michaeljasper.net
"Another Wrecked Web Site"
Oct 31, 2001
Boo.
Did I scare you?
Today's Quote:
"Okay, whatever, nevermind!" -- Nirvana
Now Playing:
"Unplugged," Nirvana
Now Reading:
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
Howdy. I woke up feeling grumpy today, so watch out kids! You may find a lump of coal in your bag of treats, or, the ultimate Charlie-Brownish trick, a rock (I could never figure out how people in the cartoon knew it was him, or why they kept giving him rocks! How cruel could those adults be? Maybe they were bitter because all they could say was "Mwah muwah mawuhh mwuh!"). I think my grumpiness is because our dog Whit has been in the habit of eating his own turds when he goes out into the backyard lately. Nothing like a dog with shit-breath early in the morning to put a person in a foul, foul mood.
That was kind of funny. See? I can't even stay grumpy. Sheesh. I was working my way into a nicely bitter mood with the news on NPR followed by a good dash of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the rock station before work (see quote at left). But now I'm sorta over it. Oh well. I guess I've got too much good going on in my life to let things like war, terrorism, recession, and general malaise get me down (heh -- and people said irony was dead! Just doing my part to keep cynicism alive...).
Today should be interesting. I'm going to the local Berlitz office to see about possibly teaching English to non-native speakers as a part-time thing. I've always been interested in doing that, so it should be fun, even if I had to wear dress clothes to work instead of my usual jeans and Doc Martins. The sacrifices we must make...
So the novel begins tomorrow. I finished updating my map of the world/continent for the novel last night, and even drew up some sketchy history, most of it having to do with natural disasters like a massive volcanic eruption that led to the Emptied Lands, and so on.
I'll be keeping up with the latest and greatest novel adventures here, and at the NaNoWriMo site I'll be updating my wordage. You can check out my daily word count there. You'll have to search a little for me, but I'm in there somewhere in the prestigious "E-K" section. I've also add a Links Page to other novel-in-a-month maniacs -- I mean writers... Enjoy! See ya tomorrow, if the Grump Police don't take me away first.
Oct 30, 2001
Counting (and narrowing) down...
Now Playing:
"Still Life," Connells
Now Reading:
Night Terrors, Drew Williams
You know, I love my wife. We rode to work/school together this morning, taking shortcuts to avoid traffic stoppages, Elizabeth holding on for dear life as I cut people off and applied brakes repeatedly, and we had a good ol' time. I just had one of those moments this morning, as we were talking and laughing, how much I love her. I'm a lucky, lucky man.
Anyhoo, enough of the sappiness. On to the writing! :)
I'm getting ready to start work on the novel again, after messing with maps and other side projects. I was going to do some more work on the horror novel, just to get it done and also 'cause it's Halloween, but I realized that I didn't need to do it right away -- I'm gonna wait until someone shows interest in it, like an editor or an agent or a publisher. I did some Stoker nominating today for the Horror Writers Association, and had the bright idea to check out the publishers of the nominated novels. So I had a good list made up, only to find all but one were not taking subs. So I filled out that last publisher's handy online form and sent 'em a query. So Autumn's Fall is in a holding pattern for now.
Same for my stories, unless, again, someone shows interest and wants a rewrite, or even better, someone asks me for a story! Which hasn't happened yet, but it's good to be prepared!
Which leaves me with the f/sf/h novel, The Ghetto Dwellers, and I vow not to talk about that one anymore until I actually write something!
I'm taking it easy tonight, finishing my map (I'll scan it in when it's all colorized) and reading Drew's Night Terrors so we can talk about it at the cookout he's hosting for Lizzie and me at his place in Fuquay. Should be fun. I haven't read a book in a while! Crazy, isn't it? A writer who's too busy to read? I just have to narrow down what I want to do so I'm not overwhelmed. Some things have to be cut and/or put on hold.
Of course, this could all change in the blink of an eye if an editor or agent contacts me today! Could I be so lucky? I feel lucky... Later.
Oct 29, 2001
Coloring outside the lines...
Now Playing:
"The Memory of Trees," Enya
Now Reading:
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville;
Night Terrors, Drew Williams
I is an artist. Yeah, right. All I'm doing is coloring in the map I drew yesterday with some colored pencils, and I'm finding it quite fun and therapuetic. Anything's better than sitting hunched over a keyboard, y'know?
Actually, I can see how painters and other artists who use pencils, charcoal, pens, inks, and so on can get engrossed in the work. Just shading in the different areas of my map, I lost myself in the intricacies of the colors, blending them where swampland met rocky lands or burnt lands met prairie. Lots of fun. I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow, and scan it in. I'll post it, promise!
As for writing, I haven't added more details to my outline for Ghetto, but working with the map has given me a bunch of ideas, many of which probably won't get used in the novel itself, but will be used as part of the history of the land. Like the Emptied Lands, which will be a pretty nasty area that's been ravaged by a volcanic explosion from the Fire Lake centuries ago, or my favorite, the Forced River that cuts off the Emptied Lands from the City of All-Worlds and its surrounding villages. Nifty stuff.
My friend Jeff sent me some excellent feedback on my horror novel, with some specific fixes for the first 40 pages or so. It's funny, because I'd made about half of the exact same fixes he suggested when I was tweaking the beginning this past weekend, cutting the basketball game and getting to the "spooky" stuff sooner. Great minds think alike, you know? I'm hoping to do some more work on that tomorrow, and have it all wrapped up by Wednesday -- Halloween! Excellent timing, wouldn't you say? I'm also gonna read some of my bud Drew's horror novel to get me in the mood for the holiday and El dia de la muerte on Thursday (also the day I kick off the new novel -- not sure if I should see that as an omen or what!).
Have a good day. I'm outta here. Later.
Oct 28, 2001
Maps'R'Us
Today's Quote:
Fifteen years later, Titus looked back at the spot as they got into Clint's car. His sense of someone watching them had begun to dissolve, but Titus still squinted into the darkness, trying to see if someone had followed them to their secret spot from their childhood. He was met with empty blackness that stared back at him.
Now Playing:
"Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi," Enigma
Now Reading:
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
I like maps. I love checking out the maps that come in National Geographic, even if it is just an updated world map that shows all those pesky little Balkan states that come and go on an almost daily basis. I really like the maps that are color coded by elevation, and those that have all the various topographies. But what I like best are maps of imaginary worlds.
As I kid I spent way too much time copying the map at the front of Tolkien's The Hobbit, and then graduated up to the whole map of Middle-Earth in The Lord of the Rings. I even remember doing some rudimentary programming on our ancient TI/994A computer so I could use the pixels to make an electronic map. Oh the hours I've wasted in my life...
So now, thanks to some excellent advice I found on Holly Lisle's Forward Motion website, I have a map of a new world! It's called Subaridon, and it's the setting for the novel I'm starting this week called The Ghetto Dwellers. It was a lot of fun, and didn't take long at all. The trick, which Ms. Lisle discussed, is to just draw it fast and not edit yourself, then go back and make all those places that looked like mistakes into something unique. So the river that looks TOO straight in my map became the "Forced River," a river straightened by... someone... for some strange purpose.
I also like the Azure Sea, named after the villain in my fantasy novel, and the Fort cities, named after family and friends. It took an hour or two to draw (hey, I know it's nothing great, but...), and it gives me a great jumping-off point for writing. The stories start shaping themselves as the map is being drawn! Very fun!
I also scanned in the map I created for Autumn's Fall, which I based on the town where I taught junior high English, Bancroft, Nebraska. This town is called Rosecroft -- a good place to live, but not that great a place to visit... I like it, even if my collaborater called me a weirdo for making a map...
Along with my adventures in cartography, I also revised a short story into a short-short that I plan on sending out to the local newspaper, which runs a story by "Southern" writers every Sunday. They did my story "Wrecked" a year and a half ago, and that turned out great. And it paid 10 cents a word -- for a 1200-word story!
What else did I do? Lots of piddly stuff, getting all my ducks in a row before I jump onto the new novel. Tweaked some scenes in Autumn's Fall, removing the old prologue and starting with the scene with one of the characters in the present. It's much, much better now. I may send that out to a place or two in November. Oh, and I did a couple edits to "Coal Ash and Sparrows," and that's going out in the mail again tomorrow.
I also got to chat with my mom and sisters and my brother as well. I haven't seen them in forever! I feel like I'm just now crawling out from my cave! Hopefully I'll be able to balance writing the new novel with having a life again! I can't handle many more crazy-busy months like August, September, and October! Whew. And now I'm gonna watch "The Frighteners" with Lizzie and maybe, maybe do some reading before I crash into bed! Later.
Oct 26, 2001
Fifteen and hanging on...
Today's Quote:
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." -- William Feather
Now Playing:
Sting, "Nothing Like the Sun"
Happy Friday. I've been living for the weekends lately, I'm ashamed to admit. But I'm working on changing that. I'm looking into teaching a night class or two with the local community college, and I think that'll help my mindset -- I feel like all I do is stare at a monitor and tap on keys all day, so the human interaction and challenge of teaching will be fun. I'm hoping to teach an intro to fiction writing class there, and maybe an intermediate class as well that'll be more of a workshop. We'll see. Could be fun.
Like that quote there on the left? That is so true for making it as a writer -- it's all about sticking to it, being persistent and never giving up. I'm a perfect example of that. I didn't write at all for a year or so after I got done at NC State and got a "real job." I read a lot, I think, but just forgot about writing for a while. Then things picked up again when I wrote my first novel, then things really kicked into overdrive with my first pro sale, for the Writers of the Future antho. And in the past two to three years I've been writing pretty regularly, and almost daily in the past year or so. And I'm seeing some really good results, more than I'd ever hoped.
So all you other writers out there, just keep doing it, but do it for yourself. Write what you want to write, write what you'd like to READ, write what challenges you and disturbs you and thrills you. Make writing a part of your life. Make time for it, and you'll see amazing results. Keep hanging on long after any normal person would have let go.
Speaking of writing, I've got a record-high fifteen stories out to publishers right now! Four mainstream, one slipstream, and ten genre pieces. Actually, I'll be sending out the slipstream piece first thing tomorrow -- I don't have access to my stories here, 'cause good old Yahoo's Briefcase feature (where I keep backups of all my fiction) has been down for a good week now.
I wonder if some of my subs are getting hosed in the mail, thanks to the anthrax issues going on. I'd hate to be the person who opens mail these days. I just hope this insanity is about over. Next month will bring new crap, I'm sure. In other mail-related news, I was able to check the US Post Office's website to see that my package to my potential agent arrived yesterday afternoon. So it's outta my hands now! Must... move on... to other... projects...
This morning I messed around a bit with the intro to Autumn's Fall, cutting out the entire prologue and making the old chapter 1 into the prologue. I like this a lot better. I have a couple publishers to send it to next month, so I need to just run through the first few chapters to see what I need to patch up after lopping off the first 10 pages. I may try to do a flashback or two -- I like the scene with the guys after winning the championship game and the celebration, as they wonder aloud if they've just peaked in their lives, and everything else is downhill from there. I'd like to get that back in there somewhere. I'll get to that tomorrow, I think.
Tonight, Elizabeth and I are taking it easy for a change, hanging out at home and cooking up some good grub and maybe renting a horror flick for Halloween. You know, sort of like a date! It feels like we haven't done anything like that in a looong time. We've both been really, really busy. Here's hoping we're over that craziness... Later!
Oct 25, 2001
Not a lot going on can also mean quite a bit...
Now Playing:
"Whatever and Ever Amen," Ben Folds Five
Hey there. Not a whole heckuva lot going today, for a change. Just sort of catching my breath and getting geared up for Nov. 1 and the new novel. I'm pretty psyched up about it. I'm in idea-generation mode, which is always fun. I daydreamed a bit about the opening scene of the book on my way to work (always fun to do when flying down 540 at 75+ mph!). I may try and crank out the framing chapters as a short story this weekend for my fellow Anti-Hi-Fantasy writers (yeah, I know I need to get you guys feedback on your stuff! my apologies!). And now that I've heard that the "Carnival" anthology is closed to submissions, I don't have to worry 'bout finishing that story anytime soon. Plus I'm gonna focus on novels for a while and see what happens...
My buddy Jeff sent me a link to a very cool site about genre writing, Holly Lisle's Forward Motion, which I'd heard about through NAW and some other writers, but hadn't looked at all that closely. I do remember (quite clearly!) her advice about quitting your Day Job and how to get to that point, and I've been surfing through her site, which I've found pretty interesting. I've never read one of her books, but I may pick one up. She seems to do Baen Books style fantasy -- strong characters, action-filled plots, cool magic systems. And she writes fition full-time. Very cool. I just read a very timely essay she wrote about writing the outline for your book, and I'll try some of her suggestions, like having the beginning and ending clearly placed in your mind before going much further. I also just read some cool stuff about maps, so of course I gotta draw a map! Woo-hoo! I love me some maps, now.
At about 7 p.m. last night, I got a package from UPS, and I had no idea what the heck it was. After thinking for a bad half-second about anthrax, I ripped that bad boy open. It had three copies of The Witching Hour, which contains my story "One Night in Rosecroft!" Too cool. I'd completely given up on ever getting those copies! It looks pretty slick, and let me tell you, holding a book in your hands still beats staring at an electronic version on your monitor. So now I have five stories officially in print. The rest are electronic pubs, plus the story that the Raleigh News and Observer ran last year. Not bad. It made me want to go back to the beginning chapters of Autumn's Fall and fix them up so it starts with something scarier than a basketball game...
And finally, I gave blood for the first time this week! I donated plasma when I was in college (well, not really donated -- I got paid $20 a pop -- hey, I was poor and in college!) so it wasn't that big a deal. Some folks get all stressed out about it, but to me the only part that sucked was when she first stick that needle in my arm. That thing looked huge! But it was just a tiny case of discomfort. I pumped out my pint in record time -- about 4 minutes! I could've easily gotten rid of a couple more. Did you know that they use 3 pints of blood for open heart surgery? The only disappointment I felt was that more people from work didn't do it. I just wish we could somehow track where our blood goes and know who gets to use it. Just doing my part, y'know. I can't wait to donate again. It's a great feeling.
I almost forgot -- to read some funny journal entries, check out Greg van Eekhout's journal. His stuff is always entertaining and fun to read. His recent entries about caffeine and his "new lovely" had me rolling on the floor of my cube...
Man, and that's it for me today. Got a couple interesting things working lately about some writing classes that I'll tell you about as soon as I hear something. Gotta run get some lunch now. Later.
One last thing -- here's the design I came up with for the NaNoWriMo T-shirt (and yes, it's supposed to look amateurish and a bit campy):
Oct 24, 2001
Buh-bye!
Today's Quote:
The world of Subaridon has been home to the City of All-Worlds since time began. Many decades ago, the City was the proud owner of a Portal that connected the world to all other worlds. The Portal was guarded by a small army of wizards and physicists, and up until the Closure, it was used to enrich the world with knowledge – as well as with visitors – from other worlds. But with the coming of the new King, the City was turned upside and shaken like a cheap child’s toy to knock loose the creatures that the new King considered the “lowliest” in the City. By his decree, the City of All-Worlds was closed to these beings who didn’t fit his standards. The exiled were left to their own means, without a place to call home other than the ghettos outside the City.
(from the synopsis to The Ghetto Dwellers)
Now Playing:
"Del Amitri," Del Amitri
I sent off my big ol' package today, including the completed novel, the synopses for three novels in progress as well as the synopsis for a completed horror novel, and even a sample chapter from one of the novels-in-progress. About 350 pages total, I'd say. $22.05 to Express Mail it to my potential agent. Wish me luck!
And now, at last, I feel like I can get moving with my life again! I'm looking forward to spending time with Elizabeth again and not being distracted, and seeing old friends and our families again, and maybe, just maybe, sitting down and reading a book! Whoa. Got to slow down there -- may be too much!
One thing I found out while writing my synopsis is how fun it is to tell stories. When I'm in the middle of a project, especially doing the drafting, it feels a lot like hard labor -- I want to capture each moment just right, giving the reader sufficient descriptions of the characters and what they're doing and the setting they're in, and really suck the reader into the moment. I've often lost sight of the big picture, the STORY.
I think Douglas Clegg said that "Story is all" or "Story is everything." I tend to agree, but I'd have to add that "Characters are the key" and "Descriptions are the icing." It's all those little details that I like, especially when I'm revising or throwing a draft together, and things just sort of come together through the accumulation of details. You find a common thread among those details, and next thing you know, you've got a great hook or even a theme. Themes can't be forced, I think. They just have to come out of the drafting process.
But back to my point about outlining and synopsizing -- the outline is the story boiled down to its bare necessities: who did what, where, how, and why? I had fun figuring out how the Wannoshay people were going to be accepted on Earth, and what it would take for humans to do so (it required the threat of an alien invasion, basically). I loved figuring out how George "Paul Bunyan" Grunion was going to deal with his strange centerfielder named Mack. And I got the most excited thinking up how Bartamus the wizard was going to avenge the alien race he never even knew on the other side of the Portal in the City of All-Worlds. It all just sort of came together last night and early this morning: three very different stories, each in its own genre, with a widely varied cast of characters.
I'm excited about all three, but I really want to dive into the last one in my list, The Ghetto Dwellers. Now that I have the outline, I may try to do a quick story to send around to my other Anti-High-Fantasy writing mates, or I may just take a break from it 'til Nov. 1st rolls around.
There's always that Carnival story I could write to get me in the mood for Halloween... I'll let ya know how it goes! Later.
Oh yeah -- check out my horoscope for today: "The planets have moved into a position that brings to center stage an essential quandary in your life: would it be better to have professional ambitions that help you to climb the social ladder, but will leave you somewhat dissatisfied in your private life, or would it be better to concentrate on your private life and renounce success in your professional life? You want both, you say? Well, that's the problem, because you have a certain tendency toward conflict in these two domains. But you can resolve this issue - know that the planets support you in finding a way to have your cake, and eat it, too." Pretty fitting, eh? Now if I could get some more support from the planets... ;)
Oct 23, 2001
It might be... it could be...
Today's Quote:
As man and dragon shook hands, a scent of jasmine and sage blew in on the soft, summery breeze, promising a clear, star-filled night and another beautiful day with the dawn. Here, as in Chicago so many miles away, the gray skies of winter were finally being blown away by the warm breezes of summer.
Now Playing:
"London Calling," The Clash
Okay then, I think I'm about done here with The Last of the Hand. I added some more details and descriptions to the final battle scenes, and hopefully pulled everything together so it all makes sense. I like it a lot, especially the part when the average folks of the city come together to help the magic-users fight off the "evil" Sorcerers. I liked the image of women in pantyhose coming to save the day, I guess.
Total word count is 82,000, which is a bit short by today's novel standards, but that length works for this story. I'd hate to have to pad it to make it hit 100,000 words. I can probably make it 90,000 words long, but I'm not sure it would be better, you know? I'm not going to worry about it. We'll see what other folks think when they take a look at it. I feel like this novel is done, done, done!
So of course I'm thinking about what to work on next. I have my three proposals to do, along with a novel chapter from The Wannoshay Cycle (actually a revised version of my story "Mud and Salt," but don't tell anyone) to fix up before I mail the whole shebang off to a prospective agent.
All this work should (should being the key word there!) lead up nicely to the NaNoWriMo extravaganza that begins November 1st. If you want to sign up, by the way, you've got 'til Monday, Oct. 29, before they stop taking new novelists. Feel up to writing 50k in a month???
Anyhoo, as I was saying, I'm planning on writing this Anti-High-Fantasy novel for the National Novel Writing Month, so I'm just setting myself up for success by putting together the outline/proposal/synopsis before November. Now that I'm done revising Hand, I feel like I can really start getting into the new novel.
I'm listening to the Clash right now, and I really want to call this novel Ghetto Defenders, after one of their songs... For now it'll be Ghetto Dwellers, I guess. It's strange how my mind works sometimes. Later.
Oct 22, 2001
Working (and playing) again...
Today's Quote:
He blinked twice and nodded, as if answering his own question. “Of course. You’re a Warlock, one of the Druid’s men.”
“Please,” the man said, shaking his head with a short laugh. “Warlocks are… simpletons and amateurs. We prefer the term Sorcerer.”
Now Playing:
"Yourself or Someone Like You," Matchbox 20
Old 97's (later)
From later...
Finished keying in all my edits and revisions. Now all I have left is the last chapter, which ends a bit abruptly. Just need to flesh that out a bit, add a thousand more words or so, then I'm done! I feel really good about this novel! It holds together well, and it's lots of fun. I'm really happy with how it's turned out.
From earlier...
So I'm over 1/3 of the way through the revisions to the fantasy novel, and I'm fine-tuning my three novel proposals on the side. Man, I wish I had more stuff to do! ;)
It's weird how quickly my focus has been getting changed lately. Last Monday I was bound and determined to revise The Prodigal Sons, then I got the email from an agent. So I shifted gears and picked up the fantasy novel again. It's like a rollercoaster. I keep thinking I'm almost at the end, then I get pulled up another hill and dropped about 15 stories with a couple loop-de-loops for good measure!
But a sadistic part of me enjoys it. I mean, it's not like it's bad news I'm getting. People are interested in my writing and want to see more. If I wasn't such a damn perfectionist, I wouldn't have this problem -- I would've sent off the fantasy novel as-is and gotten started on the next big thing. But I want this to be as good as I can make it. How often will I get a chance like this? I should put this kind of effort into everything I submit...
Not a whole lot else going on. I've been jotting down ideas for the novel/story I want to write for the Anti-High-Fantasy story which is probably going to be the novel I work on in November for the NaNoWriMo (which is up to almost 1,000 participants now!). I think it's going to stick with the point of view of just one character for a change. We'll see how it goes -- I've been writing novels that jump from one person's head to another, so I need to try something new.
Which leads to my Deep Thought moment of the day. Ron Collins was talking about why writers write in his journal from Oct. 17 (the title was, fittingly enough, "What's Your Psychosis?"). A great question. One I was thinking about last week, when I was talking about writing because I feel grumpy if I don't. Part of the answer is obsessiveness. Another part is a desire to quit my Day Job and write fiction full-time. Another is getting published.
But mostly it's the creation. Making something out of nothing. Creating characters who are there in the back of my mind as I drive to work, or dreaming up situations that keep me awake at night, or trying to solve a plot problem while I'm walking the dog. It's a constant act of creativity. But it's not really work. It's more like concentrated play, perhaps? Productive play? But it does take time and effort, and that's why it can sometimes feel like work.
Ron also wrote in the same entry: "Working. Always, always working." Man, I know exactly how he feels! Later.