sit and pick apart whole segments of the book to sew it back together. BLARGH.
Posted by sdshaver at 01:06 PM
February 18, 2006
dialog
Done blocking dialog and setting up the first five pages. On to the next five. The next story in the arc is already poking at my head. Grumble.
This weekend whould be remarkably unproductive, but them's the breaks.
Posted by sdshaver at 02:34 AM
February 16, 2006
more dialog
I'm such a damn slacker. One page of dialog. Pshaw.
This weekend is going to be busy, I can feel it. Five more thumbnails and a synopsis, though! That's what I'm after!
Posted by sdshaver at 11:28 PM
February 15, 2006
projects and dialog
On the drive home last night, the entire plot for the historical fantasy unfolded in my brain like a tea leaf doused with hot water. It was at once wonderful and rather frightening, and is causing me to question what my next project will be.
On one hand, Poison would be quick to write because I know the world and the characters. This project is at least a year's commitment. I'd have to research. I'd have to be clever. It's a challenge.
I don't know what to do. I guess I have some thinking ahead of me.
Two more pages of dialog and blocking. Next time, I'm doing this when I thumbnail.
Posted by sdshaver at 11:38 AM
February 13, 2006
report, maggot!
Two first readers have already reported back to say they've finished. Reviews are good, but I'm getting very few heavy critiques, and that makes me nervous.
A year's worth of work, devoured in less than 72 hours by voracious readers. Hmph.
I'm still resisting the temptation to crack the book open. That will come next week, when I enter used carsalesman mode and write the synopsis.
I'm trying something tonight called going to bed early. I hear tell that it works for some people. Here's hoping it works for me.
Posted by sdshaver at 10:21 PM
shaaaaa
Sound effects are fun.
I prefer comics dialogue that's short and sweet. Putting my keyboard where my mouth is is proving to be a challenge. I feel like I'm writing pulp poetry.
Assassin's Quest is good, but dear god, does it ever end? It's not that I don't enjoy it...it just...it just...keeps going.
Posted by sdshaver at 02:16 AM
February 11, 2006
"basement" script
My thumbnails are not hysterically bad! Dammit!
I have to finalize a script now. This is all so weird.
Testing tonight. Not my test, the test of others, but I get to dress up in a hakama, so really it's a win-win situation.
Still in a relative lull time. Working on websites. Enjoying the time off. Pondering battlefields, necromantic juveniles, and soldiers with spikes in their hearts.
Posted by sdshaver at 02:16 PM
February 10, 2006
thumbnails
My thumbnails are hysterically bad, but if they get the job done, that's what matters.
Another night with little to do. Thoughts for Poison churning away. I kind of want to start it in a battlefield with the two sisters looking for a body, but nothing seems original anymore. Not even that.
Posted by sdshaver at 11:59 AM
February 08, 2006
night off
Enh. It's been twelve days since a night off. I really gotta make a schedule for these things.
I hear a Lush bath calling. And Assassin's Quest. And oh -- I dunno -- maybe an early bedtime?
Thumbnails tomorrow!
Posted by sdshaver at 10:23 PM
in fallow fields lie sleeping
Though I'm not nearly as tightly wound as the last time I put myself through this, I did toss and turn most of the night away. And, of course, there are a million things I wish I'd done differently and a thousand things I could have done better, but....
Now is the time to forget the book for two weeks. Let first readers read. Let my brain forget the things that made me anxious about the project. This is the luxury of being unpublished and not depending on my work for my livelihood. I can be fallow.
I will be fallow.
But I'll fidget a lot for the first few days.
Posted by sdshaver at 11:09 AM
done!
Came in at 106k words.
So, that's book #3. Will third time be the charm? We'll see, won't we?
Posted by sdshaver at 01:40 AM
February 07, 2006
belated update
Edited 1 & 2. Will enter edits tonight, as well as minor course corrections to the overall plot.
Wrote five pages of outline for "Basement".
Experimented with spaghetti and meatballs. I think I like spaghetti and turkey sausage better.
Posted by sdshaver at 12:33 PM
February 06, 2006
closer I am to fine
Chapters 1 and 2 rewritten. Notices to first readers sent.
Tomorrow night: Edit 1 and 2, work on five pages of "Basement" script, thumbnail like a fiend.
Wheee! ::collapses::
- with a poster of rasputin
and a beard down to his knee
he never did marry
or see a b-grade movie
Posted by sdshaver at 02:06 AM
February 05, 2006
guh
I can't believe I'm within 24 hours of completing the book. I bought a bottle of gewurtz to celebrate, but no chocolate, alas.
The thing that sucks about an unpublished novelist finishing a series book is the realization that these characters may wind up locked in a closet and forgotten for, potentially, ever. All the work, sweat, and love I've put into them could be for naught. Just one more 100k word sack of grist for the mill.
Ah well. There's always Rasputin and Munin.
Onward!
Posted by sdshaver at 06:38 PM
all edits entered
Just gotta rewrite 1 and 2 now, and voila!
Short break before then.
Posted by sdshaver at 01:34 PM
edits entered
Through 24 and Interlude. On track to finish the rest tomorrow-ish.
Other work on other things.
To the bedmobile!
Posted by sdshaver at 01:46 AM
February 04, 2006
back to edits
Blame Dee for my sudden shift of focus. She's the one who gave me an outlet for the urban fantasy I've been wanting to write for years.
Meanwhile, I'm going to try and finish Firebird (still known on this journal by its old acronym, TSoW) this weekend. And I want to get going on thumbnails and scripts for several pages of the afore-mentioned urban fantasy. All this work equals NO SUPERBOWL PARTY FOR STEPH. Oh vell. I didn't really need that social life anyway.
And in other news, PBW continues to be a shining lighthouse of awesomeness in my over-stimulated life.
Posted by sdshaver at 12:04 AM
February 02, 2006
Get yer damn dirty hooks off of her!
I'm liking my hook more and more. I have posted samples elsewhere, and I realize it still needs work, but the gyst of it is there.
Oddly enough, my soul has rebelled against telling things from this character's perspective from the get-go. it was only when I realized that the story is better for it that I allowed myself to write this bit. Um. Why? I don't know. Probably because I like symmetry, and it seems asymmetrical to tell the story from a perspective other than the heroines.
(shrug)
Other project...mein gott. It continues to devour my soul!
Time for bed.
Posted by sdshaver at 01:31 AM
February 01, 2006
chapter one - hooks
Hey look, progress!
That's all for now.
Posted by sdshaver at 02:25 AM